The Fae King's Ruin

The Princess and the Drinking Game

Confused, and a little apprehensive, Aislin followed Res to his office on the second floor. It was just a few ways away from her old rooms, she realized, separated only by a few rooms and marked by the two guards standing on either side of the sparkling black-colored diamond door. He led her inside, revealing a large space with rows and rows of cabinets and shelves filled to the brim with books, very old tomes, and scrolls upon scrolls of maps and other missives that she was afraid to touch.

A fire roared behind the stately oak desk and the accompanying high-backed chair, warming Aislin up in no time. Res crossed the carpeted floor, retrieved two glasses from a credenza, and filled it with two knuckles' worth of what appeared to be very expensive brandy.

“I know it is a little early for day-drinking,” he said distractedly as he poured. “But it has been proven true that one requires a drink after spending any amount of time with the Wicked Witch of the Southeast.”

“Southeast?” Aislin asked. 

“Montfoltier’s patina is in Italy. Lovely country, only made drab by Catt’s presence.”

He handed her the glass as she raised an eyebrow at him. “You sound like a scorned lover.”

Res made a face, even going so far as to fake gagging. “And here I thought you and I were friends! I would never sully myself with that cow even with a ten-foot pole.”

She grinned. Aislin always knew Res was a kindred spirit of hers and it felt nice that someone got her. She took a sip of the brandy and hummed in appreciation.

“Ooh, this is good. What year is it?”

Res plopped down on one of the chairs in front of his desk and Aislin took that as an invitation to sit as well. “See? You are a much better company than Catteline. She’s a complete snob for alcohol, unless it's the one she uses for medical purposes. It’s been a mystery to me how Avery could put up with her.” He swallowed the contents of the glass in one go. “I, for one, steer clear of her when she is in town. What did she do to you?”

When she blushed scarlet, Res gave her a look. “You looked like how I would at the end of a long day. It’s not even nine-fifteen in the morning yet and she had managed to suck all your energy out. I know she did something horrible.”

With a sigh, and feeling more than a bit ridiculous, Aislin vented out to one of the last people she thought she ever would. Res listened attentively as she described how Avery’s favorite cousin was treating her bad without making it seem like she was actually treating her bad. She told him about all the innocent smiles, the faux kindness…

To be honest, none of Catteline’s actions were new to her. Aislin even had several ladies back home that she treated as her closest friends who’ve all done practically the same thing to each other. Hell, at one point, Aislin even participated in it.

Call it karma, whatever. The point was that she shouldn’t be feeling this affected by her behavior towards Aislin.

She slumped back in her seat, already beyond the point of caring whether she was following years of ingrained princess lessons, and threw back the contents of her glass which made Res’ brows shoot up.

“Do all Unseelie females know how to drink the way you do?”

Briefly distracted, she smirked at him. “Not all Unseelie females have a cousin like Aelthrys. He said learning how to handle alcohol was also a valuable life skill I must learn.”

He lifted his empty glass up. “Hear, hear!” With a groan, he stood up, reached for the decanter, and poured them both a drink again. “But don’t worry, you don’t sound crazy. In fact, all of that is exactly like Catteline. Basically, you just described her to me.”

That made Aislin laugh. “You don’t know how that makes me feel so much better. I thought I was going crazy. Thank you.”

Res smiled, and for once, it wasn’t the half-smirk that he used so often for the purpose of luring the girls in. It was boyish and lacked the suave pretense. Genuine. It also made him look more handsome and suited him better.

She smiled back. Remembering where she was, Aislin looked around the cozy office. “I hope you aren’t working because of me,” she said. “You must be busy as the King’s Hand.”

He snorted. “I took the day off. If you haven’t noticed, the weather is not really ideal for working.”

“Then what is it ideal for?”

A wide, devilish grin spread across his lips. “I have an idea.”

***

Fifteen minutes later, Aislin was dressed in warmer clothes, wearing thick boots, gloves, and a scarf, walking out the palace with Res,  a bottle of the brandy they have been drinking earlier between them, and two pairs of skates.

“I don’t think the lake is frozen solid yet for us to skate over it,” Aislin murmured with a great deal of apprehension. “And I can’t quite believe I’m playing hooky with you when I told the King I’d be busy.”

Res rolled his eyes. “If Avery ever survives his cousin and bothers to step outside in this godforsaken weather, then I shall gladly take the fall. Okay? Come on.”

He tugged on her scarf and she batted his hand away. “But that doesn’t change the fact that the lake might still be—”

With a flick of his wrist, a gust of wind and frost swept over the Lake of Memories. There was a low groan as the water froze completely into a solid block of ice, turning the entire lake into a silvery skating rink for the both of them. He smirked at her and Aislin took the smaller pair of skates from him.

“Are you expecting me to be impressed? I knew you had powers. Took you long enough to use it,” she muttered before stalking off.

Res laughed loudly behind her and she smirked a little as she went down to the edge of the lake. She plopped into the snow and took off her boots to trade them with the skates. Soon, Res was also undoing his laces and putting his skates on.

Aislin took the bottle from him while she waited for him to finish, sipping from the bottle directly and appreciating the warmth of the liquid as it slid down her throat.

“All right,” Res sighed once he finished. “You and I are going to play a game.”

She frowned. “We’re not just going to skate?”

“There’s skating involved, don’t worry. But.” He wiggled a finger. “Just so you don’t feel guilty about not doing anything productive today —because you strike me as a Type One kind of gal— you and I will be having our tutoring session.”

Res pointed to the other side of the lake. “No tricks, no magic, no hocus pocus, you and I are going to race. If you lose, I am going to quiz you. If you get it right, I’ll drink. If you’re wrong, you drink. And when I lose, well, you can ask me anything and I’ll drink as well.”

It was Aislin’s turn to grin. “Oh, you’re on.”

They helped each other up. Res carefully screwed the cap back on the brandy before tucking it inside his thick coat. He patted it against him before turning to Aislin.

“At the count of three.”

“One… Two… Three!”

The cold wind bit the skin of her face as she zipped across the ice. She stayed low and centered, determined to make Res eat snow but despite his size and weight, he seemed to know what he was doing as well. Before they were in the middle of the lake, Aislin and Res were already neck and neck. She pushed her legs, ignoring the burn in her lungs as she breathed, but somehow Res was quicker and was not as out of shape as Aislin realized she was.

Aislin knew she’d lost before they even got to the other side.

Res whooped loudly, pumping his arms up in the air. “That is how you beat someone in the ice! Fu*ck, Aislin, you’re so slow!”

She glared at him. “Fine, you won. Give me the damn question.”

“When is my birthday?”

Her eyes widened as she stared at him open-mouthed. “What kind of a question is that? You told me this was going to be part of our lessons!”

“I’m still Seelie, aren’t I?”

“You’re not that important to be part of my education, Res.”

He grinned. “I made the rules of the game, now you have to answer.”

Aislin swore at him, making Res laugh deep within his belly. She held out a hand. “Give me the damn bottle.”

As she was taking a sip, Res said, “And just so you know, my birthday is today.”

She spat out the brandy and Res literally rolled onto the icy floor laughing.

***

After twenty or so rounds of their ridiculously educational drinking game, Aislin and Res finally dropped dead in the middle of the lake in exhaustion. Aislin lost all the time to the race and she was as drunk as a skunk by the end of it. The world and the sky spun weirdly before her, making her incredibly dizzy and stupidly goofy. Res, who’d begun drinking with her even though he was winning, was casually making snow angels beside her.

She lifted her heavy arm, flexing her fingers under the thick gloves she was wearing, and held it above her. 

“The clouds in the patina don’t move,” she murmured drunkenly, stunned by her realization.

“Hmm?”

She turned to him and pointed at the sky. “The clouds.”

“Oh.” Res frowned. “They shift, but yes. They don’t roll away like the human skies.” Then he paused. “That’s a very weird observation to make while drunk.”

Aislin shrugged, then held up the bottle she had been cradling all this time. “We are out of brandy, Res. This is bad.”

“Yes, indeed.” Aislin stiffened at the sound of that voice.

Res, who hadn’t recognized it, groused, “Hey! Where did the sun go?”

Avery sighed, kneeling between Res’ and Aislin’s heads. “What in the world did you two do? It’s only eleven in the morning and you smell like a couple of drunk sailors at a pub.”

She didn’t answer, her heart already hammering in her chest. This was a hallucination. Avery was supposed to be with her bi*tchy cousin and not here with her and Res while they had their fun. He wasn’t supposed to know she lied about work!

Res cracked open an eye and grinned. “Hey, buddy! Come to greet me a happy birthday?”

Someone sniffed very loudly. “Ugh, your breath smells so bad.”

So quickly that it gave Aislin a whiplash, the smile on Res’ face melted off. “Oh, you’re here. Please feel free to fu*ck off, Lady Catteline. Aislin and I were spending our snow day quite happily without you.”

“Res,” the King admonished. “I know it’s your birthday; you haven’t stopped reminding me the minute you realized we’d gone into December. But you got Aislin drunk and people are starting to take notice.”

That made Aislin frown. “And so what if they do notice? I’m not doing anything embarrassing to you, am I?”

He blinked. “Of course not, Aislin. I just don’t want them to see you like this.”

“What’re you saying?” Res demanded, coming to her rescue. “She’s prettier than Miss Pug Face over here!”

Catteline glowered at him. “Grow up, Res! You’re the freaking Hand of the King and you’re acting like a lunatic,” she hissed. “What’s more, you dragged the future queen of Alfheim into your ridiculousness. Avery, you better carry her up to her suite before word of this goes around.”

Aislin held up a hand as the King moved to touch her, surprising him. “Contrary to your beliefs, I can go up to my room without needing any of your help.”

It took an incredible amount of control and balance, but Aislin was able to successfully stand on her own. She’d already exchanged her skates for her boots earlier and so she continued back to the palace without having to bend over and tie her shoelaces because she was sure that would have made her vomit.

But she was proud of herself for standing tall and walking off from that conversation without doubling over. And she was sure that if Res could have held his head up without vomiting all over himself for just one second, he would have been proud of her as well.

Aislin made it all the way up the stairs and to her suite with a straight face and barely tripping over herself. But the moment she stepped foot into her room and closed the door, she let herself dry heave and moaned to Periwinkle.

“Sobering potion. Please.”