The Fae King's Ruin

The Princess and Some Plans

The air in the room suddenly dropped as Aelthrys turned to her. “What?”

Aislin frowned up at the ceiling. “You heard me. They want to try training me. The Queen and Avery apparently have some experience with iron manacles,” she explained and held up her manacles. “And they said that no magical being deserves to live the way I do.”

She rubbed at the skin underneath the iron bands around her wrists. The patch of skin there was lighter compared to the rest of her body and there were semi-permanent marks where the harsh edges of the manacles kept digging into her whenever she moved her hands and arms. Without looking up, she knew that Aelthrys were staring at welts, too. Aislin wondered if he was also remembering that he was the last person to put her manacles back on.

“Aislin.”

Her eyes met his. He was sitting on the low coffee table to her side, arms braced over his knees with his shoulders caved in. For a brief moment, she caught a glimpse of the weight he truly carried upon his shoulders. His already rough expression looked even more worn, the kind that she only saw on his face after a long campaign of being a General in her brother’s reign.

She didn’t realize that even this weighed heavily on Aelthrys.

“If they can figure out how you can use your powers without obliterating everything,” Aelthrys said, eyes burning with emotion, “then take it. Train. Make yourself strong. Ilyn knows I won’t be able to protect you all the time. If you want to make me regent, I’ll feel better about it once I know you can defend yourself. There’s only so much of physical maneuvers that I can teach you.”

Ignoring the way her eyes stung with tears, Aislin scowled. “What are you talking about? You will always be stuck with me.”

He smirked, yet there was sadness in his eyes. “I know.” Silence descended on them for all of a minute before Aelthrys asked, “How is the Queen?”

“She’s well, at least as far as I can tell,” Aislin answered with a shrug. “She didn’t mention you if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“I wasn’t,” he said drily. “But I’m glad I wasn’t worth mentioning. Reminding them that you’re related to me probably would not have worked in your favor.”

Aislin propped herself up on her elbow, eyeing him curiously. “Why is that? You told me you were never particularly nasty to her.”

“That’s irrelevant. Drakos still gave her to me as a prisoner. I was complicit.”

“I almost killed them all that day in the castle,” she said. “And Laurie, the Queen’s mate, told me he was happy that I was happy. I believe him since I don’t think there is a single, untruthful bone inside his human body. Perhaps you think yourself too instrumental in her captivity.”

He leveled her a look. “If I was truly decent, Aislin, I would have let her go. But I didn’t, and instead, I watched her get humiliated and debased every night. Tell me: do you think Ella’s mate would appreciate seeing my face or hearing my name after all that? Would her cousin?”

Aislin swallowed. Sometimes, it was so easy for her to forget that she was on the loser’s side of the war because she never actively or conscientiously contributed to it. But being a general of the Unseelie, Aelthrys was involved. He might not have agreed with most of his orders, but before he was a general, he was a soldier; one that was very good at following his superiors.

She tried to imagine how the members of the Council would have received Aelthrys. Drawing from her personal experience, Laurie would have been mild with him. The others would probably have ignored his presence since he’d only be there for Aislin and not as an active member. Ella might’ve been cordial with her cousin. But General Xaero?

Oh, that would have been a mighty brawl indeed. Locke Village and all its quaintness would have been history.

With a heavy sigh, Aelthrys stood, brushing off imagined dirt from the front of his black uniform, and glared at Aislin. “I have to go and try to ease Elrin’s anger before the meeting, but don’t think you won’t be doing your own share of apologies for the s**t you pulled.”

Pouting, Aislin opened her mouth to reason with Aelthrys, but he lifted a hand and shook his head. “I know whatever you said to him was probably called for, but all you did was prove to Elrin that you’re scared of fighting him when it’s just you two; that you need an audience when you make a stand. Do try and be a little more subtle next time.”

Aislin made a face but ultimately nodded in acquiescence. It embarrassed her a little that her mistakes had to be cleaned up by other people. Not that she had a habit of forgetting, but she did owe Aelthrys a lot. He never shamed her for not knowing how to deal with certain aspects of her power. Yes, he gets mad, and Aislin usually gets mad along with him, yet he never used her weaknesses against her.

With a promise that they’d have dinner later, Aelthrys left her suite and Aislin asked a passing maid if Periwinkle or the others could give her a cup of tea. The startled but eager maid was quick to follow her request because soon after, Willow was rolling in a tea service complete with finger sandwiches that made her mouth water. Periwinkle and Ola also came in, asking if she needed anything else. Aislin waved their worries away and made all three of them sit with her on the balcony to enjoy the afternoon air.

“We really mustn’t be taking a break with you, Miss.” Periwinkle shifted in her seat uneasily. “It is highly improper for us and your dress for next week’s Great Council meeting is nowhere near finished yet!”

Ola and Willow pouted at her. “Oh, do enjoy getting off of your feet for just ten minutes, Wink!” the former sighed exasperatedly, a strawberry shortcake in one hand. “Here, have one of these. They’re your favorite, right?”

Periwinkle squeaked as the shortcake landed inside her mouth, courtesy of Ola shoving it in. Aislin’s hand flew to her mouth to keep herself from laughing as the fae sputtered and coughed. Willow turned red in the face with laughter.

“Oughlah!”

She smirked at Periwinkle and shrugged. “I’m sorry but you were ruining our afternoon tea.”

Aislin reached out and patted the distressed fae’s hand. “No one will get mad at you for keeping me company when I requested it in the first place,” she assured her. “And if anyone does have a problem with it, feel free to send them my way. Got it?”

Her brown eyes softened as Periwinkle nodded, albeit reluctantly, and began to settle down. Aislin surreptitiously watched as slender fingers gripped her cup and the hardworking fae began relaxing a bit. Ola and Willow smiled conspiratorially with each other and began sharing all the recent gossip that they had picked up over the course of the morning and the noontime rush.

Apparently, some lady from a nearby fae village had been mysteriously ‘sick’ for the past two months, limiting her being seen by the other ladies of the court. When she left today, it seemed that she had gained some weight and was rather in a hurry to get back to her father’s estate. Pregnant, the others said. By whom, well, that was the mystery.

When Aislin asked who it was that started the rumors, the girls only had one answer. Apparently, any bit of gossip that went around the castle about the ladies of the Seelie court only came from one set of lips.

“I think I need to meet this Countess Edith,” Aislin mused. “She makes me curious.”

“Why, miss?” Willow asked, gasping. “She’s horrible! Begging your pardon.”

Aislin smirked, waving her apology away. “But that is what makes her so interesting to me. Why is she so rotten?” Her eyes shifted to each of the girls with a grin. “What nasty rumor is she spreading about me?”

Periwinkle resolutely shook her head. “I’m not taking part in this conversation,” she muttered.

Willow sniffed in the air. “I am. If Her Highness wants to meet Countess Edith, then she best be prepared!” Eyes shifting to Aislin, she said, “She’s been saying that it was your idea to rope the King into marrying you, miss. Says you used your Unseelie magic on him.”

Aislin chuckled, a short, loud burst that startled the girls. Her? Use magic? Surely at least half of Avery’s court recognized her iron manacles for what it was; that they did not mistake it for some odd, Unseelie fashion statement. She decided that she really wanted to meet this countess. She seemed like she had a lot of stories to tell that Aislin could make it a fun game and find out how true her accusations really were. Surely at least some of it was founded on truth.

Hopefully. 

So, despite Periwinkle’s hesitation and wariness about her plan, Aislin quickly penned a letter inviting the countess to dinner with her and her cousin and had Ola send it to her rooms before she started to prepare for an interesting evening ahead.