p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""The food this year sucks."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Nobody's making you eat it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What else am I supposed to eat?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't know, but you could stop whining for three seconds."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ha span style="font-style: oblique;"ha,/span you're hilarious. Where's Lucien anyway? He went to get drinks half an hour ago."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why? You need something else to complain about?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Lucien elbowed his way into the gaggle of muttering fae. "Calm down, I'm back. Eris was watching me like a hawk. Took me forever to grab enough for all of us." He held up the three bottles of wine in one hand, the neck of each bottle wedged between two of his fingers. "C'mon, let's get out of here."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The group that followed Lucien was a medley of High Fae around his age that he had accumulated in the Autumn Court. As Lucien had grown, the fragile pretense that he had any chance of becoming High Lord had been shattered. His family went from training and tormenting him to straight up ignoring him. That suited Lucien just fine; he'd rather spend time with other low-ranking fae than be part of the upper echelon of the court./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was the Autumn Equinox, which was Beron's chance to throw a lavish party and show off his palace to the rest of the citizens of the Autumn Court. For Lucien, it was a chance to sneak off and get wildly drunk with his friends. Though he was considered a male of little importance, his father and brothers disliked him drinking in public, especially his eldest brother, Eris. They thought it made their family look bad. Of course, that only incentivized Lucien to find some more creative solutions, where he could have fun without constant supervision./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Calix, the male who had been complaining about the food, snatched one of the bottles out of Lucien's hand. Both of his parents served as courtiers in Beron's palace, and expected him to take up the mantle. Unfortunately for them, Calix was much more interested in dodging work and wooing females. "Why does Eris care so much about you taking drinks anyway?" he asked blithely, taking a swig from the bottle./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Because he's a control freak," a female responded, taking the bottle from Calix's hand and downing a gulp of the sweet wine herself. Thana was a migrant from the Winter Court, and had helped organize the equinox party. She was the oldest of the group, and held no true loyalty to any court. Winter, Autumn, it was all the same to her, as long as she got paid./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They reached their destination, still enumerating on Eris's many flaws. Lucien laughed openly as they settled in the dim corner of one of the palace's courtyards. There was a small gazebo and a large round table surrounded by comfortable, threadbare chairs. It was close enough to the bulk of the party that they could hear what was going on, but far enough away from them to have some fun in peace. These friends, all of whom held Lucien's family in similar disdain, were what made Lucien's life bearable./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The wine was passed around, each fairy taking careless swigs straight from the bottle. Lucien allowed the heady drunkenness to wash over him. He smiled lazily and sank back in his chair, content for now to simply enjoy the antics of his friends. Calix was, as he did every time he had wine, challenging everyone to an arm-wrestling contest. He was busy losing against another male, Arif, when a light fell over the group. The playful banter stopped. Lucien turned and squinted, taking in the new figure that brandished the orb of light floating above his outstretched palm./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, sorry. I heard voices over here…I can go."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Lucien recognized Tamlin immediately, though he hadn't seen the other male in decades. He looked just as Lucien remembered: plainly dressed, with beautiful golden hair that draped over his shoulders like a curtain. Lucien scrambled to his feet./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's okay, you can stay." He ignored the pointed looks from his friends, who watched with a mix of amusement and confusion. Despite Tamlin's unadorned appearance, it was clear that he was royalty. It shone from him, as brightly as the magic light cradled in his hand. Exactly the type of person that Lucien usually scorned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tamlin examined him, head tilted to the side. "Lucien, correct?" he hesitated, clearly aware of his precarious social position. Lucien nodded, and Tamlin relaxed, just a little bit, and smiled. "I haven't seen you in ages. You've grown."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"That was an understatement. Since Lucien had hit puberty, he had shot upward like a weed, and was now among the tallest of his brothers. Only Orion, the second eldest, was taller than him. Lucien noted, with no small degree of satisfaction, that he stood several inches higher than the Spring Court prince. He was overwhelmed by the urge to show off his companions, to make jokes and laugh at the pompous opulence of the courts. To show that he span style="font-style: oblique;"had/span grown, in both appearance and emotional maturity, and was no longer a shy child lurking at the end of a line of giants./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Come, join us." Lucien took Tamlin by the forearm and dragged him to the seat next to his. "Everyone, this is Tamlin, from the Spring Court."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The group eyed Tamlin distrustfully. "You're High Lord Theon's youngest, aren't you?" Calix asked, though it was clear that he knew the answer already. Suspicion among the fae heightened. None of them were terribly fond of the High Lords./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Unfortunately," Tamlin grimaced. The tension dissipated; Tamlin having passed an unspoken test. The others introduced themselves, and Thana made sure to pass Tamlin one of the bottles of wine. He threw his head back as he drank. A drop of blood-red wine spilt from the corner of his mouth, down the line of his throat. Lucien watched, transfixed, as the droplet fled down Tamlin's open tunic and collected against his delicate collarbone. It smudged against his shirt, leaving a purple stain. Tamlin caught him looking and frowned, glancing down at his own chest to see what Lucien was staring at. He pressed one finger over the stain on his chest, and when he removed it, the stain was gone./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Lucien came back to himself all at once. Internally chiding himself (and blaming his odd behavior on the wine), he allowed his ears to tune back into the conversations happening around him. Calix wasted no time dragging him into an argument he was having with Arif about which court served the best liquor. The debate was as lively as it was pointless, and the friends were soon alternating between heated shouting and helpless giggling. Even Tamlin chimed in, citing the fizzing strawberry cordial from the Spring Court as the most decadent drink to be had./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Time passed quickly, the way it does when one is having a good time with good people. Nobody from the court ever bothered to track down Lucien at these types of events. It was an unspoken agreement that it was better for him to stay out of the way, out of the public eye. Lucien drank and he laughed. He arm-wrestled Calix and Arif and was trounced soundly both times. He danced and he sang, making up off-color lyrics to the muffled music being played at the event. Somebody had taken his chair, and before he could pout for too long, Thana pulled him onto her lap. There was nothing lascivious in her touch, just the warmth and security of friendship./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tamlin blossomed to life, right before their eyes. He joked and hollered with the rest of them, his shyness having long been beaten into submission by the wine. After making the fatal mistake of admitting that he played the fiddle, he acquiesced to their drunken demands for him to perform. He disappeared for a few minutes, leaving them to wonder if he had abandoned them for good. When he returned bearing a fiddle that he had convinced one of the members of the band to lend him, Lucien was inexplicably relieved. Tamlin rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, cradled the fiddle between his chin and neck, and began to play./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Miraculously, the entire group stopped talking. The song Tamlin chose was haunting, bittersweet, filled with longing and tragedy. Lucien was unable to tear his eyes away. He had been raised to believe that musicians were all fanciful airheads, making silly notes with their silly instruments to entertain the fairies that were actually important. Tamlin played as if the instrument were a part of himself, and he was revealing the innermost workings of his soul to his audience. When Tamlin finished to raucous applause, Lucien was mortified to find that he had tears in his eyes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Evening gave way to night, gave way to early morning. One by one, Lucien's friends excused themselves, retiring to their various beds, which mostly belonged to them. Calix and Thana stumbled away together, arms wrapped around each other's waists. Their friends-with-benefits thing was a poorly-kept secret in the group, and went largely unacknowledged. Soon, it was just Lucien and Tamlin in the courtyard./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I should probably return this before the band leaves," Tamlin gestured to the fiddle. "Want to walk back with me?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Sure." Lucien swayed as he stood. Tamlin put out a hand to steady him, that paradoxically made Lucien feel even more unstable. They walked side by side, back to the main event, which was starting to wind down. Lucien threw back his head and gazed up at the stars, savoring these last few moments of freedom. "Will your family care that you disappeared for the entire party?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tamlin chuckled. "No, nobody else in my family came. It's just me."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh. Why'd you come then?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't know. I thought it would be fun." Tamlin changed the subject. "Does your family care?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No." A scowl marred Lucien's untroubled face. "They don't care about anything I do."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Mine is the same way."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"There was nobody else, Lucien realized, that actually understood. Being the youngest son of a merciless High Lord, older brothers constantly at each other's throats. Trapped in a family of royal affluence: nobody wanted or expected them to rule, but they were powerless to choose their own destinies./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tamlin stopped them at the outskirts of the main party. "Thank you for allowing me to join you tonight. I'm not…great…at social events like this."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"On most people, the awkward fumbling would have been unappealing. Instead, Lucien found it charming. "Yeah, it was fun. I'm glad you got to loosen up a bit."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Too late, Lucien realized that what he said could be taken as an insult. He braced himself to apologize, but Tamlin only grinned. "Me too." He thoughtfully appraised Lucien, head tilted in consideration. "I have a feeling that you are a bad influence that more fae sorely need, Lucien Vanserra."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Never before was Lucien so grateful that it was too dark to make out the flush that set his entire face aflame. "Well, somebody has to do it." Unable to maintain eye contact any longer, Lucien hurried into the light of the main party. Tamlin's footsteps were behind him for a few seconds, but when Lucien finally had the courage to turn around and look, the Spring Court prince was nowhere to be found./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Nobody's making you eat it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What else am I supposed to eat?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't know, but you could stop whining for three seconds."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ha span style="font-style: oblique;"ha,/span you're hilarious. Where's Lucien anyway? He went to get drinks half an hour ago."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why? You need something else to complain about?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Lucien elbowed his way into the gaggle of muttering fae. "Calm down, I'm back. Eris was watching me like a hawk. Took me forever to grab enough for all of us." He held up the three bottles of wine in one hand, the neck of each bottle wedged between two of his fingers. "C'mon, let's get out of here."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The group that followed Lucien was a medley of High Fae around his age that he had accumulated in the Autumn Court. As Lucien had grown, the fragile pretense that he had any chance of becoming High Lord had been shattered. His family went from training and tormenting him to straight up ignoring him. That suited Lucien just fine; he'd rather spend time with other low-ranking fae than be part of the upper echelon of the court./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was the Autumn Equinox, which was Beron's chance to throw a lavish party and show off his palace to the rest of the citizens of the Autumn Court. For Lucien, it was a chance to sneak off and get wildly drunk with his friends. Though he was considered a male of little importance, his father and brothers disliked him drinking in public, especially his eldest brother, Eris. They thought it made their family look bad. Of course, that only incentivized Lucien to find some more creative solutions, where he could have fun without constant supervision./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Calix, the male who had been complaining about the food, snatched one of the bottles out of Lucien's hand. Both of his parents served as courtiers in Beron's palace, and expected him to take up the mantle. Unfortunately for them, Calix was much more interested in dodging work and wooing females. "Why does Eris care so much about you taking drinks anyway?" he asked blithely, taking a swig from the bottle./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Because he's a control freak," a female responded, taking the bottle from Calix's hand and downing a gulp of the sweet wine herself. Thana was a migrant from the Winter Court, and had helped organize the equinox party. She was the oldest of the group, and held no true loyalty to any court. Winter, Autumn, it was all the same to her, as long as she got paid./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They reached their destination, still enumerating on Eris's many flaws. Lucien laughed openly as they settled in the dim corner of one of the palace's courtyards. There was a small gazebo and a large round table surrounded by comfortable, threadbare chairs. It was close enough to the bulk of the party that they could hear what was going on, but far enough away from them to have some fun in peace. These friends, all of whom held Lucien's family in similar disdain, were what made Lucien's life bearable./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The wine was passed around, each fairy taking careless swigs straight from the bottle. Lucien allowed the heady drunkenness to wash over him. He smiled lazily and sank back in his chair, content for now to simply enjoy the antics of his friends. Calix was, as he did every time he had wine, challenging everyone to an arm-wrestling contest. He was busy losing against another male, Arif, when a light fell over the group. The playful banter stopped. Lucien turned and squinted, taking in the new figure that brandished the orb of light floating above his outstretched palm./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, sorry. I heard voices over here…I can go."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Lucien recognized Tamlin immediately, though he hadn't seen the other male in decades. He looked just as Lucien remembered: plainly dressed, with beautiful golden hair that draped over his shoulders like a curtain. Lucien scrambled to his feet./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's okay, you can stay." He ignored the pointed looks from his friends, who watched with a mix of amusement and confusion. Despite Tamlin's unadorned appearance, it was clear that he was royalty. It shone from him, as brightly as the magic light cradled in his hand. Exactly the type of person that Lucien usually scorned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tamlin examined him, head tilted to the side. "Lucien, correct?" he hesitated, clearly aware of his precarious social position. Lucien nodded, and Tamlin relaxed, just a little bit, and smiled. "I haven't seen you in ages. You've grown."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"That was an understatement. Since Lucien had hit puberty, he had shot upward like a weed, and was now among the tallest of his brothers. Only Orion, the second eldest, was taller than him. Lucien noted, with no small degree of satisfaction, that he stood several inches higher than the Spring Court prince. He was overwhelmed by the urge to show off his companions, to make jokes and laugh at the pompous opulence of the courts. To show that he span style="font-style: oblique;"had/span grown, in both appearance and emotional maturity, and was no longer a shy child lurking at the end of a line of giants./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Come, join us." Lucien took Tamlin by the forearm and dragged him to the seat next to his. "Everyone, this is Tamlin, from the Spring Court."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The group eyed Tamlin distrustfully. "You're High Lord Theon's youngest, aren't you?" Calix asked, though it was clear that he knew the answer already. Suspicion among the fae heightened. None of them were terribly fond of the High Lords./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Unfortunately," Tamlin grimaced. The tension dissipated; Tamlin having passed an unspoken test. The others introduced themselves, and Thana made sure to pass Tamlin one of the bottles of wine. He threw his head back as he drank. A drop of blood-red wine spilt from the corner of his mouth, down the line of his throat. Lucien watched, transfixed, as the droplet fled down Tamlin's open tunic and collected against his delicate collarbone. It smudged against his shirt, leaving a purple stain. Tamlin caught him looking and frowned, glancing down at his own chest to see what Lucien was staring at. He pressed one finger over the stain on his chest, and when he removed it, the stain was gone./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Lucien came back to himself all at once. Internally chiding himself (and blaming his odd behavior on the wine), he allowed his ears to tune back into the conversations happening around him. Calix wasted no time dragging him into an argument he was having with Arif about which court served the best liquor. The debate was as lively as it was pointless, and the friends were soon alternating between heated shouting and helpless giggling. Even Tamlin chimed in, citing the fizzing strawberry cordial from the Spring Court as the most decadent drink to be had./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Time passed quickly, the way it does when one is having a good time with good people. Nobody from the court ever bothered to track down Lucien at these types of events. It was an unspoken agreement that it was better for him to stay out of the way, out of the public eye. Lucien drank and he laughed. He arm-wrestled Calix and Arif and was trounced soundly both times. He danced and he sang, making up off-color lyrics to the muffled music being played at the event. Somebody had taken his chair, and before he could pout for too long, Thana pulled him onto her lap. There was nothing lascivious in her touch, just the warmth and security of friendship./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tamlin blossomed to life, right before their eyes. He joked and hollered with the rest of them, his shyness having long been beaten into submission by the wine. After making the fatal mistake of admitting that he played the fiddle, he acquiesced to their drunken demands for him to perform. He disappeared for a few minutes, leaving them to wonder if he had abandoned them for good. When he returned bearing a fiddle that he had convinced one of the members of the band to lend him, Lucien was inexplicably relieved. Tamlin rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, cradled the fiddle between his chin and neck, and began to play./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Miraculously, the entire group stopped talking. The song Tamlin chose was haunting, bittersweet, filled with longing and tragedy. Lucien was unable to tear his eyes away. He had been raised to believe that musicians were all fanciful airheads, making silly notes with their silly instruments to entertain the fairies that were actually important. Tamlin played as if the instrument were a part of himself, and he was revealing the innermost workings of his soul to his audience. When Tamlin finished to raucous applause, Lucien was mortified to find that he had tears in his eyes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Evening gave way to night, gave way to early morning. One by one, Lucien's friends excused themselves, retiring to their various beds, which mostly belonged to them. Calix and Thana stumbled away together, arms wrapped around each other's waists. Their friends-with-benefits thing was a poorly-kept secret in the group, and went largely unacknowledged. Soon, it was just Lucien and Tamlin in the courtyard./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I should probably return this before the band leaves," Tamlin gestured to the fiddle. "Want to walk back with me?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Sure." Lucien swayed as he stood. Tamlin put out a hand to steady him, that paradoxically made Lucien feel even more unstable. They walked side by side, back to the main event, which was starting to wind down. Lucien threw back his head and gazed up at the stars, savoring these last few moments of freedom. "Will your family care that you disappeared for the entire party?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tamlin chuckled. "No, nobody else in my family came. It's just me."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh. Why'd you come then?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't know. I thought it would be fun." Tamlin changed the subject. "Does your family care?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No." A scowl marred Lucien's untroubled face. "They don't care about anything I do."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Mine is the same way."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"There was nobody else, Lucien realized, that actually understood. Being the youngest son of a merciless High Lord, older brothers constantly at each other's throats. Trapped in a family of royal affluence: nobody wanted or expected them to rule, but they were powerless to choose their own destinies./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tamlin stopped them at the outskirts of the main party. "Thank you for allowing me to join you tonight. I'm not…great…at social events like this."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"On most people, the awkward fumbling would have been unappealing. Instead, Lucien found it charming. "Yeah, it was fun. I'm glad you got to loosen up a bit."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Too late, Lucien realized that what he said could be taken as an insult. He braced himself to apologize, but Tamlin only grinned. "Me too." He thoughtfully appraised Lucien, head tilted in consideration. "I have a feeling that you are a bad influence that more fae sorely need, Lucien Vanserra."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Never before was Lucien so grateful that it was too dark to make out the flush that set his entire face aflame. "Well, somebody has to do it." Unable to maintain eye contact any longer, Lucien hurried into the light of the main party. Tamlin's footsteps were behind him for a few seconds, but when Lucien finally had the courage to turn around and look, the Spring Court prince was nowhere to be found./p
