Through the Eyes of a Fae

Kora’s recovery was slow, but every day she made improvement. Ben had received a promotion of sorts, becoming the new Spy Master. Sorting through all of Cade’s notes took time, and Kora offered to help him. Turns out that Cade was hiding a lot of things from Malik, and the charges against him grew. There were whispers of Cade’s family starting a rebellion, with a partnership made with Ben’s aunt underway. The dreaded Ella also had a hand in it, hating that Kora and Ludis had taken the two most eligible men in the kingdom. Joseph was more than happy to roll on everyone, anything he could do or say to attempt to save his own skin. Sara too was more than willing to divulge information, including bits of the Tower’s mages looking to oust Ludis. Cade had been collecting intelligence on them this whole time, but by the looks of his notes, had only turned on them a little over a year ago. In that time, he had developed contacts with several other noble houses and with the Men of the Grey. The nobles they had expected, it was the way of the world, always scheming to take more power for themselves. They saw it every day, since Ludis’s rescue. The people were vying for Kora’s attention, convinced she would win them a rebellion. Malik was still surprised they had won the war, with a mole so close to the center of the core operation. The advantage was this was in the dead of winter, and though recruiting more trusted informants would be tough, all their enemies were at a standstill, and unaware their mole had been discovered. Getting into the noble houses was the easiest by far. Malik had already started working on them at social gatherings. Stella herself even got involved - discussing things with the mages of the tower. The messages from the Men of the Grey were in a code neither of them had seen before, and Kora filed them to the side. There was something familiar about them, she just could not put her finger on it. Overall, the picture now clearer, spring was bound to be interesting at the very least. The Midwinter trees went up, and the castle was beautiful. Candles twinkled everywhere. Kora had already gotten all her midwinter gifts wrapped, and they sat under the tree in her sitting room. She had finally gained enough strength back to fix the western road, but Malik had asked her to leave the ruins of the tree cage- an ominous warning for those who thought about double-crossing them. Shadow had almost doubled in size. He wiggled under the table as Kora finished sorting the coded messages. Ben stretched. They had made remarkable progress working together and had undone Cade’s entire spy network. Satisfied with their progress, he gently pulled Kora to her feet. She had finally begun to put weight on again.

" Want to go for a walk? They just finished the decorations in the entrance hall.” Kora nodded, eager to see the ceiling of dragons with all the decorations.

The Hall was beautiful. There were twelve trees lining each side of the hall. The trim lined the ceiling. Holly wreaths hung over every window. Kora walked to the center of the room. Turning slowly, she smiled at the peaceful atmosphere. Ben approached her, and taking her hand in his, he spun her slowly.

“Maybe you can teach me the dance of fire?” Ben was looking at her, eyes full of love. She smiled and pulled him close. They began to move, Kora guiding him through the steps. As they spun and turned, the ceiling began to come alive, spinning around them. It was beautiful, Kora finally understood the feeling that her great-grandparents had when they did this dance together, it was so much more when you shared it with a loved one. The dragons whirled around them, exploding in flashes of color. Kora looked around the room, and when she turned, Ben was down on one knee. She saw a little box in his hand. On a velvet cushion, sat a black opal ring. It had gold vines wrapped around it. She looked him in the eyes, shocked. He was smiling.

" You said I never asked. Will you marry me?” Tears formed in her eyes, and she nodded.

“Yes.” He slid the ring on her finger and kissed her slowly. The sound of applause could be heard at the end of the hall, and their friends approached. Congratulations went around. Holding Kora’s hand, Ben looked up at the dragons, and thanked the gods for these people. He had family, and regardless of what came their way next spring-they would face it together.