What Nightmares Are Made Of

Chapter 22: Teasing Guards

He smiled at me again before he leaned in and kissed me. I leaned into him and kissed him back, letting the faery in me take over for a minute, letting the lust take over as we fell to the ground together in a tangle of limbs and lust.

"I truly love you," He whispered against my lips.

"And I truly love you," I whispered back, pulling him in for another kiss.

A guard coughed a little ways away, and we pulled apart quickly, red tinging our cheeks.

"Maybe we should go to the ball," Desmond suggested, standing up and pulling me up with him.

I giggled. "Yeah, that might be a good idea, but you have to dance with me."

He grinned, "As you wish my queen," He added a bow at the end and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on Dessy," I threw over my shoulder as I started walking towards the ball room.

"Hey!" He protested as he ran to catch up, pulling his helmet on as we passed a guard who was giving us an intrigued look. We ignored him and as we rounded the corner, entwined our hands.

The next day and my head was pounding. All I did last night was dance and drink wine. It wasn't a very good mix, but I enjoyed myself, and so did my people. That was all that really mattered now, I had to finish this bloody war, if it's the last thing I do!

I fell out of my bed with a thud. The floor was hard and cold, but it was a great wake up call for my fuzzy brain.

"My queen? Are you alright in there?" One of the guards from outside called. It wasn't Desmond, but I didn't expect him to be there, he drank just as much- if not more than- me last night.

"I'm fine!" I called out, slowly dragging myself up.

Everything was a little too bright, but that was expected, everything in my room seemed to be white, light blue or silver. I groaned as I walked to my bathroom. Dalsa and Relania weren't here, but I didn't care, I've bathed myself for nearly my whole life, I could handle one bath without them.

About half way through Caterine decided to barge in followed by Reigner and Desmond dressed in guards gear. When they saw me in the bath Reigner grinned, Desmond raised an eyebrow, probably wondering what was under the bubbles and Caterine ignored it completely.

"In about half an hour there will be a meeting of the leaders figuring out our move with Kieran and his Summer Court, then the army will head out. I expect you to be there and supporting your people, but judging by you actually being up, I think you already had that in mind," Caterine said.

"Heck yeah," I grinned, making Caterine sigh and Reigner roll her eyes. Desmond was still in his hormonal induced world.

Caterine turned and shooed the two of them out, but before they left I shouted out, "Hey! Can someone please pass me my towel?"

Desmond went to go get it, but Caterine held him back, Reigner went and got it instead, grinning as she did so.

She handed it to me and I tossed Desmond a wink as Caterine shoved him out and Reigner followed afterwards, giggling like a school girl.

I turned up to the meeting on time and flanked by my two most trusted guards. Of course, I teased them the entire time, being completely informal, but I think they liked it, they teased me back anyway.

"Now, no more teasing, this meeting has to be serious, we'll be allowed in, but we won't be able to speak, and we'll have to stand by the door. So be careful," Reigner warned. She knew about war meetings better than anybody else I knew, so I took her word for it.

I pushed through, opening the doors myself before the guards even had a chance to blink. Caterine was waiting with Regan (head of the Gold Leaves), Alexia (the Winter Queen), Rex (head of the Light Guards), Laurel (representative for the Water Fey), Rolan (representative for the Woodland Fey) and Melanie (Queen of the Tree Folk). I was surprised that Melanie was here, but then I guess Caterine listened to me after all.

I sat down in the only empty seat, in between Caterine and Regan. Reigner and Desmond stayed by the door, they both sent me reassuring smiles.

"I took your advice, Melanie and the Tree Folk have decided to join us, and several more fey are heading to the army's meeting point as we speak. Our army has nearly doubled since you became our true queen, you have done well," Caterine spoke, giving me a small smile. I knew that meant a lot to her.

"Now, onto the last little piece of the puzzle," Regan said.

"The Summer Court still refuses to take a side, they are making this harder for us. If we don't get to them first, then Thaleam will blackmail Kieran and we will lose a foothold, and possibly the war," Rolan grimly said, and I noticed his fleeting glances to Reigner as she stood staring at him adoringly. They truly were a cute couple.

"But how are we supposed to secure Kieran? He does not care for Kila, that much is shown through his lack of trying to find her. There is nothing that we can do, Thaleam will blackmail him before we can come up with anything," Alexia added with despair.

I looked at everyone wondering how their brains worked. They mostly seemed to work in straight forward motions, nothing at all like humans and their 'out of the box' thinking.

"Then, why don't we blackmail him first? We have Kila, we can use her to our advantage. Either that, or we throw in his fair share of the peaceful kingdom. He's greedy and he thrives on his reputation, one of them is bound to catch and hold him, he'll have no choice but to join us, but we have to get to him first and make sure that he stays on our side. He's cruel, but he's not stupid. The minute a better deal comes up, he'll go for it, we just have to make sure he doesn't, either that, or there's no way a better deal can come up. Thaleam's just as greedy," I said, making everyone turn to look at me.

Alexia burst out laughing. "Either you've spent too much time in the Dark Court, or you were one deviant human, because that's the best idea I've heard all day. Light tends to stay on the 'good' side, but as you probably gathered, in fey, there's no true 'good'. You're a breath of fresh air, Ella." She grinned at Caterine who glared at her from the informality.

"What kind of human were you?" Regan asked incredulous.

I grinned mischievously, "The one that would put a tack on someone's chair."

All but Caterine burst out laughing. "Well, then it's a good thing that you're on our side!" Rex bellowed, thumping the table.

"Well, then that's sorted," Caterine interrupted, immediately calming the table down, "So, who will go?"