The Fae King's Ruin

The King and What Was Enough

The next day, whatever calm Aislin and Avery had achieved after their argument was shattered by a barrage of responsibilities they had to attend to after spending most of yesterday recovering from the amount of food they ate at Mama Grite’s. While Aislin had been swept away by the preparations for New Year’s Eve and their engagement party in three days, Avery had to take care of the usual demands created by the influx of nobles that had come to stay for the holiday festivities.

Alfheim was an open city once again and with that sense of security came a slow return to normal function in society. Except now, that society was beginning to include Unseelie presence. He was happy that Aislin had felt comfortable enough to invite friends and acquaintances of her own but maintaining portals as they all arrived in their lavish carriages was starting to feel like a nightmare.

First of all, the witches and wizards he had hired for the specific task were not all that very understanding of the truce his people had found with them. They were all there during the siege of Mhoryga, had assembled to release Ella from the clutches of the last Unseelie King. They couldn’t grasp how quickly Avery and the others had adapted to their once enemies' presence coming to Alfheim in droves.

But everything was coming together as well as he could have hoped. While there was still a visible divide between members of the two courts, Aelthrys and the other delegates of the Unseelie fae in the Great Council had begun setting themselves as examples for their brethren on how to interact and socialize with Seelie faes. 

Even Catteline had made herself useful. The cold and quiet alliance she and Aelthrys had developed at Mama Grite’s was still thankfully in full effect. The General had introduced Avery’s cousin to Aislin’s friends, all of whom she proceeded to entertain with a full-on shopping spree courtesy of the crown.

How far that set him back, he didn’t know and was even afraid to ask it.

The day before their engagement, Avery had finally formally met with the members of Aislin’s Cabinet. Of course, he knew some of them seeing as they were also members of the Great Council, but some were new appointees that have yet to actually acquaint themselves with their Princess.

It was also the first time he’d seen Aislin outside of their usual breakfasts in three days and Avery couldn’t help but let her kn0w in small ways how much he missed her.

Whenever he could, his fingers would graze her palm, or she would stand closer as Aislin introduced him to various people. It was a push and pull that left him longing to just take her into his arms and have her permanently stay by his side. Controlling himself, Avery found disappointedly, was harder when it concerned the Princess, and while that should have embarrassed him and have him working harder, her could not help but give in every now and then. Plus, the chastising look Aislin gives him whenever he was misbehaving was cute. 

However, it seemed as if the Princess did not share this playfulness and basically ratted him out to Res, who was the only person in the castle with enough authority to knock some sense in him.

After the breakfast they had the morning of their engagement party— and after Aislin mysteriously winked at him before Res’ face had slammed his door shut— his Hand and best friend had smacked him upside the head and began an entire morning’s worth of lecture on how he should not be acting like a lovesick puppy in front of nobles he’d only known for all of ten minutes.

As punishment, he wasn’t allowed to see or even escort Aislin to the engagement party later that night.

“You can’t do that!” Avery shouted after Res as the bastard leisurely walked away from him.

To which he smirked and said in reply, “Watch me.”

Which was why he was now standing in the middle of some of his father’s friends, bored and idly listening to their polite chatter while waiting for Aislin to show up.

He spied a head of gold the same shade as his weaving her way across the other side of the ballroom, green eyes shining underneath the chandelier lights while the spritely figure of his cousin basked in the attention she was receiving with her very provocative emerald dress that silhouetted her entire body underneath.

Politely excusing himself from the present company, he kept his eyes on the blonde and promptly found her by the buffet table of hors d’oeuvres, shimmying her fingers as they hovered over the tiny morsels.

“Hello, cousin, you look dashing with that red sash,” Catteline greeted him without turning. “Let me guess: Unseelie tradition you’re trying to adapt?”

He frowned at the sash he had requested and put on above his open,  black-and-gold embroidered suit. While the black collar he had on was a bit stiff for his liking, everything else but the sash was Seelie in design and nature. Avery shrugged.

“Aislin and Aelthrys wore sashes the day we announced we agreed to get married,” he said to her, remembering that day with perfect clarity. “They said Unseelie do it to signify they are rejoicing with the ruling family.”

“Huh,” Catt hummed, before choosing a crab rangoon and placing it on a napkin. For once, her green eyes were not in narrow slits when she looked up at him. Instead, they were amused and inquisitive. “I must say, cousin, seeing you so enamored with your fiancée is a novel experience.”

Avery smiled. “Speaking of novel experiences,” he drawled, looking past her shoulder. “You probably should not have worn something so revealing. Your brothers are currently fast approaching.”

Catt stiffened. “You invited them?” she hissed.

He raised a brow. “They are my cousins too, you know?”

She shoved the napkin containing the crab-stuffed wontons in his hand and, without a word, gathered her skirts and quickly dashed away just as Grishan and Calix finally reached him.

Whereas Catteline could have been his older sister in looks, her two older brothers took after their mother. With honey-colored hair and bluish gray eyes, high cheekbones, and angular features, Gris and Cal looked more like twins than anything. The glint in their eyes was the only way Avery could tell the two apart. Gris’ wisdom and sternness differentiated him from Cal’s look of eternal drakeness. It sometimes astounded him how close the two were despite being polar opposites in personality. Instead, that made them more formidable as a pair.

Now serving as the Duke of Montfoltier after his father, Gris had put his cunning, younger brother in charge of Montfoltier’s militia and now protects the entire Seelie settlement under their patina.

Gris’ eyes narrowed at the spot their youngest sibling had just been while Avery smiled brighter at the two. He gripped the sword hanging around his waist, his silver coat embroidered with the falcon that was their coat of arms. Beside him, Cal’s focus was slightly derailed by the sight of food on the table. 

“Ooh, you just missed Catt,” he said, pouting. “I’m glad you two could come, though. Is Aunt Freyja with you?”

Gris and Cal bowed their heads. “She’s holding court in the corner,” replied Gris with a small smile. “Today is a good day for her. We are glad we made the trip.”

“And your wife and little heirs?” Avery scanned the room. “I don’t see them anywhere.”

“Their mother is upstairs putting them to bed for the moment,” he explained, glaring at Cal, who held up his hands.

“You and Elizabeth kept going on and on about the kids needing their rest so they wouldn’t be cranky. And it was just one drop of sleeping potion in their feeding bottle. It won’t kill them.”

Gris shook his head as Avery blinked at Cal. He sent him a serious look. “Piece of advice, when it’s your time to have heirs, get round-the-clock nannies so fools like my brother can’t get to them. Also, no lead paint on their cribs. Cal had one when he was a baby.” Then he looked around. “Where’s your betrothed? With all the things Catt has written about you two, I assumed you’d be on her like a leech.”

Avery groaned, silently muttering a curse and promising that he’d feed his cousin to the wolves the first chance he gets. He studied the smirk on both of their faces. “What, exactly, did Catt say?” he ground out.

“Not important,” Cal said airily. But we do believe the five of us need to talk.”

“Five?”

The line that mashed Gris’ mouth together in a thin line made him sweat a little. “She told us about the plans you have to marry her off,” Gris muttered so quietly it was almost impossible to hear him over the sound of the string quartet. But he did and he wished Catt was here right now so he could strangle her.

He sighed. “Look, this is not how I intended for you to know any of this. I—”

“Presenting!” The footman bellowed. “The Princess Aislin of Cetha, Crown Princess of the Unseelie Fae.”

Aislin stepped into view, her smiling face bright and lovely. Her cream-colored cheeks were flushed with a lovely blush, her hair of starlight in an intricate braid atop her head, nestling her crown. Her black ballgown, Avery realized, matched his completely, even down to the tiniest embroidering on her corset and full skirts.

He might have left Gris and Cal without so much as a goodbye, shoving their sister’s forgotten food in their hands, but he did not care. He pushed his way through the crowd, his golden stare of awe only on Aislin. The moment people started noticing who he was and who he was trying to get to, they parted like the sea. Midnight blue eyes settled on him, and his entire world stopped spinning.

As clichè as it sounded, everything else faded and he finally understood how mortals felt when they witness even just a sliver of the odd phenomenon they call a miracle. There was a moment of clarity. A moment of emptiness in his head. But there was also awe.

Overwhelming awe seized his chest with raw emotion.

His hand shook when he offered it to her but Aislin did not even hesitate as she placed her left hand in his, squeezing his fingers with reassurance.

And that was when he knew that he wasn’t simply enamored by Aislin. He did not just care for her as he should care for a female that he was betrothed to. Avery loved her, and the truth of it had been hiding in plain sight all along.

So, despite his resolve and command from Res to control himself, he did the only thing that made sense at the moment and pulled Aislin close. He only paused for a second to peek deeper into her eyes and saw something close to what he felt for her being reflected back to him. It was good enough.

When their lips touched, when he and Aislin were surrounded by applause and joyful cheering, he threw his old reservations aside and promised himself his love would be enough for the both of them. Until Aislin finally caught up. He’d be enough for the both of them.