"You're not drinking your usual morning concoction Aeris, should I be concerned?" Father asks, cutting into his breakfast.

Aeris smiles while filling his plate with eggs and bacon. "No father, your concern is not necessary. I just had a rather enjoyable afternoon yesterday, before I was interrupted that is," he looks at Demwyn with accusation. "and I decided to forgo a night of drinking and instead spent my evening reading." He looks at me with a smirk. I try not to take the bait and bite back, but already my mind is reeling at his words and the time he spent with Daella.

"You, reading?" Father scoffs.

"Yes father, I felt it would be wiser for me to spend a little more of my time expanding my knowledge rather than drinking myself away." Aeris replies.

"Is this your doing?" Father asks looking at me and I shake my head. I certainly couldn't inspire Aeris to read anything, he had stopped listening to my stories years ago. I knew what had bought about this new so called change, or should I say who. I only hoped it was in earnest.

"Well whatever keeps the bottle out of your hand is good news." Father nods. "We have the summer solstice this evening, I have noticed each of you making effort in choosing a woman for the selection. I hope you are all taking this seriously."

"Yes father," Demwyn answers and I still, holding my breath for his next words. "It might help if two of us weren't fighting over the same one though." Demwyn finishes, staring at his plate while gripping his knife and fork.

Father looks at each of us. Of course he would bring this up with now, he couldn't just let it be.

"No one is fighting brother." Aeris says reaching for a piece of toast, completely at ease after Demwyn's words.

"Yet." Demwyn bites, looking at Aeris.

"Is it true, both of you are interested in the same chosen?" Father asks looking at me then Aeris.

"Aeris and I have been spending time with one of the chosen, but we have both agreed that it is only as friends, and that we wouldn't let her come between us." I explain, looking at Aeris who smiles back at me buttering his toast and nodding.

"Exactly, Daella is our friend, we are brother's first." Aeris agrees. I knew much of his bravado and aloofness was an act but even now when it is just his family, still he maintains his façade.

"Why are you spending your time making friends with one of the chosen? You are meant to be choosing a bride." Father says the term making friends like it is something dirty, his expression growing concerned.

"I don't believe either of them has the intention of staying friends for long father, I have tried to persuade both of them to leave her alone and pick a different chosen, but neither of them want to listen." Demwyn says, setting down his knife and fork like he is admitting some great truth and we have been keeping dark dangerous secrets.

He has always held his place as eldest brother over us, mostly it was to teach us or help us, but now it didn't feel like he was trying to help us.

"Is that true?" Father asks, looking at both of us. "Alvaryn?"

"It is true Demwyn has insisted that I shouldn't be friends with Daella, or spend time with her if those are my only intentions." I answer doing my best to keep my thoughts in order.

"Is it true that you have other intentions for this Daella?" Father asks.

I couldn't lie, but my thoughts and feelings seem to spin and tangle inside me.

He lets out an angry sigh.

"And you, Aeris, what are your intentions towards this girl?" Father asks turning towards him and I watch as he leans back smiling and the picture of ease and confidence.

"I enjoy spending time with her and she has this wild spirit that I find myself drawn to." He answers.

"A wild spirit would not make a good wife Aeris, you are meant to be looking for a companion, someone who will stand by your side and provide you with heirs, that is what you should be spending your time on. You as well Alvaryn, your only focus and attention should be on choosing one of those girls as a wife." Father's voice is serious, the tone he uses when he is reprimanding us for some error or mistake, or trying to make us understand our obligations.

"I don't want to hear any more about either of you spending your time with someone you only intend to be friends with. This Daella is one girl and you cannot share a wife. You are right Aeris, you are brother's first and always. If you can't make the decision yourselves then I will make it for you."

I didn't want to think about what that would mean. That he would be led to taking our choice away from us. Being forced to marry was one thing but having no say at all. That idea only reminded me of Daella.

I look at Aeris, his arrogant smirk fades as he sits staring back at me, he didn't doubt the threat in father's words. If we didn't come to a decision, then the decision would be made for us.

"Well, wasn't that fun, our own brother throwing us into the fire." Aeris says, stopping me as I leave the dining room.

"Unexpected." I reply, Demwyn would usually keep everything between us, I guess he thought this was more serious.

"He's probably just jealous."

"I highly doubt that, as far as I can tell he doesn't even like Daella." I disagree, having seen the way he looked at her, and heard the way he had spoken about her.

"He may not like her but he clearly doesn't want either of us spending time with her either. I thought he would keep his opinions to himself but apparently not."

"I take it he has spoken to you about her as well?"

"Once or twice." Aeris shrugs like it hadn't been important enough to remember. "What are your plans for Daella this afternoon Alvy?"

"I haven't decided." I answer honestly. I had been thinking of inviting her to the atrium again, but wondered if she would like to go somewhere else, only there were few places we would be able to be left alone.

He nods, smiling. "So you're going to ignore Father then?" He asks.

"I'm not ignoring him exactly, I just don't think he understands the entire situation completely." I answer.

"Well, all the best at not getting caught." He claps me on the arm.

"You're not going to suggest a dual for Daella's hand?" I question.

"No, that would be too easy." He grins, surely believing he would win in that instance. "Besides, who Daella spends her time with isn't really up to me now is it?"

I nod, trying to decide if he was playing another kind of game in his head.

"I'm just glad you're actually thinking of Daella and not just yourself."

He looks at me tilting his head like he is trying to decide if I'm telling a bad joke.

"I can understand your scepticism. It's true, I have the history of making decision based on my own desires, but what can I say, Daella has a way of making me see things differently."

"I would like to believe you Aeris, but there is still a part of me that can't help but feel like this is some kind of competition to you. If that is the case, I'm warning you, do not use Daella in your games or do anything that will hurt her." I say seriously.

He smiles, another smile, this one confident like he is trying to prove his own innocence and willing me to trust him.

"There is no competition, not unless you intend to start one."

A part of me wanted to ask him more, question him about Daella, about why he spent time with her, whether he actually did like her or if it was just a game to him. The idea he had spent his night reading instead of drinking still didn't sit well with me. What had he been reading? And why tell me like he was trying to prove something to me, some kind of obscure threat?

Was he trying to prove that he had more in common with Daella?

"Daella has never been a competition for me." I reply.

"Well father was right about one thing, there is only one Daella and we can't share a wife, just a thought." He smiles before stepping around me and leaving me to stand alone in the corridor.

After making my decision I send Daella a note to meet at the atrium, making a stop at the kitchens on the way there.

I set up the cakes and biscuits on one of the small tables and move it near the bench under the centre tree.

"I guessed right," Daella says as I look up from the table and she smiles. "Your note was a little mysterious when it said 'Meet me under the tree in our secret world.' She smiles holding up the note.

I can't help but smile back at her. "I had no doubt that you would understand what I meant."

"What have you got here?" She asks moving closer.

"I thought we could have a picnic of sorts." I answer as she looks at all the treats and smiles.

"Can I ask you a question?" She asks after we have eaten almost all the treats and talked about the latest books we have been reading.

"Of course."

"How did you get your scar?"

I stop dusting crumbs from my jacket and smile.

"When Aeris was younger, still coming into his magic, he would have these moments of wild tempers, lashing out, fighting, screaming. A lot of it was to do with his fire magic, but being so young he struggled to control his emotions. We were all in the training centre on day, Demwyn basically lived there, and Aeris insisted he was old enough to spar with the full grown fae. Demwyn gave in, letting him join in with the sparring, and I offered to spar with him. I didn't fight like I would against the others, he was only eleven, he still trained with a wooden sword. As we kept sparring he grew angrier, shouting at me that I wasn't doing it properly, that he wasn't a child. I decided to show him that he was not as ready as he thought and bested him, holding my blade at his neck. He screamed in anger, then attacked me, we fell to the ground while I tried to pin his arms back and calm him down. Demwyn was standing close by now, I told him not to step in, that it would only make Aeris worse. Then Aeris pulled out a hidden blade and lashed out. I was too busy trying to calm him down I didn't have time to stop the blade. Demwyn ended up pulling him off me, but by then the damage had been done." I explain. "I'm lucky I didn't lose my eye, but the blade didn't go deep enough and the healer was able to put me back together again."

She sits quiet for a moment before asking. "Did it change anything, between you and Aeris?" I think about my answer for a moment.

"Yes, once he calmed down and realised what he had done he refused to train for some time, didn't want to go anywhere near a sword. Once the wound had healed and everything returned to normal and I showed him that nothing was damaged permanently he finally relented and went back to training. Even though it was his knife, I never really blamed him, if I was to blame Aeris I could just as well blame Demwyn for agreeing to let him spar, or his magic for making his emotions so volatile." I reply, thinking back to the weeks and months after the incident.

"Do you think Aeris still blames himself?"

"I'm not sure, I know after he went back to training he changed, he was no longer so lax and disobedient, he trained harder and took everything more seriously. His temper tantrums and screaming fits seemed to just go away overnight, like he spent every minute keeping his magic in check. It took him many years before he became the Aeris he is now, confident and cocky, always smiling or teasing." I answer honestly. "It was at the same time he stopped wanting me to read him stories. I used to read to him all the time, but after that happened he didn't want me there anymore, spent most of his time by himself, he was even more distant from mother."

"But it hasn't stopped him from still seeing you as his brother, from loving you?" She asks, blue eyes intent and curious.

"No, I don't believe it ever stopped him from loving me, more that he hated himself, blamed himself and thought he was better off alone. Demwyn spent so much time training or with father that Aeris and I used to spend much of our time together. But after that it changed, we all kind of went separate ways. I mean, we still all eat our meals together, and we train together every morning, well most of the mornings, sometimes Aeris is missing because he's hungover or in some pub in town." I smile. She smiles but looks down at her skirt, smoothing away invisible crumbs.

"Not as exciting as an Adventure I'm afraid, I didn't get it rescuing anyone or fighting off villain's to defend the helpless." I laugh and she smiles up at me.

"I think I prefer the real story over one of the made up ones anyways, it may not be as exciting but at least you didn't let it change who you are or make you resentful. If it had been a story in a book it could have been the beginning of your villain origin." She teases and I laugh.

"Turned to darkness and forced to hide away from the world so he didn't scare anyone with his hideous scar." I reply and she stops laughing, her smile fading.

"It isn't hideous." She says quietly, reaching her hand up towards my face, her thumb traces part of the scar on my cheekbone and I feel myself lean into her touch, staring into her eyes as she stares back at me. Then she quickly drops her hand and leans away, scooting further back on the bench and smiling.

"It's probably time for me to head back." She says quickly, standing and smoothing her dress.

I stand as well, I want to ask her why she did that? Even more, why she pulled away so quickly? I hadn't been expecting it but I certainly didn't want it to just end so abruptly.

"Thank you for the picnic Alvaryn, I'll see you tonight." She smiles and I nod quickly.

"Right, the solstice, see you tonight." I wave, then quickly put my hand down realising I look like an idiot.

I wait until she is gone then sit back down, my mind a mess of questions and thoughts and everything just running around in circles.

What just happened?

I know what happened.

Why am I feeling like this though?

It wasn't like I hadn't been with women before, I had spent time with other fae, brief relationships which usually ended up with them realising I wasn't who they had hoped or me realising they stopped holding any real appeal.

This was different. Why did I feel like I had no idea what I was doing? I had just sat still, no words, no action, nothing, just frozen.

Was it fear? Stopping me from acting, fear that she would get upset, or that she would stop spending time with me.

She had been the one to touch me, she had made the first move, did that mean she thought of me then more than just a friend?

Did it mean that everything I have been fighting and trying to convince myself of could actually happen?

I stand suddenly grabbing the books I had bought and make my way back to my rooms.

I would see her again at the Solstice but this time I would not be so unprepared.







Please vote and comment!! :)