Chapter Text
Cardan's POV
I had just recently gotten Jude back, but she doesn’t seem happy. I try to make sure she is getting proper rest, but she keeps avoiding it. She has dark circles under her eyes, her posture is getting worse, there’s basically no paperwork left on her desk and the servants say she spends her days aimlessly walking around the palace or sword-fighting in the gardens. She eats in her room and does not even finish it. I had to go into her room and make her eat. I had to convince her to rest, but she rarely listened. Her physical condition eventually started to get better, but she still wasn’t happy.
I decided to call her sisters Vivienne and Taryn along with their partners to come help cheer her up. Vivi suggested we play a few games to get her mind off things. It took a lot to convince Jude to come with us. First, she made the excuse of having work. I helped her finish it in no time, and then she said she needed to eat. I immediately called for food and made sure she finished every bite, and then she said she needed to organize her room, and I convinced her that her sisters would help her. Finally, she agreed, and I led her to her sisters and Heather and Locke.
They sat under a willow in the palace gardens. I had noticed it was one of Jude’s favorite places in the entire palace. I had to agree that the view was beautiful; lights had been set up by servants casting a soft glow on the ground where Heather and Taryn worked together to set up a blanket with board games stacked to the side and mortal and faerie snacks in a small basket. The night sky was full of twinkling stars, and a crescent moon was clearly visible. A slow breeze made the leaves of the willow sway gently.
Jude is wearing a blue dress with simple silver embroidery. Her hair is braided with a pin on the side of her head to secure loose pieces of hair. Her clothes were fairly simple, yet I found it hard to tear my gaze away from her.
“Jude! Come on, what took you guys so long?” Taryn asked, waving us over.
“My seneschal decided that when I called her was the perfect time to finish her paperwork, eat, and organize her room. Though I convinced her to leave the last one for later. It almost seems like she didn’t want to spend time with us," I say, going over and sitting next to Locke. “Absolutely not true! I’m just a busy woman, and plus, those papers were important.” She exclaims as she goes over to sit next to Taryn.
“Ah yes, letters on what décor should be used for the next revel are so important,” I say, biting into a slice of faerie fruit from a tray that a servant just brought over. Jude rolls her eyes and picks up a board game and starts setting it up.
“We play Monopoly, no questions asked." She says as she hands out some weird pieces of paper out to everyone. “Do you really want to lose a game so bad?” Vivi asks, grinning.
“Oh? Do you think I’ll let you win?” Jude asks back, raising an eyebrow. Taryn scoffs. “We all know that I’m going to win," she announces.
And so we start playing; the girls teach me and Locke how to play, and then... all hell breaks loose.
At some point, Jude shrieks about Vivi cheating after going bankrupt and folds her arms over her chest as she watches the rest of us play. She pretends that she’s mad, but we can all see a gleam of mirth in her eyes.
At some point, the cheating starts affecting me, and I decide Vivienne needs to learn that cheating is bad, and I make it my sole purpose to defeat her in this game. Heather is out next and very upset but tries not to show it. Locke seems to be enjoying the chaos this game causes and seems to have no intention of winning. Vivi finally goes bankrupt after a valiant effort on my side, which brings me great joy despite this only being a game. With Locke out right after Vivi, the only ones left are I and, surprisingly, Taryn.
I eventually come out as the victor, and I really wouldn’t have accepted any other result, as I am the High King of Elfhame.
After this game, everyone decides that Monopoly is not the way to go and to play something else. We play many games: UNO, Monopoly Deal (there was less fighting in this one), Tambola, Charades, and Truth or Dare. That’s where everything goes wrong and right at the same time. Wrong, because I did not need to know if my brother was a good kisser. Good, because in the end, it proved… productive. In more ways than one.
“Okay, how about we play truth or dare now?” Taryn asks after we finish our game of charades.
“Absolutely not, you, Jude, and Heather can lie," Vivi says immediately.
"Oh, come on Vivienne, it’ll be fun!” Locke says, "Plus, it would help us get to know each other better.” He leans dramatically towards Vivi as he grins and bats his eyelashes.
Vivienne sighs, but eventually agrees to it.
“Yay! I’ll go first. Heather," Taryn faces the pink-haired mortal, “truth or dare?”
“Truth,” she replies.
“What is your favourite thing about Fearie?”
Heather takes a moment before answering, “I think the parties. They're pretty fun. I like the beautiful dresses, the merry mood, and how happy most of the Folk seem.”
“Well, thank you! I plan most of them,” Locke exclaims.
“Really? I didn’t know” The mortal replies.
“Anyway, Cardan, truth or dare?” Vivi asks impatiently.
“Dare,” I reply simply.
“Switch seats with Heather.”
I stand up and reach Heather’s spot. Heather gets up and goes to sit next to Locke, where I was sitting earlier. I plop myself down next to Vivi and make myself comfortable before turning my head to face Locke.
“Truth or dare, Locke?” I ask.
“Truth”
“What do you like most about planning revels?”
“I guess the creative freedom, creating the perfect stage for my stories."
I see Jude roll her eyes at Locke’s response to my question. I find it amusing that even just Locke’s presence can annoy Jude so much. Yet I feel something deeper and stranger as well. Why does she react to his presence so much? I wish to throw a bottle of wine at his face. I wonder if that’s normal.
“Oh my goodness! This is so boring. Why can’t we all just do dares?” Vivi asks.
“Alright then, Vivi, truth or dare?” I ask, turning my head to face her.
“Dare”
“Down a whole bottle of wine. Right now”
Vivienne glares at me as she grabs a bottle of faerie wine; she pops it open and drinks it quickly, all while staring at me. “Happy?” She asks as she wipes the wine on her mouth away with her sleeve.
"Very," I reply with a grin. I know she doesn’t like drinking too much wine; she had told me once at a revel back when Rhyia was still alive.
“Cardan,” Taryn asks “truth or dare?”
“Dare” I say, because what can she possibly make me do?
“Eat salt." She says, grinning from ear to ear.
“Oh absolutely not!” I say.
“Oh come one, Cardan. You’ve had salt before," Jude says, grinning just like her double. She must be really enjoying my suffering.
And yet, you still forgive her, over and over again. A little voice in my head says. I’ve grown used to this little voice, who talks only of Jude. I’ve come to realize it speaks the purest truth, no tricks, no riddles, just the truth that I have come to desire this mortal, whose life, though short, burns so bright.
Vivienne reaches for the box of salt next to the faerie food and takes out a spoonful, handing it to me. I sigh and take the spoon of salt Vivienne offers to me. I shut my eyes tightly and put the spoon in my mouth. It tastes sharp and sour. I’ve had salt a few times; the worst was when Jude put some on my lunch almost a year ago. I immediately feel it affecting my ability to glamor; I know as soon as I try, it will not work. It probably won’t work for at least an hour.
I swallow thickly and turn to face Taryn. “Curse you” I say, my voice hoarse from the affects of the salt. She just grins and continues playing.
“Jude, truth or dare?” Locke asks.
“Truth” She replies almost instantly. She doesn’t trust him to give her a dare. It’s obvious enough.
“What...” He pauses for dramatic effects before continuing “Is, in your opinion, the best decision you ever made?”
Jude hesitates. Will she say that it was making me king? Or will she talk about her decision to send Oak away? The answer though, is not what I expected.
“It was becoming a spy for Prince Dain. Now I have a geas that allows me resistance from glamor. Only Dain could control me, and now he’s dead.” She says.
She could have lied about what geas she got, as that would be the strategically right move, making her enemies underestimate her, but she chose to tell the truth. I guess mortals can tell the truth when they want, they don’t lie all the time.
Taryn suddenly turns to Jude “Truth or dare?” she asks.
“Uhh... truth?” Jude replies.
Uh oh. Taryn’s grin tells me she’s up to something.
“How many people have you kissed, which was the best, and which was the worst?” She asks, grinning.
Oh goodness. What will she say? Was our kiss the best or worst? My heart races and I can’t stop it. Jude blushes and mumbles something incoherent before clearing her throat before speaking. “Can I maybe only mention the worst?” She whispers.
“Oooh, now I really wanna know," Vivienne says from beside me.
“Uhh... Well, I’ve kissed three people, the best...” she stutters and stumbles over her words. “The best would be...” She puts her head in her hands. “I can’t do this” she mutters.
Vivi and Taryn catch each other’s eyes and all fall in a fit of laughter. They must be thinking that their formidable sister, the one who wanted to be a knight, was finally vulnerable because of a kiss.
Eventually, Taryn is able to compose herself enough to continue talking. “Okay, at least tell us the worst kiss you’ve had” She says as she wipes away tears.
Jude crosses her arms across her chest. “The worst would be...’ She scowls as she remembers the kiss. “...Balekin” She says finally.
Everybody freezes. She kissed Balekin? When? Why didn’t I know about this? I barely register Vivienne asking when and how that happened, but I instantly register Jude’s reply.
“When I was kidnapped by the Undersea. One time, we were alone, and he thought I was under a glamor so he asked me to kiss him twice and then commanded me to forget. I wish I hadn’t kissed him, but if I didn’t, he’d realize I wasn’t glamoured.” She explains. Her tone is non-chalant, but her expression shows just how disgusted she truly was.
“He even made me kiss him as though he was Cardan. I wanted to punch the little *insert faerie insult* in the face, but sadly that would’ve given me away” She says.
“Cardan, truth or dare?” Vivi’s voice is calm, but has a dangerous edge to it. I know what she wants. She wants me to pick dare so she can ask me to get rid of Balekin. I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I will do it.
“Dare” I reply calmly.
“Make Balekin pay for what he did”
“With pleasure”
Jude looks at me and Vivienne, giving us a strange look.
The rest of the night is tense. As the night passes and a slight pink is visible in the sky, we decide to go to bed. Me and Jude take the rest to the guest rooms they would stay in during their stay at the palace and head to our own separate bed chambers. On the way, we hardly talk, I can see it must have been hard for her to admit what happened, even though she had remained composed when she’d told us. I see her off to her room before heading to my own.