A gentle touch on her hair was followed by a soft kiss, followed by another, and then another as the group around her began to disperse into the castle to give her and those closest to her time to grieve, but they didn't go far and she could feel them, or at least she could feel those who were aligned to her and Winter.
It wasn't long before only the vampires, Epharis, Alaric, Daemon, Jagum, the twins, Sobek, Catsit, and Bast were all that remained, taking up the available space on the chairs. The stone had been laid down on the small table, set down in a little nest of cloth that she had found. She didn't want him to simply lie tossed aside on the table.
Resting in Daemon's lap with his arms tight around her, she held onto Jagum's tail as he sat at her side, the gentle flick of it keeping her distracted and he didn't seem to mind all that much, his eyes lingering on Bast with his head tilted slightly to the side.
The room had been silent except for the occasional sniffle and it was a good half hour before anyone thought to speak.
"The others that were involved in the fight that you saved are down in the courtyard," Alaric said gently, drawing all eyes to him. But his eyes were on her, his proud face drooping with his grief.
"Why?" she asked.
"They won't leave," Epharis growled.
"They wanted to meet you," Alaric corrected.
She looked to Bast, whose brows rose.
She didn't know why she deferred to the Goddess, but she felt like Bast was the one being she could trust.
Bast tilted her head and then lifted her chin in a gesture towards the door, her eyes soft with her long fingers working between Catsit's ears.
With that being all the confirmation she needed, Etani stood and Daemon stood with her, his fingers curling in hers. She caught sight of Jaia's face. He was trying hard to be respectful of her loss, but his eyes blazed.
She led the way out of her room, and they passed others who had come to share in her grief, most of them seeming dulled and tired but they still nodded to her as she passed.
Sobek and Bast had followed, Alaric and Epharis after them with the twins, Jagum, Letari and Versalis coming up last as they passed through the halls and stepped out onto the stairs.
The courtyard was filled with around twenty people all sitting in the warm sunlight, basking in it though they scrambled to their feet the moment they saw Etani and her party.
She started down the stairs slowly, but Daemon hadn't come with her. Looking back to him and the others who had all stopped at the top of the stairs, they were leaving her to go ahead alone.
Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed her knuckles gently and let go, his smile soft and pained but he gave a little motion for her to go.
Staring up at them for a moment, she swallowed hard and then turned back to the milling crowd of wide-eyed mythicals.
Starting down towards them, she wished she had worn something more appropriate, but they didn't seem to care. It was her face they looked at.
She was shorter than most of them, but even though they were looking down to her, there was wonder in their eyes.
What was she supposed to say to them? She didn't know, and she had been callous with them, simply shoving them into the first available corpse with no regard for what they had been before, or even what sex they had been beforehand.
She expected them to be angry but there was only fascination and curiosity in them, and now that she was aware of them, she could feel them just as she could feel Kai and Nayishma. They were a small awareness in the back of her mind, a tiny connection.
The first to approach her was a tall male with amber eyes slitted like a snake's, crimson skin, black hair sticking up wildly. He wore nothing but a pair of black pants on narrow hips. He was exceptionally thin, with barely a hint of muscle on him.
He smiled, and Etani saw his teeth were yellowed, sharp, with several broken.
He leaned down, his forehead pressed against hers, his eyes boring into hers as though he hoped to stare through her into the ground. His fingers traced along her cheeks and he sucked in a breath as though he had never taken one before in his life.
Another approached, and he was oddly furry, humanoid except for a pair of huge deer antlers that had been strung with silver chain. His hand was warm on her shoulder, soft with fur that wouldn't have been noticed from a distance.
A young woman with silvery blonde hair streaked with purple and blue with entirely green eyes and with skin so purely white it put snow to shame.
On it went, their reaching for her and crying for her to look at them, to pay attention to them. She didn't have the heart to refuse them, she wanted them to be happy, for they were her children, just as Kai was.
Turning slightly to look up at the vampire, he looked angry but not likely to cause a scene and when her eyes found him, he squirmed. The only thing stopping him from joining her was Jaia's hand on his shoulder.
"Are you all right?" she whispered to a general nod and murmured agreement, but she wasn't entirely sure, there was a sense of fear and uncertainty amongst them.
Without a word, she reached up and adjusted the silver chain that hung between the antlers and his face lit up, catching her retreating hand and kissing it gently before allowing her to draw away.
"Will you stay in this world, or return to Faerie?" she asked.
There was a pause, the sorrow deepening, and she thought for an instant it was because they didn't want to leave. But no, that wasn't it. They wanted to leave; they just didn't want to leave her.
The realisation made her laugh gently. "Go home to your families. You can find me any time you need me."
Their relief was both a joy and sadness to her, it left her feeling like she was losing them all one by one as they kissed her cheek or the top of her head and disappeared, leaving her to return to those who were waiting for news.
Only one remained, a young man with green skin striped with purple, and silvery white hair, his huge white eyes downcast.
Approaching him hesitantly, she touched the underside of his chin to get him to look up at her, confused and scared.
"What is wrong?" she asked gently.
"What if they don't accept me?" he asked, his fear mounting. He was younger than she had thought at first, practically a newborn by the standards of Faerie, and she hated that he had been involved in the fighting at all.
"There is no one who would not accept you for your bravery; and as for your family, they will love you for the sake of love."
Resisting the urge to look to her sister, she drew the young man into her arms. He clung to her, cool and soft.
"I am different now. I was a Draugr before. Now I am this," the man before her said.
Frowning, she placed the name and then understood. The Draugr were exceptionally powerful, and lethal with a weapon. They were also massive, and typically had bronze or red hair, with beards being a status symbol.
"Well, I shall make a deal with you, my darling. If you cannot find acceptance within the next six months, you can return to me, and I will make you into whatever it is you desire."
His eyes widened further, and she smiled, pressing her lips gently against his forehead.
"You never know, you may be happy as you are. Litao are rare creatures."
Nodding, he took her hands into his and kissed both of them, his face somewhat more confident than it had been before, but she thought he would be back before the timeframe. It was difficult to give up power and strength like that, but she would give him the chance to live as he was.
He stepped back from her and slid out of sight, leaving her alone in the courtyard. She couldn't help but wonder why they had been so insistent on her seeing them all. Was it so they would leave, or was it because her friends knew it would help her overcome her grief?
Turning, she looked up at them all and gave the faintest hint of a smile, only to pause as heat flared up behind her. Looking backwards over her shoulder, she was shocked to find the Hunter from the forest standing behind her.
His one visible, deeply crimson eye crinkled in a smile as he drove a long black sword through her back and out through her chest.