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"Is it strange that I find you attractive dressed as such?"
I was looking at myself in the mirror, assessing my outfit, when Cardan sneaked into the room. His training with The Ghost was paying off, he was as silent as ever.
"Strange? Yes. Surprising? No."
I saw him prowl towards me through the glass. He slid his arms around my waist, staring at me through my reflection.
Today is October 31st and Oak insisted we join him in celebrating Halloween. Of course, this means we all need costumes. I decided to go as the one character I knew more than anyone else.
Cardan.
So I looked through his wardrobe for my outfit. It was quite hard to find a top that was loose enough to account for my breasts, as most of his clothes were tailored to fit him perfectly. I also found a dark blue coat, its collar covered in iridescent feathers. I gave up trying to find pants in his collection, as my hips would never fit, and settled for a pair of black leggings with black combat boots.
"What do you mean, dear Jude?"
I met his eyes through our reflection. "The only thing you love more than booze is yourself."
He raised his brows, making a show of looking offended.
"Your capacity to lie to yourself will always impress me,” he said then plucked a kiss to my temple, “I love you more than I love wine."
I don’t think I will ever get over him being caring . It felt as if he was a completely different person from the boy who would disturb lessons just to get attention.
Cardan turned me to face him, then inspected my face.
“Something is missing," he told me with a frown.
He took my hand and directed me to his personal vanity. He opened the drawer and pulled out some cosmetics. He lined my eyes with kohl and coated my lashes with dark mascara. I suppressed my laugh when I saw he was so concentrated that he had stuck out his tongue. Then, he took out some glittery gold powder and applied it on my cheekbones.
He took a step back to look at his handiwork and smiled.
“And the final touch,” he said as he plucked his crown off his head and put it on my head at an angle, “Voilà!”
I looked at myself in the mirror. I did not bother with any kind of wig. I put my hair up in elaborate braids, letting a few short curls hang in a few places. Yet, even without his signature dark hair, I still looked like him. I made faces at myself in the mirror, trying to get his grin right.
Finally, I got up. “Your turn now, dearest Cardan.”
When Heather learned that Cardan would be coming too, she started suggesting outfits for him. She even went as far as drawing some of them. Something about his otherworldly looks inspired her. Maybe it's the tail, since a lot of her designs included it: a devil, sexy cat man and my personal favorite, a cute puppy.
In the end, I chose my own, petty idea. I walked in the closet and pulled out the outfit I had the servants clean for the occasion.
“A King needs his Queen,” I grinned as I revealed the Queen of Mirth dress and crown.
Cardan threw his head back laughing. “You sure know how to hold a grudge.”
Thankfully, my husband was a team player, and he went with it. Even in this, he looked strikingly handsome. Or pretty, I guess. Unfair.
We landed in Maine in the early afternoon. It was strange to be awake so early, but Cardan did not seem bothered at all. We met up with Vivi, Heather, Oak, Taryn and Garrett at the entrance to FallFest, some kind of harvest festival that was held every October in the local park. It had everything from harvest contests to food stands, a section with typical carnival games, a small hay maze and even a haunted house.
I was not surprised to see my eldest sister dressed up, she went crazy for Halloween every year. Vivienne would dress up for a week straight before Halloween, even when she still lived in Elfhame. She was wearing a tight black bodysuit with a tail and claws as well as a black leather mask with cat ears. Heather dressed up as some kind of … plant lady? She had a short bodysuit made of green ivy leaves, green stockings and a long red wig. Oak was with them, wearing a reddish pink shirt with a big yellow star on it. I can only assume they went for pop-culture references I am unfamiliar with.
The real surprise was seeing my twin Taryn and her quiet lover also dressed up.
"What are you dressed as?" Cardan inquired, cocking his head to the side, "You ought to have dressed as Jude, you have already proved to be so good at it."
I snapped my head at him and slammed my foot as hard as I could on his. He was joking, of course. But the peace between me and Taryn was still fairly new. We mostly kept to ourselves and rarely talked. Garrett was back with the Court of Shadow and we were friendly, but he kept his professional and personal lives completely separated.
Cardan was hopping on one foot, scowling at me like he did not understand why I was upset. Taryn understood, though. She was sheepishly looking at the ground.
"I… I'm sorry for tricking you, Cardan."
I tried finding something to say to end the awkwardness. I wanted Cardan to apologize for what he said, but I knew he would not. Fae don't apologize.
Thankfully, Vivi broke the silence. "C'mon guys, we're here to HAVE FUN!" She complained. "What ARE you two dressed as?"
"Phantom of the Opera," Garrett replied.
"Nerds."
"Says the one dressed up as Catwoman," Garrett mocked, crossing his arms.
The bickering continued, though less mean-spirited than Cardan’s original comment, as we walked down the main path. Our first stop was the pumpkin carving station. Each couple got their own pumpkin to carve, though Vivi and Heather’s pumpkin was mostly Oak’s handiwork and the couple making sure he did not stab himself. Taryn and Garrett made some intricate flower design on theirs, Garrett being the one doing the carving of course. As for us, well… Cardan had creative ideas, but no skills with a blade, and my skills were more of the stabbing variety. We settled on giving our pumpkin a traditional jack-o-lantern face.
After the effort of carving pumpkins, we were starving. Oak was complaining, dragging his feet on the ground so much that Vivi and Heathers were holding both of his hands to pull him along. Behind them, I saw Taryn with her arm looped around The Ghost's.
I was suddenly very aware that Cardan and I were the only ones not holding hands.
Nobody knew us here. We needn't keep the appearance of the power couple, together to rule and nothing else.
I took my hand out of the pockets of my borrowed coat and tentatively brushed my fingers against Cardan's hand. I saw him whip his head towards me, and I blushed when I witnessed the surprise in his face. Soon enough, he smiled. One of those smiles he kept for me and only me, blissful and happy. The smile he gives me when we have the time to spend hours cuddled together in bed, enjoying each other's presence.
Cardan took my hand and squeezed. I squeezed back.
We spent the rest of the afternoon eating good food, trying to guess the weight of giant pumpkins and visiting a haunted house. Cardan was fascinated by the weird human traditions and absolutely ecstatic about the food. Pumpkin-spiced flavored food will become the new trend in Elfhame, judging by his reaction.
When the sun started to go down, Taryn and Garrett left for Madoc’s, who decided to try giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Heather and Vivienne had initially volunteered to take Oak trick-or-treating himself, but when one of their friends invited them to a party, we offered to take him instead. Oak was excited to spend more time with me and “Uncle Cardan”.
I had not gone trick-or-treating in...10 years? Maybe 12? Since my parents died. Cardan, obviously, had never gone. So, dressed up as each other, with Oak dressed as some cartoon character, we roamed the residential streets of the city to beg for sweets.
“If it is called ‘trick-or-treat’, does that mean I can make bargains if someone refuses to give me candy?” Cardan asked as we watched Oak go up to a house.
I gave him my best ‘I’ll-strangle-you-if-you-do’ stare. “No. No turning people into cats, no curse making them hear imaginary insects buzzing around their ears.”
“Why is it called trick-or-treat, then?”
Vivienne told me they had to explain this to Oak, too, a few weeks ago. Someone at school had mentioned being excited to go trick-or-treating and my brother had been very confused.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
Cardan hmmed and smirked, “Perhaps the Folk were involved when the holiday was first established.”
I crossed my arms.
“If that’s the case, not all traditions need to be brought back.”
He laughed at that, then reached around me and pulled me closer to him.
“You win. I won’t trick anyone,” he crooned in my ear, “but I want a kiss for being well behaved.”
I rolled my eyes dramatically. “So needy.”
Once again, I had to remind myself that nobody knew us here. Nobody had recognized our costumes: in the mortal world, dressed as each other, we were only The Guy In An Ugly Dress and Fashionable Emo Boy. Nobody knew us as High King and High Queen of Elfhame, therefore there were no expectations to be the hedonistic king and his murderous wife.
I slid my hand behind his neck and pulled him down. I felt him smile as I captured his lips with mine.
“Ew, gross!” Oak’s voice came from the other end of the driveway, “Stop that, come here.”
Reluctantly, we pulled away from each other and looked towards the house. Oak was in front of the opened door, talking with a couple.
“Honey, look,” the tallest woman exclaimed as we walked down the driveway, “She’s dressed as High King Cardan!”
“Oh my god,” the other one replied, sounding so very human, “that sounds kind of profane. Do you think he would have her hung for this?”
As I looked at the two women, I realized that Oak had stumbled upon the house of a Fae couple. They saw through his glamour, and he saw through theirs.
“This is my sister Jude,” Oak started, “and this is my Uncle Cardan.”
Both females had gone completely still and were staring at Cardan with wide eyes. Simultaneously, they bowed deeply.
“Forgive us, Your Majesty. We weren’t expecting you.”
“We so rarely see our kind around here,” the shorter one said nervously, “we… wanted to meet who little Oak was with.”
“We have tea, if you would like.”
I dared a glance at Cardan and noticed he seemed amused. Was he delighted to make them uncomfortable?
“That won’t be necessary,” he said as he took my hand, “My wife has us on a tight schedule, we have other houses to visit. Have a nice evening.”
I caught the emphasis on wife and realized they only recognized him as royalty. ‘Your Majesty ’, singular. I could tell from the two females’ expressions that they also understood their mistake. I felt bad for them knowing they had no ill intent, probably unaware of the situation in Faerie. Yet, I could not help the grin that crept on my face. I worked hard to become High Queen. I fought and killed my way through the ranks, almost dying. Multiple times. I made decisions that will haunt me until the day I die. I am High Queen, and the Folk must know.
“It was nice meeting you,” I said as I took Oak’s hand, “You are welcome to visit us at the palace if you wish.”
My memories from before Faerieland were to blurry, I did not remember getting so much candy. Did Taryn and I get that much? How could we possibly have eaten all of that? Cardan and I each had a smaller bag, only accompanying Oak to some of the doors, but Oak had multiple full bags. Once he went to sleep, Oriana was more than happy to give us some. She had learned how bad candy was for children’s teeth-even little Fae kids. She filled little bags for us to take back to Elfhame.
Like anyone eating candy for the first time, Cardan went a little crazy. He wanted to try everything. Faeries might be different in a lot of ways, but I now have proof that chocolate is addictive even to them.
The High King of Elfhame ate so much candy that he fell asleep on the couch, to the former General’s dismay.