#henryk.

It’d been mere days since the engagement had been announced, but the betrothal's inception---and the absurd amount of scheming it had required---had been enacted on Ares’s behalf nearly ... what? Forty or so years ago at this point? It’d been no secret that he wanted Tatiana, he’d marked his own personal claim on her the moment she came of age, but for once his desires stretched further than the delectable heat between those creamy thighs of her. With the tsarina, after all, came her territory, came her entire kingdom, and Ares had spent the last century lusting over the Winter Court and all that came with it. The Valentinas were known for a great many things and the sheer amount of manpower they harbored was just one of them, combined with their specialized abilities and Tatiana’s own undiscovered and underused magical skill set ... well. He would’ve been a fool not to throw in his hat at the chance to form an alliance with one of the most formidable courts in all of Astralis, and finally all of his work had begun to pay off.

And he was pleased with himself of course. The empire he was building was to be stronger than anything the realm of the fae had ever seen, with Tatiana by his side and Henryk leading his men into battle? Their enemies would weep at their feet and beg for a forgiveness that would never come. So yes, he was pleased, pleased that he’d managed to pull the wool over the Valentina puppy dog’s eyes and convince him to hand over Tatiana’s hand in marriage. And what did that call for? A celebration, most certainly, one that wouldn’t be complete without his closest confidante and highly esteemed War General, Henryk Wolfe himself. It would begin now, in his vast and luxurious study, with a bottle of something potent and expensive that had been aging in the castle’s wine cellar for the last decade and a half. This was a victory not just him but Henryk as well of course, wasn’t this what they’d both always wanted? To conquer and claim Winter Court? It was just advantageous that Henryk had forged a bond of his own with young Tatiana as well, he didn’t know the extent of their relationship outside of the threesomes they engaged in on a regular basis, but they seemed to enjoy spending time with one another well enough, so ... 

“To your health and mine,” Ares said with a slow, sly grin that could have only been described as Machiavellian as he offered his goblet of deep red wine across the table to Henryk in a meaningful toast, he leaned back in his plush armchair, one leg draped languidly across the side of it as his heavily-bejeweled crown (the one that he normally only ever wore for show) already falling halfway off of his head. He took a long drink of his celebratory wine, then, and something in his grin turned almost feral as he looked to Henryk once more---like a predator revealing its true fangs. “Tatia should be arriving any minute now, I believe, if that darling sister of mine doesn’t manage to distract her beforehand. Do you think she’ll want to immediately start planning our wedding, or will I be able to escape unscathed and delegate those particular duties off to Arielle instead?” Ares wrinkled his nose, and with an aristocratic shrug, downed the last of his wine before setting his goblet back down on his desk with a heavy thud. “Perhaps that prince of theirs over at Winter Court---you know, the pretty one---will want to volunteer as our flower girl, from what I’ve heard he doesn’t exactly have the busiest sort of schedule to adhere to.”