Fen woke to pain surging through his back, and gave a hoarse scream. The light hurt his eyes, so he squeezed them shut as convulsions wracked his body.

He could feel the wings pulling themselves further from his back.

“Hang in there!” Amilee muttered. He felt her magic push into him, and quiet the pain a little, but not the way Mercy’s did.

Fen sobbed weakly as another burst of pain, this time not as bad, sent him shuddering, instead of writhing, on the bed.

As it faded, he gasped for breath. “C-can you sh-shut the curtains?!”

Amilee’s magic surged, and the curtains snapped shut. “Sorry.”

“Wh-what time is it?”

“Ten in the morning of tomorrow. Or today.”

“Gods.” Fen groaned, reaching up with a trembling hand and rubbing his face. He stiffened as more pain coursed through him, stretching his bones again before fading. “What…what h-happened w-with the party?” he asked.

“After we got you up here, Axl and Rose went back down to deal with damage control. Only a few people had actually seen what had happened, but it was enough.” Amilee sighed, shaking her head. “It didn’t cause trouble, everyone was just curious or worried. Astrid took control of the situation, bless her, and acted as hostess. She didn’t see any reason why they shouldn’t continue with the party, and frankly neither did I. So it disbanded early this morning, and the guests went home with some very juicy gossip. I’m afraid you’ll be front page news in the papers, but worse things have happened.”

“I guess.” he muttered. “I had really hoped this was over.”

“I hoped so too. I thought it was over, given you hadn’t grown in a while. The good news is your spine has stayed stable, so I think you'll be able to be up and about a little sooner without any problems this time, once you have your balance.”

“Good.” he sighed, then flicked his tired eyes around the room, “Where’s Mercy?”

“She’s resting. She overdid it a little last night putting you out. She’s fine, but she needs rest.”

Alarm filled him, and he struggled, trying to roll over and sit up, but another surge of pain sent him collapsing back onto his stomach on the bed, where he lay there for a few moments, twitching until the pain passed.

“Ah, gods!” he sobbed. Tears poured from his face. “Sh-she’s okay?!”

“Yes, Fen, I promise. I checked on her earlier. She’s fine. I have Rose in there, keeping an eye on her, ready to get food into her the moment she wakes."

Amilee's tone was soothing, but it did little to ease the panic throbbing in his chest. “I-I want to see her wh-when she’s awake!”

“That’s fine, but she’ll need to sit and take it easy.”

“Of course.” he nodded tiredly.

“Fen, do you…” his cousin let her voice trail off, expression curious.

“I do love her.” Fen whispered, able to guess from the slightly gentle tone in Amilee’s voice what she’d been about to ask. “I-I’d marry her, but she’s not…not likely to get married, I don’t think. I don’t think she’d have me, either. It's alright..” He didn’t want to bring up the more personal stuff about her, since that was her business. But what he’d said would do the trick. “So I’ll just stick around and be her friend. Forever. That’s alright. It’s enough. If that’s all she can manage with me, that’s enough. More than I deserve.”

“Have you told her this?”

“What? No, I don’t want her to feel like I’m pressuring her for anything. That’s the last thing I want! I don’t want her to think I’m just being her friend because I hope she’ll change her mind. That’s not what I’m about.”

“So you’ve turned yourself down in advance, without even asking her.” the doctor frowned.

“We’ve had enough conversations that I know she would.” he paused, “She…she can’t. She’s been hurt before, and she can’t. No physical trauma, not that she's mentioned, I mean, but she can’t.” he muttered, knowing he was being vague, but feeling it was necessary.

“Ah. That does make it difficult.” Amilee sighed. Apparently he’d said enough for her to understand.

“Like I said, I’m content to be just her friend.” Fen shrugged. “It’s enough.”

“I understand a bit better, now. That won’t be easy, though.”

“Nah, it’s not so hard. I get to be around her.” the fey king managed a weak smile.

That was a lie, though. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He wanted to show her how much he loved her, and prove that all the bad things she thought about herself weren’t true. He wanted to kiss her and hold her close, and nothing more because she didn’t want anything more. He also wanted to be the exception to the rule that all men expected her to change her mind. Because he didn’t. He knew that just being with her would make him happy, and sleeping with her wasn’t a requirement in that. So because of that, he would just be with her, only as a friend. Because that’s what she needed. If that ever changed, that was fine, great, even, but he didn't expect it, and didn’t hold out hope for it. She was enough, just as she was.

Ultimately, he just wanted her to be happy, and was willing to do whatever he needed to make that happen.

“Oh Fen.” Amilee sighed, shaking her head sadly.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” Fen called tiredly.

The door opened, and Mercy poked her head in timidly.

“You’re up!” He tried to push himself up again, but his cousin stopped him.

“Relax, there’s no need to sit.” she chided.

“Do what Amilee says.” Mercy said softly, coming fully into the room. She was wearing her pajamas and a fluffy bathrobe. He’d have said she looked cozy, but she looked about as tired as he felt. “You gotta rest.”

“Amilee said you overdid the magic. Are you alright?” he asked motioning for her to come closer.

“I’m fine.”

“You look tired still.” Fen muttered.

“So do you.” she shrugged.

“Yes, but I’m still in bed. Go rest.”

“I’ll rest while I’m here with you.” The young woman pulled a seat up beside his bed. “Sitting is resting.”

“Fine, but promise me you’ll go lay down on the couch if you feel tired, alright?”

“Alright.”

“How are you feeling?” Amilee asked her.

“Just tired, really. But better. I was so dizzy last night.”

“That’s not an uncommon side effect.” the doctor nodded. “You’ve not felt nauseous or anything? No headache?”

“No, thankfully.”

“Good.” Amilee nodded approvingly.

“Can you help me sit?” Fen asked his cousin.

“Fine. But don’t get up until tomorrow. I know I said your back is stable, but you do still need rest, alright?” she told him sternly, then after he agreed, she helped him roll over, managing not to get whacked by his wings, and got him propped up with pillows. “There.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, Rose said she was bringing breakfast up here in a bit.” Mercy told him. “Will you stay and eat with us, Amilee?”

“Not today, I gotta run, but I’ll come back for lunch and check on you both.” She told us.

“Sounds good.” It suited Fen just fine, he liked being alone with Mercy. “Think I’ll be able to head back to the office in a few days? I really need to get back to work, and I’d been hoping to soon.”

“Mm, ask me again tomorrow.” She said doubtfully. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea, really. You should just wait until we’re absolutely sure it won’t happen again. I’d say two more weeks.”

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“Amilee, I can’t wait that long. It’s been too long as is!” Fen shook his head, frowning.

“We’ll talk about it later, alright?”

“Fine.” he sighed.

Amilee bade them farewell, then left.

“You shouldn’t be in such a hurry to get back to work, Fen.” Mercy told him.

“I can’t just sit here though. The work piles up when I’m gone and it gets boring, just laying here all the time. I mean, I like being able to hang out with you, but I need to get back to work. Would you want to start the same day I go back?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I understand being bored, I just…I want you to be careful.”

“If you’re there, and I do have another growth spurt, well, you’ll be there. But hopefully this was the last one.”

“I hope so too.” She sighed.

“How…how much taller am I?”

“Hmm.” Mercy studied him, “I don’t know. We’ll have to measure later.”

“I’ll lay down and you can measure now. I want to know.”

“Alright, let me go get my measuring tape. Rose put one in the embroidery kit she rustled up for me.” Mercy got up, and hurried from the room, returning a little while later with the fabric measuring tape draped over her neck. “Okay, lay down for a bit.”

Fen lay back down, stretching out on the bed while Mercy measured him.

“Hmm.” she said when she was done, draping the measuring tape back over her neck as she helped him sit again.

“What?”

“Looks like six more inches.” she sighed.

Fen grimaced, “Gods, that’s six four, now?!”

“I guess so. You’re officially in tall territory, now.” she managed a weak, wry smile.

“Ughhh.” he rubbed his face tiredly. “That better have been the last one!”

“I hope so, Fen, I hope so.” Mercy shook her head.

“That’s a whole foot, and then more scales and a whole set of wings, on top of it.” he muttered.

“Well, both the scales and the wings are pretty, for what it’s worth.” she told him.

Fen managed a smile, “I’m glad you think so.”

“You’ve asked me if your opinion means anything, so doesn't mine mean anything?” she tilted her head to the side, looking a bit sad.

“It’s the only one that really matters, if I’m being honest. I don’t really care what anyone else thinks.”

Mercy laughed, “I don’t believe that, but you’re sweet to say it so we’ll go with it.”

Before he could respond, there was a knock on the door, and Rose pushed in with a loaded food cart, chirping, “Breakfast!”

“Good, I’m hungry.” he muttered.

‘How are you feeling?”

“Better than I was.”

“Well you eat up, alright? Both of you. The pair of you need to get your strength back.” Rose said in a very motherly fashion before leaving again.

“I feel like we’re back at square one, only I’m even bigger.” Fen muttered, picking annoyedly at his claws.

“I’m sorry.” Mercy said softly, getting up and pouring a cup of tea, she pushed it into his hands, murmuring, “Here.”

“Thanks. And don’t apologize, it’s not your fault.”

“It is, actually.” She sighed, starting to make a plate.

“No, not this argument again, Mercy. It’s not your fault.” he said firmly. “Alright? I’m sure I just need to adjust, like you always say.”

But there was a hoarse sob, and Mercy put the plate she’d been filling down, covering her face with her hands.

“Oh Mercy.” he sighed. Reaching out, he caught her arm at the elbow, and pulled her over to the bedside, then gently pulled her hands away from her face, holding them. “I’m fine. Other than pain in the moment and a while after, I am okay. This is just how I should be, even if it’s horrible how I have to get there."

“I-I just…” she sobbed.

“Mercy, I don’t blame you.” He put both of her hands into one of his, something he was glad to find he could do, given how much larger his hands were now, and pulled out a handkerchief, then reached up and wiped her face with his free hand. “You have to forgive yourself. You’ve not done anything wrong. Alright?”

She was quiet for a few moments. “A-alright.”

“I hate to ask, but would you put a plate together for me?” he asked, grimacing as he reluctantly let her hands fall.

“Th-this one was gonna be for you.” she sniffed, rubbing her eyes with her fists, which made her look very young indeed.

“Gods, you’re young.” he sighed as she handed him the plate of food.

“I mean, sort of. I’ll be twenty seven before too long.”

“That’s not old, Mercy.”

“Well, but it’s not as young as like eighteen or twenty-one.” She was now filling a plate of food for herself.

“Still a lot younger than me.”

“Well, you’re the fey king, you’d have to be old.” she shook her head. “Or at least older.” Mercy took her own food and sat down again. “Are you still considered young? Or are you old?”

“Mm, it’s different with us, because we do live so long. I’m not a young man anymore. I’m squarely in adulthood, but I’m by no means very old. The only person older than me in the household is Breya."

“You’ve said that before.” she nodded.

“Well, she is. But she’s not considered old, either. Were my father still alive, he’d be considered old.”

“How did he die? If you don’t mind me asking, I mean, you don’t have to tell me."

“I don’t mind. Alongside having a large harem, he didn’t have any qualms about who he tried to romance, and got a curse put on him by a husband with an ax to grind. It killed him in the end.”

“That’s not what I was expecting!” Mercy blinked.

“What’d you think had happened?” he raised an amused eyebrow at her.

“I really had no idea, but not that.” She said thoughtfully.

“You probably wonder about my mother, too.”

“Yeah.”

“She was sick. My father gave her a disease he’d picked up from another one of his women. He recovered from it, but she didn’t.” Fen sighed.

“I’m sorry, Fen.” Mercy murmured.

“It’s alright. It was a long time ago, now.”

“That doesn't make it any easier.”

“No, I guess not.” he sighed. “But at least I have fond memories of at least one of my parents. I know you’re no-contact with yours.”

“I mean, I have some fond memories, but they don’t outweigh the bad ones. I was their problem child, so everything was always my fault.”

“That’s awful. When did you go no-contact?”

“Right after college. Or I tried to, anyway. They managed to find me and tried to reach out and badger me a couple of times after that, even showing up at one of my earlier apartments unannounced, but I called security and they were escorted away without me having to deal with them.”

“You said you were the problem child, does that mean you have siblings?”

“Yeah. An older brother and a younger sister. I’m not in touch with them either, but maybe someday I’ll try and reach out to them and see if they’d like to be in touch."

“That might be nice.”

“Only if they don’t let my parents know they’re talking with me. Otherwise I don't want that. They’d probably try to force my siblings into telling them how to find me.”

“You must be very careful. Although you have social media, don’t you? That’s gotta be kind of hard, since Mercy is an unusual name, it wouldn't be hard to find you.”

Mercy smiled, “I know. Mercy Collins isn’t my original name. That’s how I was finally able to get them off my back. And also how they don’t know the book that I published was written by me.”

Fen blinked, surprised. For a brief moment, he wondered what her original name was, then realized that he didn't care. Mercy was her name now. Her chosen name. Whatever it had been before didn’t matter. “Well, that makes sense. How did you come to pick that name?”

“Honestly, it just came to me one day.” she said softly, pushing food around her plate, “And it was pretty, but different. I toyed with the idea of Grace, which has a similar meaning, but lots of people have that. So Mercy it was. And then Collins is a pretty common name that sounded alright with it, so I went with that.”

“It’s a good name. You chose well.” Fen smiled at her.

“I think so. I kept my real name as my middle name. If you want to know it.” She paused, frowning, “I should have told you that Mercy wasn’t my real name sooner, shouldn't I? I’m sorry. I got mad that I didn’t know you were a king when technically, you don’t even know my real name."

“That matters very little to me.” he waved away her concern. “And unless you want to share your old name, it’s fine. I understand why you were angry, I had purposely kept the truth from you about who I was. This is a painful topic for you, and I imagine you don’t talk about it very often, it’s a totally different situation.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

It was quiet for a few moments.

“Iris.” Mercy said softly, staring down at her hands.

Fen smiled at her, “A flower, but also Greek goddess of the rainbow, right? It suits you too.”

“I do like it. That’s why I kept it for my middle name.” she murmured, then took a bite of her food. “You can use it, if you want. But Mercy is fine too, you knew me as Mercy first, so that makes sense.”

“I’ll call you whatever you want to go by. Michael calls you Mercy, though, doesn't he?”

“Yeah. His entire family does. His parents don’t live that far from mine still, just down the street, actually, and my family doesn't know I’m still in contact with them. So he and his family all call me Mercy, just in case, so my parents won’t know who they’re talking about if they happen to be around, for some reason.”

“Good.” Fen nodded. “Iris.”

Mercy smiled. “It is a pretty name. It’s the only thing I’m grateful for from my parents. That’s why I wanted another name that was just as pretty and just as unique.”

“Mercy does fit the bill.” the fey king nodded thoughtfully. “Mercy Iris. Both are nice names.”

“I’m glad you like them.” The young woman shrugged.

“They’re both good names. Although maybe next time, we’ll get Astrid to make you a rainbow gown.”

She shook her head, laughing a little and rolling her eyes, “She actually made two of the same dresses, but one was gold and one was pink. So I already have a ballgown that’s surplus to requirements!”

“Nah, there will be more parties that I’ll invite you to, even when you’re back to living in your world. You’re too good of a date, I don’t want to take anyone else.”

Mercy flushed, and looked away, “Oh stop it! Although I probably should learn to dance.”

“That’s easily arranged.” Fen had half a mind to teach that to her himself, but had a feeling she might not want that. He’d ask Rose and Axl. They were both excellent dancers, and Mercy would be comfortable with them.

They ate quietly for a little while.

“Do you want me to call you Iris?” he asked quietly, breaking the comfortable silence.

“I really don't care either way. I forget that Mercy isn't my real name most of the time." she grimaced slightly.

“Of course it's your real name. It’s legally your name, that means it’s your real name. Maybe not your original name, but that doesn't make it, or you, any less real.”

Mercy smiled, “Either is fine. Only, maybe not Iris when anyone else can hear? I don’t want to confuse people.”

“Of course.” he nodded.