Marriage Of The Fae Ch 01

Note to Readers:

Hello,

This is the first story I've ever written to be published, and one of the first like it I've written at all. As such, I'm still kind of feeling around (and very nervous!) and would love any and all constructive criticism you lovely people may have! Since I'm pretty new to this, it also kind of goes without saying that I do not have an editor, so please excuse any minor grammatical errors, as long as they don't take away from the story. This chapter has a good bit of exposition, but I promise it doesn't take too long to get to the good parts. I hope you enjoy! If you do, comment to let me know...or if you don't, please also comment what I can do to improve!

A few final notes...please assume all characters are at or above the age of consent. This is a work of fiction; I do not condone any form of nonconsensual sexual activity outside of fiction or safe, consensual role play. This story switches points of view every now and then.

Now...without further ado, here is Marriage of the Fae.

~ HibouBleu

Chapter 1

Noelle

Nothing is working today, and it's probably because yesterday I fucked up the code. I fucked up the code because it wasn't meant to be my responsibility in the first place, but when Jake the Assistant Team Leader is taking his fifteenth sick day of the quarter it kind of lands on the shoulders of the sap who agreed to head the coding team. And when the sap who agreed to head the coding team already has enough on her goddamn plate, well, she fucks up the code.

So Friendly Neighborhood Team Leader yours truly fucked up the code, and now we're a day behind since we're trying to find the line to fix it. I won't bore you with the details.

"Noelle." Corey the Manager waddles into the office and leans on my desk with a heavy sigh. I can almost hear the desk sighing as well under his considerable weight. "How's the code going, Team Leader?"

You know exactly how the code is going, Corey, you whale. "Still working on it. Know when Jake's back?"

"Jake's sick." Jake has the man flu, I'm sure of it. "Poor bastard'll be back in a couple days." Poor bastard is on the fortunate end of the boys' club that is my coding team.

"Got it." I turn back to my desktop. Corey leans in. "You really should have been finished by now, Noelle. The team's waiting."

"The team is doing jack shit. I'm not sure they're even the team anymore." I tap a few keys. "I've got a lot to get done, would you be able to swing by later?" I offer my most apologetic half-smile. Corey sighs. "Well, I was actually considering giving one of your team members the rest of Jake's work." That would be very nice. Probably more in line with workplace ethics as well, since I already have a heavier workload than the rest of the team without Jake's nonsense to deal with. "That would be great," I murmur. "I'd really appreciate it."

"Awesome." Corey grins. "And with the extra time, you know..." A slight smirk, "...you'll have some extra time on your hands...maybe to go out with me? You know, to express your gratitude and whatnot."

I bristle. "I still have a lot to do, Corey."

"Oh, come on, after I agreed to lower your workload? Don't be ungrateful."

"It wasn't my workload to begin with," I snap. Corey leans further over my desk. I narrow my eyes. "Fine," he says. "I guess you have the time to do Jake's work after all. Don't say I didn't try to be nice. Noelle, I think you should leave. "

I frown. "I'm not finished."

"Get it done tomorrow. Leave now, it's late." Corey turns and stalks off, muttering under his breath. A cup of pencils tumbles from my desk as it shifts back into place.

Noelle the office bitch. God damn it, last month it was Tyler the IT Guy, this month I've been targeted by Office Manager Corey. I need a new job. I need to find some mythical female-only programming office.

Maybe I just need to grow a spine.

I scoop up my bag and stuff my laptop in, cellphone, earbuds for when I'm blissed out on a good code day and want to listen to Twenty One Pilots. Water bottle. I stand up, push in my chair, pretend that every loop in the carpet is Office Manager Corey and I can squish him into the floor with the wheels of the chair.

My car is in the shop this week, leaving me to bike the six miles home from the office. It's a funny sort of ride back, through a copse or two of tall trees before you get back into the suburbs. Some days I like to take my time and watch the pale bark go by as I pedal, but today I'm intent on sweating out my annoyance and getting home in time to look at the code again before I call it a night. It's getting dark and I'm going fast, too fast to see the deer until right before I'm upon it, too fast to stop in time.

Instead, I swerve sharply to the right, avoiding the deer, instead hitting that solid pale bark head on, why the fuck didn't I wear a helmet, too late now, my forehead slams into the tree and I watch the deer darting away in the second before I black out.

**************

Rhys

"She's very beautiful."

I turn from my lectern and offer the smiling advisor a wry smirk. "That she is."

"Awfully headstrong as well. You'll have enviable children. Those fit for a king and queen."

I nod absently.

"My prince, it would be advisable to accept your betrothal, and fast. The ceremony is beginning soon, and you're not yet dressed."

"I'm aware of that, Jerome, thank you." I turn back to my book and flick it closed before rising. Jerome's ochre eyes must be rolling at my obstinacy, but despite his status, there is only so far one may go in beleaguering a prince. Fortunately for me.

Unfortunate for me is the situation of my betrothal, about which Jerome has come to console me, at the eleventh hour, no less. Beautiful and headstrong or not, the princess Siobhan is not the woman I wish to marry. No woman is, in fact. Nor am I loath to make this known to the princess—the woman herself wishes not to marry, but to join the warrior class and defend our people. A noble pursuit, and one which is all but null among the options of a Fae princess. In order to honor her clan, she must marry. In order to honor mine, I must do the same.

At the heart of the ceremony is the cauldron of Elixir, in which the groom and the virgin bride must bathe in order to affirm their bond. Not only to affirm, but to effectively trap. Once two beings have entered the Elixir together, they reemerge as one. When the night ends, Siobhan and I will be bonded as man and wife, two royal mates. After tonight, the sooner Siobhan becomes with child, the sooner our allied clans will rise in the ranks of the Fae.

Jerome turns his back as I begin to dress, donning white linen pants and a golden tunic, the color of celebration. "How fetching you look, Prince Rhys," he intones, his eyes glowing with rare humor. I give a forced smile and exit my chambers. Outside the palace a crowd waits, facing the princess, who stands at the edge with her back to them as tradition sustains. Behind them the Elixir hums in its cauldron, a great basin dug into the earth and risen up about the edges to contain the bubbling liquid within. I step toward Siobhan as she breaks into a cordial smile, her deep turquoise eyes wide as her scarlet curls drape about her shoulders. Beautiful, indeed. If I were to be in love with a woman, perhaps it would be her. If she were to want a husband, perhaps she would want me. For now, though, we must go through the motions.

Siobhan leans in as I near and kisses me on the cheek. She looks uncannily joyous for a strong woman betrothed against her will, but perhaps it is only her beauty. "Good evening, Rhys."

"You are stunning, as always, Siobhan."

Most women would avert their eyes at the compliment, but Siobhan's never leave my gaze. "It must be the light."

"Never."

She gives a smirk and touches my cheek, the perfect image of a gracious bride. Few in the crowd would ever notice her iridescent eyes flitting toward the line of archers facing the Elixir, not warily, but with longing. She wishes she were among them.

A horn sounds and the crowd parts around the cauldron while the archers line up to shoot their arrows over the glittering Elixir. The priest Aodh steps forward to speak of the magic of the Elixir, of its ability to bond a man and a woman for life. Slowly Siobhan and I turn to the cauldron, silent. The bride and groom do not speak during the ceremony; their willingness to step into the cauldron to be bonded must speak for them.

"

A'onis, gerren h'es.

" The man must step in first. I bow my head as two supplicants come forward and lead me to the cauldron, gripping my elbows to heft me onto the ledge. I step into the liquid and it burns, first my feet, then up my legs as the throng about the cauldron goes nearly silent. It feels as though I am blistering, but pain must be nothing to a prince, to one who will soon be king. I inhale and dip lower until my chest is submerged, the silver Elixir bubbling around me, beginning to draw my energy without yet finding a place to deposit it. When Siobhan enters the cauldron, it will draw her energy and thread it with mine.

"

A'onii, gerrai h'esa.

" Now, the virgin woman. I turn to Siobhan, as she breathes deeply, her turquoise eyes nearly blank. As she nears the cauldron they reflect the flaming silver within and begin to dance. Undoubtedly she is beautiful. I force myself to think of what a strong queen she will be, of the splendor of our future children. The supplicants grip her slim arms and lift her to the edge of the cauldron. On cue, the archers let go their arrows.

A split second before I realize something is not right, Siobhan's azure eyes lift to the swirling mist above the cauldron.

The priest is next to comprehend, and lets out a yell as the mist parts and a form falls through. The Elixir has me dazed, yet I see the face of a young woman, her temple caked with fresh blood.

Within a blink, she has fallen through the mist and landed into the pool of Elixir, the thick substance engulfing her body. Siobhan wrests free of the supplicants and throws her gaze over the edge of the cauldron, in which anyone in the crowd can see a woman slowly sinking into the Elixir.

I see the same, but what I feel is different. What I feel is the young woman's energy drawing out within the Elixir, and threading with mine.

In less than a moment, I am unconscious.

**************

Noelle

Did something catch fire when I crashed? I'm hot, so hot, and it feels like lava around me, like lava that's pulling my breath right out of me. Somebody far away is yelling, in a foreign language maybe, or maybe my brain is just scrambled. I shouldn't have biked so quickly. Why is it so hot?

I'm pulled from the lava by a pair of strong hands that grip too tightly on my burned skin. I can't scream. A push on my temple, and I'm out again.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I wake up wrapped in something fluffy. Angry voices seem to be echoing around me, and as my eyes flutter open, they're filled with a near-blinding white light. I blink rapidly until I can nearly focus on the white room around me. Figures come into view, dressed in loose clothing as pale as the room. The one at the foot of the bed I'm in is almost impossibly tall in my view, with deep brown hair nearly to his shoulders. The features of his profile are both broad and sharp...and angry. He's shouting.

"A human? Jerome, tell me there is a way to rectify this. Aodh?!" Who? I blink again.

Another voice, soft and musical—a woman. "Rhys, you know the way of the Elixir...it is irreversible. If the human woman was a virgin and somehow compatible with the Elixir, you are now bound."

An older man, still nearly as tall as the first, steps into view. "She is correct, my prince. The ceremony has done its work, as has the Elixir. I could feel it the moment the bond was made." His voice sounds content—no, it sounds resigned. Whatever is going on, there is nothing he can do to stop it, regardless of what this Rhys person wants. A prince?

I turn my head ever so slightly. The woman speaks again. "Ah, she is awake." The owner of the voice, as I can only assume, steps into view, and I'm immediately met with a pale, devastatingly beautiful face—almost dizzying, though maybe that's just my head. Bright auburn hair tumbles over her shoulders as she leans in and gives me a smile. "How are you feeling?"

I frown. "I'm—" My voice comes out as a croak. "My head hurts...what's happening?"

The younger man, the angry one, steps closer. "Tell her, Siobhan," he snaps.

The woman's, Siobhan's, dazzling smile fades. "You seem to have stumbled upon a bonding ceremony at...an inopportune time," she says. "The pool into which you fell..."

"The lava?" I interrupt, then immediately feel like a child. Of course it couldn't have actually been lava.

Siobhan laughs softly. "Not lava, Elixir. In simplistic terms, potion meant to bond a man and a woman as mates. I was meant to be the other half of the bond. You fell in from the human world, we can only assume, and unintentionally took my place." What? Her smile is back, making her seem awfully blasé for a bride confronting her own wedding crasher. And if I'm hearing correctly, that's what I somehow have become.

The young man—Rhys?—scoffs delicately. "How a human girl could take the place of a Fae princess is beyond my comprehension." Siobhan's brow furrows and she places a hand on my arm. It's warm and smooth, and just as pale as her lovely face. "Be gracious, Rhys. She's not at fault, and the situation is not one that can be reversed now." Her voice drops lower. "Handle this as the courteous prince I know would."

Rhys steps forward. "The situation is not reversible, I know, but—a human? Is a marriage of the sort even possible? There will be no bonding of the clans, no exchange of power...marriage to a human is more similar to pet ownership than it is to matrimony." Siobhan yanks her hand from my arm, her face contorting. "Watch your tongue, Rhys," she snaps.

My fuzzy brain is still working on piecing together the insult as Siobhan lashes out at Rhys. I find my voice a few seconds late, and I'm still too disoriented to be properly annoyed. "Why are you calling me a human? What are you? Someone tell me what's going on." Now that I've cleared my froggy throat, my voice is rising in octaves with my panic. I'm surprised when Rhys throws his gaze in my direction to address me directly. His eyes meet mine and I'm suddenly staring into deep violet irises, a color I didn't think possible. The twilight hue is edged with a golden ring, giving the impression of an eclipse at sunset. Those beautiful eyes narrow and I have to force myself not to shrink back. I need to keep my cool, now more than ever.

"Have you not been listening, little human? You are bonded to me now. Your tumble into the Elixir has made sure of that." His voice is fury itself.

Little human?

Bastard.

"I don't understand."

Rhys squares his jaw. "Of course you don't. You are aware of what marriage is, are you not?"

He's speaking to me like I'm a child. "Of course I am," I snap. I'm regaining my strength, making this a game for two.

"You may not be aware, however, that here in the realm of the Fae, marriage between royal classes is considered to have a sanctity incomparable to that of human matrimony." Rhys' voice is that of a parent speaking to a petulant teenager. "When two people are bonded in the Elixir, that bond is irreversible."

My eyes grow steadily wider as I put together the pieces. "And we've...you and I...are bonded? When I...when I fell into that liquid?" Rhys nods once. I shake my head, blinking quickly. "I don't even know how it happened..."

The older man finally steps forward. His face is softer than Rhys'. "Every so often a human will veer off course somehow in the human realm and be knocked into the realm of the Fae. I can only assume this is what has happened to you, human." Unlike Rhys, his use of the word "human" sounds more like a statement of fact than an expletive.

"The realm of the Fae," I say. "What are the Fae?" I'm recalling various fairy stories I read as a kid, but that can't be right. Those were fantasy. And these...beings...look nothing like the miniscule winged creatures of my storybooks. One or both of us has got to be on drugs. I could be in the hospital right now, hopped up on enough opiates to make me dream strange things. Why my mind would spin up a pissed off fairy prince to whom I'm somehow married is beyond me.

"Humans have stories of elves and fairies...Fae are closest to those, I suppose," Siobhan interjects thoughtfully. She gives me another small smile and I find myself feeling grateful that I have some sort of ally in this convoluted situation, even if it is just a dream.

"Fairies...don't exist," is the brilliant response I give. Siobhan tilts her head, making her hair glint in the white light of the room. "No, but the Fae do," she says patiently. "The same way you humans deal in science and mathematics, we deal in magic and magical rhetoric."

Rhys steps forward again. "This is not necessary to tell her, Siobhan."

"I think it is. Magic is the force that must have brought her here, when its course crossed with the course of the human realm," the older man says. "It is the force that has bonded the two of you together, and it is the force that threads your energies now. This young human is now yours, Rhys. She is your mate. She must understand what has brought her here and into these circumstances. And it seems you would do well to recall the forces that are out of our collective control, those that now bind you to this human girl."

I am...Rhys' mate. I'm his? If this is a morphine dream of some sort, it has got to be digging pretty deep into my subconscious sexual frustration...or something. How am I supposed to respond to this?

I'm staring into the middle distance when Siobhan places her hand back on my arm. "What is your name?"

"Noelle," I blurt softly, my eyes not leaving the intricate weave of the white bedspread. Siobhan turns to Rhys. "Noelle is her name," she repeats, as if for emphasis. "Introduce yourself."

Rhys visibly bristles. "She does not need to call me by my name."

"You will be spending quite a lot of time together...she ought to call you something."

Rhys does not respond. He instead turns to the older man. "Aodh. Am I truly bonded to this human? In every way that I would have been to Siobhan?"

Aodh nods. "As I have said, the two of you are well and truly bonded. In every way. To attempt to break it or put distance between yourselves would result in physical pain." Rhys mutters something in a foreign language that sounds like a curse. "I would not have thought it possible, for the bonding ceremony to go awry in such a way."

I sit up slowly, leaning back against the pillows behind me. "Are you sure there's not a mistake? This seems like it would be..." I stop mid-sentence when Rhys hits me with a molten glare. "We've already established that it is a mistake, human. One that unfortunately cannot be fixed." He turns to Aodh. "This is why the energy flows of our realm should not run adjacent to

theirs

."

Aodh shakes his head. "You know why the flow of energy alongside the human world cannot be changed, prince. It would do you well to accept this quickly; your disdain for the Elixir's bond will not be met kindly by our people."

"Perhaps it should be met with some disdain-!"

Another man, taller than Rhys, with close-cropped blonde hair, steps forward. "Perhaps we should give the prince and his mate some time," he murmurs.