The Fae King's Ruin

No Help

When she entered the door to her suite, Aelthrys was leaning against the door of her balcony. He was gazing up at the moon, his hair much like hers and glittering like starlight, his expression one of quiet contemplation marred by unease. Aislin tried to remember the last time he looked the same way except it had been years.

She wanted to take the time and ask him what was wrong, but that would be wasting time. He would never answer such a question, either from pride or privacy. If he wanted to talk about it, he would come to her and ask her to sit down with him. As such, he wasn’t asking, so she thought it best to leave him be.

“Done cozying up to your boyfriend?” Aelthrys asked in a drawl without turning to look at her. “I thought I would have to wait up for you all night.”

She wrinkled her nose in distaste, even if he couldn’t see her. “Please don’t call him my boyfriend ever again. It sounds so juvenile.”

He scoffed. “Compared to his age, Aislin, you are practically a child. It is lucky that the Fae matures so early given our long lifespans.”

Aislin leveled him a look. “Can we not? We have much more important things to talk about.”

“Like what?”

Her lips pursed. “Make a sound barrier first. I want to make sure that no one will be able to hear us.”

Although his brows puckered in confusion, Aelthrys did as he was asked. With a flick of his wrist, the sound of the fire crackling in the hearth had ceased. She could not hear the ticking of the grandfather clock anymore and her breathing seemed louder to her ears than it ever had before. Aelthrys crossed his arms expectantly.

She took a deep breath, wrapping her arms around herself. “I heard something from our Uncle Elrin. I am unsure whether it carries weight, or he is only trying to rile me up, but I can’t take any chances with it.”

“What is it?”

“Some members of the Seelie court are planning an attack on the village.”

Aislin did not need to specify which village she was talking about. His pair of silver-cored eyes narrowed at her. 

“Bull*shit.”

She shook her head. “I’m not kidding. I would have doubted this information as well, but Elrin seems really convinced about this plot.”

“I don’t believe him and whatever intelligence he offers,” he muttered. “For all we know, he’s the one doing the plotting. It certainly is not above him.”

Aislin frowned worriedly. “True or not, those people in that village have come here because of me. If there is a threat to their lives, I cannot, in good conscience, stand idly by.”

Aelthrys sighed heavily. “Why were you even talking to Elrin in the first place? Did you or did you not tell him to ‘f*ck off’ in so many words when you last spoke to him?”

“I did, but you didn’t see him, Aelthrys. He genuinely looked afraid.”

“Or he has just gotten good with his acting skills,” he muttered as he leaned against the door. “Look, I am not saying that we dismiss this thing completely. I just think that you shouldn’t put too much stock in it.”

Aislin closed her eyes briefly, trying to check her temper just in case she blew up for the second time this night. “Fine,” she said, unable to help the snappish tone in her voice. “If you are not going to take this seriously, I’ll get my own hands dirty.”

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that.”

She turned on him, feeling her blood rush angrily against her ears. “Be like what? Their protector? Because I had made that promise to them, that I would take care of them as best as I could. And I refuse to let my disbelief get in the way of my job which, by the way, is yours too.”

Angrily, she stomped to her front door and held it open for him in a silent gesture of ‘get out’. The moment that she had stepped out of the sound barrier, all other ambient noises came rushing back for her ears to pick up. Aelthrys glowered and went straight out the door without another word. 

It took everything within her to not slam the door. Today was not her day and Aislin had never felt more stressed. Nothing was going according to plan. Everyone seemed to decide that testing her patience would be fun today. But she meant the words that she told Aeltrhys. If he was not willing to help her in this, she would do it alone.

She called for her girls, and they helped her with her evening routine. The warm bath was splendid and soothing, but it also made her incredibly guilty. How could she be unwinding in a clawfoot bathtub while her people were under imminent threat of being attacked?

Perhaps she should tell Avery, but how was she going to do it? Should she reveal that her very own uncle had discovered the plot because he had bought off a handful of his staff to be his own personal spies? That would not go over well with anyone she tells this story to. Besides, it would raise a lot of questions more than it could solve the problem at hand quickly. Not to mention that Avery would be forced to involve his advisers.

She decided then that she would wait. Lord Elrin must have names as early as tomorrow, and she would make her plans then. But that did not mean that her guilt was assuaged. Her warm bed, usually the one thing that could lull her to sleep in a snap of a finger, suddenly felt uncomfortable to her.

So, Aislin stayed in bed, unable to sleep, as she thought of all the Unseelie fae huddling in a warehouse on this cold evening.