The King & the Stable Boy

BONUS: It's Been Six Years (Fools and Thieves)

My daughters think she's dead or been left somewhere to suffer and rot, and this is a lie my mother died believing. Yet, Anna is bound to the grounds of the cabin, no servants, just the estate and some supplies for better or worse.

Enzo barely survived the first loss. I knew he wouldn't survive the second. So despite every fiber of my being screaming at me to let her hand, I couldn't allow for her to die or be left to suffer. I would be able to feel all of that. I couldn't go through that. Not again.

So here I was in the cabin under the guise that I needed a break from the business of the castle and Avon's impending visits that seem to only get longer and more frequent each time since he began them two years prior.

Each time before he leaves he questions if I'm sure I have not yet fallen for him. He asks if I'm so dead set in dying alone. He questions if I am truly settled in that decision. This time I know that if he were to ask me I would be honest. I would tell him that I wanted him to be a constant. That thought terrifies me to no end.

Yet, if I were to truly give myself to him, if I were to trust him not to hurt me, I would have no use for Anna. Enzo would be okay. But could I let go of her after so long? Was I ready to?

Perhaps.

-

Avon and I were sat overlooking the waterfalls, sharing a peaceful picnic. If I'm being honest, I never thought this would've happened. Despite my best efforts at first, Avon was stubborn. He insisted on being there at every corner, worming his way into my heart as he went.

We weren't anything past lovers. No label of courtship, and yet, there was something about him that, for lack of a better term made my heart flutter. It wasn't just sex, it was the moments before and after. It was the cuddling and talking about nonsense like debating how fast Apollo raced his chariot across the sky. It was small brunches and kisses and talking about our lives after we had left the carefreeness of adolescences.

"What's flitting around that head of yours," Avon asked, grabbing a bottle of wine from the basket. He went to rummage around for the opener, but I grabbed it from a side pocket handing it to him.

"Your architectural venture."

The fairy rolled his eyes. "I got this. It's my tenth building thank you very much. You should feel honored I've even graced you with such a gift."

"That implies that I asked for this."

"As I said, it's a very generous gift. It's the least I could do after that cabin of yours burnt down." He struggled removing the cork and let out a huff. "Although, I must admit it's been quite nice not having you escape to some enchanted hideaway."

I hummed in response. It took him a few tries but he eventually got the wine open, giving me a triumphant smile. I held out a glass, watching the almost clear liquid stream in before pulling away. He poured himself a glass.

"What shall we toast to," I said.

"Toast? You know it's fae tradition to share secrets over white wine."

"I'll entertain it. You go first."

"Ah, ah. He who pours is last to tell."

I gave him a suspicious look. I had a feeling he made up these traditions as he went, but then again I was no Asher. I didn't have the best of relations with the fae (unless bedding their head advisor counted as foreign affairs).

"I suppose if it is tradition." He gave me a nod and gestured for me to go on. "I don't know if I've really told anyone this, but I never wanted to be king. I dreamt of going to some remote cottage by a beach and living out my days there, passing as some siren drifter."

"You? A nomad's life?" He began to laugh.

"I'm being serious. That's what I plan to do for the rest of my days after Jade's coronation next year. No nobles to deal with. No titles. Just simplicity."

"To be frank, you'd go insane. I don't know if you've noticed, but you have a profound inability to remain silent for more than five minutes at a time. You would need some sort of a companion."

"Then come with me," I said.

"What?"

"Come with me. Explore the open seas, find some new constellation, enjoy the last decades of your life."

"With you?"

"Well, yeah. You're not going to make me go out and say it are you?"

"Not going to–I've dreamt of this day for years and you're just going to lay it on me, just like that," Avon asked looking at me as if I had three heads.

I dug around the bottom of the picnic basket, pulling out the bundled mess of fabric. "Well I mean, I'm not a degenerate, so of course I adhered to your traditions. Dove around the bottom of that fall over there for hours just to collect enough chance stones to have a smith craft this."

He took the gift from me with shaking hands, carefully undoing the twine, letting the fabric come undone around a ceremonial blade. He looked at me then back at the gift in his hands.

"Well? You're not saying anything. Shit was giving this to you by the falls too much? Should I have opted for something less dramatic? Is there some new beau I don't know about?"

"Just–Shut up. I need to process," Avon said. "So you really, just asked me out here to do this? To propose to me?" I nodded. "I thought I'd be waiting at least another few months to get exclusive rights. Years before this. But you're being serious?" Another nod. "You asshole, had I known I would've looked nicer. Pan, I thought we were just going to fuck in the water not this."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. He turned red but still looked like he was in disbelief as tears began to roll down his cheeks. I watched as Avon twirled the blade around, running his fingertips along the carvings.

It didn't have to be a dagger. It could have been anything. The fae have the same rituals as casters; a gift is to be made from something scavenged by its giver. I chose the dagger because when I set fire to the cabin, I let her go. And part of the bond transferring ritual was to give the new mate something of the old. The hilt of the blade is the very one she nearly took my life with.

Seeing Avon's reaction, the symbolism of handing him the device that was nearly my demise meant a lot to him. Even if he had no idea that this blade was made from that very one, he knew that giving him it must've meant that I trusted him dearly. And I did. Of course seeing him with it is a bit scary, him having such a hold over me is terrifying. But this time I gave it to him willingly. I fell because I allowed myself too, and he was right there to catch me. It was not the work of the gods, but of my own accord. This is what made him different.

I had done good by my people. I have avenged King Asher's death. I've reared our future. Perhaps it was time I had my own happily ever after.

And who better than with the fairy who first stole my heart?

—
This is the last part of this and I hope it was as fun of a read as it was a pleasure to write.