There was a pressure in his chest when he entered the Princess's room. He had been gone for so long, his family would have moved on, forgotten about him, but no, he was still alive and made to cater the whims of a capricious Princess.
"How long?" there was a bitter taste in his mouth as he rounded on her. "How long has it been?"
Riliane blinked. "We left the ball a few minutes ago."
"I mean-" he took a deep breath so he wouldn't start yelling. "How long has it been since I came here?"
"In human time?"
"Yes!"
She brought a hand to her chin in contemplation. "I would say… eighteen, nineteen years?"
"Eigh-" there were thorny vines tearing apart his heart. His family must think of him dead. Did they miss him? Did they wonder where he was? "That… That can't be possible. I haven't changed at all!"
And he hadn't, he would look at himself in the castle walls. He was thinner, paler, with longer hair, but that was the extent of it. He hadn't even grown taller!
There was a familiarity in her eyes when she next spoke. Idly, he wondered how many times she had seen this happen. How many times she had had this exact conversation, if she had heard her mother saying it when she was young. "Time passes differently here."
It started as nothing more than a crack, heavy breathing, and escalated into a whine. Then the first sob broke through.
Riliane startled, and in any other situation, her expression would have been comical. Eyes wide and confused and panicked. She took his hand in hers. "What's wrong?"
He wrenched himself away. "Don't touch me." he gasped. "So many years have passed in my world, I left my family behind, I couldn't say goodbye and it's all because of you!"
"You could have asked."
He let out a harsh bark of a laugh. "Don't lie to me! You think I don't remember what you did to me?"
"You misunderstand," Riliane said, trying to regain her former grace. "I would have let you leave, if only you promised you'd come back."
He didn't know if he believed her. The servants said he was her favorite, but for the life of him, he couldn't see her actually letting him go back home. Faes never lied, but he was sure there were alternatives to that.
Maybe he should just... start adapting. Since it seemed like he wouldn't...
He didn't finish the thought.
To serve in the Unseelie Palace was risking one's life, he had heard from mortals and fae alike, for the ruler was prone to have the most treacherous rages. A morbid part of Allen's mind had wondered how his fellow mortals had lost their lives. Starvation or hypothermia were the most likely concepts, though obviously not true for each and every case.
One difference between Allen and them? They were under a geas. Riliane hadn't bothered to make one with him. Whatever they wished for-in return, their complete obedience. He wondered why. Boredom, perhaps, though that meant he was more than a mere servant.
Maybe the more disruptive mortals were beheaded. He heard all sort of things from the servant-folk, even though he had never seen one.
For a while. Eventually, he was unlucky enough to see something of the sort. It had been a normal day, he was walking together with the monarch, when a maidservant had blocked their path. Allen eyed what she clutched in her hand. Iron. She wanted to burn her.
The girl with no name's eyes were wide with fury, silvered hair and pale of skin.
His eyes flickered to the princess. Her composure hadn't cracked. And then-
"Stop breathing."
Princess Riliane watched dispassionately as the woman fell to her knees, clawing at her throat. The mortal tried reaching for her, silently begging for reprieve, and the girl kicked her away. When the body spasmed and at last grew still, satisfaction coursed through the princess's veins.
All the while, Allen watched as the life went out of her eyes. Horror pooled in his gut. That hadn't been a murder, that had been an afterthought. There had been no glory or honor in that death, no last words. He doubted Riliane even remembered the woman's name.
He had asked if she would ever do that to him. She had smiled, and answered no. He had said, "Promise me. Promise me you won't kill me."
He hadn't expected her to agree.
As always, it began in a ball. Riliane had looked at him oddly when he came in dressed in his cloak, stubbornly prepared for an argument about clothes and etiquette, but she hadn't done much more than that.
"Hungry, Allen?"
Still wary of the food, Allen shook his head.
Riliane huffed as she set the plate down, with food already placed there instead of going to the food table. "It's not enchanted."
He shrugged and scanned the dancing people. Maybe, with any chance, he would spot Yukina or Clarith. He was worried.
Allen watched as the various fae danced as they stepped on the polished floor (his work!) and as he was, mercifully, left alone again. He hadn't averted his eyes when he saw, amazingly, Kyle colliding with Riliane. Knowing the Princess' temper, Allen watched with his heart in his throat.
The Winter Princess merely stared down at herself, at where some of her skin had melted and boiled away.
"My apologies," Kyle said through half-frozen lips.
"It was an accident," Riliane said, and waved it off. Already, the frost was creeping back up her skin.
He wasn't blind to the unfriendly glance the Prince gave him. Nor he was deaf, for he could just make out, "Still with him, I see."
He went over the facts he knew. The Princess' betrothed wasn't very fond of him, and that put him in immediate danger if he didn't do something to rectify the situation. He was aware of his precarious position should Riliane stop favoring him.
Mind made up, he left his plate on the table and scanned the crowd for a dance partner, heart sinking when he found her. Yukina ate the fairy food with abandon and danced wildly, as if she hadn't a care in the world.
He asked her to dance with a smile. There was no need to get angry with her about what she had done. She was just a stupid little girl, just like he had been a stupid little boy.
They could always talk later. For now, he led her, always careful to be near enough that he could hear the conversation of both their... their faes.
"And is that a problem, Kyle?" Riliane was saying. "It's not as if you don't have your own companions. We all have our humans. I don't think that's an issue."
"First off, she's not mine." Kyle bristled. Allen could feel the heat from where he stood. "At least I have some sort of decency. If you think I haven't heard the rumors-"
"Rumors?" Riliane drew herself up to her full height, and her eyes flashed. "If you listen to everything servants say-they say things every time they're not in my favor, they're petty, gossiping little noisemakers who are worried that I'll get tired of dealing with their incompetence and get rid of them. But you actually pay attention to them?" Her face softened, and she smiled slightly. "Kyle, dear, you're quite naive, aren't you? Trusting everything you hear. Do you know what all of that will do to you?"
"Are we spying on them?" Yukina asked Allen, as they twirled with the rest of the partygoers in tune with the music. He was expecting a disapproving frown, what he got was a mischievous smile. It reminded him of the times Germaine and himself would do similar things. He hushed her with a smile.
"I never said I believed them." Kyle pointed out. "But the fact that there are rumors at all worries me."
"There are rumors about everything," Riliane replied, her voice frosty. "Why, the other day, I'm quite certain I heard one of the maids whispering about you and your... Yukina, was it? Saying that you preferred the younger ones." Allen felt the aforementioned girl visibly jolt with an affronted look. "But did I pay attention to that? Of course not. Because I know better than to put any stock in what anyone other than you says about yourself. People who are beneath you will say anything to try and drag you down. Soon enough I suppose you'll learn that, won't you?"
Even from that distance, Allen could tell the Prince was trying to keep his voice even. "Nothing like that happened..."
"And I believe that! It's like I just said," she continued, her voice pitching a little higher. "The idea of listening to them is just silly! Can you just understand that?"
"You said that and yet... That boy follows your every step. How can I not be worried about that?"
"Well, maybe he's just loyal," Riliane spat, and Allen had to hide his laughter. "Which is something I can't say about a lot of people these days. If that's not a good reason to keep someone around, then what is?"
They were starting to draw attention by now. Allen decided to retire elsewhere, just in case. "Are you insinuating I'm not loyal to you?"
"I'm saying that a lot of people aren't, and I-" Her voice cracked. "I don't want you to be one of them, all right?! Is that wrong? You're my fiance, and to say things like that to me-How do you think that makes me feel? Are you trying to hurt me? Is that it? Do you want me to suffer? What do you want?"
Their voices faded away as both mortals went in a different direction. Allen didn't know what to think. The problem, as it turned out, was himself. Himself and an unfaithful Princess, who was a better actress than he gave her credit for.
"I don't like her," Yukina all but seethed beside him.
"She's a very caustic person, yes." Allen calmly agreed, nearly tripping over himself in a badly-timed step. "How's life in the Seelie Court?"
"Oh, I don't live there. I'm not in the Faerie Realm the entire time," she explained at Allen's baffled look. "I come here at night and leave in the morning. Though I guess the Seelie Palace is more homely than this giant block of ice."
Allen had been about to get serious, but he laughed. He couldn't help it. That was an apt description. "You can't imagine how annoying it is to clean," he shared, letting the last vestiges of his laughter slip away from his voice.
Then he schooled his features. "Was what the Prince was saying true? You aren't hurt?"
The girl blinked. "No, no! It's not like that at all! Prim gets me here and then I spend time with Kyle. He's lonely, you know. He shows me his paintings and we discuss books."
"You know how to read?" Allen raised his eyebrows. "I-I mean no offense."
"Of course I know how to read!" she hissed. "My Father is a merchant, you see, and I'm a famous storyteller." She smiled. "That's one of the reasons I came here, actually! They're called fairy tales for a reason, and I intend to ask faes and mortals about their experiences."
He couldn't help but smile back. "Anything for a good story, I see."
"Yes, exactly," she nodded, before twirling again. "I couldn't help noticing your attire..."
Allen felt warmth rushing up his cheeks. "I came to the Faerie Realm with this. It was a gift from my family."
Her eyes widened in understanding. "It seems a bit frivolous to wander around with such an intense shade of red, especially for a boy," she noted. "Some of the men in the village would call it indecent."
"I used to frequent the woods, and the color made it easier to keep track of me, you see." He smiled sheepishly. "The rose pattern wasn't part of it originally. There's a tailor who did a few embellishments to it without consulting me."
Her expression turned pensive. Allen could almost see the mechanism inside her brain working. "A red-hooded child wandering in the woods... meets who?"
He remembered, the path of pins or the path of needles, and, throw them away, you won't need them anymore, and, all the better to eat you with.
He flashed a look to the Princess. "A wolf. A she-wolf."
"That's enough grounds for a story."
His smile was wiped by his dance partner stumbling. He caught her by the waist, so that they barely missed a step.
The girl-who shouldn't have been the same age as him-blushed.
"I'm sorry." she yawned. "I haven't been sleeping much."
As they went their separate ways, Allen was frowning. At that moment, he had seen her cracks starting to show.
He decided not to worry about things he had no control over. He made his way to where he had left his plate, and sat on the bench. So this was supposedly not enchanted food. He ate a few bites, and was relieved to find there was no fuzziness in the edge of his vision. A chill ran down his spine. He looked around, locked eyes with her. He saw Riliane's smirk widening when he drank, when he ate, and he wondered what he was eating at all.
"Pearl for your thoughts?"
It was by some miracle that he swallowed instead of choking. His head whipped around. "Michaela! Clarith! It's so good to see you again."
He had been honestly worried about the white-haired girl's fate, but apparently what she had said about Michaela was true. Who knew there was actually a decent faerie in this realm?
"I would say likewise, but I had hoped you had managed to escape. Now," she sat in the seat beside him as Michaela joined the others in their dance, "Are you safe?"
He returned his gaze to his plate, moving around bits of food. His scars ached with the very reminder. He tried to give her a convincing smile. "...it could be worse. The Princess didn't stay angry for very long." He noted his smile had turned tight, and changed the subject. "Michaela is from the Seelie court, isn't she?"
Clarith nodded, starting on her own plate of food. "She is a lower noblewoman, yes."
Stomach twisting around, Allen carefully averted his eyes. "And you're her maid?"
"I would say more like a friend. She's odd among the fae." The pale girl was smiling as her eyes flickered over to him.
Allen's hands were shaking. Managing to eat a bite was suddenly a complicated task. He exhaled. "So you're… You're her favorite?"
She shrugged between mouthfuls. "Yes, I suppose."
Allen's eyes snapped over to her. The sheer nonchalance of that answer left him reeling. "Y-you're okay with this?"
Was he supposed to be okay with that too? Was that how things worked around here? Was there any escape at all?
She turned to him as her brows creased. "Why wouldn't I be?"
He spluttered, nearly choking on steak and potatoes. The ballroom blurred for a second in a manner that reminded him of fairy food, gold and white swirling together like oil and water. He furiously blinked away the moistness in his eyes. "Why would you be?"
The thing quivering and breaking and tightening his chest was difficult to restrain. "How can you?" he heaved a breath.
Clarith was peering down at him, concern in his eyes. Huh, he had almost forgotten what that looked like. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
He wrenched his eyes away, shame blooming inside him. "She-" The word was a diamond lodged in his throat. It had value. It would make things real, not a delusion he was under, or a particularly bad nightmare.
He swallowed thickly. "She uses you, and you're okay with that? Everyone knows and they do nothing. Were you willing the first time? Am I supposed to like that?" His voice fluctuated between breathless whispers and hisses so quickly that she had to pay him her utmost attention to understand. "Is there something wrong with me, then?"
The more she spent without answering, the worse Allen felt. The food laid on the plate, the non-enchanted food. Which Riliane had taken the trouble to give to him. The girl who had taken him there and who asked him 'are you happy?' every once in a while. The girl who had given him his room back, who didn't know how humans behaved. Was she actually making an effort to make him happy?
Because the fact remained, he was still that girl's favorite.
It was often humiliating and always warm, nearly incandescent. He enjoyed himself during, and he hated himself afterward, but at least he had a soft bed with warm sheets. And something real to cling to.
"Tell me!"
As her mind processed the implications of what he'd said, she could feel her stomach starting to turn. He wasn't-he wasn't really- There was no way he could mean what that sounded like, no way. Riliane could be an awful person, yes, but that was too far, even for her... wasn't it?
No, her mind provided, even as she tried to block out the thought. No, it wasn't too far at all.
"Allen," she whispered, her voice quivering a little bit. "Allen, what do you mean? You're not saying that she... she didn't. She wouldn't. Tell me you don't mean that. Please."
He couldn't bring himself to answer.
"...I see."
She looked down, knowing what his silence meant. "Michaela... isn't like that at all. So I thought... I'm sorry. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. No one deserves that."
He approached the subject once they were on their way back from the ball.
"I couldn't help but notice there's been tension between you and Prince Kyle." He struggled to keep his tone as light as a leaf. "The source of that tension is obviously me..."
"Aren't you conceited? Why are-"
"I'd say the look on his face every time he sees I'm with you is proof enough, my Lady. So I wondered if we could stop our-our nightly meetings, if it's no issue."
Riliane stopped walking.
"I-I mean, he's a fae, and that alone makes me fear for my safety," he hurriedly added. He very much didn't want to die of something like heatstroke.
At least, trying to reason with Riliane had more chances of working. Minimal ones, but he would take what he could get.
"...How much longer do you think I want to deal with this?"
"Beg your pardon?" That hadn't been an answer he had expected.
"First Kyle, now you," she continued, her face twisting into a scowl. "Over and over again, questioning me, telling me what to do. Constantly!" She reached forward and grabbed his wrist, her nails digging into his skin and frost starting to creep up his arm. "Need I remind you who it is you are speaking to?"
The sight of it left him paralyzed with terror, yet he still spoke. "I am speaking to Riliane Lucifen, the Unseelie Princess," he muttered. In his opinion, this whole situation was easily avoidable, and he was just pointing out the solution. "Your fiance doesn't want this situation, and I don't either." He tried to pull away, as much as he could. "I'm not a toy for you to play with!"
"Oh, aren't you?" Riliane spat. "I am the Unseelie Princess, at least you're right about that. But you? You're a human! A pathetic, weak, stupid little creature who ought to be worshiping the ground I walk on, not defying me. You are who and what I say you are, and I say you are nothing. Nothing! Do not ever speak to me like that again, or I will kill you!"
She was speaking out of anger, Allen knew that, but that didn't stop him from being scared. "What did I do to you? Why do you do this to me?!"
"...Because I want to," she replied, looking genuinely puzzled as to why he would even need to ask. "Because I can."
That wasn't an answer. "Let go of me."
"Why?"
He tried his hardest to remain calm. He had dealt with Riliane angry before. He could do this. He didn't believe she would kill him, why would she try to keep things as they were if not? "You're hurting me."
"And? Why should I stop?"
He bit his lip. He was so, so tired. "I learned my lesson, I won't speak about this topic again. Let go, there's no need for this."
Slowly, her face softened, and she released his wrist, leaving bright red drops dotting his skin. "Very well. I'll hold you to that... don't disappoint me again."
He cradled his wrist to his chest, his eyes never leaving her.
"Don't worry... I won't."
