The fey king led me across the white, glimmering marble floor of the ballroom. The walls sparkled with gold accents alongside rich, crimson wall-hangings. Three enormous, golden chandeliers lit the room easily with a clear, beautiful light.

“It’s gorgeous!” I murmured.

“Yeah, it’s a bit fancier than the rest of the place, given it’s the ballroom.” He looked around the room, expression fond.

Goodness, he looked good in his suit. Although I’d never met a man who didn’t look at least somewhat better in a fitted suit. It was some kind of black magic that even humans could make happen. It always made them look taller and broader than they were, unless they were hilariously tall to begin with. That said, he was just generally bigger, given his growth spurts, but the suit still did him a lot of favors.

Damn, he really was fine as hell. At least, that's how Michael would phrase it.

I let my eyes wander across him before tearing them away. It wasn’t worth it. Falling for him would only lead to me getting hurt.

Forcing my eyes away, I studied the ballroom some more. There were crimson-clothed tables around the edge of the huge room, forming a large dance floor area. A group of musicians sat in a corner of the room, wholly absorbed with quietly tuning their instruments.

Fen led us towards the one white table in the room, and pulled out a seat for me. “Axl is going to stay by the table until the speeches are done. Breya will keep an eye on me while I’m giving the speech.”

“I’ve still not met her.”

“You will eventually. She prefers not to be noticed.” Fen shrugged. “I’m going to check in with Axl. Will you be alright here until I get back?”

“Yeah.” I held up the small purse, and giggled a little, “I smuggled my phone in to keep me occupied if I needed it!”

Fen blinked, then gave a bark of laughter. “Oh gods, Mercy, you’re hilarious. Don’t ever change!”

“Is it okay if I have it?”

“Yes, of course. Some of the guests will have theirs too, I’m sure. Make sure you get Astrid and Amilee’s numbers tonight, that way you can text them whenever you want. Oh, and I’ll have Axl and Rose give you theirs.”

“Good idea.” I nodded, setting my phone on the table.

“Want something to drink?”

“Sure.”

“There’s every sort of alcohol imaginable, and basically any other drink you can think of, what do you want?”

“Uhhh…I wouldn’t mind a drinky drink, but I don’t hold alcohol well.” I frowned. A soda would do, really.

“Would having food with it help?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“I’ll have a snack plate sent over. And a drinky drink.” the fey king nodded, shooting me a sidelong glance.

I pouted, “Don’t tease me.”

“It was cute.” he smiled a little, then said, “I’ll be right back.”

Shaking my head at him, I picked up my phone again and scrolled through a social media app, watching every cat video I came across.

After a short while, Rose came up. “I have a snack and a drink for you! I thought you might like some caffeine as well, given how long these parties can last, so I also brought some soda. Unless you’d rather have tea?”

“Thank you so much, Rose!” I sighed gratefully as she set the tray she carried on the table. Her dress was a sky blue chiffon number. It was simple, with a sash at the waist, but very elegant, and it suited her very well, as the shade went perfectly with her sunshine yellow skin.

“It’s no problem dear. You’re not lonely, are you?”

“No, I have my phone.” I grinned a little, holding it up for her to see.

“I can see that!” Rose laughed, then perked up, as if her fey hearing had heard something I hadn't, and she turned, murmuring, “Oh, guests already?”

I hastened to my feet, and saw Fen beckoning me to come over and stand with him by the door, as there was a group of several people there. Although as I drew closer, I saw that it was Astrid, Cecily, Mara, and Micah. So no strangers there. That made me feel a little less nervous.

“Oh goodness, Mercy! You look divine!” Cecily giggled, coming forward and hugging me tightly.

“Astrid outdid herself.” I smiled, smoothing out the skirt of my dress.

“A dress can only do so much, honey!’ Micah laughed, “It’s just as much you, alright? Trust us!”

My face heated. “Th-thanks.” I didn’t see it, but I could still accept the compliment. Maybe…maybe I did look pretty, if only for tonight.

“Gods, Fen, I didn’t notice you next to her! How much did you grow?” Micah asked, sounding alarmed.

“Um, like six inches.” he grimaced.

“Your wings look nice.” Cecily smiled.

“Must be nice! You fey folk get all the luck!” Something about Micah made me miss Michael. Their names were even a little similar.

“It wasn’t fun.” the fey king muttered, grimacing.

Micah sighed, “No, I imagine not, just judging by your reaction.”

Although it was a change of topic, I didn’t think they’d mind too much, so I asked, “Fen, would you take a picture of me later to send to Michael? He’d love to see it.”

“Oh yeah, sure.” Fen nodded, seeming glad of the change of subject. If he felt so awkward talking about it with our current companions, how was he going to handle talking about it with everyone else?

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Is Michael your boyfriend?” Cecily asked, giggling.

“No, no. He’s not interested in girls.” I laughed, “He’s my best friend, back home.”

“Has he visited here yet?” Mara said, smiling politely. She was the quiet one of the bunch, but had been just as nice as the others, even bodily lifting Fen and Micah from the room back at Astrid’s home so I could have some privacy while Cecily had helped stop the bleeding. That had really been very thoughtful.

“No, but I think he'd like it here."

“Most people do!’ Mara laughed a little.

“You’re not wrong.” Fen snorted.

“Well, who wouldn't like a king’s house?” Astrid shrugged, “I’d say the palace, but it’s so dingy.”

“I never thought about it, but this isn’t the palace is it?” I looked at Fen, curious.

“No, it’s not. We don’t really use the palace much. I mean, the Council still meets there, and I do some of my work there, but it’s a barrow. That’s what our people lived in, traditionally. So the palace is one. It’s a warren, really. Dark and a bit depressing, really. It’s well taken care of, but I don’t want to live there, so I make my home among my other properties. This one has been my favorite lately.”

“But it still doesn't have a pool.” I shook my head, teasing him.

“I keep forgetting about that.” he grimaced, then turned to Astrid and her group, “I’m adding a pool.”

“Ooh, we can have pool parties then! And I can make Mercy swimsuits!” Astrid clapped her hands.

“No, I already have a perfectly fine swimsuit!” I protested.

“Nope. I’m making you one! It’s already decided!”

“Fen! Keep your sister in check!” I whined jokingly.

“I may be the High King of Faerie, but that’s the one thing I can’t do, keep my sister in check.” he shook his head, mock-apologetically.

We all burst into giggles, except for Fen and Mara, but even they were both smiling.

Someone cleared their throat impatiently from behind Astrid and her group. “Oh, come on you lot, let’s go sit so the stuffy people can come in!” Astrid said loudly enough that I knew the ‘stuffy people’ behind them had definitely overheard. Her three friends tittered in amusement. As they walked off, Rose intercepted them and took them to the table we’d been at, which made me happy.

After that, I didn’t understand much of what was said. But a lot of people stared and gaped at Fen, which he seemed to just wearily accept. He spoke with them in Faerie, motioning to me every so often.

Sometimes whoever he was talking to would not politely at me, or even smile, and a few even thanked me for helping Fen, and exclaimed on how odd it was for a human to have their own magic.

I did my best to be polite and welcoming, desperate to not somehow embarrass Fen.

Finally, Fen turned to me. “Alright, that’s enough. Anyone else can just come in and not get greeted.” he muttered, “They can hear the story from anyone else in the room who already knows it.” He reached out, taking my hand, then paused, “Is this alright?”

“Oh, yeah.” I nodded. “Did I do alright?”

“You did fine.” he nodded. “Thanks for helping me.”

“All I did was nod and say thank you once or twice.”

“And looked very pretty while doing it.” he snorted, shooting a mischievous sort of grin at me. “You didn’t notice the effect you had on some of the guests, but I did.”

“Oh hush.” I whacked his arm with my free hand.

“Don’t whack the king!” he rolled his eyes.

“I’ll whack him as much as I want when he’s being dumb!” I fought the urge to stick out my tongue at him.

He paused at the edge of the dance floor, suddenly serious. “Will you dance with me?”

My face heated. “Yeah, as long as you’re really okay with me standing on your feet.”

“Of course.” the fey king pulled me forward again.

The eyes of the room turned towards us as we walked to the middle. The musicians, who’d been playing quiet music as the guests had entered, stopped playing, and the room went nearly silent.

Fen paused in the middle of the dance floor. “My feet.” he murmured.

I stepped closer, onto his feet, hoping I didn’t hurt them.

His arms came up around me, but not improperly, keeping one hand in mine and holding it out, away from us, the other gently on my waist.

“Is this okay?” His voice was very quiet.

“Y-yeah.” I mumbled, aware my face was likely bright red. I stared ahead, at the perfect knot of his tie. If I looked up, our faces would be entirely too close.

Fen nodded at the musicians, who started playing again, more loudly this time, and then whisked me easily away into a dance, his feet moving for the both of us.

Slowly, couples joined us on the dance floor until it was fairly crowded.

The music slowed, ended, then immediately another song started. Fen stopped. “Do you want to dance again, or would you like to rest?”

“A rest please.” I muttered, “There’s a lot of people out here now.”

“Yes, there are.” he agreed, putting my hand into the crook of his arm and leading me from the dance floor.

We went back to the white table, where, to my surprise, Astrid and her friends were still sitting, apparently not interested in dancing at that moment.

Mara noticed our approach first, and greeted us by saying, “Fen, I didn’t know you were such a softie, letting Mercy stand on your feet.” She was smiling slightly at us.

“Ah, that’s my fault.” I grimace, “I have no idea how to dance properly like that.”

“And I didn't think to teach her. I’ve not taught you very much of anything since you’ve gotten here. Not much magic, no dancing, no Faerie." Fen frowned, pulling out a seat for me. “I should do better.”

“Oh it’s alright, I won’t be here much longer anyways.”

“That’s sad though!” Cecily pouted.

“I plan to kidnap her and bring her back from time to time.”

“And we can always go visit her in the human world. Nothing is stopping us!” Astrid laughed.

“You’ll have to help me go.” Micah said, smiling wryly as the only non-magic user at the table.

“Of course.” Mara nodded. “I can take two people.”

“I can’t.” Cecily sighed.

“I can only manage it sometimes.” Astrid said thoughtfully, “So it’s better if Mara takes you.”

“Well as long as I can get there, I don’t care how!” Micah snorted.

“We’ll have to dress incognito!” Cecily giggled, clapping her hands excitedly.

I blinked, picturing them in what I thought of as normal clothes, then laughed, “Oh I want to see that! Yes, please come visit me! You too. Although you look exactly the same in normal clothes, cause you only ever wear slacks, a button-up, and a jacket.”

“Not always…you’ve just only seen me in my work clothes.”

“What, do you wear like a cutoff or something?” It was supposed to be a joke, but I made the mistake of picturing it, and…well dang, he’d be hot in that, too.

Fen snorted. “No, of course not. I like sweaters too.” He caught two glasses of water from the tray of a passing waiter and gave one to me.

I accepted the cup, asking, “Like a cardigan or a sweater sweater?”

“If by sweater sweater, you mean a regular, pullover one.”

“That's what I meant.” I nodded. Fen in a sweater. That would be a sight to see. Sweaters were usually fairly tight, right? Oh dear. He’d be devastating in a nice sweater. Almost as bad as the fitted suit he wore at that moment. I pushed the distracting thought from my mind. “Why don’t you dress more casually when you’re here?”

“Because half the time I still have to do stuff as the king.” he shrugged.

“And that means you can’t dress more casually? Even in your own home? I understand if you have to go to meetings and stuff at your house, but otherwise..."

“You wear the dresses Astrid made for you.”

“It seemed polite, and you seemed to think it was important. You’re my host, and my friend, so I respect that.” I shrugged. “And they’re very comfortable, so it doesn't bother me to wear them on a daily basis.”

“I guess it’s just expectations, really. I guess I don’t have to, although I do like how I dress, too. I also like clothes, and like looking my best."

“Well, as long as you’re comfortable, it doesn't matter.” I shrugged.