The Fae King's Ruin

Lotuses

Aelthrys closed Aislin’s door and took several calming breaths first before continuing on his way.

Contrary to popular belief, he did not like acting as his cousin’s keeper. In fact, he wanted her to have fun and explore the world as much as she wanted. But, he drew the line at idiocy and foolishness, which is how she acted more often than not. However, he did not— could not— fault her. She was young and she had a long way to go before she would stop making choices that he would personally not choose.

Still, it was infuriating to see her do it and disregard the work they were doing to make her image appealing to the Unseelie masses that they were trying to win over. And all for what? A few minutes of kissing the Seelie King?

He scowled. Was it wise to talk to Avery on his own about the issue? Aislin would no doubt kill him over it before losing her s**t and he was not exactly sure if he could stomach handling her attitude after the week they just had.

Saying that, though… Maybe this was just her way of comforting herself. The rebellion in the south had been a bloody, messy affair that should not have been so. It was his inattention and negligence that had blown it up to ridiculous proportions. He remembered the day they saw the corpses and Aislin– who had been so bravely controlling every microscopic reaction of hers — finally lost it.

Like him, his cousin had a reasonably strong stomach. He had trained her to be so, just like it had been in her training to not be such an open book. But it had been too difficult for her and Jilt had told him that she had spent the rest of the night alternating between crying and trying to vomit food that was never in her stomach.

He sighed another heavy sigh. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would have to supervise a young lady while she navigated her private and public life both at the same time. He was obviously bad at it, as shown by his failed attempt at keeping Aislin’s and Avery’s trysts rarer than pink tigers.

If his mother were here, Aislin would never even dare do half of the things she had been getting up to.

“You look as if you are about to drown out the rest of the world with your sighing, General.”

Aelthrys’ head snapped up, finding Lady Catteline sitting in the lotus pool. He looked around. How had he reached this part of the palace without seeming to realize it?

Remembering his manners, he bowed. “I see you have taken the time to stroll and explore the grounds.” He tilted his head at her questioningly. “Did you not say at brunch that you were tired?”

She blushed positively golden, her feet pausing from making small ripples in the otherwise serene pool. “I thought it was a good idea to take a short walk, but when I decided to go back, I realized that I completely had no idea how to get back to my chambers.”

He nodded. “Yes, the castle can be quite confusing for those who are unfamiliar with the layout.” He hesitated before asking, “Do you want me to take you back?”

He expected her to nod yes, except she gave him the exact opposite. Silently, she patted the space next to her on the pool.

“Sit with me.”

Aelthrys blinked at her, staring at the back of her head as she resumed surveying the pool. Was she being serious? Where were the insults? The ‘I want you to kindly leave me alone, please’ remarks?

Then he realized that all throughout brunch, not once did she say an unkind remark to him. To Res, yes, there were tons. He had even been surprised by some of her ingenious insults, having never heard of them spoken by a lady of her heritage. But never to him. Actually, she had been very pleasant.

He wondered why.

And so, he did the most logical thing to be able to come up with an answer that would satisfy him: he sat. Albeit he did not dip his feet into the pool as she did. He faced the opposite way, watching the courtyard entrances instead.

“It’s a beautiful palace,” she offered, her voice soft and her tone not at all biting.

“I’m afraid I cannot accept the credit,” he said dryly. “Nor do I want to. But I suppose people could be tyrants and still have impeccable tastes.”

She chuckled once, smirking as she turned to him. “Is that how you would describe Aislin’s brother? A tyrant with impeccable tastes?”

“I have many words to describe my late cousin, but never ones that would be appropriate to say in the presence of a lady.”

Lady Catteline’s chuckles turned into laughter that echoed all around the courtyard. When she laughed, she reared her head back in a way that exposed her lovely throat. The red dress she was wearing offset the gold in her skin, making it look like a light caramel color.

“You are being ridiculous!” Lady Catteline continued to laugh, unaware of how closely Aelthrys was observing her. “I have quite possibly heard every rude word and phrase across the realms from injured soldiers. They swear rather colorfully.”

He frowned. “And they do so in your presence even if they know you are the King’s cousin?”

Her serene smile returned, smoothing out her soft laugh lines. “There is no special treatment in the field of medicine, General Aelthrys. Noble or not, when you are a healer, you do your job and you do it well. You do not get to pick and choose.”

“I understand that,” he murmured. “The same goes for men on the battlefield.”

A silence fell on them and he could tell that she was hesitating to ask. He did not blame her curiosity. He provoked it, after all, by running off here and Aislin running after him. Their actions probably had caused them to think more of it than they should have.

He cleared his throat, fixing his eyes on a fixture on the wall that he could not decipher what its purpose or goal was, and began talking.

“I hope none of you worried much,” he said. “All things considered, our forces had easily trumped the rebels. No one has ever taken back three provinces in just five days.”

Lady Catteline gave him a half-smile. “I suppose that was your doing.”

“Who else?” he asked.

She shook her head and kept quiet, letting him continue. “When I arrived, the situation was admittedly… bad. I had not realized that communications between our worlds had come to a sudden halt and I had completely forgotten to seek reports on how the unrest had been developing. Res and his expedition were a blessing in disguise. A few days more of my ignorance and Cetha would have been completely overrun and the rebels would have had a free road to get to the Capital.

“When Aislin came, she had immediately helped in administrative work; took some of it off my hands so I could focus on strategy.” He chuckled without humor. “All I wanted to do was fight in those trenches but the others— my subordinates and colleagues— had all voted to keep me out of the fighting because of my high rank.”

“You wanted to fight… and they did not let you?”

He nodded. “I may be the General of the entire armed forces, but I do not disregard other people’s opinions. Power should always be checked, and my subordinates do that for me.”

“I have never heard of such a thing.” She shrugged. “In Montfoltier, my brother Cal is strict on the soldiers. Whatever he says is the law.”

“I could have that kind of power, yes, but if you were a soldier, would it not be better to follow me because you want to, rather than because you have to?”

Lady Catteline smirked. “Don’t ask me. I have never been the one for taking orders.”

Aelthrys tore his eyes from the way her green eyes sparkled, touched by mischief as it usually was, and proceeded to stare at the fixture again. “And King Avery?” he asked, trying to sound casual. “How has he been since my cousin’s departure?”

She snorted, a most unladylike sound coming out from her that he found oddly unrepulsive.

“Are you not blind, or did you simply miss the way my cousin ran faster than a cheetah to get to Princess Aislin?” She shook her head. “He had been an absolute mess. Res and I actually made a truce regarding him that at least one of us was by his side at all times of the day. And, he had been drinking coffee because he had not been able to sleep fitfully during the night.”

He frowned. Should the latter part be news to him? “King Avery does not drink coffee?”

“No, he doesn’t. He drinks pomegranate tea.”

Huh. “Is that why Aislin brought with her a sack full of pomegranates before she left Alfheim?”

She blinked at him. “Princess Aislin did that?”

Aelthrys nodded. The lady turned back to the lotus pool.

“It is amazing, isn’t it?” she said after a while, sadness coloring her tone in a way that she probably did not even realize. “How could love make such a fool out of mighty people?” Lady Catteline chuckled. “One couldn’t drink his favorite fruit tea because he missed the other. The other brought with her a sack full of his favorite fruit just because it is his favorite.”

“That is insane,” he said.

“I think love usually is.”

That made him look at her. She spoke with such tenderness that it made him curious about something so personal about the Lady. Had she ever been fortunate enough to know what love from another felt like? Was it a suitor of hers? An admirer? He was not blind; Lady Catteline was beautiful, the kind that would make anyone trip up all over themselves and write songs and poems about.

Ever astute, she must have caught the question in his eyes that he would never dare ask aloud and smirked once again.

“Curious about me, eh?” She giggled. “I think I am flattered by your interest, General Aelthrys.”

He kept his face remotely blank, even if his insides were anything but. “I thought we were having a lovely conversation. I hardly think it would be polite for me to not show interest in the person to whom I am talking.”

Lady Catteline rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. Just admit it!” When he kept staring blankly at her, she sighed dramatically. “Fine, I will just keep on answering questions you are too afraid to ask me out loud. If you must know, I have never been involved with anybody else.”

“Why?”

She tilted her head playfully. “Why do you think?”

He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. You seem smart, impressionable… Your beauty is undeniable. Why haven’t you had a beau?”

A perfectly shaped brow arched up. “Can’t it be that I chose it to be so?”

“Why?” he asked again.

“Well, I suppose you have never been to Montfoltier, but if you understand small towns, then you will know that it would be a curse to end up with someone who hails from the same small place as you.” She leaned back on her hands. “Imagine: you would only be a few streets from his parents’ home, just a hop away from yours, and everyone who knew you two growing up would judge your relationship at every turn like its a soap opera for them to feast on!”

He made a face. “That sounds terrible. Is Montfoltier small as you described?”

Lady Catteline chuckled, suddenly hopping up to her feet and splashing him in the face with the water from the pool. “Oh, no! Montfoltier is roughly two times bigger than Alfheim. I just find I do not have a taste for boys.”

Aelthrys scowled, standing up and offering a hand for her when she stepped down, but Lady Catteline wholly ignored it. “Has anyone ever told you that your flair for dramatics is annoying?”

Instead of a rebuttal, she smiled brilliantly as if he had not basically insulted her. “There is that General Aelthrys I know!” she exclaimed. “Whew, I thought you got thwacked on the head a little too hard and that is why you have been so nice to me! Come on, help me get back to my room. I need to get some beauty rest if I am to be the belle of the ball tonight.”

The General had half a thought to leave her there all on her own, but he also did not want her ending up encountering one of the vile snakes in court. While not many were currently in residence, he was not about to take any chances.

Grudgingly, he offered his arm, and all the rest of the way, kept ignoring how— despite the theatrics— he did enjoy talking to the Lady.