The Fae King's Ruin

Cold Shower Needed

The very next day, Catteline opened her eyes with a headache that radiated in between her brows and radiated all over her body.

How that was possible, she did not know. But it did, and it hurt. Bad.

However, she did find that she did not have to suffer long. Some genius, Ilyn-sent individual had left a vial of hangover potion on her nightstand. There was no note, which meant one of the maids here, or one of Aislin’s angels had left it for her. She made a mental note to ask and thank one of them later, but for now, she needed the cure.

It was a bit bittersweet, but its effects were instant. Almost immediately, her headache cleared and the heavy feeling that weighed down her limbs lifted off of her.

She sighed. Last night had been, in a word, magnificent. She had fully expected things to happen differently but she enjoyed herself immensely. A part of Catteline knew that General Aelthrys played and major role in it. She was willing to bet her small fortune that no one had bothered her all night in the way that nasty lady bothered Princess Aislin because he had been practically glued to her side.

He scowled at the people dumb enough to give her a second look, he danced with her all throughout, fetched her wine and punch…

She shook her head in disbelief. Had she been dreaming all along? That they only somehow had a quiet night and she had gotten a little liberal with the wine. Gods, she can’t even remember how she got to her room!

“Are you okay?”

Catteline sat up quickly, wrapping the covers around her as General Aelthrys walked into view. She quickly scanned the room and saw that it was a very navy blue and not the very blossoming pink that Princess Aislin had decorated her suite with.

“Oh, gods,” she gasped in profound horror. “What has happened? Why am I not in my room?”

He snorted, crossing his arms and suddenly realizing that he was naked from the waist up. Her sleep-addled mind had somehow stopped working the moment she saw the sweat running down his biceps. Unexpectedly, she felt her throat dry up.

“You, Lady Montfoltier, are in my room because you insisted to be in my room,” he drawled. “Do you think you just woke up here by accident?”

Her eyes widened. “No, I think I ended up here because you took advantage of me!” she screamed. “Why did no one stop me from coming here, if that was the case? Surely Avery would have—”

General Aelthrys’ derisive laughter cut her off. “Avery was drunker than you, and Aislin, the only other person who cared about you in there, was drunker than he was. It is a good thing you were left with me because Resyvlo would have definitely left you for dead on the stairs before he would lift a finger to carry you up to three flights of stairs.”

She blinked at him, unable to believe that she had actually begged the General to take her here to his room. Slowly, hesitantly, she looked down at herself and sagged with relief as she saw that she was fully clothed and not at all naked as she had imagined. Then, the bed caught her attention.

“Wait, if I slept here in your room, did you sleep in mine?” she asked confusedly.

“And get blamed if you choked on your own vomit?” He scoffed. “No, I stayed here and made sure you would stay alive. I stayed on the armchair.”

He gestured to the blue, tufted armchair behind him and Catteline felt instant remorse. It could not have been easy for him to stay up all night in that chair and he must not have gotten any sleep. She closed her eyes, burying her face in her hands.

“I am so sorry,” she whispered, her lips dry and cracking. “You were only being decent and you did not deserve that.” Catt looked up at him. “Thank you for taking care of me. I will go now so you could, um, shower.”

Catteline stood on her feet and the General was instantly there to support her. Her cheeks warmed, as did the skin of her arms where his hands were touching her.

Gods, wasn’t it too early for her to be pressed up like this against him? Or at all, for that matter? If anyone were to walk in and see them like this, they would think very lewd things and they would be so wrong.

“No, it’s all good,” she protested, her face burning from the embarrassment and discomfort now. “I can walk on my own.”

He frowned, not moving. “And have other people seeing you walk out of my room all on your own? Lady Catteline, I think you know I will not let that happen.”

She shook her head. “It is going to be fine, no one cares about me like that. I’ll just tell them I ended up somewhere that is none of their business. Sound good?”

“No, it most definitely does not sound good.”

Then, he grabbed her wrist, encircling it completely and then some, before pulling her gently to the large wardrobe stuffed into the corner of his room. She tried to pull on her wrist, but it might as well have been handcuffs put on her.

“Where are you taking me?”

“There is a secret passage through this wardrobe that would lead to your side of the palace,” he roughly explained. “Fewer people will see you and they will never know where you came from. Take off your shoes.”

“What?” she hissed.

General Aelthrys glared at her and started to kneel in front of her. He grabbed hold of her waist, steadying her as he took off one shoe after the other with his other hand. Everywhere he touched, it was like she was being lit on fire.

“I will give them back to you later in the day. I can’t have you breaking your neck on one of the uneven paths after we have come all this way.”

He guided her through, lighting up the torch from one of the braces on the wall. Without a single fear running through her head, except for how preoccupied she was with improper thoughts about his bare chest, Catteline stepped up onto the solidly wooden bottom of the wardrobe and followed General Aelthrys through the tunnel.

It was dark and it was drafty, and she suddenly understood how Avery and the others had managed to rescue Mistress Ella when she had been held prisoner by the very male leading her through the dark pass. If there was one tunnel similar to this that led to other parts of the castle, then one would also have led to wherever she was being kept.

She shuddered at the thought. It was still hard to imagine that up until a few months ago, a very bad person had been living here and waging war against her people. While it did not seem that way now with Princess Aislin at the helm, her imagination could supply the rest of the horror. After all, if the castle had been filled by characters similar to that cow of a lady that had accosted the Princess last night, then the work of visualizing this court’s previous state would be cut in half.

Surprisingly, all it took was a few minutes of walking for them to reach what seemed to be a dead end. The General handed her the torch as he crouched down and pulled on a latch before a soft click and a hiss released the wall before them.

He stepped through before her and he helped her down afterward, cautioning her to stay quiet. She turned, looked around, and gaped at Res’ sleeping form on the bed, surrounded by what seemed like four very, very, naked ladies.

General Aelthrys quietly suffocated the air around the flames with his magic before finally realizing what she has been staring at. A strangled noise came from the back of his throat before he threw his arms around her and covered her eyes to stop her from gawking.

He brought his lips to her ears. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he hissed. “Keep moving.”

She swallowed her giggles and grinned at the General as he sidestepped all of the loose materials of clothing that had been littering the floor and blocking a clear path out of the room. Once they were out the door, he quickly rushed her to the very next room which happened to be hers.

He released her at once after he had closed the door behind him and Catteline finally let go of her laughter. She pointed at his ears, the tips pink from what she could only suspect was embarrassment.

“You should have seen your face!” she guffawed. “I did not know you were a prude, General!”

“A prude?” he demanded. “I was only protecting you from bearing witness to that… debauchery!”

“Ha! You talk as if we watched the whole thing!” Catt dropped to the sofa, giggling. “I guess it is a good thing that I drunkenly insisted to come with you to your room. I worry that I might not have gotten the kind of rest I did with all that… activity going on next door.”

If it was at all possible, his scowl deepened even further. Catt collapsed in another set of hysterical giggles as he watched the General head for her door.

“I think,” he bit out through gritted teeth, “that you are still somehow drunk from last night. I shall leave and give you space to rest.”

She giggled again. “Aelthrys!” she called out.

He slowly turned back. “What?”

Catteline eyed him curiously. “Don’t tell me you’re still bothered by Res and his harem? Honestly, I thought you would have seen much worse things by now, seeing as you are in the military.” She smirked. “I’ve been a visiting healer in one of my brother’s campaigns to defend a nearby patina. I know a lot of things ‘go down’ in a military camp.”

If she had not been keeping an eye on him, she would have missed the way all his muscles tensed. The General’s eerie eyes fixed on her, his face as unreadable as a blank canvas while he regarded her. She shifted, her facade cracking just a little bit.

“Your brother should have kept a better eye on you, then,” he murmured, the deep resonance of his voice making her shiver. “Young, impressionable females like you are so easily corruptible.”

Her mouth and throat ran dry. Oh, the things he could corrupt her with… Unbidden, her eyes were drawn south to his mouth, those pale lips unpursed for once. Then, they dropped even further down to his arms and the bulging muscles that only came from hard discipline, and perhaps a bit of favor from the gods that took their sweet time sculpting him. And then that V, leading down to the most forbidden part of him, only cut off by the waistband of his tight, flattering britches.

Gods. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was still a bit drunk. How potent is Unseelie wine?

“Don’t stare,” the General said, startling her.

“Why not?” she breathed.

He raised a pale brow. “I’m not stupid; I know where that kind of look leads to. And I regard you as a female who’s also highly intelligent. We both know we could never cross that line.”

General Aelthrys’ words were more effective than hangover potions. The haze of the moment cleared and it was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her.

While she and Aelthrys were expected to marry, both of them did not exactly expect to last very long tied to each other in that way. The Princess and her cousin would make the heirs necessary for the continuance of the line of succession, and she and Aelthrys would be free to do as they pleased. That was it; that was all their marriage would be good for— and that had always been the plan.

Catteline had to stick to that plan.

She nodded and Aelthrys finally turned to go. Not once did he look back, and she did not expect him to. The General did not strike her as someone who was used to doing so.

As the lock clicked close, she waited until she could not hear his footsteps anymore before deciding to take a long, cold shower that hopefully could wash away her impure thoughts.