The Fae King's Ruin

The King and the Perfect Moment

As dinner progressed and the atmosphere around him started to lighten back up, Avery realized how incredibly lucky he was that Aislin had enough tact than the rest of Catteline’s family combined and had not asked him just yet the question that he saw in her eyes whenever she caught Gris’ and Cal’s glares directed at her cousin.

He also had to give credit to Aelthrys, who seemed to share Aislin’s talent in keeping his tongue held in. It was awful of him for thinking in the first place that the General would be the first to address the elephant in their midst, or at the very least, react poorly to how Gris and Cal were being towards him. But Aelthrys didn’t, and he applauded him for coming out on top of the situation in the very end.

Catt, at least, had the option to occupy herself with her lucid mother, even if the latter did nitpick every single thing about her only daughter. He was actually surprised she stuck with the gown she had on earlier, but it seemed as if his Aunt Freyja was making her regret it instantly. Res, on the other hand, enjoyed everyone’s misery with thinly veiled glee, speaking and eating with extra gusto.

So, he did the next best thing and helped Aislin streamline the conversation to shallow waters. Elena chatted with them with an enthusiasm that was enough for every other member of the table, often pausing to haul her husband into the conversation every now and then. Between her and Aislin, the topic flowed from one thing to another, from Yvette, their heir and eldest daughter who wasn’t older by much from Cillian and Liam, their twin boys.

By the time the dessert course had been served, he got ready to stand up and winked at Aislin’s panicked expression as he did. With a knife, he made it clink with his wine glass and grinned as the murmurs of conversation around them quieted down to look at him.

“Friends, family, and beloved guests.” His voice echoed throughout the hall. “Let me first thank you for coming to celebrate with Princess Aislin and me during this joyous moment in our lives and in the histories of both the Unseelie and Seelie courts, but mostly, I want to thank the Princess.”

He looked at Aislin, smiling at her softly as he raised his glass in honor of her. “Without you and your selflessness, your love for your people, and the burning hope that you carry for everyone’s future, none of this would have been possible.” He smirked. “I might probably still be getting married, but that would have been to General Aelthrys instead of the very lovely you.”

The crowd tittered with laughter. Aislin giggled along, elbowing her cousin who merely rolled his eyes good-naturedly. Avery waited for the laughing to die down before he continued.

“Aislin,” he breathed. “I plan to honor you and the sacrifice you are making by marrying me every single second of my life. Here’s to you, my bride and future queen.”

Res, Aelthrys, Catt, and her brothers stood to raise their glass towards Aislin. The rest of the room stood along with them, saluting Aislin as well with their drink. He saw tears pool in those wide, midnight-blue eyes despite the wide grin that threatened to split her beautiful face into two. She put a hand over her heart, a silent gesture of thanks. He drank from his glass and winked at her again at the top of the rim before sitting down and kissing her cheek.

“You are so full of surprises,” Aislin sniffled, chuckling breathily.

Avery smirked. “Wait until later,” he said, watching her brows pull together in confusion. “And you are not allowed to ask.”

She rolled her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder briefly before Res stood up, wiped the brownie crumbs off the corners of his mouth, and clapped his hands loudly. 

“All right, everybody! Is this a party or not?” he shouted, rounding the table to pull some Seelie fae lady from the other table to her feet. “Dancing and more drinks back in the ballroom. Let’s get this party started!”

Everyone laughed, some even let out a few hoots of encouragement. Avery only grinned and wagged his eyebrows at Aislin, offering his hand to her. Shaking her head, she took it and Avery helped her up.

As the guests all piled out of the dining hall and to the ballroom, Aelthrys and the others stood, too. While Gris took his wife’s waist, Cal was left to escort his mother, leaving Catteline and Aelthrys to stare at each other, clearly not knowing what to do.

The Montfoltier matriarch frowned at him. “General Aelthrys, aren’t you going to offer your arm to my daughter? I assure you, despite her lack of manners, which I totally attribute to her father, she’s a prolific dancer.”

Silently, Aelthrys turned his head towards the aforementioned daughter. “May I escort you, Lady Catteline?” he asked politely, offering his arm up for her to take.

Catteline’s green eyes narrowed at her mother, who only smiled expectantly at her. Meanwhile, Gris and Cal seemed to be having a hard time deciding whom they should glare at: Aelthrys or their sister. When she lifted her hand and set it on Aelthrys’ arm, however, they managed to do both at the same time.

His own fiancée, on the other hand, breathed a subtle sigh of relief. He patted her hand and led her to the doors. Once out of earshot, he muttered to her, “Aunt Freyja doesn’t know.”

She frowned up at him. “What does she not know?”

“About the proxy clause and the marriage,” he quickly said. “It was Catteline’s only condition. But her brothers know and they are helping her keep their mother in the dark.”

He yelped when Aislin pulled him aside with a concerned expression warping the happy smile she just had on. “What do you mean your aunt doesn’t know? How in the world are you all going to keep her marriage to my cousin a secret from her?”

Gods, he shouldn’t have opened his mouth. He could have told her later but he also could not risk Aislin letting it slip to his aunt. Cal had already agreed to keep an eye on his mother and to divert her attention should anyone who knew of the situation bothered to bring it up. But he had a rather acute feeling that at one point or another during the course of the night, his Aunt Freyja would manage to wrestle his fiancée into speaking privately with her.

“Look,” he said. “Aunt Freyja has been in the process of fading. That comes with staring most of the time in space and looking at photo albums of my uncle for days on end. Three days ago was the first time she had been lucid in a long time, and apparently, this is her longest one too.”

He blinked at Aislin’s hiss of disapproval. “And all of you are banking on the poor old female’s lack of coherence so you can lie to her? Avery, she doesn’t deserve this, no matter how much you all think you’re protecting her.”

“I know she doesn’t, but unless we find another way around the proxy clause, Catteline’s condition stands.” He swiped a hand over his face and offered her his hand again. “We can discuss this more later. Not here at our engagement party.”

“Then why tell me now?”

“It’s just better if you did,” he said. “Aelthrys doesn’t know yet either, so you might have to be the one to tell him.”

She pursed her lips but nodded all the same. Feeling more than a little guilty, he tipped her chin up with a finger underneath it and kissed her chastely. Her eyelids fluttered shut, her long, pale lashes almost brushing against his cheeks, before they both pulled away reluctantly.

He grinned at her. “Am I forgiven?”

Aislin bit her lip, giggling. “That depends. You want to dance with me?”

Avery tugged on her hand and pulled her closer to him. With her back to the large window bathing her in moonlight and the music from the ballroom floating up to them, he started to sway her on the spot, humming the notes to himself as Aislin blushed pink.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

He peered at her curiously. “You asked me if I wanted to dance,” he replied, not understanding her question.

She rolled her eyes and a curled lock of hair fell to the side of her face. “Yes, I did, but I meant INSIDE, Avery. With our guests.”

Looking over his shoulder to where the party was in full swing, commandeered by his friend who was growing steadily drunker by the minute, he shrugged and turned to Aislin.

“We can go in there in a minute,” he murmured, snuggling up to Aislin’s small frame. “Just let me have this small window of time where nobody is looking for us, nobody needs us, and we can dance like this with no one judging us about how we look like uncultured, uneducated dancers.”

Twirling her around, he laughed with Aislin as she did, pulling her back to him and dipping her low. He kissed the tip of her nose before righting themselves and continuing their slow rocking from side to side.

In his arms, Aislin sighed, nodding. “You were right. We can have this minute to ourselves.”

At the top of her head, he grinned. “Glad you’re catching on, dear.”

She giggled again and Avery felt an immense sense of accomplishment that she had been laughing so much tonight. He truly meant what he said in his speech. He would honor her just like how his father honored his mother, maybe even more, just for the mere fact that despite the relationship they had right now, it would not have been possible at all if she had not agreed to bind the Treaty with their marriage.

Aislin could have had anyone she wanted in terms of a partner, but she chose to marry him despite being in the position to refuse and take the easier road. Looking back now, that moment had been perhaps the point in time where he started falling in love with her.

But he wouldn’t tell her now, even if the moment felt right and the opportunity to say that he loved her was perfect. He didn’t want to scare her away with a big admittance of his feelings.

“You’re wrong, you know,” he heard her murmur, her head leaning against his chest.

He smiled. “About what?”

She pulled back, pinning him to his spot with those guileless eyes. “Marrying you is not a sacrifice on my part,” Aislin said, her voice slightly wavering with emotion. “It was the right choice— the best one I have ever made.”

Avery’s heart thudded painfully against his ribcage. Searching her eyes, he asked, “And you don’t regret it?”

She shook her head, a tiny motion that made his very soul sing. “Not even a little bit.”

The moment was perfect. He should have said it now. But as he ducked his head to kiss her and say the words, quick, light footsteps echoed against the diamond floor. They turned to see Catteline making a beeline for them with a semi-pissed-off face with General Aelthrys trailing close behind, albeit at a much lazier pace.

“What are you two kids doing here canoodling?” his cousin hissed. “They’re about to cut the cake!”

He rolled his eyes. “Slow down. They can’t very well do it without us.”

“Yes,” Catt spat, “and when you two went missing, whispers started circulating that you’re having s*x. So, get in there and smile with even breathing!”

“All right, Catteline, calm down,” Aislin said, patting her shoulder as they walked past her.

Muttering under her breath, Catteline went on ahead of them, hauling Aelthrys by the sleeves after just barely reaching them, frowning at the blonde. Avery shook his head.

“The two of them are a bad idea together,” he muttered.

Aislin smiled. “I don’t know about that. I rather think that if they found a way to make whatever is ahead of them work, they’d come out as a formidable team.”

He chuckled. “You are full of ideas. Come on, dear. Let’s eat cake.”