All You Have is Your Fire

( ALEXANDER &&. ERYK )

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Choosing Eryk Lutz as his target had been no fluke; indeed, it was a choice only made after weeks of careful planning, consideration, and observation. The royal advisor would likely feel a bit isolated in lieu of the recent turnover of power in Dawn Court; this isolation would prove to extend itself by the arrival of Elias Wakefield’s extended family and his recent engagement. On top of that, Eryk Lutz was known to be a bit of a partier. There was no telling who he’d bed, where he’d end up, or what sins he’d participate in. If Alex could manage to convince anyone of a meeting that never actually took place, he was willing to bet it would be Eryk Lutz. Men who were lost and grieving were lucky if they remembered their own names, much less the names of men they met.

Faeries were such fucking fools.

Alex smiled brightly, an expression that felt out of place on his usually-surly face as he took a seat at the table Eryk indicated. The weapons strapped to Alex’s back clanged slightly as he sat down, and he thanked the servant who flitted off in search of coffee for the gentlemen. Alex removed the bag strapped to his shoulder, laying the weapon roll on the table with great care as he met Eryk’s gaze across the table.

“Oh, s’long as I can remember, really,” Alex managed with a light laugh and a shrug of his shoulders. “My mom used to do odd jobs for some of the villagers in town, and when I was old enough, I started apprenticing. Trust me, you won’t find any better blades crafted in the kingdom.” Alex paused, his brows knitting together in worry as he fidgeted slightly in his seat. “I only wish–my blades had been here in time to save High Lord Caerwyn. His death is one that sits with me every day; the guilt I feel, that he didn’t have one of my blades to protect himself. He was a good man–they’re hard to lose.”

-

Ever since Elias took over it felt forbidden to mention Lysander’s name. Everyone had gone on with their lives, acting like nothing had happened. But everyday Eryk missed his friend, the palace felt empty without him. He felt like he was trapped and any wrong move could end with him locked out of the palace for good. When the other man mentioned Lysander, he felt a wave of hurt rise in his chest. It was the same hurt he had been trying to drown with alcohol and whatever else he could think of to fill the gap in his chest. He cleared his throat in an attempt to steady himself. He didn’t want to breakdown in front of a stranger. He also didn’t want the news of his breakdown to get back to his new high lord. 

“I feel that same guilt everyday. It was a tragedy, what happened to Lord Caerwyn.” He was relieved to see that the servant had returned with a tray of coffee for them. He took a deep breath and focused on pouring them both a cup of coffee. “He was a great man, and I have no doubt that one of your blades may have saved his life. He was a great fighter when he put his mind to it. One of the best I have seen.”

~

A slow, dreary exhale followed his question before her shoulders lifted in a casual shrug. ‘’I know it will pick up eventually. Unless more murderous humans decide to scare our patrons with yet another crisis situation.’’ her eyes rolled before she allowed her eyes to slip over to the paperwork Brayden was shuffling around. ‘’Tax forms… can’t say that sounds very riveting. And here I was, slightly bored and hoping you’d be the remedy to my predicament.’’ she gave him a playful wink before leaning back, her hands landing to the desk behind her. It hadn’t been a complete lie, as she’d been genuinely bored, but it wasn’t the main reason for her slipping into his private office.

‘’Speaking of wives..’’ she muttered, keeping a casual tone to her voice as she continued. ‘’I heard Nate actually got himself betrothed to the High Lady of Day Court. That’s truly festive news, don’t you think?’’ she absentmindedly tapped her finger to the desk top. ‘’Did you offer Lady Rowan your congratulations? I noticed you two speaking during our visit to Autumn court..’’

-

“Well I’m almost done we can do something fun afterwards,” Brayden said as he turned over the paper he had been looking at. He looked up at her and smiled. He really did hope that business would pick up soon. He was bored and it was no fun when they closed up early. That meant that he had to go find fun somewhere else. There was only so many times he could show up at the palace before Gabriel had him banned. He had to use his visits wisely, or hope that Kael requested his company.  He laughed when she mentioned Nate and Rowan. 

“That’s a disaster waiting to happen, but I do love a good wedding. I expect we will be invited. It wouldn’t be the first time I fucked the bride on her wedding day and I doubt it will be the last time. It adds a little spice to the relationship.” He smiled, “I doubt that Nate is going to like it at the Day court. They are so boring there. We should throw Nate an orgy before the wedding. He deserves it.  ” 

Briar always got excited when guests from other courts came for a visit. She felt like she was always stuck at the palace with Arielle. If she didn’t get to travel that much it was nice to meet people who did. The princess was still up in her room getting ready for the dinner that night, Briar should have been helping her. But instead she was hovering just outside the doors of where their high lady was meeting the high lord of the winter court. She new that it wasn’t polite to spy but she was bored and she never got included in any stuff with the other courts. She was trying to look in through the cracks of the doors, but there was nothing to see. The voices inside were muffled as well.  

She heard footsteps behind her and her stomach dropped. She was about to get in trouble. That’s what she got for being nosy. She turned around quickly and tried to look like she wasn’t panicking. She saw the man standing across the hall from her gave a small curtsy. She hadn’t seen him before, so she assumed he had came with group from the Winter court. 

“Sorry sir, I wasn’t trying to spy, Arielle had a question for her mother and I was waiting to ask her. I swear. “ She looked up at him and back at the door. “But she seems to be in a meeting now, so I’ll just go.” 

.

“Personally, I think the suit could have used quite a bit of messing up so that it never sees the light of day again,” she pointed out with an amused smirk. “Come by…and what? Have you tell everyone that I showed up there? I don’t trust that your discretion would extend to me visiting your brothel.” She paused in that thought as he called her uptight. “Uptight?! I’m not uptight, I just find you ever the annoyance. Is it exhausting to be so annoying all the time? Better yet, is it exhausting to be you? You have to wake up every morning and choose to annoy.” Was he getting better at getting a rise out of her? She wondered. Because that had only taken mere seconds. Not even minutes to rattle her. 

- “Discretion is one of the things my business takes seriously. We have a lot of important clients who want to keep their shiny reputation clean. That’s what they pay us for. I mean just ask your fiancé, he should know all about it.” Brayden smiled at her. He was very proud of himself. He knew that she was trying to get under his skin because he was irritating her, but he wasn’t going to give up that easy. Especially since he knew how this was going to end for the two of them. 

“My condolences by the way. So is the Night Court’s way to show off their alliance with the Day Court, or was this just a drunken mistake made by the both of you?” He faked a sigh to try and hide his laughter. “I do love a wedding though, I’ll be there in my best suit just for you. I’ve already got an order out with my tailor.”

( ALEXANDER &&. ERYK )

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Despite the several instances where the human resistance had proven their cunning and usefulness to the fae courts of Astralis at large, Alexander Barrett was no doe-eyed, hopeful fool. He knew well enough that the courts were still foolish enough to believe all humans were inconsequential. What was a man to a god, after all? But Noa, Celine, Santiago, and the likes of the other humans who prowled about the Underworld had proven time and time again that they weren’t to be trusted. Still, Alexander was well aware that Eryk Lutz, the ditzy advisor to the remedial Dawn Court, likely wouldn’t perceive a human blacksmith as a threat. Which was ironic, considering Alex now carried a plethora of weapons on his person to display his “craftsmanship.” Given the recent stabbing of a High Lord ruler by a member of their own, you’d think the fae would be more careful about who they opened their doors for.

Alex wasn’t bargaining on Eryk to be careful. He was bargaining on him to be foolishly naive.

By the time Eryk Lutz finally showed his face, it was, perhaps, even greater than Alexander could have hoped for. The advisor seemed all out of sorts, clearly hungover and ill at ease from whatever raucous party or shenanigans he’d gotten into the night before. Alex was pleased his gambling at Eryk’s functioning competency had paid off, and he paid the man a bright, sunny smile as he shouldered the bag strapped across his back, bowed slightly towards the nobleman, and stepped into the large foyer of the palace. The entire place reeked of obscene wealth, and in that moment, Alex wanted nothing more than to tear it to the ground and sell the marble, gold, and decorative artifacts on the street in exchange for food, clothes, and supplies for the human territories.

“Sorry if I’ve woken you, sir, but I thought–sorry, I thought we had a meeting this afternoon,” Alex managed with a furrowed brow and a slight downward tug of his lips, feigning confusion as he turned to face the ruffled hair and confusion disposition of the bright-eyed royal advisor. “I’m James Beircheart–we had a meeting to go over some of my wares and portfolio to qualify as a personalized blacksmith to the High Lord and his family.” Alex hesitated, offering Eryk an uncertain smile. “If this is a bad time, I’m sorry, I just thought…when we met at the Highwinds Tournament opening party and you implied you were interested in my services…”

- 

Eryk honestly couldn’t remember meeting the man at the Highwinds tournament, but if he was being honest he couldn’t even remember what he did the day before. That was only a few hours ago, of course he wasn’t going to remember something that happened days ago. He had consumed a lot of alcohol since then. He didn’t let the confusion show on his face. The last thing he needed was for his high lord to get word that his advisor was a drunk mess in front of visitors to the court. 

“Well it is a pleasure to see you again Mr Beircheart.” Eryk smiled and motioned for the man to take a seat at the table. He sat down across from him and motioned for a nearby servant to bring them some coffee. He hoped the caffeine would help with the headache.  He really couldn’t remember Elias saying anything about needing a blacksmith. There was nothing wrong with the blacksmith the palace already had. But Elias had already made it clear he didn’t like anything that reminded him of the previous high lord. So maybe this would please him? 

“I’m excited to see what you have to offer. How long have you been working as a blacksmith?”