The Revenant Queen 2 (wlw)

Chapter Three

"How many of the revenants do you think perished, Oliver?" Her amber eyes were to the floor again. No one truly knew the thoughts spiralling in her consciousness but herself and those abhorrent thoughts would cause even the most sinister creature to worry.

"I cannot say for sure but the number is somewhere around thirty,"

Adira scowled harder, abruptly leaving the room. Colette, before running after the woman, stopped at the young man's bedside. He seemed like a very composed person, a nice person, he had a comforting face, one that reminded her of a friend, one she could get used to.

"I'm sorry for leaving so quickly but we'll be back to check on you, I promise,"

"I understand that her majesty is upset, I would be too if I lost thirty members of my army. Despite the enormity of the horde, thirty isn't just a number but the number of souls she can not guide anymore nor bargain for their return,"

Perturbed by that information, the girl tried to switch the topic.

"Why don't you drink up, I hear this tea is supposed to be good for you, helps with digestion and all those good stuff," she said, her eyes to the steaming cup.

"I'll try my best to drink it," Oliver replied stifling yet another curl of his lips.

Quietly, Colette slipped out of the room once their conversation came to an end. There was no sight of Adira out in the halls but she knew exactly where to find the woman. And she found her.

The door to the office was ajar, and inside Adira stood at the window gazing out into the waking spring light. The woman's warm gaze panned over the horizon but her consciousness was elsewhere.

"I don't understand why all those revenants were there," she whispered and there was a little pause after.

"I will kill that man for leading such an attack," she mumbled to herself.

That was the first time she heard Adira say something of that nature. Colette wasn't oblivious to the woman's essence but what she was familiar with was Adira repressing and tucking her anger and baleful propensity away like a fine treasure. One truly needed to dig deep and deep enough to unearth the hideous capabilities but in that minute the grotesque beast inside of her revealed itself, showing that it was taunted to the surface and was ready to play.

"He took the lives of not one or two, but thirty of my revenants," she whispered, her tone stiff with ice.

"I cannot stress how sorry I am,"

She stole a glance at the worried girl. "It wasn't your fault, Colette you don't have to apologise,"

"But I feel like it is my fault, Adira. If I didn't wander over to the river that night with my friends I wouldn't have been brought to you, we wouldn't have taken a liking for one another and Petra wouldn't have attacked me, inciting you to take action. Do you get where any of this is going?"

Adira walked over to the girl, she cupped her warm face, closing her eyes and kissing her tenderly on the lips.

"You are not to be blamed. It's not your fault but Petra's and those eager to inflict pain and stir chaos. She acted on her own free will, she felt inclined to hurt you, she felt like it was the only way to gain retribution for something that was always, always temporary and unofficial and the current dilemma escalated because of her and the friends she incited,"

The woman made sure she spoke softly to her girl. She didn't want Colette running around with the notion that people were dying because of her, no, they died because Petra was too proud and immature to understand that some things were temporary. People also died because her friends were idiots and Adira herself was guided by emotions rather than licitness.

"You're never to say such things again, ever," she warned her girl and silence filled the room after that. Adira stepped away from Colette, turning her back to her.

"I want to pay Edas a visit today, I want to pay Petra a visit as well, but after I go to the site of the tragedy,"

"I'll come with you,"

"No." Her majesty was stern but not harsh.

"You'll do no such thing. What you will do is stay here where it's safe. You'll have Isaac and even Samuel along with the others to watch out for you. I will not stay long but while I'm gone I need to know you're safe Colette."

"But you get to go out there where it's all dangerous and tense, shouldn't I be worried?"

The queen chuckled. "You're cute," she teased but Colette wasn't having any of it.

"I'm serious," she frowned and Adira came closer again. She pulled Colette in, she carried them around her desk where she sat with the brunette in her lap.

"Tell me again how you fear for the revenant queen?" Her tone was playful.

"I like that you underestimate me, it's adorable," She stated and Colette rolled her eyes at her cockiness.

"You're not invincible, you're like everyone else, prone to being hurt,"

"If my memory serves me correctly, last night I was pretty invincible and you weren't complaining," Adira's remark incited the girl to roll her eyes again.

"You called my name, you were enamoured of my skills, I think it would mean that y-"

Adira engulfed her lips once more, this time before she could finish her sentence. She kissed the brunette passionately, humming at the feel of her tender body against hers.

"You were saying?" She asked, her eyes closed yet her lips still dragged against Colette's mouth. She traced it with hers, revelling in the taste and texture of paradise.

"Please come back to me in one piece," Colette said touching the woman's face and then brushing her fingers across her dark hair.

"I'll come back to you, always."

The woman's words resonated in the quiet room. She spent the next several minutes cuddling with her girl until her heart was content.