Chapter 10

Ainsel had gotten to the hotel about an hour before Cassie and Brendan had arrived back. He had waited until he saw Brendan and then Cassie go into the little chapel before coming to his base of operations. The Prince was certainly acting strangely with this mortal, considering that he had had plenty of dalliances in his one hundred twenty five years in the mortal realm. If Ainsel took the time to calculate, it might come out to at least one per human year, if not more! Why was this one different?

First of all, instead of her following the Prince around, Prince Taliesin followed her around like a puppy dog. He made Ainsel change all their plans around so they could first stay in Albuquerque at the sub-par inn, ineptly named the Best something or other, and then come to another unenlightened motel without even hallways and a full service bar. The doors opened into the parking lot, for the love of the Queen! Luckily, he could find a liquor store to start his own private bar, but it was hardly any fun drinking without the Prince or foolish mortals to trick.

But the final straw had been to have Ainsel sneak back into the Realm where the Queen was searching for his sorry hide, and steal (STEAL!) the gold ring his father had at one point given his mother to show his undying love for the Queen. Not that the Queen needed any reminding, the bonds betwixt Oberon and Titania were inextricably combined, whether either wanted it that way or no. Titania chafed under Oberon’s love, as any hot blooded mortal would chafe under a wool blanket in the high summer. Queen Titania, in a pique of love and overwhelming irritation, gave Oberon a matching ring, which he still wore. Stupid rings. Taliesin wanted that one, too, if he could manage.

Ainsel, a properly subservient servant, and still bound by Prince Taliesin’s century old oaths, had crossed to the Realm, found his lady Queen’s jewelry box and rummaged through it. When he did not find the gold ring Prince Taliesin wanted, he stomped his foot and began opening drawers and looking in cupboards, taking apart the lavish room bit by bit, careful to always replace everything where he found it. Last thing he needed was to be oath bound and have to face the Queen, who would flay him alive for not reporting for the last ten decades.

He finally found the cursed ring in the bottom of a chest shoved far back in the corner and covered with glamour to hide it. It was covered by a piece of black sack cloth, wrapped tightly and shoved in a clay pot which had been stuck in a sack which was tied with a scrap of string and covered with a dank smelling old pillow. After digging through the elaborate set up, Ainsel tucked the ring into his pouch and set off to Oberon’s room, at the other end of the palace. Stupid rings.

Another eternity later, Ainsel dusted himself off and looked around. Oberon’s room was similarly ransacked, and he found many interesting bits and baubles, he even collected one or two for his personal collection, and tucked the knowledge of the rest away for blackmail later. Or maybe just a good night in his cups, giving Oberon what for because he could. Ainsel snickered softly and made to leave when the latch on the door rattled. He darted into the open wardrobe just before the door swung full open and Oberon came striding in, followed by a young faerie maiden no doubt serving the Faerie Court this season. He left one of the wardrobe doors open a crack and peered out into his limited view of the bed and part of the room.

Oberon appeared drunk, which was fairly normal given his semi-tragic existence as the courtesan of the Queen of the Faeries. Ainsel suppressed another snicker at the thought. Oberon’s long flowing coat clung to his slender frame, the tiny pearls embroidered in the fabric catching the light and giving a diffuse glow to His Majesty. The rich cream silk flowed down his body like his platinum blonde hair, as his newest paramour undid the tiny pearl buttons and pushed each piece of clothing off of him. Before long, Oberon was entirely nude, yet his young maiden still wore her elaborate dress complete with all the requisite lingerie, which Ainsel had been hoping to see.

Oberon lay down on the top of his coverlet, a rich navy blue with exquisite needlework giving it a heavenly texture, both to the touch and to the eye, where his fine spun hair spread out like a dandelion in seed. Such a common simile for the King of the Faeries, but what he was going to do in mere moments also was common, and Ainsel did not feel bad in the least for his lack of imagination on comparisons at the moment. Honestly, at the moment, he was quite bored and extremely itchy from something hanging in the closet, probably with tiny emeralds or rubies stitched into it. Stupid fashion.

As soon as His Majesty, Oberon, King of the Faeries closed his eyes, he began to snore. How disappointing! The maiden, who had been teasing him by unbuttoning three buttons and buttoning back up two on her bodice, ceased her sex play, buttoning all her buttons back up to her buxom busom, and began rummaging around in the drawers, not quite as careful as Ainsel had recently been. If he wasn’t on a mission, he would have let her have what for. You never showed your hand; it was incredibly bad form to leave proof or even suspicion that you had been doing something that you shouldn’t. What sort of uncouth, uneducated, country bumpkins had infiltrated into the palace in his absence? It was unconscionable!

After finding something that made her happy, or at least satisfied, the maiden returned to the bed and covered Oberon up with the blanket folded at the end of the bed. He murmured and turned on his side, flinging one arm outside the covers. Ainsel caught a glint of shine from the hand and grinned. Maybe this would work out to his benefit after all.