Chapter Text
“What are we looking at?”
Jude was sprawled on a blanket next to Cardan, her eyes squinting into the pair of golden and jeweled astronomy glasses as she looked at the sky. She huffed and lowered the glasses, testing her sight with her naked eyes, to no avail.
Cardan chuckled, and took her glasses before putting them on his side, far away from her. “You have many qualities, my dear, but patience is certainly not one of them.”
“Well, since you gave me those glasses to see the stars in the dark, and then proceeded to take them away from, it means that there are no stars to be seen. Therefore, I do not need to do whatever it is we were doing here, since I have more pressing matters that need my presence.”
It was the truth. For the first time since the beginning of their reign, Jude and Cardan would have to part away in order to tend to their respective duties for longer than a few occasional nights. She was needed in Maine to deal with family affairs, including babysitting, but also an investigation on the movement of Falcons, the ex-Elfhame soldiers loyal to her traitorous father. Cardan, to his chagrin, was deemed irreplaceable enough that he was forced to remain in Elfhame and do kingly things.
He’d put up a fight, of course he did, but in the end, she’s had the last word. Or she almost did, until Baphen, the Royal Astrologer, graced them all with another star reading.
“The skies of Elfhame will soon be ignited with a shower of shooting stars. It is a divine presage, Your Majesties. You must bear witness to it, and bring back the auspicious fortune that is falling celestial diamonds to our lands.”
Which is the reason why she, the High Queen of Elfhame, was sprawled on the mossy soil of Insear, staring up at a very normal night sky, instead of tending to her royal duties.
She proceeded to sit up, but Cardan circled her wrist with hand and pulled her back down to him.
“Ah, but I know that you’re thinking, my queen. Did you not hear what Baphen said? We must witness this divine sign. For the good of Elfhame. Isn’t that our first duty to this land, to assure its prosperity?”
Was he reading her mind? It baffled her still, how well he could predict her thoughts. Her momentary mental huff gave Cardan enough time to come back with another quip. He schooled his beautiful features in a mask of feigned sorrow. One of them would be in trouble, but she wasn’t sure it would be him.
“Besides, that auspicious meteor shower ought to be visible on my birthday. Finally, a positive star reading for the day of my birth. Don’t you want to be here, to see the day my fortune finally turns?”
Cardan dropped his head on her shoulder, and looked up at her with his dark and expressive eyes. He laid a hand on his heart, like the dramatic king that he is.
“Are you trying to manipulate me emotionally?”
Jude could feel his smile against her skin. “It is the truth. You know I cannot lie.” She didn't fail to notice that he didn't exactly answered her question.
He dropped a kiss on her shoulder, then propped himself up on one elbow. “I do not like to part from you, especially on a day like today.” His expression grew serious, and she knew he was not jesting anymore.
“It’s only going to be a few days, a week, tops.” Jude ran a hand in Cardan’s curls, and pulled him down for a kiss of reassurance. “I have purposely stayed until after the celebrations so that you did not spend your birthday alone, Your Majesty.”
Cardan shook his head, and laid his head on her heart. “You misunderstood me. It is not… It is not about the birthday. The last time you left without me, you were gone for months.”
Oh.
Her exile, while now a thing of the past, was still a raw subject for them. They had come to an understanding, but it didn’t mean she had not been hurt and furious. She and Cardan never really talked about it.
And because Jude was still terrible at dealing with her feelings, she took a page out of Cardan’s book, and deflected with bravado and banter.
“You want to play this game? Whose fault was that? I was not gone. I was exiled.”
It was a testament of how far they’ve come along that Cardan dared to utter his next words.
“My Jude is the smartest in all the realms, and yet she has been blinded by her feelings for me. I’m certain you would have solved the riddle sooner had you not been so sentimental. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Speaking of sentiments, I’m certain that Nightfell would love to be acquainted with your heart, too.” Jude quipped back, and moved to extricate herself from his arms, hoping he would not see her reddened face.
“You can not be mean to me today. It’s my birthday.”
Jude knew that birthdays weren’t easy for Cardan. They weren’t for her, either, but she at least had years of good memories with her sisters. “You are really milking it, for someone who is not accustomed to celebrating birthdays, you know that?”
“I’m just learning my wife’s customs.” He grinned shamelessly at her. Insufferably handsome bastard. “Speaking of customs, don’t I get to make a wish?”
“Are you implying that you would use your wish to get me to stay?”
“Would that work?” He perked up.
“No. Besides, you should know better than to wish for things in Elfhame. One twisted word, and an innocent birthday wish could turn into a nightmare. I might turn into a statue and stay on this island forever, for example.”
“Always so pragmatic and serious, my Queen. And you say that I'm the dramatic one.” Then, his gaze turned curious. “Indulge me. There’s no one here to act upon it. Tell me what you would have wished for. Tell me your most nonsensical desire.”
Jude pondered for a moment. Growing up with the fae customs, she had always been wary of wishes and gifts, for there was always a price to pay. But she was not magic, and Cardan could not grant wish, so she allowed her imagination to go wild. Would she ask for invincible weapons or magical powers? Maybe a way to make all the Folks respect her and her mortal attributes? Maybe she could go back in time and see her parents one last time, or she would try to change Madoc’s traitorous choices.
For all the options Jude imagined, her mind conjured a counter response. She already had Nightfell, as well as access to Heartsworn and Heartseeker. Her respect from the Folks should rightfully earned, she would not impose it. Changing the past was a recipe for disaster, a single change could destroy the life she currently had, and she liked that life very much, despite the blood and tears that led her here.
If she wished for something, it had to be something that was only affecting her, something that no one else had access to or could interact with.
“The letters.” Her words came out of her mouth before she realized it.
“What?”
Cardan sat up, and Jude followed.
“Earlier, when you mentioned my time in exile, I was reminded of the letters you claim you sent but never made their way to me. Maybe I would have come back sooner. Or maybe I would still be furious with you. Either way, I’m still mad that I never got to see their contents.”
She’d asked Cardan about them before, of course. But he’d always bashfully give her a vague answer, before finally admitting that, faced with her silence, he’d drank himself to numbness whenever he wrote to her, and could not recall the exact words.
“Of all the things you could ask for, you would wish the words conveying my feelings? Don’t I express them enough for you to know my heart?” He looked torn between being awestruck that she asked for that, and mildly insulted that his current and frequent declarations were not enough.
“Those words were mine, weren’t they? They were for me, and for me only. I hated that someone else might have read them, while I never could.”
She’d never told Cardan that she knew it was his mother who intercepted them. She didn’t know if she ever will.
Sensing tears of frustration welling up her eyes , Jude deflected again. “Besides, I love it when you’re desperate. I wanted to read your desperation.”
“Oh, how I adore your viciousness, even when it is at my expense.” He cupped her cheeks and kissed her thoroughly.
Cardan had just laid Jude back down on the blanket, when she opened her eyes and broke the kiss. Even behind her closed eyelid, she could feel the lights
“Look!”
If the skies on Insear were dark before, they were now alight with countless shooting stars. They sat in each other’s embrace, too filled with wonder to say anything but to admire the divine spectacle that Baphen predicted. It was truly marvelous, and an auspicious star chart for Cardan indeed.
“Do you know that in the mortal world, people also used to wish upon shooting stars?” Jude broke the silence, but continued to stare at the sky.
“What a curious custom. At least with a birthday cake wish, you get to eat the cake after you blow the candle.”
“You Folks really have a sweet tooth.” Jude chuckled, and finally lowered her eyes to look at the basket she’d brought, fumbling for the honeycake she’d asked the cooks to prepare.
Cardan let go of Jude while she prepared the platter of cakes, now a tradition of theirs for his birthday. She lit up a candle, and turned to him. “Alright, birthday boy, make a wish.”
The way Cardan looked at her now took Jude’s breath away. It was not new; she was used to the adoring gaze full of reverence he’d sometimes directed at her. But tonight, under the shooting stars and the candles, she could almost feel his love radiate from his dark eyes.
“Mock me all you want, but I truly have everything I desire. I do not wish for anything else, only for you to get whatever your heart desires, my love.”
Cardan blew the candle in one swift blow.
Jude remembered her confusion when the lights blinked out. Not just the fire from the candle, but also the moon and the shooting stars. She remembered wondering if Cardan’s magic had become so powerful that he managed to turn the sky off. She also remembered Cardan calling her name in panic when gravity and darkness claimed her.
Having grown up in Faerie, and now being its High King and Queen, Jude and Cardan really ought to be more careful with wishes. Especially on a night of a celestial miracle.