In The Dark Of Night

Chapter Eight - The Kiss

Chapter Eight

The Kiss 

But I know it'll have to drown me

Before I can breathe easy

But in order to get to the heart

Takes sometime - you'll have to cut through 

~Florence + The Machine, Heartlines

Cold.

So cold. 

Lights flickered in the distance and pain seared through the numbness.

But it was still so cold. 

And then there was a snap.

And then heat flooded through her, so hot it was almost unbearable.

Almost.

And then the lights flickered faster and the pain came closer.

Then, she screamed.

The Queen of Fae had horns.

That was the first thing that Cale noticed when he was brought before her, made to fall on one knee at her throne made of intertwined, hanging roots. 

She had horns.

And yet, it wasn't the strangest thing he had ever seen.

She was undeniably beautiful, lips the colour of paled red petals and skin a rosy, fleshy, pink colour. Her hair, long, and flowing and dark and earthy, hung over the throne, cascading down to her feet and down the make-shift stone steps where little Fae Buds braided it lovingly. 

The smell of fresh pines filled the air and the canopy of trees provided a shade from the sun, only permitting a dimmed light to enter the dirt-floored room.

The Queen smirked down at Cale, obviously amused at the fact that a Hunter was in her midst and wasn't trying to kill her. Her dark green eyes flickered appreciatively over Cale's figure and her long-nailed fingers locked, watching as he got to his feet.

"Where is she?" His face was a mask of blankness and his golden eyes glimmered in the faint light. 

The Queen only continued to smirk. "Imagine my surprise, Hunter, when my guards informed me that after handing over our Dark Root, Wynella Dawnlight, that you neglected to leave my premises. Perhaps you mistake my pity for lenience." She tilted her heart-shaped face, slitted eyes glinting. "If this had been any other situation, I would have had you strung up and flayed."

Cale smirked back at her, his eyes hard. "Ah, you Faes, always saying the sweetest things." His eyes flickered away from the Queen - they were surrounded by a string of pale Fae men, all holding various staffs, all of different size and shape; it wouldn't take him long to work through them, but then he wouldn't get any answers. "I just want to know if she's alright. Then I'll be out of your hair." His eyes glanced down at the Fae Buds whose sticky little fingers were still intertwined in her tresses. "Of course, then you'll have to work on them..."

"Are all Hunters this amusing?" The Fae Queen asked, her lips curled up. "Or is it just you?" 

"I like to think I'm one in a million." Cale admitted.

The woman in the throne chuckled making all her Fae guards chuckle too, like one big, creepy choir. "Do not concern yourself with the matters of the Fae, Hunter. I would hate to see such a pretty face get ruined.” She shifted in her throne, eyes smarting. “Now, I shall tell you what my Fae guards have already informed you of – it is time for you to leave. I’ll be sure to give Wynella your condo –"