Their usual early morning cuddles started the second Colette's green eyes popped opened to see the tall figure stretched beside her. She was often the one to attempt, first thing in the mornings that she and the queen were like siamese twins, conjoined at the hips and loving every second of it. That morning, the girl decided to poke the woman's cheek until her heavy lids fluttered open. Adira chuckled at the notion of Colette waking her up like that, her small finger jabbing at her face until she was fully awake.
"You were snoring," Colette lied and even the queen caught wind of it.
She scoffed playfully.
"I think we both know who's the true criminal that snores between us,"
Both the women's eyes found the ginger and white-coated animal who snuck her way into the room when they were both unaware. Together Adira and Colette cackled. Lottie rose, her tail wagged quickly as she observed the women.
"She's just joking pumpkin," Colette tried to reassure
"I'm not," Adira replied, rolling over to coddle the brunette to her warm body.
Colette pinched her majesty and she gasped. "What's that for?"
"For smelling like a distillery last night,"
Adira groaned. She sighed when the memories came back. She didn't physically regret consuming the alcohol but she was sorry she had so much that it knocked her out cold while she and Colette were about to get busy.
"I apologise,"
"Something's bothering you, isn't it?" Whispered the brunette.
There were several seconds of silence before her majesty decided to share her feelings and thoughts.
"I'm concerned..about many things,"
"And you're sad aren't you?"
Colette stared into her warm eyes and Adira faked a smile.
"I'm concerned." She simply reiterated.
"About the fire and the people that died? About how you'll fix the situation?"
"Yes,"
"I promise, I'm here to help you." Said the quiet voice. "We did talk about it last night and we did agree going to the council would be wise just in case you forgot,"
"I'm aware of our conversation,"
"Good," said Colette. "But I'm just curious, will it be hard convincing everyone to show up now that you want to go?" The girl asked, feeling Adira's heartbeat quietly as her head eventually laid on her chest.
"They have no other choice but to follow my orders," Adira answered groggily. She brushed her palm across the girl's arm. Colette's fingers, in return, traced over the freckles on her naked chest. Her skin was warm to the touch and smooth, it was difficult at the time for the girl, she couldn't believe Adira was nearly seven hundred years old. But there she was, her skin far more supple than Colette's own could ever be and she wasn't even mad about it.
The brunette tried not to be too captivated by Adira, instead, she focused on the conversation she struck up out of curiosity.
"How long do you think it would take for everyone to agree to it?"
The queen sighed. She closed her eyes and for a moment and pretended that it was her and Colette alone in the world just to avoid her problems. And in this fairytale world of hers, everything was perfect. There was no council, no stupid vampires causing trouble, no disobedient revenants but just she and her girl—how the woman wished to make that maladaptive dream a reality.
"If I'm being honest," she began to say. "It might take a few days, maybe even a week for me to reach out to them and likewise. Then there's me convincing Petra to show up too and that might take just as long because I did ask Edas where she was at this time and he doesn't know. It's either she's difficult to find or she might give me a hard time in my attempts to civility."
"So if Edas doesn't know where she is, how are you going to get in contact with her?"
"I can find her, always. I can find almost anyone I want,"
"Really?" Colette perked up in the bed, her dark brown hair brushing against her majesty's olive-brown skin in a comforting way. The girl had never been informed of that before and she wondered why her majesty never said anything it sooner, about always being able to locate someone.
"I'm part deal devil, it's an ability of mine. But for the sake of privacy, I pretend like I don't know where to find people or I only use it when necessary,"
"That's impressive," Colette beamed.
Adira grinned. Her dishevelled black hair laying against her face and body made her look ethereal and the brunette enjoyed the sight. It caused excitement to permeate, one that was different but pleasing nonetheless.
"But how do you do it, how can you just find a random person?"
"It's much easier if there's a small bond, it doesn't have to be romantic or anything but just a familiarity. If it's a stranger, it would take me a little longer to find them but I still would," the queen said, stroking her hand up and down Colette's side.
"And how I do that is by focusing my energy on trying to find theirs. It took me several very long decades to master that. Because I'm not entirely a deal devil, my abilities took longer to develop, you could imagine how that infuriated Isabella. She was always so difficult with me, so criticizing when she's the one to be blamed for me being part human."
"I've never asked but what's that like, knowing that you're both human and deal devil? Did she always give you a hard time while teaching you because of it?"
"Yeah, Isabella made it her duty to be hostile every time she showed up. She would make snide remarks about my inability to move as fast as she did or even to just focus. Once she spent an entire day telling how much of a disappointment I was just because I couldn't block her from attacking me." The woman glared at Colette and the girl saw, in the whirlpool of her amber eyes, the sadness that resurrected itself at those memories. Whenever the queen shared moments from her past it dug a bigger piece of the girl's heart— how could a mother be that cruel to her child?
"In regards to me being half-human, deal devil, my existence is frowned upon as I'm the only half breed devil there is in the supernatural world,"
The brunette did not know that either. She was taken aback and rightfully so.
"You're kidding me! Tell me you're joking?"
"I'm not," the woman chuckled but Colette didn't find it funny. "So there are no more humans who are half deal devils and vice versa?"
"No. My mother so far that I'm aware of is the only devil that copulated with a human. Well, now I've joined that shortlist but you get what I mean."
"I dooo, oh my gosh but imagine if we could have babies, that would piss some people off I assume,"
"You're right,"
"Why are they so pressed about your existence anyway?"
"I don't know, my love,"
Truly Adira hadn't a clue. She spent most of her life searching for the answers. She reached out to many others, she tried to garner what it was about her very existence that left many on edge. The only person who ever replied with something was Wolf. He was usually vague with his responses and to that moment, Adira still tried to decode what his allegorical phrases meant.
The woman's attention eventually went back to Colette when she sat up in the bed. The girl shifted around.
"They're just envious because you turned out amazing and not forgetting hot," Colette replied and Adira chuckled.
"Maybe,"
"No, it's true. I heard someone whisper before about how beautiful you are. One of them even said something about you being the most bangable authority figure in all the supernatural world."
Adira frowned. "Who said that?"
"Me," Colette grinned and the woman rolled her eyes.
"You can be so tacky at times,"
"But you like it, I know you do." Whispered the girl. She crawled up to the queen on her knees and quickly kissed her.
"You're as vain as they come, baby and I always play into that." Mumbled Colette.
"Then tell me more and make my day, mon amour," replied the queen. She grabbed the girl by the waist, pulling her on top of her.
"How about you make it up to me for leaving me instead? You promised you would then you fell asleep on me,"
"It would be my pleasure," the queen grinned and at her smile, Colette felt her chest tighten. More and more she fell in love with Adira and it was hard not to. The woman was the epitome of special and sweet and generous and gentle. Despite the tough exterior, in private when it was just the two of them, her majesty showed her true self and that woman was a fragile, beautiful creature whom Colette adored. But, neither of the two women verbally expressed their love but showed it in more subtle ways: like making sure the other had most of the bed and cover at night, sweetening each other's teas when their hands were already full, leaving oneself undone just so the other was comfortable. It was only time before they blurted it out constantly and Colette couldn't wait for that day. She was so eager that she felt it in her bones she'd be the first to say those magical words and she was sure Adira wouldn't mind.
The girl was pulled from her thoughts by the queen smooching her quickly. She tried to hold her still but the woman crawled away with ease.
"I thought you were going to make it up to me?"
"I will, when I'm ready," answered the woman and the look in her eyes made the brunette's stomach fluttered. Adira noticed and smiled, quietly she shut herself away in the bathroom.