Incarnate

The Seelie Queen

The beauty of the queen was beyond words. Renée looked on stunned into silence and seemed to be stuck in the gaze of the queen. Her feet were rooted to the floor, her body stiff. Something about the queen captured her. She felt like she'd met her before but could not seem to put her finger on where that could have been. Too stunned to rack her brain as to where she may have seen her, she just gawked. Someone ripped her out of being stunned by trying to get her attention.

"Ah-hem. Renée, you okay?" Jackie asked urgently while looking at the queen, her cheeks growing red. "I am sorry, she seems a little discombobulated."

"I am sorry, for a moment I thought that I had seen you somewhere before. But maybe it is my imagination. It is nice to meet you, Your Highness." She took a slight bow, assuming that was the custom. When she looked up, she was shocked to see a pleasant smile spread across the queen's lips.

"Well, we have indeed met before though I am not sure you would remember that life. You look so much like you did then. If I did not know better, I would think it was still you of that time. Please take time to enjoy the party, and afterward, we will proceed to a more private room so we can talk." She seemed to glow with happiness.

Turning to Jackie, she said, "Thank you, dear, for bringing her here to me. Please do enjoy yourself and the two angel-blooded are welcome to join as well." She excused them with that, and they walked back into the crowd.

Fae danced, dinned, and flirted. Renée, for the first time, really began to look around. She saw beings that seemed to be made of the bark of a wood, leaves of trees, flowers, and some seemingly iridescent. Put altogether, it much looked like the forest itself danced. She could see now why the park above remained so beautiful. It almost seemed as if anything that these Fae were to touch, nature would sprout beneath them. Just as she thought of it, she looked down and saw that beneath the feet of some of them, small flowers were sprouting, leaving behind beautiful footprints. The smell in the air felt intoxicating. A mixture of gardenia, magnolia, and jasmine perfectly blended. For the enclosed space, it seemed as if a gentle breeze wafted around, but no fans were in sight, nor were any openings that she could see. Down here was another world entirely.

"Are you doing all right?" Cas whispered in her ear. She almost forgot they were here. She turned for a moment and saw that Jackie and Gage took off to do their own things while Cas stayed behind. He seemed to be watching for her reaction to the overload of a new world.

"Did you grow up around things like this? You do not seem shocked at all."

"Well, we deal with the Fae often. The first time I ever saw one was about four years old. I was in the park above when I met them."

"Wait. Are you telling me that you used to live here that long ago? You had been here before? Where did you go?"

"I went to train, and yes, I was born here as were you. It's quite a nice place. My parents lived here for a long time before they were killed in battle a few years ago. My real parents, that is."

"Both your parents died?" Tears started welling up in her eyes. She didn't know why but this news hit her as hard as it would, had it been her own parents. He immediately reached out to her seeing her reaction.

"No, it's all right. I have come to terms with it. Please do not cry. I am sorry, had I known it would make you cry, I wouldn't have told you."

"You must have had a hard life to have lost your parents. Who raised you?"

"I was raised by other Nephilim. It was not the kind of life you would guess. We spend a lot of time training from very young and do not live our lives like mundanes."