Cardan & Jude oneshots

Hollow Hall

From chapter 17 from "The Cruel Prince" where Jude goes back to Hollow Hall but it's not Balekin she sees coming down the stairs.

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THIS IS A FOLLOW OF THE CHAPTER "THE MAZE" (chapter 3). It's connected!!!

I'm sorry it took me so long to write this one, it's VERY BIG, I'm sorry. I tried to make it shorter :')
This was a request here on AO3, so here it is <3 no face slapping

TW!!!!
degrading names, crying, rough sex

• some fluff? Idk

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Today the lecture is in the tower, my least favorite location. I climb the steps and settle myself. I am late, but I find a spot on a bench near the back.

Taryn is sitting on the other side. She looks at me once, raising her brows. Cardan is beside her, dressed in green velvet, with golden stitching picking out thorns tipped in blue thread. He lounges in his seat, long fingers tapping restlessly against the wood of the bench beside him. Fingers that were inside me the night before.

Looking at him makes me feel equally restless.

At least Valerian hasn't shown up. It is too much to hope that he never returns, but at least I have today.

A new instructor, a knight named Dulcamara, is talking about rules of inheritance, probably in anticipation of the coming coronation.

The coronation, which will mark my rise to power as well. Once Prince Dain is the High King, his spies can haunt the shadows of Elfhame with only Dain himself to keep us in check.

"In some of the lower Courts, a king or queen's murderer can take the throne," Dulcamara says. She goes on to tell us that she is part of the Court of Termites, which has not yet joined Eldred's banner.

Although she is not wearing armor, she stands as though she's used to the weight of it. "And that is why Queen Mab bargained with the wild fey to make the crown King Eldred wears, which can only be passed down to her descendants. It would be tricky to get it by force." She grins wickedly.

If Cardan were to try to stop her lesson, she looks like she would eat him alive and crack his bones for marrow.

The Gentry children look at Dulcamara uncomfortably. Rumor has it that Lord Roiben, her king, is planning to swear to the new High King, bringing with him his large Court, one that has held off Madoc's forces for years.

Roiben's joining the High Court of Elfhame is widely considered to be a masterstroke of diplomacy, negotiated by Prince Dain against Madoc's wishes. I suppose she's come for the coronation.

Larkspur, one of the youngest of us, pipes up. "What happens when there are no more children in the Greenbriar line?"

Dulcamara's smile gentles. "Once there are fewer than two descendants —one to wear the crown and the other to place it on the ruler's head—the High Crown and its power crumble. All of Elfhame will be free from their oaths to it.

"Then, who knows? Maybe a new ruler will make a new crown. Maybe you'll return to warring with smaller Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Maybe you will join our banners in the Southwest." Her smile makes it clear which of those she would prefer.

I stick my hand up. Dulcamara nods in my direction. "What if someone tries to take the crown?"

Cardan gives me a look. I want to glare, but I can't help thinking of him sprawled out on the ground with those girls. Of his fingers inside me. Of his mouth on my neck. Of his words, of him pounding into me. My cheeks heat all over again.