The Fae King's Ruin

The General

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

Aelthrys stilled for just a fraction of a moment before sitting down and calmly regarding his cousin. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?” he suggested, mildly interested to know what had happened.

By the looks of her, she seemed to have finally woken up from whatever stupor she was in after coming to Alfheim and was now going back to the old morning routine he had made her adopt for fitness all those years before. While he assessed her, Aelthrys listened to his cousin’s story, starting from how Lady Catteline had approached her to teach her defense up until her thinly-veiled attempt at questioning Aislin five minutes ago.

While it was a possibility that people not from their court would hear whispers of a plot— imagined or otherwise— threatening the life of the Fae King, it was not a cause for alarm bells to go off in his head. The way he saw it, this was a simple situation, not even worthy to prepare for, as there was nothing but hearsay mentioned in Aislin’s story, even if they kind of did hit the nail on the head. Besides, these speculations have been around since news of Aislin’s dumb clause had started leaking out. She just had not been around the real members of the Seelie Court that much to actually hear the gossip from the ground as he did.

But he was interested to know where Lady Catteline had heard the rumor. He did not think that she was the kind of person who would be interested in actively sniffing out political speculations. If he had to hedge a bet, though, his money would be on either one of her brothers.

“Aelthrys, have you been listening to me?” Aislin hissed, the ends of her hair sparking with electricity without her noticing. “Why are you not more concerned by this?”

He held up a finger. “Firstly, calm down,” he drawled. “I do not want to deal with another burst of the power slipping past your irons because you are too upset. Second.” He held up another finger. “I am not concerned because there is no need for concern. Got it?”

Aislin looked at him with an expression Aelthrys decided made her appear incredibly dumb. “Did you not hear a word I just said literally a minute ago?”

“Oh, cousin.” He sighed. “Honestly, no bomb in the world can ever drown out your incessant voice when you get going.”

He saw her kick his shin from a mile away. Aelthrys shifted his feet two inches wider and smirked as she hissed in pain. “Dammit!” she cried.

“Sit down and I will tell you why I’m not scared about what you just told me.”

“I don’t want to,” she muttered. “You are an ass*hole.”

“Fine, have it your way and keep hopping around.”

Like a petulant child, Aislin hobbled over to a seat and inspected her foot before glaring at him with the full force of those deep blue eyes. “Spill.”

He smiled. “That rumor has been going around for a long time now, ever since the Proxy Clause has been leaked to the public. The way you did it so suddenly, you had to expect that people will jump to conclusions. And that sometimes, when they do, they stumble onto the right one.” He clapped his hands together. “So, as long as you feed whatever bull*s**t you fed the King to anyone who might ask, you’re good.”

She scowled at him, blushing an angry red. “What is happening on that front? You have not told me anything yet.”

“That is because there is nothing to say about it, Aislin. In fact, you singlehandedly put a stall on their plans. They are rethinking everything since you blindsided them all,” he said with a mean little smirk. “But that comes with the blame being pinned on me. They think I knew of your plans and they were angry I did not try and talk you out of it. The only reason that I convinced our dear Uncle Elrin and the others that I was not aware of your plans was because of how I acted that day. So, thanks for actually not blowing my cover.”

He played it off as best as he could, not letting Aislin see exactly just how thankful he was that she did not tell him of the clause before the Great Council Meeting. Lord Elrin had been beside himself, erupting in fits of homi*cidal rage during the meeting that succeeded Aislin’s proposal. Aelthrys had to keep a seal of soundproof air around him as he ranted loudly about how his niece had just fu*cked him over. He had to act livid too, which was not so hard to do since Lady Catteline was a fountain wherein his anger and irritation grew abundant by just thinking of her, but his position within the circle of scheming old toads was threatened at least for that short bit of time.

While it was not hard to find his way back into their good graces— he was still general, after all, and it was obvious to anybody with two eyes that Aislin still trusted him explicitly— he somehow wished that her reasons for creating the proposal she did were… well, nonexistent.

Aelthrys was not thrilled with the idea that Aislin fancied herself in love with the Seelie King. They were still living in dangerous times and he knew that in the world Aislin was part of, emotions were always the very last to be considered in any decision. Or at least that was how he viewed it. He was not about to go around dictating what she could and couldn’t do, however, nor would Aislin feel his disapproval regarding the relationship she was forming with Avery.

He loved his cousin. Aislin was practically his sister. He was a lot of things, but he safeguarded her happiness because it was the most important thing in his world.

“Are you free this morning?” she asked, looking uncomfortable with the sweat that still clung to her. “After breakfast with Avery? I need to catch you up on a lot of things.”

“I am,” he said, already making a mental note to reschedule the sparring session he had set with one of the guards he had been training with. “What time should I be here?”

“Uh, ten is fine. We can have lunch as well.”

Aelthrys nodded. “That sounds good. I’ll leave you to bathe now. You kind of stink.”

“Jerk.”

He threw her a smirk over his shoulder. “Always,” he said, before proceeding to exit the room. He had a Lady Catteline to locate and a letter to pen, and the sooner he got to finishing the two tasks, the better for his peace of mind.