A Fairie Who Can Love
Sequel to: A Fairie Who Can Lie
Disclaimer: I do not own Tithe, Valiant, Ironside or the characters in any of those books. They all belong to the very talented Holly Black.
That night, after the day of Luis's younger brother's funeral, that he had spent with Kaye had been filled with more magic than all his years among the fey in both the Bright and Night Courts. Unfortunately, the morning after, he had had to return his throne in the Unseelie Court.
A few years passed, and one lonely night, halfway between the dusk and dawn of Samhain, found Roiben contemplating his current life. Halloween was both a mixture of relief and torture for the fairie king. It was a relief, because he was granted a 12-hour respite from every fey that inhabited his Night Court. It was a torture, because Kaye was also gone, keeping an eye on the humans she cared for most. Although they were under his official protection, neither he nor she were willing to test that boundary when Roiben had promised the Unseelie fairies complete freedom on this one night every year.
For the past few years, Roiben had split his time exactly halfway between the two courts. Predictably, he spent the six darkest months of every year with the Night Court and the six lightest months of every year with the Bright Court. When he was away from the Night Court, he left his throne in Ruddles care; this fairie being one of the few he trusted. He had more respect for a fairie that would speak strongly of customs and could dispute his judgments than the ones eager to spill innumerable amounts of blood "in his name". The one he trusted the Bright Court to while he was not there had taken some convincing. She had not yet forgiven him, but she understood his wish to leave the court in hands he knew to be fair. The fairie had been far from happy to, but eventually, Roiben managed to convince Ethine to accept the responsibility.
True to her word, Kaye's life was now similar to Persephone, but the pixie had both more choice and variety to how she split her time. Every Fall Equinox, Kaye would return to him in at the Unseelie Court and leave for Ironside once the Winter Solstice came. Then, on the day of the Spring Equinox, she would come to him at the Seelie Court and disappear from his side on the day of the Summer Solstice.
When she was in his presence, he could almost believe that there was some hope for either of his courts. He could turn a blind eye to all the dark happenings that took place, and instead focus on the instances around him that did not make his blood curl. But then she would leave, and all he could see were the evils and atrocities that were committed "in his name". He couldn't even begin to describe how much he now hated that phrase. What was it about immortality that made the fey seemingly so unable to genuinely care about anything but their own sinister desires? Oh how he missed the changeling pixie when she was not by his side. He longed for her, all of her: her cleverness, her presence, her body, her smile, her voice, her laughter, but most of all, her love. He would probably be willing to bet that she was the one fairie in the world capable of unconditional love.
Because, against all reason, she still loved him. Kaye had not know him when he was a fey child: when he would play with both fey and human children alike, not yet having learned or caring about the difference between the two. The time when he had been kind to all. She had not yet met him when he was a good knight in the service of Silarial, a time when he was still ignorant and had not yet discovered how to be cruel for mere sport. No, she had been introduced to him after he had been Nicnevin's sworn knight for years. Life in the Night Court had hardened his heart, taught him to be crueler beyond imagination at the drop of a few words from his mistress's lips, sucked every bit of him that was still part Seelie, made him fearsome, and stole away every part of him he believed to be decent and good. She had seen him commit atrocities he would've preferred she'd never even knew existed. But Kaye had pursued him; with very little effort, she had caught him. And now, she had helped him more than she would ever know just by simply loving him.
Not too long ago, Kaye had admitted that she was terrified of him, and it was obvious to anyone with eyes that she hated many aspects of normal fey life. But she still loved him, and she still returned to him, like it was some sort of predestined pattern. It may have been the result her human upbringing, but Roiben didn't care why she could. All he cared about was the fact that the slight pixie was capable of something that not even his own sister was, loving him unconditionally. This knowledge alone had saved him many times over. Kaye had been right when she believed that he wished to die when she first met him, and the fairie king was not sure how true that statement would be today without Kaye there. In fact, he didn't even know if he would still be alive without her.
When she returned to him that morning, in all her green-skinned and black-eyed glory, and after all the temporarily solitary fey had returned, Roiben had thought himself into a depression of sorts. Sometimes knowing that Kaye would always return to him wasn't enough, because he knew she was destined to always leave again as well. True enough, all the humans she currently cared about would be dead and gone within the next century, but what was to stop her from becoming attached to new ones. And whether it be fortunate or not, it did not seem to take long for his precious little pixie to become attached to new humans. Of course, there was also the small voice in the back of his mind that Kaye probably couldn't (and he shouldn't want her to) stomach the deeds of her fellow fey every year, all year, for the entirety of eternity. And it was only at times like these that Roiben would allow himself to think of his greatest fear, the possibility that Kaye didn't need him nearly so much as he needed her. Only this time, unlike every time before, she indeed returned to the side of the fairie king before he could hide all this from her.
"Kaye," he pulled onto his lap (her back to his stomach), wrapped his arms around her thin waist, and buried his face in her shoulder. He didn't want to show her this side of him. He didn't want her to know how close his thoughts constantly wandered to the edge of suicide and back, but right then, he needed assurance. He needed to know that she needed him. "What would you do if I were to die? It doesn't matter when or how I would, just tell me, what would you do?"
With those few words, Kaye found her whole world crashing down around her. The pixie's thoughts came to horrible halting stop, along with the beating of her heart, as she was overwhelmed with a rushing wave of panicked anxiety. Somehow, her breathing remained even and Kaye managed to pull herself together, just barely, and she was infinitely glad that he could not see the reaction his statement had caused. Never before had she so ardently wished to be able to lie, not even when Roiben had sent her on an impossible quest. She wanted to be able to tell him that she would be fine, that the other people she loved would be able to help her continue on living her life without him there. She wanted to tell him that even if a Court disaster killed him, that he wouldn't need to worry about her life being completely and totally over. She didn't want to add to his already heavy burden, but she could not speak those words, because those words would be untruthful. And she was a fairie, whose entire being panicked, whose throat closed up at the intention of speaking not truths. As Ruddles so plainly pointed out long ago, no fairie can speak an untruth, even if they can figure out how to "lie".
"Don't," was all she managed to choke out, her mind still wrestling with what she wanted to and what she had to say. "Don't die…I can't…not without you." Why? Why was she saying these things? She was screaming at herself to stop, to not answer his questions, but her mouth kept moving, and words continued falling from her lips. "Do you remember? That day on the beach? I told you I wanted, needed, to see you. I missed being with you and we were separated for only a short, impossibly long time. Can't you see how it would be if you were gone forever? Roiben, I love you more than anything in either of our worlds, I need you to be alive, and I need to know that you'll be here, always waiting for me."
Once again, although she was far from realizing it, her words saved him yet again. Knowing there was not but absolute truth in her words, Roiben's greatest fear was laid to rest, and a small smile was able to make its way onto his face. Of course, he still had other problems, many of them that should be more important than the girl in his arms but actually weren't.
"Tell me," he said in a much less frightening tone than he had used before, one that actually sounded a bit happy. This caused Kaye's body to relax visibly. "How tired are you from your Samhain escapade?"
"Just a bit," the green girl replied with a yawn. She had sometimes needed to pull all-nighters during the busier times at the café so that all the unholy paperwork could be finished on time or so the entire café could be clean by the time the early bird customers came in the next morning. However, that didn't mean she was used to them, not by a long shot, not when they weren't consistent. After all, she, Corny, and Luis took turns each time something that needed to be done would probably take all night.
"Would you like to retire to my room, then?" he asked, as though gallantly giving up the bed they shared for her use alone. But then, his tone and facial expression took a different path, as he continued, "Together?"
She blushed bright pink and fluttered out of his grip. However, she did turn back, and with a meaningful wink, raced off toward his chambers. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a little more fun before drifting off into a dream-filled slumber.
A/N: So, yeah, here's the long-awaited totally not what I originally planned but is so much better anyway because I actually wrote it sequel. This fanfiction, in my eyes, is kind of a miracle because the inspiration for it suddenly and randomly about two days ago (along with ideas for about every other thing I'm working on…stupid brain making me pick and choose). Plus, it's summertime, so I actually had time to write it. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Thanks, as always, to everyone who reviewed and faved the prequel and my other Tithe fanfic The Dangers of a Wandering Mind (Luis x Corny FTW XD).
I love reviewers, but I do have a request. I would really love for someone to seriously critique my work. It doesn't have to stop at constructive criticism. I'd love for someone to really pick apart my work and tell me every little thing they hated, what needs to be improved, and what parts of my writing they liked best. Believe me when I say I love all reviews, and it's really nice to know people appreciate my work. However, I'm a far cry from being perfect, and there's always room to improve. Also, if I can get better, I can give better fan fiction to my readers. Anyway, thanks again for reading this fan fiction and hopefully you seriously considered my request.