The Fae King's Ruin

The King Who Escapes

When that meeting ended, all Avery could think about was her.

No, he was not infatuated. He just did not expect that the princess would be so… What’s the word—feisty? Vocal? Avery could not put a pin on it. He expected her to just sit there and let the Great Council of the Fae be run as it was, keeping quiet like how he was told females of the Unseelie Court were brought up to be. 

He could not imagine that Drakos, her deceased brother, was a supporter of empowering female voices to be heard when he was alive. For fu*ck’s sake, he paraded the fu*cking Queen of All Magic in nothing but see-through dresses while she was a captive in their realm.

Nonetheless, Avery was pleasantly surprised. He was not lying when he said that he wanted this alliance to work. The people deserved peace—both of theirs—after the hell which they experienced. If anything, he felt relieved that Princess Aislin was participating, obviously unafraid to be seen or heard. He wanted to believe that she also wanted this treaty to work just as much as he did, if not more.

Resyvlo handed him a glass of wine, raising a brow when he declined. They were back in his parlor, jackets already discarded after the grueling three hours that followed after the princess’s speech. They had a lot to mete out in such a short time, especially when everyone was trying to find new common ground to lay the foundations of the Great Court. It was exhausting, to say the least, and none of it was done—his day nor the 

Avery gave his friend a pointed look. “I have a meeting with the Council of Magic in half an hour,” he said. “I don’t want to be inebriated for that.”

“Why not?” Res said with a snort, sprawling across an armchair without his wine spilling; a natural talent of his. “They’ll just keep asking about the developments of the Treaty and what we plan to do with the Unseelie Realm, whatever it was called.”

“Mhoryga,” he reminded him gently. Res waved his hand dismissively.

“Yeah, that. Didn’t the Mistress want to do exactly just as Drakos did? To relocate every magical being to a realm where there are no humans to discover us? Does she not want Mhoryga for herself?”

Avery had already considered that. Ella’s desire for the move stemmed from such a painful and dark place in her life. As queen, she felt responsible for everyone else’s lives now and felt as if simply coexisting in secret with the humans was now not enough. Mhoryga was the solution to her problem but Avery was already prepared to fight for the realm that was rightfully for the Unseelie Fae.

He shook his head. “She might, but I am quite certain that she’ll leave that realm alone if I asked. Besides, she doesn’t have very fond memories of that place. Laurie, too.”

Res smiled, a wistful one that might have been brought one by equal parts reminiscing and intoxication. “A human mate,” he whispered. “Can you believe that the Cosmos would be so unpredictable as to give her a human mate?”

Avery chuckled, knowing it was true but also knowing that Lorenzo Smith was Ella’s perfect match in every way conceivable because the Cosmos made sure of it. And even if they weren’t, any person who would see them would never doubt the love and devotion they had for each other. He’d already seen it firsthand, during that entire month Ella had been held captive. Laurie had been inconsolable, yes, but he also assumed the role that would have been expected of him anyway as the Queen’s mate.

He led sieges, planned relocations for people who aren’t even close to being his own species, and he fought as hard as any of them to get their queen back. If he wasn’t her mate, then he at the very least deserved to be with her.

Avery stood and walked to a large window, watching the village beyond the lake. “Yes, well, it seems like a whole lot of things are changing now,” he muttered, and then said to Res, “What do you think of the Princess?”

Res frowned in contemplation. “She’s got spunk, that’s for sure. Not at all like the meek little thing you made her out to be.”

He had to agree because the Princess’s attitude surprised him as well. To be quite honest, even if he did not see the princess until today, he’d been asking her maids about what she did every day and how they were being treated by her. He knew from them that Princess Aislin had only ever asked only for one thing outside of her basic needs: a journal and a pen.

When the request was made known to him, he’d given the maids one of his leather-bound notebooks that he always kept handy on his personal shelf, all the while thinking that either she was bored and desperate enough to ask for such a thing, or that Princess Aislin did not need much to be happy.

“I wonder how she was treated by her own people,” Res mused aloud, swinging his dangling foot up and down. “Growing up as a female, regardless of noble birth, must be difficult in the Unseelie fae.”

“Drakos was protective of his sister,” Avery said. “Although as I think about it now, he might have been that way because his sister possessed such a huge amount of power.”

“Well, fu*ck,” Res swore, eyes wide. “That isn’t any better!”

He nodded, agreeing with him completely. He did not know many Unseelie faes but they are known by many to be ruthless people. And although Avery’s own people were not exactly blameless in deepening the enmity between their two courts, they caused so much destruction and discord that the Seelie fae had no choice but to wage war against them. As a result, the Unseelie had been diminished both in numbers and stature.

It was why Avery had granted pardon to both Aislin and Aelthrys. He needed fae from the Unseelie Court who could show him just a tiny bit of hope for the future he wanted to build.

It was why he could not get Aislin out of his head.

“How about you?”

Avery narrowed his eyes at Res. “What?”

“What do you think of the Princess, Avery?”

It might have been because they both knew each other so well, but Avery could see that he was holding in a smirk. His expression was far too innocent for it to be real which made Avery very suspicious indeed. 

He cleared his throat, desperately trying to calm the golden blush that he knew was creeping up his neck. Res’ face broke out into a full-blown grin.

“Shut up,” Avery said, scowling.

“I didn’t say anything! You, however, have very telling expressions,” Res sang, sitting up. “So, as your Hand and closest friend, you should start being honest with me.”

“There is nothing to be honest about!”

“Then why are you blushing like a gods-damned schoolgirl?”

“I’m not blushing!”

Res nodded along. “Uh-huh, tell that to your golden face, Your Majesty. Come on! Spill your guts. I have never seen you act this way since we were, well, sixteen.”

His scowl deepened as Res pushed and prodded. The last thing he wanted was to give his friend—or anyone else for that matter—any cause to tease him endlessly about Aislin. Some things were better left unopened, and given that the only relationship that mattered to him concerning the princess was entirely political… Well, he did not really want to open that can of worms, nor entertain the possibility.

The Great Council was his priority at the moment. Avery was young and there was no need to hurry in that department. Or at least that was what he felt. His Cabinet members probably felt differently. 

He shook his head as he searched for the right, noncondemning words to say. “I don’t know the princess enough to make a judgment about her character, Res,” Avery said, giving his friend a pointed look. “And though I would like to get to know her, it would be at a professional, working level, you douche.”

Avery picked up his jacket and shrugged it on. “I hopefully won’t be gone long. Try and keep yourself sober for as long as you are temporarily in charge, Res.”

“Copy that,” Res said, saluting him and putting down his half-finished wine on the table. “Say hi to the queen for me.”

He exited his suite and made a hurried, but dignified, exit from the castle. He nodded to the nobles and aristocrats who were part of his court, not stopping to exchange pleasantries. He had found out early on in his reign that if he gave his courtiers an inch, everyone would descend on him like vultures to carrion. So, whenever he was in a hurry, he made sure to be swift and nimble on his feet as he dodged and outmaneuvered all the lords and ladies residing in the Diamond Palace.

With every step he took farther from the magnificent crystalline structure that he’d called home ever since he was born in it, Avery felt his shoulders slacken, the tension in his neck dissipating, and his chest feeling like it had not breathed freely until this moment. Until he was near the Lake of Memories and the tall trees that hugged them, marking the original line of the patina, the protective barrier that kept Alfheim hidden from humans.

Now, Alfheim was peaceful. The hills were lush and healthy; the villages were thriving, but it wasn’t like this a couple months ago. Their lands were one of the territories hit badly by the war against the Fallen and Unseelie. 

They were fortunate enough that all physical scars of the battle held here were almost gone, but their loss was more profound than that. Avery still thought of his father often, mostly during the times when an executive decision must be made and he wished he had him to guide Avery. 

He also wondered if the late King Lachlan would have approved of whatever the hell it was Avery was doing with the Great Council. While his father had been a just male, Avery had recollections of his father grousing about how the small-scale attacks of the Unseelie Fae against the Seelie villages outside Alfheim were giving him a headache. 

As soon as Avery got on the bridge, he drew out a portal that would take him directly to the small witching village in Salem. Locke Village had been their headquarters since the start of the war, preferring it over the excessively formal and magically complex Keep where they held their Conclaves.

The villagers barely gave Avery any pause, already so used to people coming and going all the time. But the guards stationed along the perimeter of the western wall of the village recognized him, bowing as Avery walked past.

He made his way to the two-story building that stood over most of the structures in the village. Avery immediately spotted a tall, raven-haired, red-eyed vampire at the entrance, his cloak of crimson red making him look like, in his honest opinion, a cheap magician at a children’s party.

“Avery,” the Vampire King greeted, his fangs peeking through as he spoke. “Still in one piece, I see.”

He rolled his eyes. “The confidence you have in my diplomacy skills warm my heart, Caeldon.”

They both entered the building and walked up the stairs, Caeldon’s silent chuckles echoing in the tight space. “Forgive me,” he said, his voice just barely above a whisper so Avery had to strain his ears to hear him. “But you were not so confident in the whole ordeal when you revealed your plan to the Council last week.”

Avery sighed. It was true that when he told the Council that he was arranging for the Great Council’s arrangement now, he was very anxious about how it would be received. Normally, he didn’t have to present local policies to everyone else, but since the implications of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts uniting under one banner reached far and wide, Avery had to do it.

While the presentation had gone well, the whole Council had noticed how pale he was as he talked. 

“Yeah, well, it’s a different week, Caeldon,” he snapped. “Get over it.”

The vampire laughed harder. Just then, a red-haired, lavishly dressed merqueen appeared at the top of the stairs, her webbed hands on both of her hips, her red lips smirking at the pair of males below her. 

“It is a cold day in hell indeed whenever Caeldon laughs,” the Queen of the Merfolk remarked. 

Avery climbed the last of the steps and kissed the female on her cheek. “Hello, Meridian,” he greeted. “You look threatening as always.”

The fierce warrior-queen grinned, showing all her slightly pointed teeth. “And that’s why you’re my favorite,” she declared, linking arms with him. 

Behind them, Caeldon sighed and shook his head, following the two into the meeting chamber. Avery grinned over his shoulder.

He had only been on the Council for a short while, substituting for his father when he fell sick, but Caeldon had been his instant ally and close friend on the Council. Avery was there, helping the day the vampire capital Nightfall was attacked. Similarly, Caeldon was there to help attempt to rescue Avery’s father in Alcalia. And when his father died, Caeldon was there to help him through the loss. 

Meridian and his’ friendship, on the other hand, was just one of those things that you never know how it started. The war showed an ally in her and Avery didn’t bother questioning it at the time, nor in the foreseeable.

But the trio paused as they entered the room, looking towards the wide, balcony window where two people stood, in a loose, casual embrace with private smiles on their faces.

One, so obviously human in appearance, whose face was in mid-laughter, looked at them with bright gray eyes. He had cropped, brown hair in the light and was taller than the average human. When Avery had met him before, he was all scrawny, gangly teenager. But now, due to the regular training he kept up with the General of the Queen of Magic, he had filled out and looked as much of a warrior as the rest of them. 

In his arms he held a small female with hair as black as the night, falling pin straight down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were the most vibrant shade of amethyst there was, sparkling back at them as she smiled softly. Her cheeks were tinted with pink as she glanced down at their entwined, golden marked arms: the mark of the mating band.

Avery, along with Caeldon and Meridian, bowed as Ella, the Queen of All Magic, and her mate Lorenzo, acknowledged their presence.