Reincarnated Love: Part Six

(For context, this episode is slightly ahead of Orc Slave. The timelines will sync up soon!)

“So, when do I get to meet her?” the Duchess asked as Dianthus was flitting around her office, humming to himself as he tidied up her workspace.

“We’re still figuring things out,” he explained, but his smile didn’t falter.

The Duchess chuckled, shaking her head as she went back to looking over the Dukedom’s financial accounts. “Well, invite her to the party.”

​His wings flittered quickly as he whirled around. “You’d let me invite her?”

She shrugged, flipping a page. “I trust your judgement. If you say she’s alright to let in, and obviously you do since you gave her a token, then invite her. There will be plenty of non nobles as well, so she won’t have to worry about feeling out of place.”

Dianthus flew over to her, hugging her tightly. “You’re my favorite human ever!- I mean, besides her.”

Duchess rolled her eyes, a small smirk on her face. “You know you’re a brat, don’t you? I feel like your mother sometimes instead of your employer.”

Dianthus couldn’t help but mirror her smirk, his too wide mouth stretching his face. He knew she was right. Teasing her about her love affair with her Orc slave, hiding her things occasionally, trying to trick her and playing pranks- it was in his Fey nature. However, he knew that she knew that he considered her his family, which meant he would do anything for her. They just had a sibling like relationship.

It never occurred to him that his relationship with the Duchess would make you insecure.

When you got the official invite to the party, especially seeing how soon it was, your stomach twisted into knots. There was no time to save up for a nice dress. No time to order one anyway. No one could complete a dress in less than a week.

However, the idea of being able to mingle with not only nobility, but some of the highest levels of academics in the Kingdom made you feel like you had to go. Dianthus knew what he was doing when he mentioned the University of Magic’s Dean would be there, along with several of his Professors, including the head of his Dragonology department. Of course you had to go. At least you had a few semi-formal dresses from events you were forced to go to in the past.

After rummaging through your things, you found a small jewel that you were looking for. Part of a dragon’s hoard. The nail scratches and intentional markings were fascinating, so you knew you had to bring it to ask and talk about. Hopefully you wouldn’t isolate your (hopefully) future peers by bringing something like this up at an event like this.

***

Everything was set up for you to get ready for the party at the Duchess’s “miniature manor”. Part of you was disappointed that Dianthus couldn’t come help you get ready, he’d been so busy helping the Duchess prepare for the party. It made sense. She was his boss. Of course they spent a lot of time together. However, he had at least sent a carriage for you (that you demanded proof of the Duchess’s approval when he told you, terrified you’d cause an upset and he thrown out), so he was still thinking about you. Right?

Everything was so confusing with Dianthus, him still seeing you as one of your alleged past lives, but he was kind, funny, smart, loyal, and so beautiful. You’d never thought you could describe a man as beautiful, but you understood after seeing him why people get tricked into the Fairy Realm.

As you climbed into the carriage, sitting down and smoothing out your puffy forest green dress. It had taken you weeks to dye it when you first got the cloth- gathering all the necessary plants and pigments to since you couldn’t pay for proper pigments or pre dyed cloth. You hoped it would still be suited for the event.

Images of rich nobility dressed in reds and purples made your stomach clench. The academics looking over your dress color, something even a low classed peasant could get their hands on with enough dedication and patience, and not even listening to you speak, or answering your questions.

Your nervousness was making your hands shake. When you came in, handing the tall Minotaur Butler the invitation with your name, you suddenly felt very small. The Minotaur looked down at you, his ears flicking back slightly before he lifted the envelope up to read your name.

“Now announcing, Miss Y/N, a… personal guest of the Duchess,” he said, his low, deep voice resonating through the hall.

Several eyes turned to you, and while it took a moment, you found Dianthus in that group. The descent down the stairs seemed take years, but when Dianthus came to you, everything else melted away. Then the jewel, heavy in your pocket, was forgotten. As the night moved on, however, the joy you felt seeing Dianthus first was fading. He kept having to slip off to attend to the Duchess. Despite yourself, jealousy churned your stomach. She laughed with him, and touched him so casually you felt like you’d upend your lunch.

You sat by yourself, tucked in a corner away as Dianthus adjusted the necklace around the Duchess’s neck, whispering something to him that made the Fey’s face nearly split in half from smiling. He must have feelings for her. He had to… after all, what would a Fey want with someone as plain as you, when there was a Duchess at his fingertips?

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You stared at Dianthus for several seconds, watching his wings flit excitedly behind him. Obviously, he thought the idea of you eating Fey food so you could never leave him was an excellent idea. You on the other hand felt a knot forming in your stomach. You realized you had to be careful around him. He meant it when he said that he was never going to lose you again.

“I don’t want that,” you said, your voice shaking just a hair.

The smile on his face fell into a frown. His too large mouth downturned, his small nose crinkled in an annoyed sneer. “What do you mean you don’t want that? You love me. We belong together. I can’t lose you for another 300 years!”

“I made a mistake coming here,” you said, your hands shaking as you took a step towards the door. All the warnings about Fey and their tricks, their manipulations. A lump was forming in your throat. “I’ll… I’ll see you later.”

“No, no please,” Dianthus fluttered over to the door, partially blocking it. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. It’s just, now that I’ve found you, I can’t let you go again.”

“You made a mistake. I don’t know you. I’m not the reincarnation of your dead lover, okay?” you snapped, fear making your voice tight, mind racing with how easily he could keep you here. Would anyone even notice you were gone?

“I… I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said softly, stepping away from the door. He blinked rapidly for a moment, as if blinking back tears. “It’s just been so long, and I just… I love you so much. You always refused the fey food. You always said that we’d figure something else out, but we didn’t, and you died,” his voice cracked on the last word, the tears brimming in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for scaring you. Don’t leave me. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”

“Dianthus,” you said softly, seeing the panic on his face at the idea of losing you. His lean frame encompassed you, wrapping his arms around your waist as he buried his face in your neck, sinking to his knees.

“Don’t leave me,” he repeated softly, nuzzling into your neck like a cat, his ears twitching. “I won’t bring it up again… for awhile.”

The way he added that at the end made you chuckle softly. “Only for awhile?”

He sniffled, looking up at you with wet eyes, like a puppy. His lower lip jutted out as his ears drooped more. “I don’t want you to leave me again, but I don’t want to scare you. I won’t bring it up until I think you’re ready.”

“At least you’re being honest,” you sighed, running your fingers through his hair. “Okay, okay fine.”

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You followed Dianthus out of the study, down the luxurious hallway. While you had been making your way to the study with that knight as your guide, you had heard a few of the servants happily chatting about how this manor was so much smaller than the "real" manor, so it made their jobs easier. It was difficult for you to imagine that this was considered small.

Dianthus finally had guided you to his bedroom- your face immediately flushing. "I don't know what kind of girl you think I am but-," you started, but he just laughed.

"I am not making a pass. I simply have this room charmed so no one can overhear us," he explained, though there was a flash of what looked like disappointment on his face.

You felt silly suddenly for doubting him. Of all the things Fey were, you had never heard of one outright forcing themself on anyone. Through trickery and manipulation, sure, but there was something about Dianthus that made you believe that he wouldn't do that. At least not to you. Maybe it was because a small part of you, no matter how ridiculous you felt that part was, wanted to believe him when he said you were the reincarnation of his first love. Maybe you wanted to believe that you were worthy of someone like him. That he would choose you not just once, but over and over again, over the course of multiple life times.

Lost in your thoughts, you didn't even notice at first that you had followed the Fey into his private room. When you realized, you looked around, as if surprised yourself that you had done it without further argument.

"Would you like anything to eat or drink?" he asked, flicking his wrist and making a small metal container of cookies appear, and what looked like a kettle of boiling water and a variety of tea leaves appear on the table behind him.

At the corner of your lips, a smile played subtly. "I study dragons, but I know more than enough about Fey to know to never take food from one. Didn't you realize how much I know about you last night when I refused to give my name?"

A warm, rich laugh escaped his lips, making his eyes crinkle, his long ears press back, and his too wide mouth seemingly take up the entire lower half of his face. His sharp teeth looked like needles against the inky blackness of his open mouth as he laughed, his pale pink tongue curled slightly at the bottom of it. The sound made a tremor run down your spine. It sounded so warm that it almost made you want to curl into him, even take a nap. You felt like a cat who had found the perfect sunbeam.

Gwragedd Annwn

This one is heavily inspired by the traditional Welsh folktale (which is why I did something different and tried to write it in that style) "The Fairy Wife". The Wife might not be about a Gwragedd Annwn (but might be!) but there are a lot of similarities so :)

Gen! Reader x Fem! Gwragedd Annwn

When you met Carys, you fell in love instantly. She was swimming in a river, her long silvery hair trailing behind her in the water. Her milky skin seemed to reflect the moonlight that illuminated her slender body. If truth be told, you felt like kid of a pervert, staring there watching her swim. Her bare body slicing through the water with a fluid motion that made her almost look apart of it.

After a few moments, you cleared your throat, “h-hi. Sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt you, but I was looking for the campsite and I think I got lost.”

The woman turned to look at you over her shoulder, her face mostly obscured by her hair, but you could see her brilliantly white smile. “It’s down the path to the left… but why don’t you join me for a swim first?”

And that was it. You were madly in love with her. Your lips on hers, your hands wandering her skin, whispering your oath of eternal love all on the first night. You knew that you couldn’t go home without her.

“Marry me,” you grabbed her hands as she sat on the edge of the river when dawn finally drifted up over the horizon.

She laughed, looking up at you with her shining blue eyes. “Marry you? I told you what I was.”

“I know,” you said as you interlaced your fingers with hers. “So, tell your father. I’ll wait. I love you. I want to be with you.”

Her eyes wandered over your face, trying to fidget ay sign of deception or uncertainty, but there was none. “Alright,” she finally said. “Come back at dusk, and I will have my father with me. He will give us his blessing and condition.”

Later that evening, you came back to the river, looking for your beloved. In a mist, she and her father, a tall, slender man with untrusting eyes, appeared before you.

“I have heard that you wish to wed my daughter,” said the Fey. You nodded. “Then there are two conditions before I will give my blessing. Firstly, you must promise to love her all of your life.”

“I will,” you promised, glancing over at Carys.

Her father nodded. “Secondly, if iron is to ever touch her skin, she will no longer be your wife, and will revert to the land of her birth among her family and people.”

After you agreed to his terms, it was a whirlwind. In only a week, she had moved in with you, and gotten married. The town was captivated by the stunning beauty who started every day by swimming in the local river. The water seemed clearer, and species long gone had begun to return. Her very presence seemed to brighten the waters.

And you took great care in covering every piece of iron you could not remove, from rivets to hinges, with cloth and plaster so they might never graze your wife’s skin, and the two of you were happy.

A little different but wanted to try something different! Let me know what you think.