His eyes narrowed on her as they moved, pulling her as tightly as he could without being obscene.
"What deal?" he demanded, suspicious of her and any deal they could possibly make.
"I will do whatever it is you desire for one night, if you help me escape," she said calmly.
His eyes lit up, exhilarated by the idea and yet he was still suspicious of her.
"Anything I want? If I help you escape?" he said, his eyes going from her to the room, sweeping it for guards.
"Oh, and you have to bring my human along with me," she added, tilting her head in the direction of the unfortunate human man who was struggling with which arm to hold on Arachne.
"Lunch?" he asked, glancing at the human.
"A pet," she said dismissively. She had no such intentions, but didn't want… Richard? To know what she was thinking. "What was your name again?"
"Daemon," he snapped and glared at her.
"Oh right, so do we have a deal, Damion?"
It had already begun to slip.
"You will surrender yourself to me for one night if I help you and the pet escape?" he confirmed and she nodded, smiling sweetly at him.
"No tricks?" he demanded.
"No tricks," she lied.
"Deal," he said quickly and as her grin grew wider, his smile faded.
"Excellent," she purred and leant forward to place a single tender kiss on his lips.
Electricity shot between them, and he was gone, swept away to the next woman and replaced by a cyclops who looked a little drunk. He moved well enough and after him, she bowed out and was replaced by a young elf.
Sweeping across the room to get herself a drink, she was sniffing the crystal goblet suspiciously when the scent of roses permeated her. The small blonde princess swept up at her side.
She was wearing a deep cream dress with white lace at the bodice, neckline and arms. It hung off her shoulders and looked lovely, flowing around her like a cloud, her lips a stark contrast in a deep mauve.
Her necklace was white lace and more of the stuff decorated her wavy blonde hair. A simple tiara rested against her forehead, silver and undecorated.
"Hello, Etania," the princess said and picked up her own crystal goblet.
"Princess," Etani replied politely, taking a sip of the drink and frowning at the contents. It was weirdly spiced but she thought it might be some form of wine.
"Nyrellia," the princess said and offered a small, undecorated hand.
Taking it, they shook once and let go quickly, both wary of the other.
"It is unfortunate that we had to meet under these circumstances," Nyrellia had a sweet, gentle voice and Etani found she rather liked the softness of the young woman.
"It is at that. I don't suppose you have an idea of how long your mother plans to keep me here?" she asked, but Nyrellia shook her head.
"I'm afraid not. It is a delicate situation with your being the natural born heir of Tatialia and not taking the throne with the death of your grandmother."
Etani had lifted the goblet to her lips but then froze, her eyes lifting to the young woman.
"Oh, you don't know?" she sounded surprised and Etani set the goblet down hard.
"Know what?" she demanded.
"Being that you are the natural heir and not the chosen heir, you should be sitting on the throne of Winter, not Megara. Tatialia only had one child, and he had two. One of those is deceased and that leaves you. You're the rightful Queen of Winter."
Etani was stunned into utter silence as she stared at the woman, terror filling her.
"What if I have no desire to be the Queen?"
"Then you will remain a princess in the line of succession. I believe you are currently fifth. But as Megara is not the rightful Queen, she will struggle wielding the power. It will resent her, but she can do it."
"I'm not a Queen, I'm barely a princess," Etani said, almost pleading with the woman.
Nyrellia smiled gently. "You of all people should know what it is like to not want to be what you are," she said.
"How do you know that?"
The princess blushed a deep pink that made her look lovely.
"I have become obsessed with studying you after we found out of your existence. It was quite funny really. We never would have learnt about you if you hadn't mentioned your name to Barron. You would have been ignored as a minor princess of Winter. Dangerous and exceptionally powerful, but not a threat to the crown. But then you said your name and it was realised that the Queen's only son had given birth to a daughter. A daughter who could take the throne when her father could not. You became an interest to us all, because of who you are and I'm afraid a very large number of us became obsessed with this unknown heir to the throne. We learnt everything we could, right from the moment of your birth up until you left Ceress and then again when you surfaced in Ayathian. You're quite the skilled little kitten, aren't you?" she was grinning, but Etani wasn't amused.
"So, I have stalkers?" she demanded.
"More like… fans," Nyrellia said happily.
"Wonderful. Don't suppose any of my fans would like to help me get back to the human world?"
Nyrellia shook her head and Etani sighed, frustrated by it all.
"How did you kill Tatialia?"
Etani looked at the small woman, those bright eyes glittering in her amusement.
"I drove a scythe through her chest and consumed her soul."
Nyrellia's smile faded at the bluntness of the response.
"Don't forget, princess. I'm a murderer and a monster, no matter what a pretty dress tries to claim."
"I know that," Nyrellia said gently. "I just didn't expect you to use a weapon like a scythe. It seems too… cumbersome."
"I would have thought so too before it started manifesting," she said dryly and picked up a new goblet, examining the contents carefully.
"Manifesting?" Nyrellia asked, sounding fascinated.
Before she could respond, she heard someone screaming her name and she turned, expecting to find a red-faced Alaric glaring down at her. But he wasn't there, instead a fair few creatures were looking at her with interest.
"Did you hear that?" she asked Nyrellia, a slow ache beginning to form in the pit of her stomach.
"Hear what?" Nyrellia asked.
"I could have sworn someone just called out my name," she said, frowning as she heard it again and turned in a slow circle, staring up into the balcony but there was still nothing.
"I can hear a bell. Where is that coming from?"
Etani glanced down and gave her bare foot a tap on the marble, the bell jingling.
"Why do you have a bell on your ankle?" the princess looked intrigued, and she had a horrifying thought that a new fashion trend would be starting by morning.
"It's a long story. You can't hear someone yelling my name?" she asked
"No, nothing. Are you feeling alright?"
There it was again, and she clenched her jaw as her stomach started to burn.
Clutching at it, she held the table with her free hand and the goblet spilled.
"Etania? What happened?" Nyrellia was sounding panicked, but she couldn't speak, her brain beginning to ache as she realised what it was.
She was reneging on a deal and Faerie was punishing her.
"Alaric… we have a deal," she breathed, her fingers clenching the tablecloth.
Someone seemed to materialise at her side, a second someone being dragged along behind, and a hard arm wrapped around her middle.
"Nice meeting you princess, but I will be going now, and I'm taking these with me. Have a pleasant evening," the demon said in one breath and then threw himself backwards, ripping a hole through reality that made her scream as it felt like he was ripping her in half with it.
They landed in snow and Etani landed hard on her knees, panting as the feeling of being ripped sealed over and she was whole once more.
Clutching at her stomach, she felt herself to see where it was she had been ripped apart but found herself whole.
"What is going on?" the human was saying, backing away from the two. Etani blinked as drops of blood splattered onto the snow under her and she touched her nose, feeling it wet.
"Stay still, human. You'll fall off the mountain," the demon said, and then the human was screaming in terror.
The burning in her stomach had eased somewhat and she looked up, watching the demon holding onto the human man by the arm, allowing him to dangle out over a cleanly cut cliff face.
Pushing herself up, she swayed but moved forward and grabbed the poor human, dragging him back from the edge.
"You… your eyes are bleeding," he said, and she frowned, wiping at her cheeks and finding they too were bloody.
"Why are your eyes bleeding?" the demon demanded, grabbing her face and forcing her to look at him.
"And her ears…" the human said, staring at her in horror.
"This can't be because of that king of yours," the demon said, worry written all over his face as he turned her head to look at her ears.
"What did you do? I thought you were ripping me in half," she asked, confused and the burning in her stomach had started up again.
"You felt reality tear?" he demanded and scowled when she nodded. "I see."
Pushing the demon off her, she staggered, and the human caught her arm, keeping her from falling.
"Where are we?" she said finally, clutching at his soft, warm hands.
"A mountain in a place the humans haven't named yet. There are no humans or mythicals in this part of the world," the demon said as he scowled, clearly wanting to inspect her for injuries.
The human handed her a scrap of cloth and she used it to wipe her face and neck, the scarlet bright against the white fabric.
"We need to get back to Ayathian," she said, glancing at the human. "We can discuss your life later, but right now I have to go back. What is your name?"
"Thomas," the human said, sounding like he was about to cry.
"Well, Thomas. I'm afraid you're going to have to stay with me for a while."
He seemed scared, but didn't protest.
"Can you take us?" the demon asked, and she frowned, trying to focus but nothing was coming to mind. Her hesitation made him sigh and he wrapped his arm around her, his hand on Thomas' shoulder and it happened again.
They ripped through reality, and she was screaming, making others scream around them as they forced themselves into Ayathian. She fell forward onto her knees, seeing the familiar marble floor of the throne room. It felt worse the second time, feeling blood dripping from her chin and onto the floor as she huddled there, simply trying to breathe through the pain of being ripped open and stitched back up again.
"Hi honey, we're home!" the demon called happily, throwing the human away from him as he threw his arms out wide.
There was silence, the room taking in the scene and then the smell of Versalis hit her like a brick to the senses.
He didn't have time to reach for her before she was throwing herself into his arms. He caught her, his arms tight around her as he smelt blood and her fear triggered his instincts.
"Etani?" Kai called and his chair toppled in his rush to get up, hurrying to them and kneeling at her side, his arms encasing both her and Versalis.
"Jaia!" Kai yelled and footsteps could be heard pounding back.
All three of them nearly fell as Jaia tackled them, his lips on her hair.
"What happened? Where have you been?" Alaric demanded and she looked up, the sight of her bloody face making him stop dead.
"Hi Alaric, sorry I'm late..." she breathed and collapsed into someone's chest.