The Fae King's Ruin

The King and an Interruption

“Strawberries or chocolate?”

Aislin frowned in contemplation as she slathered orange marmalade on her toast. “Can I answer both?”

Avery rolled his eyes. “Of course. This isn’t a trial or something. Fondest childhood memory?”

“I thought this was an activity on reciprocity? Why does it seem like I’m the only one answering questions?”

He only grinned innocently at her. Aislin shook her head. “No, you have to start answering.”

“Fine. My favorite color is green, which is as predictable as you think. I spar with the Royal Guard when I have time. And I prefer chocolates over strawberries. My fondest memory of my childhood was when my mother baked a huge chocolate cake for my birthday and it ended up being so bitter that my father and the rest of the staff had to pretend it was good.”

She laughed—all loud and boisterous—the sound echoing off into the distance and straight to the part of Avery’s brain where core memories were kept. He watched her fair hair turn into a soft shade of yellow when a ray of sunlight hit her face. Aislin’s complexion, while paler than most, closely resembled human coloring. He could see bluish veins on the smooth back of her hand, and the small red ones on her cheeks; all because of the blood that ran red within her.

Staring at her, still laughing with a broad grin on her face, Avery let himself briefly imagine what his children with her would look like. He had never heard of or met a child born from Unseelie and Seelie parents, let alone a half-celestial. Any child he had with Aislin would break the centuries of Seelie lineage sitting on the throne. The dominant Seelie features he had inherited from his father and mother would be tested against those of a half-Unseelie and half-Celestial partner. The possibilities were endless.

He liked that thought: that Avery was fortunate enough to have a future where nothing was written in stone.

“I guess it’s my turn, then?” Aislin said, pulling him from his thoughts. He shifted in his seat to get a better look at her softly smiling face. “My fondest memory from childhood was seeing Aelthrys’ parents dancing after they put me to bed.”

Aislin leaned back in her seat, eyes trained on the port and the docked armada at sea. Yet Avery knew that she wasn’t really looking at it.

“I don’t know why,” she said, almost fascinated. “It isn’t even about something I have experienced for myself. I was eight and should not have been up walking around the castle at night. I followed them when they thought that I was asleep. I was about to turn around and go back to my room, but then I heard such lovely music.”

“I found them in the main drawing room.” Aislin smiled at him. “They were in a loose embrace by the fire and swaying side by side. That was the only time I have ever seen them be affectionate towards one another,” she said the latter in a whisper. “On the outside, they were as Unseelia a couple could be: cold, a domineering male and a subservient female. Harsh and sometimes cruel. But when it was just them… it was a love match.”

He tried picturing a smaller, younger Aislin. Big, midnight-blue eyes. Pale skin. Chubby cheeks. Hair as fair as the moon. No parents to call her own and only left with a brother who didn’t seem to care much about her. She must have been quite an impressionable child for that particular scene in her life to be stuck with her.

Avery took her hand in his, a silent gesture of thanks for sharing that memory with him. He might not know Aislin that well yet, but he knew enough about her to know that it must have been quite an effort for her to tell him something so personal.

And it was like that—with their hands linked on top of the table—that Aelthrys found them as he entered unannounced in Aislin’s suite. 

She quickly let go of his hand, shooting up from her seat with a wild blush spreading like fire across her entire face. Avery followed suit, albeit in a much more calmer fashion, and brushed off Aislin’s moment of panic.

“Good morning, General,” he greeted Aelthrys, moderately amused by Aislin’s lack of loquaciousness.

Merely blinking in his cousin’s direction, Aelthrys bowed. His expression was a study in self-control and calculated pleasantness. “Good morning, Your Majesty. Cousin.” His odd eyes shifted casually between them. “I apologize for interrupting your meal. I’ll come back later.”

“Nonsense, General. Please stay. Do you need to talk to Aislin? Should I go?”

The General’s focus slowly shifted to Aislin, who only shrugged. The silent conversation reminded him of how Ella and Xaero liked to communicate telepathically. He wondered if they also possessed similar abilities.

Avery smiled when the General retrieved another chair from the other room and sat between him and Aislin. They all settled back into seats but it seemed to him that the atmosphere had changed. For one, the merchant ships’ horns, which he had barely noticed before, seemed louder to his ears. On the opposite side of the table, Aislin was sitting rather stiffly and the redness on her face showed no signs of abating.

He took a long sip of his tea.

“I did not realize this was a normal occurrence,” Aelthrys said lightly as he tore off a piece of french bread as Aislin poured him tea. 

Avery didn’t know how to answer that and he wasn’t sure if it sat well with him that Aislin was serving her cousin. So, he kept quiet as Aislin started glaring daggers her cousin’s way. And when Aislin looked angry this way, her cheeks started puffing up adorably. He pressed his lips together to keep himself from grinning.

“What is it that you wanted to say, Aelthrys?” Aislin said, her tone too brittle to be anything but irritated.

He shrugged his broad shoulders, the stiff material of his black uniform rustling. “I just wanted to ask you when you wanted to start being an active member of King Avery’s court. So far, your presence here still feels like just a story to them.”

“I didn’t know you had plans like that, Aislin.” Avery frowned. “I could help with that.” It was his court after all. Why didn’t she seek him out for this?

Aislin sighed, touching her brow. “Quite a bit has happened so I haven’t really gotten around to doing anything on that front. And I’m a bit clueless as to how to proceed. I’m not familiar with any of them.”

“You don’t have to know them,” Avery reasoned. “It’s not like you need them to like you. At least that’s how I deal with them.”

He didn’t add that, frankly, Avery cared very little about what they thought of Aislin. It wasn’t her fault she hadn’t time for any of them. Aislin was in a position unique to them and that position had certain demands in her time. If none of his courtiers understood that and decided to use it against Aislin, Avery would make sure they’d never be able to show their faces back in his court ever again.

“And there’s the issue of your lady-in-waiting,” Aelthrys added. “You still haven’t assigned one.”

"That is because I do not need one," Aislin firmly replied. "My maids and I fare together just fine. Great, actually. And if I ever find that I do need one, I can always have a pick of noble females, both Seelie and Unseelie.”

"Very well,” her cousin remarked. Aelthrys finished off his tea and his plain bread then stood. “All there is left is to remind you that there is a meeting later at four. I'll come and pick you up. Majesty.”

Avery nodded as Aelthrys bowed and left without another word. They heard his retreating footsteps and the click of the door opening and closing. He turned to Aislin at the same time her head swiveled towards him.

He did not know what it was or what even happened, but the moment that their eyes met, Avery and Aislin both burst out laughing.