The Fae King's Ruin

The Princess and the Village

A carriage drawn by two of the palace stallions was waiting for them at the foot of the front steps. The black beasts whinnied, warm breaths appearing as thick puffs of smoke while Aislin gaped at Avery in confusion. She assumed that, whatever his gift to her was, it would be waiting for them right outside the palace. Like how he showed Res the Pegasus on his birthday.

With a carriage, however, that meant traveling.

“What kind of gift are you giving me that requires a carriage to get there?” she asked, seeing her own breath form before her as they walked hand-in-hand to the staff waiting for them. 

Beside her, cheeks all gold from the blood rush, Avery grinned. “Just you wait. You shall know in a minute.”

“Or, there is always the option of telling me now,” she sang. 

He chuckled, shaking his head at her with a roll of his eyes. Avery shook the hand of the coachman.

“Happy New Year’s Eve, yer Majesties!” the coachman greeted them gaily. “Come on right in! It is already warmed up and booted for ‘ya.”

Aislin grinned at his happy affect. “Thanks so much for this, Jakob,” Avery said. “We’ll just be dropping by so you won’t be gone from your families too long.”

“Got it, sir!” Jakob saluted. 

He opened the door for them and helped Aislin up. She thanked him as Avery settled into the seat beside her. With an ‘aw shucks’ from the coachman, he snapped the door shut and prepared the horses. Before Aislin knew it, they were moving down the driveway and pulling away from the looming palace behind them.

Leaning away from the window, Aislin surveyed the interior of the coach with mild interest. Made entirely from dark wood with hand carvings so intricate in pattern, it exuded luxury without being too in-your-face about it, and the upholstered seats were incredibly comfortable.

Turning to Avery, she half-joked, “I kind of expected a carriage made of diamonds.”

He chuckled. “Is it still weird for you to be living in a palace made of diamonds? Because I still find it unsafe at times.”

“You do?” she asked, laughing a little.

Avery scoffed. “Of course, I do. Half of the floors and walls in that palace are see-through and sometimes I have nightmares of falling through them.”

“Then why not change it?”

Golden eyes peered up at her curiously. “Do you want to?”

Aislin was taken aback. “Why are you asking me?”

He gave his broad shoulders a shrug. “You’re going to be my wife. That means you get to control the household however you want— make changes in whatever way you want it. If you are not comfortable living in a palace of diamonds, we can always change it.”

She paused. “But did you not tell me that the palace was your mother’s legacy? I don’t want to do anything to change that.”

“If that is how you feel, then I am fine with it. Either way, change it or don’t, I’m okay with it, too.” Avery took her hand and kissed the back of it. “We’ll find other ways to secure our legacy.”

Aislin laughed as he wagged his eyebrows suggestively. The exaggerated expression looked positively rakish on him in a comedic sense, further confirming that Avery’s charm was wholly embedded in his gentle character and soft, sincere smiles. The whole playboy thing that Res had got going on for him was simply ridiculous on Avery. Besides, she loved him this way and found that despite the humorous relief, his words bore some weight that seemed… well, sweet, to Aislin.

Swallowing her shyness, she asked with a wavering voice, “And how many ‘legacies’, exactly, did you have in mind?”

Aislin watched as he thought about it. “Can we have six?” he asked.

Her mouth popped open. “Six?” she echoed in slight horror. "We are Fae— what makes you think I could actually carry more than one?”

Successful pregnancies within the Fae race, while statistically better now than they had been before, were still significantly less than other magical races. Giving birth was a real fear amongst expectant mothers' which was why after one success with the whole ordeal, partners usually try and avoid making another.

More than that, Aislin's own mother died giving birth to her, making the fear as real as it could ever be for her. So, as much as she would love to have a big family with Avery, she just did not think her body would be able to take it.

Her soon-to-be husband, however, did not seem fazed. "We could hire Elena's healer in Montfoltier when she was pregnant with the twins. Gris had her trained in human birthing operations, which is why birth rates in the city had actually gone up. It was all because of her."

"So, I need not worry?"

"No, I do think worrying about a birth is unavoidable, but you can worry less about it when the time does actually come," he said. "I won't let anything happen to you.” Avery glanced over her shoulder, his soft smile returning on his lips. "We're almost there."

When Aislin peeked through the small window, a dark expanse of trees and snow-covered ground greeted her. Wondering where they were, she looked behind them and saw the Fae village of Alfheim already several yards away from them. The lights and smoking chimneys were steadily growing smaller behind them, which made Aislin even more confused.

As far as she knew from looking at the maps of Alfheim and the boundaries of the patina that enclosed it, there was nothing beyond the limits of the village but planting fields and forests that protectively hugged the perimeter.

"Are we going to the human lands?"

Startled, Avery stared at her with wide eyes. "No! What makes you think that?”

"Because I know for a fact from the official maps that there’s nothing to see further than a few miles from here."

He blinked at her innocently. "But we don't have to go any further. We are already here.”

As if on cue, the horses and carriage came to a stop. She heard crunching outside as Jakob left his seat. Avery got out first to help her down the small step. Once her feet were firmly upon the snowy ground, Aislin started to take in her surroundings.

They were in a village, one that was not in any of the maps available to her back at the palace. This one seemed extremely new as well, with most of the houses only standing with wooden frames. The red brick path they were on was also only half laid in. Save for the large building made of metal sheets and a patched-up roof with its door half open and letting light flood out, there was nothing much to see here.

“What is this?” Aislin softly asked, clutching the hood of her cloak closer to her as she walked. “Where are we?”

Avery, with his arms crossed in front of his chest, wordlessly nodded for her to come along. She followed him, making their way to the metal building. As they got closer, Aislin realized that there were people inside. She heard the faint singing, the lively tune of a fiddle— maybe even several— and felt the heat from inside like a welcoming beacon.

Who would have chosen to settle here in the outskirts of Alfheim instead of in the village already nearer to the bridge? And in this cold, she bet that even with the use of magic, it was biting during the nights and there was no way people— let alone children— could sleep soundly in there.

She reached the half-open door. Her brain tickled as she listened longer to the songs the people inside were singing, the lyrics sounding a lot clearer the closer she got. Then, like a ringing bell, it all fell into place for her.

Ailsin’s eyes flooded with tears, and like a dam, she broke. The song of her people, carrying a better hope for the new year, lit a chamber within her heart like a single candle flame burning in a dark room. With weak, trembling hands, she pushed the door further open, and inside the metal-sheet building, saw almost a hundred Unseelie Fae drinking and eating and singing carols of her origin. 

Their pale, ashen skin was bathed in the gold of fires lit in the middle of the large hall, big cauldrons that could fit two of her bubbling over it while some livestock roasted above. Barrels were fitted to the far wall, supplying the drinks that went around freely in pitchers and mugs. Little Unseelie children were all camped in one corner, watched over by the slightly older boys and girls while their parents had fun. Their little hands all had food in their grips, and some wrapped boxes were even being exchanged.

In another corner, a makeshift band was playing, using spare pots as drums and worn guitars to make joyful music. There was even dancing!

She looked back over her shoulder through teary eyes and a mouth that opened and closed but no sound from which came out. Avery grinned at her, nodding to the inside of the building.

“Don’t you want to go in?” he asked.

“B-But how?” Aislin glanced back at the golden merriment happening inside. “How come…?”

Avery shrugged, shoving his hands inside his trouser pockets. “Once you came here to Alfheim under my— er, jurisdiction, some of the Unseelie faes assumed that it meant they were also welcome to stay here. Which they are!” he added in a bit of panic. “You know I never would have mistreated them.”

She nodded. Of course, Avery would have taken care of them. There was simply no vengeful bone in his body against innocents.

A corner of his mouth lifted as he glanced at his boots. “It seemed that all the people inside this shelter were supporters of yours and critics of your brother’s rule. According to a few I talked to, they fled Mhoryga right after the battle, as soon as they knew where you were. They thought you would need their help someday, in whatever way they could, and since they knew you can’t use magic, they wanted to be as near you as possible. They wanted to be where their Queen was.

“Housing became a bit of a problem. I met with some Seelie developers so we could turn this bit of land up for their use but none of their ideas seemed to be right.” Avery gestured to the unfinished village behind them. “Then I thought that perhaps I could talk to your people instead. They came ready with plans. In just two weeks, this has been their progress. I originally wanted to present you the village as a wedding gift, but since it looks as if it would be done sooner than I imagined, I thought that I might as well show it to you now.”

Aislin buried her hands in her face and cried. 

All this time, she had been despairing about going home and being with her people. All this time, she never knew that she already had some of them here, trying their luck in foreign lands, just to provide their support. For her.

She wished she knew sooner— wished she could have done something for them from within the castle. But Avery had already done that. Had seen them and helped them while being in the position to do so.

Avery smiled. “Go on,” he encouraged. “They have been hoping to see you since the day they came.”

“Thank you,” she said to him hoarsely. “Avery, I will never forget this.”

But he shook his head and said, “You do not have to thank me for doing the bare minimum. Now, go. Be with your people.”

Aislin held out her hand. “Come with me,” she said. “I’m sure they would want to celebrate with you too.”

Grinning, he took her hand, and Aislin led them inside the warmth of the shelter that he built for her people as her heart whispered to her that she was home.