END OF PART IX - I refuse to believe that there is no Autumn Court equivalent for Calanmai, so they celebrate Samhain. Just a warning that Eris is high and drunk for quite a bit of this part and there are a bunch of other people there that are high and drunk as well. Thanks for reading!
lol yeah ive always wondered about calanmai in other courts!!! i love this idea sm
Prince of Ashes. Part IX.
masterlist.
*changed Samhain to Autumn Equinox
Eris felt long fingers drag through his hair, felt nails scrape down his chest, felt lips trace the curve of his throat. Eris leaned his head back on the shoulder of the male behind him, not bothering to stop his moan. The female between his legs licked his neck, the other one at his side, fingers still tangled in his hair, pulled his head towards her. Eris smiled against her lips.
He briefly thought of everything he had to do, a million things he’d been ordered to do, but as soon as the thought entered his mind the sound of someone speaking wrenched his thoughts from it all. “Tell us, my prince, what you want,” the male’s voice was low, silken, as he murmured the words, his lips pressed to the arch of Eris’s ear.
Eris laughed, a snorting funny thing, eyes crinkled with joy and cheeks flushed, “I’m not sure.” Eris wanted many things. His eyes fluttered shut as one of the females placed her hand above the waistband of his pants, the other female pulling his shirt open with curious fingers, the male kissing the sensitive spot behind his ear.
“Eris?”
Eris’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Lucien’s voice, he grinned up at his youngest brother, “My greatest burden,” he beamed, but his words sounded funny, as if they were being dragged out of his mouth. Eris breathed a small giggle, his head feeling heavy as he leaned it back again with a sigh. Eris purred as someone’s hands traced the sharp lines of his collarbones. He should have been embarrassed that such a sound had escaped him, but he actually found it quite funny.
“Stop that,” Lucien growled.
Everyone around him froze, and Eris cackled, “Don’t listen to him,” he managed between his laughter, “No one listens to him.”
“Cauldron boil me,” Lucien mumbled to no one in particular.
“Well, that doesn’t sound very pleasant,” Eris felt Lucien grab his arm.
“Get up,” Lucien said, voice serious. Eris didn’t understand why his brother was in such a foul mood.
“Must you ruin our fun,” said the male behind Eris, his hands still on Eris’s chest.
“Yes I must,” Lucien said matter of factly. Lucien hauled Eris onto his feet, one of Eris’s arms around his shoulders as he kept his older brother upright.
“Awwwww, don’t go, prince,” one of the females pouted.
Eris flashed her a grin, “Later.” A promise he didn’t necessarily intend to keep, but he liked the way she giggled at his conspiratory wink in her direction.
“What the actual fuck,” Lucien was glowering, “Are you doing?”
Lucien had gotten very tall, Eris noticed, “Having fun.”
“Looks like you’ve succumbed to madness.” Eris had never felt so happy, he didn’t mind that Lucien had just insulted him. “You know you shouldn’t be doing things like that in the middle of the fucking courtyard,” Lucien sounded much too serious, “Father might see you.”
“I was off to the side,” Eris corrected, a stupid smile still on his face.
“And what of everyone else in the courtyard?” Lucien hissed.
“It doesn’t matter on this day,” Eris nodded, speaking to Lucien as if he should have known. “That’s sort of the point of it, wouldn’t you agree?”
Lucien ignored his brother’s question and asked him another one. “Have you forgotten that we need to be ready in less than a couple hours for the most important holiday of the Autumn Court?”
“No,” Eris pushed himself off of Lucien, “I have not.” Eris had loved the Autumn Equinox in his youth, he’d been able to try new things - do whatever he wanted to do - all with the excuse that the day’s magic was the cause, but things had changed once he’d gotten a little older. And while he had been feeling very happy a moment before, he was feeling troubled now. He shook his head, shaking away those negative emotions and trying to stay balanced and upright on his own.
“Eris—”
“I’m fine,” Eris smiled again, but Lucien did not return his grin. Eris wasn’t shocked, Lucien was being very boring. Eris only managed to walk a couple steps beside Lucien before he fell to the ground, laughing the whole time. He curled the fingers of one hand into the grass, nails digging into soft earth, the other hand went to his stomach. Sprawled on his back and staring up at the sky, Eris was shaking with silent laughter, he couldn’t help it.
Lucien’s concerned face appeared in his line of sight. Eris stopped laughing rather abruptly. Lucien, the rays of the sun shining behind his head, made it look as though he had a halo of light surrounding him. Eris couldn’t shake the feeling that Lucien looked very familiar, the person Lucien looked like right at the front of Eris’s mind… Lucien knelt down next to his oldest brother, “Eris, you alright?”
Eris grinned, “I’ve never been better, fox.” Eris was still half on the ground, but he sat up, Lucien and him nearly at eye level.
Lucien placed a hand on Eris’s shoulder, biting the inside of his cheek, before he spoke. “You’re really out of it, aren’t you? Just absolutely wasted?”
“I am not,” Eris assured him.
“If I ask you something, you’ll answer honestly?”
“You know what they say,” Eris thought Lucien’s hair looked very bright, and he raised a hand to touch it. “Only madmen and drunkards tell the truth.”
“I think Rufus is the only one who says that.” Lucien’s brows furrowed, his young face troubled as he almost pleaded with Eris. “Why do you push me away? Maybe you’ll give me an honest answer like this.”
Eris smiled a crooked grin, hand on the back of Lucien's head. “I’m protecting you,” Eris whispered, just in case anyone was listening.
Lucien didn’t look like he believed his older brother. He frowned, “You have pixie dust on your face.”
Eris shook his head, hoping that if he looked like he didn’t know what his youngest brother was talking about, maybe Lucien would believe him. “Never touched the stuff,” Eris said, pressing his lips together and furrowing his brows. Eris hoped he looked serious.
“Evidently,” Lucien gently wiped at Eris’s nose and cheek with the sleeve of his dark red jacket.
Brilliant, Eris thought, glad Lucien had believed him. He’d have been a real hypocrite considering how Eris had always told Lucien, and Rufus too, never to take faerie powders.
“Thank the Mother we have fire in our blood, should burn it out of your system before the ceremony.” Lucien helped Eris to his feet once more, “You’re not wearing shoes.”
Eris looked down at his bare feet, wiggling his toes, “You’re very observant,” Eris frowned.
He wasn’t as happy as he’d been a few moments ago. He could have sworn he’d been wearing boots when he’d first gone to the courtyard.
Lucien dragged Eris through the halls of The Forest House, not even stopping when their mother worriedly asked them what had happened. Eris had flashed his mother a sleepy smile as Lucien waved off her concerns. Stumbling into Lucien’s room, Lucien gently sat his brother atop the heavy comforter of his bed.
Eris was leaning on his side, bare feet dangling off the side of the bed as he propped himself up on an elbow. He heard Lucien shuffling around the room, but he didn’t know what his younger brother was doing. Eris was starting to feel a constant, pounding pain in the back of his head. He groaned as he raised a hand to his forehead, eyes clenched shut.
“Drink,” Lucien ordered, shoving something right up to Eris’s face.
Some of Eris’s senses were starting to return and he nodded, knowing that water usually flushed pixie dust out of someone’s system. Eris hadn’t realized how thirsty he was. He grabbed the pitcher out of Lucien’s hands greedily, chugging the water. Some of it spilled, dripping down his chin, his neck, his chest. Eris could barely breathe, his focus solely on drinking as much water as he could and as fast as possible.
Once he’d finished with the water, Lucien took the pitcher from him and went back into the bathroom. Eris heard him turn the faucet on.
Eris’s head was still swimming, but the world was starting to get back into focus. Eris pressed his face into one of Lucien’s many pillows, groaning into the fabric. He was starting to feel a bit like a fool, especially since he had never wanted Lucien to see him like this.
“You sober?”
Eris mumbled his response, the sound muffled by the pillows.
“More water?”
Eris shook his head, afraid he’d hurl on all the revellers later if he drank anymore. Eris felt the bed dip as Lucien sat down. Lucien placed a hand on Eris’s shoulder. “Fucking hells, fox, remind me to never do that again.”
Lucien chuckled, sounding relieved, “You should take more of your own advice, Eris.”
Eris, in his youth, had found himself experimenting with pixie dust. There was a certain appeal to being stupidly happy and ridiculously unbothered all the time. He breathed a laugh, “Good that you came looking for me, but I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t have been a little funny if I wasn’t there for the ceremony.”
“It would have been a disaster,” Lucien said, and Eris could hear the smile in his voice. “Let me get ready, you wait here.”
Eris was starting to feel like he was in control again. He breathed in through his nose, out through his mouth, trying to gather his thoughts. Copper pixie dust and golden faerie wine were staple products for a good Autumn Equinox celebration. Eris hadn’t had so much pixie dust since before Rufus had been born, running a hand through his hair, Eris couldn’t help thinking that he was definitely going a bit mad.
Eris wasn't entirely sure what had possessed him to go out and celebrate the Autumn Equinox early, but it might have just been to give him some semblance of control on a night where such ancient magic made all the revellers at the event wild - beastly. Even if Eris didn’t necessarily want to participate in the celebration, it was expected of him, expected of all his brothers.
Eris moved up off the pillows, his face still feeling hot from the effects of the pixie dust, only for Lucien to throw a black, sleeveless shirt at him. “You have something all over yours,” Lucien grinned, having changed into Autumn Equinox black, “Something that is decidedly not pixie dust, correct?”
Eris frowned looking at the glittering copper powder on his fingers and where his black shirt was supposed to lace, “Correct.” Eris knew his cheeks were still red from everything he’d taken, but he was also aware of the fact that he’d become even more red in embarrassment. He was glad Lucien hadn’t thought to mention the other revellers Eris had been with. He didn’t necessarily want to explain himself to his youngest brother.
His head was still pounding, but Eris managed to tug his shirt over his head, fingers shaking slightly as he tied the laces. Just as Eris pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the bed, the door to Lucien’s room swung open.
Rufus grinned, “Found him, fox?” Three shimmering golden lines were painted on the right side of his face, starting above his brow and ending at his jaw, as was tradition on the Autumn Equinox for all of the unmarried fae.
Lucien looked at Rufus through the mirror on his dresser, humming in response as he dipped three fingers into a small pot of that golden paint, slowly dragging them onto his face as well. The paint shined bright against his light brown skin. “Completely wasted and nearly incoherent.”
“That’s greatly exaggerated,” Eris grumbled, running a hand through his hair.
Rufus shook his head, Lucien’s bed making a funny creaking noise as he threw himself onto it. He mumbled something that sounded a lot like “doubtful,” flashing Eris a smile as he said more clearly, “I would pay a whole lot of money to have been alive in your youth.” Russett eyes flaring with amusement, he added, “I have a feeling Micah, Lagos, and Widge have understated your affinity for getting into trouble.”
Eris briefly wondered what the fuck they’d told Rufus, knowing very well that he’d done many questionable and embarrassing things. He shook his head, “I feel like shit.”
“Of course you do,” Lucien shot his eldest brother an amused look, “Think you’ll be able to walk on your own later?”
“Very funny,” Eris said, pulling on a pair of Lucien’s black boots. They were a little tight, but he guessed they’d probably be lost at some point that night anyway.
Lucien sat on the bed again, the pot of paint in his hands. “Here, hold still.”
Eris watched as Lucien dipped his fingers into the golden paint, grabbing hold of Eris’s chin and gently painting the three straight lines on his face. “Cauldron, you’ve gotten big,” Eris muttered.
“Don’t move,” Lucien snapped, “I’ll mess up.”
Eris rolled his eyes, staying quiet, but he continued to watch Lucien. Lucien’s hair had gotten very long, his jaw very square, his face very sculpted. He was as tall as Eris, but much broader. He looked all grown up, having none of the softness in his features that Eris could remember or any of the sharp angles that the rest of his brothers had.
Lucien finally moved back, flashing Eris a smile. A smile Eris recognized.
Eris blinked a couple times, wondering if perhaps he was hallucinating. Or if he was going completely mad. Or if perhaps he wasn’t as intelligent as he liked to think. All three were perfectly good explanations for why Lucien looked almost exactly like Helion Spellcleaver when he smiled. Eris had never asked his mother who Lucien’s father was - he’d never really cared. Eris had always assumed it had been a random courtier, or one of the High Lord’s guards.
He definitely hadn’t thought his mother had been having an affair with the heir of the Day Court. But even Eris’s still-foggy mind thought that it made a whole lot of sense. It would explain Lucien’s magical abilities appearing at such a young age, and why Helion preferred to ignore them all, and why his mother tried to avoid the Day Court.
Eris made a strange sounding choked noise. If he hadn’t spent nearly half the day drinking, he might have been able to control the shock from showing on his face. His jaw went slack as he stared at Lucien in abject, dumbfounded horror.
Lucien looked slightly troubled as he asked, “Are you sure you’re alright, Eris?”
“Maybe he’s about to throw up,” Rufus offered. “I’m fine,” Eris lied. His mother and Helion Spellcleaver had gone off and had a love child, and he most definitely was not fine.
Eris was finding it very hard to believe that no one else had noticed. Someone was bound to find out. Eris wondered if Helion knew, or if he’d guessed. If he’d known and hadn’t come for Lucien, hadn’t come for their mother, Eris didn’t know what he’d do. Eris didn’t like killing people, but he decided he’d make an exception for Helion if he’d known that his son was stuck in the most savage of courts with Beron acting as his father, and had sat back and done absolutely nothing.
Or he wouldn’t kill him. Lucien might not be too pleased with him if he ever found out. And Eris didn’t actually believe Helion was horrible enough to completely abandon his own son. Eris decided that all he needed to do was make sure Lucien didn’t smile anymore in public. With a sigh, Eris flopped back onto the bed, eyes staring at the ceiling, not really wanting to think anymore. He’d thought enough for the day.
He was going to have great fun at a giant orgy later that night and drink himself stupid after the ceremony. If he snorted enough pixie dust, maybe he could convince himself that he’d dreamed the whole thing up.
“Eris,” Lucien started, “Do you need some more water?”
Cauldron boil me, Eris thought, they even sounded the same. “My life is a joke.”
Eris could hear the grin in Rufus’s voice, “The Mother looks down at you and laughs.”
