The Fae King's Ruin

An Exercise of Many

Early the next morning, before the sun was up and just when the palace guards were beginning their rotation, Aislin was already dragging the Lady Catteline out into the misty cold for their run. She had expected, of course, that Catteline would still be bleary with sleep and that she had no stamina or muscle to pull through a lap around the palace grounds, but she was ready to haul her a*ss through the snow for better or for worse.

Aislin realized last night, as she was about to go to bed, that Catteline’s request to learn self-defense and sword fighting was not entirely unfounded. In fact, it was a skill everyone should know since magic could only get you to so many places. For her who had lived through her adult life not being able to use those abilities, she had relied on the strength Aelthrys had instilled in her through training and it has helped her feel safer around people who could easily overpower her should they not recognize who she was and make the mistake of harming her.

It did, however, strike her as odd that Catteline would just suddenly want this out of the blue. She was afraid to ask what the catalyst was because with Catt, any answer could potentially risk the rage of not only her brothers, her cousin, to some extent, but also the King of the Seelie Fae. And if she asked and Catteline had answered but had asked her to keep it a secret, she knew in her conscience it would be impossible. 

But then again, perhaps all those males would not be left with anything after Aislin was done with whoever was the culprit.

“Come on,” she urged her, pulling the zip of the windbreaker she had been provided higher up her chin. “You aren’t going to get warm if you do not start moving.”

“But why are we jogging when it is several degrees below freezing outside! Do you Unseelie Fae not know what hypothermia is, or are you just immune?”

She tried not to be insulted. “Catt, you said you wanted me to train you, and here I am doing it. If you are not going to cooperate, you are more than welcome to go back up to your room upstairs. Since I’m awake, though, I shall be going along my workout as planned.”

Aislin turned and started down along the path that was magically heated so the snow would avoid sticking and make the pathway slippery. She did not dare glance back too. She trusted that Catteline would soon figure out that if she was actually serious about everything she had said in Avery’s office yesterday. If she wasn’t, then that sucked. If she was, then it would be a different type of suck but at least it was one that would keep her alive in a certain situation.

When she heard the heavy, thudding footsteps following behind her, though, it made Aislin smile.

For the rest of their jog, she did not acknowledge Catt except to shout out pointers on how to breathe properly while exercising, especially jogging. Even if she could push six miles an hour in her current, unfit state, she stayed back and did not leave behind too large a gap between the two of them. They jogged through the barracks where some of the palace guards cheered as they noticed who the two females were, they edged the perimeter of the gardens before cutting back down to the west wing. They circled the Lake of Memories a couple of times, the sun already peeking up on the horizon before Aislin decided it was time for a break. 

They walked (Catt practically crawled) to the Grand Hall for a bit of a water break, garnering interested looks from the other early risers from court. Catt whimpered at having to leave the platters of hash brown but followed Aislin up to the third-floor hallway where it was barely run over by people and started to do a fitness check.

While the Lady of Montfoltier was completely hopeless when it came to any kind of strength or endurance test, she was remarkably flexible and had a great balance. Quickly realizing that she would hate the routine Aelthrys had made her do before, Aislin decided that Catt could be let off easy with yoga for the day. She asked for mats or towels from her three maids who were watching them with curiosity before they were handed the exact type of mats that she was looking for.

“Oh, GODS, this feels amazing,” Catt groaned as they stretched in a downward-facing dog. “Are you sure this qualifies as exercise?”

“Yes,” she said simply. “Now, stop talking and mind your breathing.”

They were quiet for all of five seconds before Catt said, “Do you want to know how I knew your sadistic cousin trained you?”

Aislin sighed through her nose. Knowing that she would not stop if she did not answer, she replied in a completely disinterested voice, “How?”

“Remember how I said you had really nice looking calves during Res’ birthday party? Well, either you do a lot of walking or just randomly work out a certain part of your body that is exposed most of the time. Since I refused to believe any of that, I realized that you might have been subjected to go through death-defying exercises by Aelthrys,” she babbled.

“Smart,” she remarked drily before changing positions. Glancing behind her, she made sure Catt was doing it properly before saying, “And for the record, I do walk a lot. In heels.”

Another beat of silence encapsulated the two girls before Catteline broke it again by asking, “What made you think of the Proxy Clause?”

Aislin stilled completely. Controlling all of her micro-expressions, she turned to Catt and asked with confusion, “What do you mean, ‘what made me’?”

Catt dropped down slowly and sat in a criss-cross position. “Just that. No other meaning. Was it a stroke of inspiration? Divine intervention that made you come up with it?”

She pursed her lips, despite her shot nerves. “Why don’t you just ask the question you are really thinking of straight-up, Catteline?”

Green eyes twinkled as she smirked. “Okay. Are you being threatened?”

“Of course, not. Who would threaten me? And here of all places?”

“How about back home?”

Aislin shook her head. “Nothing of the sort.”

“What about my cousin?” Catteline asked with a tilt of her head in question. “Is he being targeted?”

She sighed. “I don’t know what you have heard from other people, Catteline, but no one is being targeted. No one is being threatened. I added the clause because I do not want anyone else exploiting that c***k in the Treaty’s armor. But we are doing everything we can to ensure it is airtight now.”

She watched Catt study her closely before nodding. Her eyes seemed to cloud in thought for a moment until Aislin began to stand. “Wait, what are you doing?”

Aislin raised a brow. “What do you think we are doing? We’re done. I need to shower before breakfast and I think you do too.”

Catt made a happy noise as she clapped, thrilled to have completed her first full routine. She yelled goodbye over her shoulder as she disappeared to— well, she assumed her rooms, leaving Aislin and her maids to pick up the mats. Periwinkle went off to prepare the hot water as the rest of them followed more leisurely. Before they reached the door, however, she paused, as if she had just remembered something, and turned to Ola. 

“Can you please call for General Aelthrys? I forgot I had some matters to discuss with him before breakfast with the King today and I would like to talk to him before I take a bath. Is that all right?”

“Of course, milady!” Ola curtsied and hurried down the staircase to retrieve her cousin.

Once inside the safety of her own suite, she peeled off her shoes and socks, walking around with just her slippers on, and began undoing her braids. She didn’t bother sitting, knowing that Aelthrys would be along shortly. Indeed, after just five minutes, Aelthrys had appeared, looking already freshly showered and wearing his uniform.

“Excuse us for a moment, ladies,” she told her maids.

They quietly exited the room as Aislin kept ignoring Aelthrys’ raised brow. Once they were alone, she met his silver-cored eyes.

“I think someone knows about the plot to assassinate Avery.”