The Fae King's Ruin

The Princess, Couch Extensions, and Eyes

Some part of Aislin felt that it was illegal to be kissing Avery after being at fault in an argument. A tiny voice inside her head said she should not be enjoying the way his hands seemed more insistent when he touched her body. The way his mouth ravaged her lips with a passionate hunger that made her ache from within.

She shouldn’t, but she did.

“Aislin,” Avery murmured against the sensitive spot on her neck. 

She shivered, her heart stuttering. How was it that he could manage to make her name sound like a song out of his lips? Make it sound so filled with need and longing for her? As Aislin kissed his bare shoulder in reply, his tunic falling to the side, she decided it didn’t matter how. Not when his hand kept traveling south and the other was undoing the braids of her hair.

It would be easy, she realized, to let herself be lost in him at this moment. She could give in to her wants and lust and it wouldn’t matter anyway since they would be married in a few months’ time. No one important would bat an eye if she married him not a virgin anymore because of the position they held. 

Really, she could let Avery have his way with her right here, right now, but that little voice in her head kept whispering that she could enjoy fooling around with him all she wanted yet she would have to wait for se*x.

And she didn’t know why that caused her to freeze on the spot, but Avery noticed and he immediately backed off to look at her. He was slightly out of breath and she could see that he was a bit confused by the sudden tension that lined her expression.

“Did I—? Is there something wrong?”

Aislin shook her head, blushing profusely. “No, no. It was great. You were great.” Dammit, Aislin. What a stupid thing to say! “I just think we should stop before things escalate.”

Avery nodded, sitting back on the couch and adjusting his tunic. “That’s okay. May I ask why, though?”

She sighed, brushing her hair out with her fingers and doing everything to avoid looking into his eyes as she figured out a way to tell him that she was a virgin. And that while she believed that the practice of offering one’s virginity to their husband is antiquated and a thing of the past, Aislin thought that they should wait for it anyway.

Her cheeks ran warm as embarrassment cut through her. There was no way she could dump all that on Avery. He’d think she was insane! At the prompt of his eyebrow, however, Aislin caved and told him anyway.

His response was a soft, chaste kiss on her lips. Golden eyes twinkled up at her. “What an honor,” he murmured. “Of course, I understand, Aislin. Thank you for telling me.”

She planted her face in her hand. “This is embarrassing,” she muttered. “I was planning on faking how experienced I was on our wedding night and never letting you know.”

Avery scoffed. “How is that embarrassing? It is my job to make you feel good and comfortable on our wedding night, not the other way around.” He winked at her roguishly. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

Aislin rolled her eyes half-heartedly, pushing his shoulder. Avery chuckled then tilted his head inquisitively at her. “If you could go to anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

She frowned at him, chuckling a little at the sudden turn in the conversation. “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing really.”

Her eyes narrowed at him. Avery never really asked aimless questions but she let it pass and thought about it for a bit as she turned back to her toast that was magically kept warm and crunchy.

“A beach,” Aislin answered eventually, smiling up at him. “I’ve never been to one here in this realm since I was quite young when we moved to Mhoryga.”

“Huh. When is your birthday?”

She smirked at him. “You don’t know?”

He gave her a look. “Have you ever told any Seelie when it was?”

Well, he had a point. “I was born on the fourth of February, 1996.”

His dubious expression turned into one of shock. 

“What! Your birthday is in a month, Aislin,” he exclaimed. “When were you planning on telling me this?”

“I didn’t realize it was pertinent,” she said, blinking at him in confusion. “It’s just a birthday. Really, I was more worried you’d find me too young.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I do find you young,” Avery said a matter-of-factly. “But I’m choosing to focus on why you didn’t want me to know when your birthday was.”

“That is not true!” she gasped. “You never asked, so I never said anything.”

He pouted at her playfully. “Nevertheless, I swear I’ll throw you the biggest party our two courts have ever seen, only to be topped by our wedding.”

“You really don’t have to,” she said, trying to reason with him, but Avery only waved his hand in dismissal before he yawned widely. Aislin frowned. “You should get some sleep.”

Avery nodded, looking up at her. “Will you sleep with me?” Aislin blinked at him and he scowled. “Not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter, Princess. I meant sleep-sleep. Not se*x.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Aislin asked, biting her lip. “People will talk.”

His brows furrowed. “How? Maids only come to clean when I’m not here. The only ones who ever dare to go into my room unannounced are Res and Catt.”

“And if someone comes looking for me?” she asked. “For you?”

“The guards will know that we aren’t to be disturbed. They can take a message.” Gold eyes slanted at her. “If you don’t want to, Aislin, you can just say it. I’ll just see you for lunch.”

Aislin stopped biting on her lip and stood. She didn’t want to leave. So, sleep it is. “Alright, let’s go sleep,” she said, turning to where she knew his bedroom was. 

But Avery shook his head and pulled her back down on the couch. “Nope. Not in my room. I don’t think I’ll be able to get the image of you lying on my bed out of my head if we do that. Hold on.”

With a snap of his fingers, the couch stretched out so it resembled a small bed just enough for two people to lie down comfortably. Aislin blushed as Avery laid down and patted his bicep, wordlessly beckoning her to use his arm as a pillow. 

Her heart went on overdrive. She’d never shared a bed— or a couch, for technicality’s sake— with any male before. Never laid down with one, and it was making Aislin tense up again. With wooden motions, she took off one shoe after the other and crawled up rather clumsily next to Avery. Between his body and the backrest of the couch, there was no going anywhere for Aislin and she didn’t know how to feel about that.

When she looked down, Avery was staring up at her with barely-concealed amusement. “You look like you are a second away from running out of the room. Are you sure you want to lay here with me?”

“Shut up,” she muttered under her breath, causing him to chuckle quietly.

Then his arm wrapped around her middle. With one, fluid motion, he pulled her to him closer so their chests were flush against each other. Aislin could smell the scent of the pomegranate tea on his breath, his faint cologne emanating from his pores. She knew he hadn’t showered yet because there was no hint of the familiar scent of his green apple soap, but he smelled just as good. Rough and all male. She bit her lip. 

“Relax and get some sleep,” he murmured above her head, his voice rumbling in his chest. “You’re safe with me.”

His breathing evened out in only a matter of minutes. Eventually, the rhythmic timing of it became like a lullaby to Aislin’s ears that she found herself slipping into the restful land of dreams as well.

***

Avery woke up to the feeling of someone staring at him.

His eyes opened immediately but he didn’t move, afraid to wake Aislin who was still in his arms. He could tell there were eyes on him that were causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up but he just couldn’t determine who. The clock directly above him said he’d barely slept for three hours. Silently, he cast a soundless charm on both her ears and, with excruciating slowness, looked over his shoulder.

Catteline was sitting on the armchair at the foot of their sofa-turned-bed, casually eating the breakfast that they barely touched. Her hair was down today, and while there was no smile on her face as her green eyes glanced over him and Aislin, she looked as if everything was fine with her. And that made Avery warier than anything else. It was never a good sign when his cousin put up pretenses. 

Licking her finger stained with rhubarb jam, she nodded to Aislin. “How did you manage to do that?”

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and gently pulled himself up to a sitting position. He froze when Aislin snuggled against a pillow, ultimately breathing a sigh of relief when she settled back down and started snoring softly again.

“I asked her if she would sleep with me. Et voilá.” Avery rubbed the back of his neck. “What are you doing here creeping on us?”

Catt shrugged. “I had a few questions to ask you but the sentries outside your door said you didn’t want to be disturbed, so I wanted to see what it was about. And I haven’t eaten breakfast yet, so…” she trailed off, gesturing to herself.

 Avery resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his cousin, knowing that she was probably having a hard time. “What did you want to ask me?”

She dusted the crumbs off her hands. “How did you two make up?”

“Aislin came and apologized,” he replied simply, much to Catteline’s obvious displeasure.

“Oh, come on. No details?” She smirked. 

He shook his head. “What Ailsin and I argue about, and how we choose to resolve it, will remain to be between just the two of us.”

Propping both of her sock-clad feet up on her seat, she rolled her eyes at Avery. “I know, I know. I was just curious. But anyway, I wanted to ask if you could do me a favor.”

His eyes instantly narrowed at her. “You said you had questions. Not a favor to ask.” At her pout, he sighed. “What is it?”

Green eyes slit at him like a cat. “I want you to hide my marriage to the General from my mother. She can never know about it. That’s my only condition before I marry him.”