Heartstone

Flies in the Soup - Literally

They strode into a large, formal dining room, the kind of thing that hosts parties for more than a dozen guests. With a stylish wave of the Enchantress's hand, hundreds of candles flared to life. Fat and short, thin and tall, they were of every size but always white. They sat in nooks and sconces in the walls and even floated all about the room over their heads. A snap of her fingers and a fire roared to life in the hearth on one side of the room.

Arwin sniffed. Was that a hint of citron and vanilla in the air? It seemed that either the fireplace or the candles were scented. Interestingly feminine touch. Not super villainy, though, was it? Unless this particular villain had a lot of class?

Like much of the rest of the castle, the dining hall was done in a gothic romance style. It was heavily accented with stone roses and thorny stone vines climbing the walls and outlining doors and windows. The two-story windows were shaped like roses just beginning to open, and through them, one could see night had almost fallen now. Beyond a line of glass doors on one side of the room was a large terrace that extended outwards into the air, high above the swamp below, with a terrific view of the moon and stars.

Arwin marvelled at it all. The grandeur, the artistry, the beauty. Except for the spiders, Kelli would have loved this place. Loved living in her very own castle. He cursed himself. Why was he thinking of her at a time like this? Why was he thinking of her at all? He banished her from his thoughts.

"Please, sit." The Enchantress directed him to a chair at one end of a long, rectangular, black wooden table riddled with white veins of sparkling quartz. Little red glass balls filled with flickering candles dotted the sparse table, and a royal purple runner sliced through the middle. Instead of chairs down the sides of the table, there were medieval benches with space to seat at least five or more on each side. The two ends of the table did, however, feature large, ornate chairs, the kind one might find in a royal palace. They were carved of some very dark gray, almost black, wood, with thin red pillows to sit on and red padding on the backrest.

She vanished through a hidden door disguised by the carvings on the wall, going into a side room and leaving Arwin time to seat himself and think.

So far, the Dark Enchantress, apparently a local super villain, had kidnapped him and Yaz, thrown them in her dungeon, threatened to kill him multiple times, then shown him her art collection and invited him to dinner. She'd laughed and toyed with him, teased and beaten him, and gone from witty to calm to angry in seconds. This was a very complicated woman.

Or: she was crazy. Because Arwin feared the wrath of women, he would not be making any generalizations about all women being crazy, not even in his own mind. Because they were all dangerous. And this one knew magic.

The Dark Enchantress, despite her vile reputation, was gorgeous, sexy, and apparently brilliant, making her one of the most attractive people that Arwin had ever met. One might think this a good thing. But, in reality, it made her yet more difficult. It was very, very hard not to let her positive aspects overshadow everything else. Like the fact that she was allegedly a murderess and eater of unsuspecting babies. Like the fact that Yaz was still chained up in her dungeon. Like the fact that she had a dungeon and not the kind used exclusively for kinky sex, though she probably used it for that too.

He was definitely attracted to her. Despite his recent relationship heartache, he still very much missed having a girlfriend and wished he had a loving, loyal partner in his life. Life was just much, much better when you were with someone else, and the two of you loved each other. But Arwin would be a fool to allow his lust or romantic desperation take hold of his feelings in this case. She might be beautiful and classy and smart and sexy and...what was the point he was trying to make? He lost the thread of his thoughts.