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Jude had definitively decided she didn’t mind revels anymore. In fact, if pressed, she could almost be persuaded to say she liked them. It wasn’t because she thought they were more fun or that she didn’t have to manage all of the dangers hiding among the food and dance anymore—just because she was queen didn’t mean that she wasn’t still vulnerable to faerie food induced madness. But there was just something about revels that made them better than when she was dragged to court during her school days. While Jude could be persuaded to admit that revels weren’t the worst, she’d be damned if she ever said what the something that made them better was.
Luckily for her, she didn’t have to. Because for every moment she spent biting her tongue, there was a matching moment where Cardan was whispering in her ear saying that “You should just admit that you think I’m irresistible, we both know that’s what you’re thinking”. Which was not true, even if he always looked a particular shade of devastatingly handsome with his elaborate outfits and shimmering paint on his cheeks, his crown tipping off the side of his head. Even if Jude could barely resist him when he got to that stage of just tipsy enough that his cheeks flushed with color and he didn’t mind leaving the courtiers to slip into hidden rooms with Jude. Even if he grinned with a special light in his eyes when Jude whispered things like you’re so handsome and I could stay like this forever while wrapped in his embrace after one of their trysts.
It was a true dilemma.
But, Jude, after all, was not known for backing down from a challenge, not when Cardan was antagonizing her during their school days, not when Orlagh and Balekin tried to manipulate her, and definitely not when Madoc tried to take her crown, she there was no chance in hell that she would fold because Cardan looked too handsome. So, in conjunction with admitting to herself that she didn’t mind revels, Jude pledged that she was going to go on the offensive and show Cardan that he wasn’t the only one who could use their looks to get what they wanted.
Hence why Jude was looking into a mirror at herself with a far too happy Tatterfell looking on with pride at her work. Jude’s hair was done up so it was out of her face, rubies threaded below her crown in a way that made it seem like there were flames crawling towards it when the light shined on her just right. Her dress was another shade of shimmering red, with silken skirts flowing down from her waist, and a neckline that cut down her sternum in a way that none of the other dresses she owned did. It was truly beautiful, even if it wasn’t like anything Jude had worn before, which was exactly what she wanted. She felt like she could command the attention of a whole crowd with a single look, which was all very good considering she just needed to command the attention of one particular faerie.
It was all out of her comfort zone, dressing up proactively so she could catch someone’s eye, but Jude was nothing if not determined to, at least this once, make Cardan break before her.
Cardan was smug as he prepared for the revel. He knew that every time he put just a little extra effort into his clothes, while playing it off as just another boring thing he had to do, Jude couldn’t resist him. Revels would always hold a special place in his heart now that they began with good food and a little alcohol and ended with a lot more alcohol and Jude dragging him away from the crowd, frowning as he laughed softly at his comments about her eagerness. And, though he would be loathed to admit it, the way Jude dressed for revels, with beautiful gowns and her crown sitting atop perfectly done hair—no doubt the work of Tatterfell—got under his skin just as much as he seemed to get under hers. His only saving grace was that he had been hiding his feelings for years of her effortless beauty, working everyday to keep himself from accosting her. But now he didn’t have to worry, and it was much more fun to stave off his impulses as his wife glared at him, trying to pretend that she wasn’t as much of a fool for him as he was for her.
So, Cardan felt pretty happy as he slipped into the grand room where the night’s revel was being held. Even without his wife on his arm, as usual—someone had mentioned that she would be late and it had slipped Cardan’s mind to ask why—he already felt himself buzzing with anticipatory energy for what the night would hold.
As he walked through the crowd towards his throne, greeted by all sorts of courtiers that laughed and danced around him, Cardan grabbed a glass of wine from a servant. Walking up the steps to the dais that his throne sat upon, he nodded to the knights that protected it before turning and sitting upon the throne with an air of practiced ease. He was much better at sitting on his throne while listening to the problems of his subjects, now, but that was mostly due to the way he didn’t usually have to do anything except watch Jude while she gave advice and guidance and even the occasional punishment. But now, alone, he still couldn’t be bothered pretending that he didn’t enjoy the personal aspect of ruling.
Sipping on wine, Cardan spent time listening to his subjects, offering advice when it was needed and accepting gifts only when he understood the terms completely. He wasn’t aware of specifically how much time was passing but knew that it was especially odd that Jude hadn’t appeared yet, and his mind began to wander—as it often did—to her twinkling eyes and disarming smile.
Jude knew purposefully arriving late to the revel so that Cardan would see her for the first time that evening while, most likely, working his way towards being tipsy and amongst a crowd of other people was at the very least petty, but she couldn’t be bothered to care. After all, most of her plan involved doing things she wouldn’t normally do for the sake of being petty and getting Cardan flustered. So, when she walked into the revel, she was already anticipating some reaction, she was walking in late in an uncharacteristically attention-grabbing outfit. However, Jude didn’t anticipate the way nearly everyone was staring at her by the time she reached the dais where the thrones sat. As she worked her way through the crowd, she was aware of all the eyes on her, of everyone seeing their queen in a new light, but she only paid attention to Cardan. Cardan, whose eyes had snapped towards the entrance to the room the second she was announced, who was clearly trying to figure out why his wife was wearing an outfit like that, who appeared to be choking on air as he saw the determined glint in Jude’s eyes as she lowered herself into her throne.
Everything was going perfectly. Jude knew that Cardan was struggling to maintain composure, mainly because his tail was swishing back and forth behind him, the tip occasionally flicking sharply towards her. She suppressed the grin working its way to her face, turning towards Cardan and looking him dead in the eyes for the first time since she had entered the throne room. His breath hitched ever so slightly.
It was torture. Jude walked into the room confident and stunning, and immediately began ignoring Cardan in favor of speaking to people that came up to the dais in search of advice and conversations with the King and Queen. It took what felt like hours for her to say anything to him, evening though he was acutely aware of the way she suppressed a smirk every time she glanced his direction.
“So, how has your evening been?” Jude’s voice was cool and detached, as if she didn’t know exactly what she was doing to Cardan. He wanted to scream.
His mind was blank, all he could think of was the way Jude seemed to be glowing in the light of the throne room. If he tried very hard he could think about how this was definitely on purpose—why, he didn’t know—but every thought of Jude’s motives were very quickly interrupted by how ethereal she looked. He was trapped by her—which, if he was honest, was absolutely not a new thing, but it was definitively different this time.
“It’s been fine,” he finally choked out, trying his best to pretend unaffected. Jude smirked, clearly hearing the effect she had on him in his voice.
“Very well. I am so sorry for my late arrival, Tatterfell just spent longer than normal on my hair.” Cardan didn’t know enough about doing hair to say anything that contracted her excuse, but he did know enough about Jude to know that it wasn’t true.
“It’s alright.” Cardan decided that short responses would be best. Anything longer than a few words and he could accidentally blurt out too much—something about how stunning she looked or how he could usually barely resist her but like this, done up and confident and determined, made him vulnerable of giving away everything he had for her.
Jude knew her plan was working. It was better than she had imagined. Cardan’s cool demeaner disrupted, leaving him stuttering short responses, looking as if he was going to lose it if he had to sit in his throne for a single second longer.
But, she couldn’t taunt him enough like this, while he was feet away on his throne and every word they said could be overheard by knights and wandering courtiers. So, Jude stood at the end of the current song, reaching her hand out to Cardan.
“Come, my King, won’t you dance with me?”
Cardan looked like he was fighting himself, his tail rapidly flicking back and forth, his dark eyes shimmering with lust and a spot of confusion, but eventually he stood without a word and took her hand, steering her down the stairs and into the crowd. But instead of going towards the area where faeries were congregating for the next song, he gripped her hand tight and led her to the secret room behind the thrones. His whole body was tense when he lightly pushed her through the door, firmly shutting it behind them.
“Cardan, what are you doing? We can’t exactly walk out in the middle of—” Jude was barely able to finish her sentence as she turned to face him before his lips were on hers.
“What do you think you are doing?” He asked when his lips finally left hers, leaving them both panting and disheveled.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jude replied breathlessly as he worked his mouth down her neck, pushing her hair out of the way.
Jude didn’t even receive a verbal response, just a groan and a vague gesture at her body. It was enough to nearly make her laugh, if she knew all she had to do to create a barely coherent and perfectly agreeable Cardan was pretty outfits, she might have let Tatterfell dress her however she wanted back when she was Seneschal.
However, it perhaps wouldn’t have been a perfect solution seeing as she was quickly losing her coherence as well, only focusing on the way that Cardan’s lips felt on her rapidly heating skin and the desire pooling in her stomach. It felt like a dream. Like something she’d wake up from right when it got to this point, left alone in a cold bed, wishing that it were real.
Cardan had never been happier that this was real. That his reality could consist of working his way back up Jude’s neck, leaving bruises in his path, listening to the sharp intake of her breath as he got to her jaw, just before he kissed her in earnest again. Then it was her hands in his hair, tugging sharply against his scalp, leaving him groaning and gasping into her mouth, vaguely aware of his tail snaking its way around her leg. It felt like the kind of thing he would dream of back when they were in school. The kind of thing that he would wake up from and go to that paper and write Jude Jude Jude until the paper ripped and his ink blotted the words, hoping that it could leave his mind. But this was real and happening right now and Jude was kissing back in a way that made him worry that his legs would give out and they’d be left sprawled on the floor.
He steered her toward the couch, as gracefully as he could with their bodies pressed against each other and his mouth never leaving hers, before slowly stepping back. Somehow Jude looked even better like this, eyes alight with passion and love, hair just barely messed up from his fingers, lips swollen and gasping for air. He couldn’t even be bothered to care about the way she looked smug, like she had been expecting this, hoping for him to lose control.
She twisted them around, pushing him to sit on the couch, before maneuvering herself onto his lap, one of her legs slipping out of a slit in her dress he hadn’t noticed before so that she held him down with her hips. It was all he could do to stop from groaning as she began to slide his coat off his shoulders before unbuttoning his shirt, her mouth following her fingers on the way down. As she got his shirt off of him, he was acutely aware of the arousal that had been building up all night reaching unbearable heights, and as she looked into his eyes, before moving to kiss him deeply, he could tell that she knew too.
He kissed her back as every ounce of self-control left his body—which admittedly was very little ever since he had led them to the hidden room—running his hands along her back, up her sides, everywhere he could reach. But as he struggled to find the tie to her dress, doing his best to not just rip the damn thing off, because he very much would like to see Jude wear it again, she pulled away.
Even with her eyes wild, looking halfway to thoroughly debauched, Jude managed to smirk in a smug way that made Cardan suddenly aware that he had lost some unknown game. As he tried to pull her back, pull her dress off, something, she simply leaned in, whispering in his ear, “You should just admit that you think I’m irresistible, we both know that’s what you’re thinking.”
And in that moment, he knew she would ruin him—if she hadn’t already—and all he could do was love her.