It was not so long ago that Aleyn and Adelise had married and moved in together, and Aleyn liked to think that he knew his wife fairly well. He knew a number of her favourite dishes, although learning to cook them was still slow going. She had graciously accepted his blaming Summer on last night’s failure, and told him it was the thought that counted. He knew that when they went walking for long periods, her feet tended to get sore, and that she greatly appreciated foot rubs once they stopped for the day. He also knew that surprising her while she was in the middle of her singing practice was a sure fire way of spending the night downstairs.

Even if the squeak of shock she’d let out had been one of the cutest sounds he’d ever heard.

Still, despite all this, she still managed to surprise him on a regular basis, a fact he was secretly grateful for. After all, he’d never been as surprised as the day she’d gotten down on one knee, mindless of the crowd surrounding them at Godstow, and made him the happiest man in the world. He’d been so speechless it had taken a great deal of conscious effort to get an articulate reply out.

Then there were moments like this one. He was making yet another attempt at breakfast after yesterday’s disaster at dinner while Adelise got herself ready for the day. The surprise came in the form of his wife as she made her way into the kitchen. Or rather, her attire.

Breakfast forgotten for a second, he stared.

“Erm, Adelise?” He blinked hard, confirming to himself that not he wasn’t seeing things. And giving him a chance to process what he was seeing. “That’s my tunic.”

She was indeed clad in one of his hooded tunics over her usual attire, the maroon fabric contrasting beautifully against pale skin. It was too long for her, the sleeves entirely covering her hands. The raised hood, combined with a mischievous smile, gave her an almost impish look.

“It’s mine now,” she stated matter-of-factly, perching herself on an unused tabletop, swinging her legs back and forth happily. “That’s how it works once we’re married. You know I’m always right. Besides,” she added, almost as an afterthought, “it’s really warm. You’ve been holding out on me.” To emphasise the point, she wrapped her arms around herself and sighed contentedly.

Aleyn shook his head exasperatedly, but couldn’t help the smile making its way onto his face. Perhaps it was strange, but seeing the one person he loved more than any other so at ease, so at home in such a way, delighted him in a way he was still struggling to put into words. The whole situation caused his cheeks to redden slightly.

The two shared a lingering look before a third presence made itself known. Summer leaped up onto the table from wherever she’d been hiding and began sniffing at the air.

Broken from what could almost be described as a reverie, Aleyn turned to his oldest friend and, allowing a shift in his consciousness to let him speak to her, let out a chattering sound. “What is it, girl?”

Summer indicated over his shoulder, and sure enough, as he turned around, he saw smoke rising from the pot he’d put on the stove. As he struggled to salvage what he could of the porridge he’d been making, he only just caught the incredibly satisfied look on his wife’s face at the predicament she’d managed to cause just by her choice of attire.

“You are going to be the death of me one day,” he muttered under his breath as he served up what had survived the incident, but she must have heard him, as she pouted at him. He sighed at his inability to stay mad at her. “You know I wouldn’t give this up for the world, right?”

He doesn’t need to hear her reply. Her smile, not like the grin she was wearing earlier, but her genuine, take-your-breath-away, light-up-the-room smile, told him all he needed to know.

And although he’d never say it out loud, he hoped that she’d never stop surprising him. Not when her doing so made him feel like this.  

Adelise had always known about Aleyn’s magical talents. Well, at least since that day many years ago she had stuck her foot in her mouth regarding his Fae upbringing. While they’d moved past the incident with relatively little trouble, he’d always refrained from using magic around her where possible. Well, aside from talking to Summer and Edgar, but that was something he did so instinctively now it would almost be strange for him not to. She was fairly sure he knew, at this point, that she was well past it bothering her, but almost out of habit, he still avoided using magic where possible.

Which was perhaps why what she saw that night surprised her so much.

The two had just finished a late dinner outside by the fire pit, and Adelise had offered to sort out the dishes, given Aleyn had once again cooked for the two of them. Given a little free time, he’d chosen to spend a little more time outside with Edgar and Summer.

The cleaning up dealt with, Adelise fetched a bottle of wine from the cellar, along with two cups. There had been a time that she’d along a tiny saucer out for Summer, but after what she’d done to the drapery last time someone had been foolish enough to do so, that was no longer an option. The whole incident was Aleyn’s fault, of course. He was just remembering things wrong. Yes, that was definitely it.

The sight that greeted her when she made her way back outside almost caused her to drop what she was carrying.

Aleyn was dancing in the light of the dying fire, Summer watching raptly as Edgar circled overhead. This in itself was not an unusual sight, but his appearance…

Although the fire cast its light, it paled to the dancing figure. Shapeless forms shimmered like satin veils around him, letting off an unearthly light of their own, moving in time with his dance. While she was sure she’d seen him use the spell before, it had never been like this. It was the kind of sight she’d expect to hear told of in the faery tales her mother used to tell from her bedside, not made flesh in her own back garden.

At first, she’d thought he was moving to a song only he could hear, but as her ears strained, she heard him softly chanting to himself, barely audible over the crackling of the fire and his footsteps in the grass. The song was familiar, stirring memories of the two of them singing together in the Glades, and she soon found herself joining in.

His eyes widened slightly as he heard her, and for a second the lights dimmed, but emboldened by her song, he soon renewed his efforts, the spell light shining brighter than ever, his voice harmonising with her own.

She didn’t know how long the two of them spent like that. At some point she’d placed her burden on the grass and joined him, dancing along as the two of them sang together. By the time they wound down, they were both slightly short of breath. The two sat together on the blanket they’d eaten their evening meal on, a second draped around them as they sat together, sipping wine from their cups. Summer joined them fairly quickly, likely seeking warmth.

“We need to do this more often,” Aleyn stated, hugging Adelise to his side. Whether from the alcohol or their earlier exertion, his face seemed slightly flushed, although it could have been Adelise’s imagination in the dim light cast by the fire.

“We sing all the time,” Adelise chided him, before conceding, “You’re right, though. That was definitely… something.”

“Eloquent as ever,” Aleyn said with a grin, placing an affectionate kiss on her forehead.

“Oh, shush!” Adelise admonished, but couldn’t keep herself from smiling at the gesture. “Seriously, though. If nothing else, I hope that’s convinced you that I don’t mind you using magic and the like around the house. It’s a part of what makes you who you are, and I don’t want you to hold that back.”

“I know,” he sighed in reply. “I always did really.” He paused for a second, before a look of realisation crossed his face. “Maybe I could show you more of it, some time. I can think of a few you might like.”

“I’d like that. Still,” she yawned, the combination of the dancing and the wine having taken its toll, “another time, I think. We should head in soon.”

In response, the arm around her tightened. “A little longer,” Aleyn whispers.

Adelise simply nodded against his shoulder in response, feeling a warmth growing within her entirely separate from the effects of her drink.

And as the two sat together under the stars in each other's arms, she couldn't help but think that there was far more magic in around them than whatever Aleyn cast that night.