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unrequitedmime · 4 years

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Dania's snarl cut short at the sound of a quietly echoing through the temple. Click. Click. Click. Rico's smirk deepened, his dark eyes almost sparking lightning. If he released his lightning, they would all die. They knew they would. The silence struck faster than Elias expected. It fell upon every single Kera like a smothering blanket, a tape slapped across every growling mouth, a hand wrapped around their throats. Like the presence of a powerful woman. Her voice, as soft as love and rough as Hel at the same time, whispered of smoke and fury. When she spoke, her uttered words dangerous and dark and quiet, goosebumps danced to life along Elias' skin. "Please tell me," she purred, "Why I keep finding myself breaking up your cat fights." Elias watched every single pair of eyes, glowing or not, drop to the ground before them. He watched every Kera shrink away from the magnitude of power her lithe body radiated. Every single trace of the previous fight; the bared teeth, the growls, the fire, the clenched fists, had sputtered to dust in her presence. So, this was the young Queen that he had heard so many whispered stories about. As slow as time itself, her gaze met his. For one brief, fleeting moment, Elias fought the urge to get on his knees and grovel at her feet. He had read so, so many stories about warriors with her eyes. He had grown up memorising them; the blood, the power, the magic, the ancient whispers in their veins. He thought that after all of these years he'd be ready to meet that gaze. To hold a stare like hers. He thought wrong. Her deep, dark depths flickered up and down his body, almost oozing along his skin. He felt it; the power that danced across his body in her wake. The whispered stories do not do her justice. And she smiled like she knew it. Slow, beautiful, dangerous. Those pink lips twitching up at the corners. It was almost a smirk, but not quite. Elias had a feeling that her smirks were something else. Something much more lethal. "Captain Elias Bruschetti." His name - his title- on her elegant lips evoked an emotion he had never felt in his entire 21 years of existence. Awe. He hid his the roaring memories well; the shrill ring of his Grandmother's excited voice yelling stories about the Lost Pohlko Warriors, Cuda's girlish giggle at the mention of her own golden eyes, the whispers of the Oracle. He wanted to rush back home, across the mountains and across the valleys, and fall back into bed with his love. He missed the warmth of her gaze. Instead, he inclined his head to the Queen, "Your Majesty." Something like delighted amusement flickered across her face at the sound of her title on his tongue. He did not have time to ponder her expression before she turned to face the Kyotes, their faces ashen a few feet away across the pillared space of the temple. The light of the temple was dim, with only a few painted windows shining from the arches above. The sunlight dancing through was tainted green and blue and red; the colours of the Religious. Somehow, none of the colours landed upon the Queen's white hair or black gown. She remained a stoic image of darkness within the light. Her ash blonde hair flowed down her back, the wispy strands as straight as blades tickling her waist. Elias knew for a fact that this magical vessel before him was only 19 years of age, but in real life, she seemed almost ageless. Her black gown of shining satin clung to her chest and bodice, and flowed like rivers from her waist to her ankles. Despite the delicate and elegant appearance, he knew she could kill countless whilst in that flowing layer of beauty. Elias could have sworn her power itself glided across the dips and curves of her skirts. She clicked her tongue at the Kyotes, and Elias watched a deep blush bloom to life on the cheeks of their leader. Dania forced herself to meet the Queen's dark gaze. "Star." It took Elias a moment to process that word. Star. Not only a greeting, but a title. The Queen's dark eyes zipped to Elias for one moment, watching his understanding dawn. She winked at him. Not Your Majesty. Star. They call her Star. No wonder that wicked delight had flashed across her face a moment earlier. Damned Heavens, this woman was not like the other Queens. "I trust that you have offered our distant guest a warm welcome," She purred, an unsaid threat falling from her lips. Dania did not even glance at Elias, the oh-so-distant guest, before nodding, jaw clenched. "Of course, can you not feel the remaining embers of our warmth?" The Queen made a humming noise in the back of her throat, glancing at the Kera's beside Elias before absentmindedly nodding. "Oh," she murmured, "I can feel the remnants of many things." Elias fought the urge to shudder. Queen Elidia met his gaze, her own shining. "Very well," She smiled a predator's smile, "Let's get on with it, then, shall we?" Elias swallowed, "Get on with it, Your Majesty?" He would not call her Star until given explicit permission. Her lips twitched yet again at that name. "Yes," She winked, "Let's show you my land, Captain." My land. She knew exactly why he was here. Who he was bargaining for. He nodded, his own jaw clenched now, "Lets." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Elidia did not look away from the setting sun casting the horizon ablaze. The reflection of that heavenly fire burnt in her dark gaze. The dancing winds fluttered stray hands of her ash hair across her cheeks. Even resting, she was beautiful. "The Prince plans to take it all," Her voice was soft but unmissable despite the wind. Victorias studied her pondering cousin, elegant limbs folded across the stone of the high balcony banister. Victorias had never liked heights. Elidia's discussions with Hellios often took place on this balcony. Her brother and her cousin had the same fearless hearts, and the high winds calmed them both. Victorias, on the other hand, felt her knees wobbling in the altitude. Elidia's laugh was gentle, and Victorias knew the Star had felt her thoughts, her emotions, "You are as brave as us, dear cousin. Dare I say braver." Victorias only rolled her eyes at the flattery. "He does not plan to take it all, Elidia," If Elidia's voice was smoke, Victorias' was flowing water, "He plans to marry you." Elidia's beautiful, pale face scrunched with disgust at the thought. "I will not marry that man." Victorias sighed and glanced across the horizon. If she looked hard enough to the South, she could see the shadowed peaks of the Lane Mountains, a looming barrier between their nation and the visiting Captain's; Lovella and LinGuard "I wonder if King Radin is as pretty as they say he is," Victorias wondered aloud. Elidia laughed yet again. Her laughter came easy only with her cousins. "They say women weep at his feet," Elidia whispered conspiratorially, the Star's eyes twinkling with amusement. Victorias slapped her arm with a click of her tongue, "Do not tease me! I need someone to admire! I sometimes get bored in these castle halls!" Elidia's stare returned to the horizon; to the North this time, where Victorias' brother trekked. Alive, hopefully. She watched her Queen's earth eyes darken at her own racing thoughts, of the danger she tasted drifting in the wind. "No worries there, Vic," The Star murmured, her magic whispering in her veins, "I don't think it will be boring for much longer." Victorias ignored the chills that ran along her spine, "The nightmares remain?" "Every night." "And-" Victoria swallowed back the lump in her throat. She would not succumb to her slowly blooming fear, "You still hear-" "Yes," The Lovellan Queen's voice was dull, heavy as it cut her words short, "I still hear it. Sometimes it is quiet, sleeping on. But sometimes..." Victorias could not help but whisper, "Sometimes?" Elidia gulped, "Sometimes it stirs in it's slumber." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Queen had worn black for the past six days. An assortment of black gowns and black fighting leathers, depending what time of the day the Captain caught glimpses of her. The material had always seemed so dark it seemed to snatch up any light it came across. The dark gowns, especially, seemed to be made of the rippling night sky. Fitting, for a Star. She had never asked him to call her by that title, and so Elias had not. Despite the snickers and shocked expressions of those around him, he still did not call her Star. The Lovellan soldiers had shared laughs about it this morning in the light of the rising sun; a training they had kindly invited him to. "She is a Queen, yes, but she is more than that to these lands," The Lovellan Captain, Rico, had gently explained when Elias had inquired about her title. "She has a connection to the land. To the essence of this nation. The tumbling dirt, the roaring rivers, the stars above. She breathes in every dawn and breathes out every dusk." Elias had not been able to fight the urge to laugh at the dramatic patriotism of those soldiers. The soft eyed Lovellan Captain had only grinned and shaken his head, patting Elias on the shoulder. "You'll see, Captain. You'll understand when you see it." Elias was yet to see it. In fact, he was yet to see the Dark Queen for longer than a few spare minutes in passing. For the past six days, the Queen had oh-so-subtly pushed away his requests for a meeting, claiming she had to attend priority Lovella meetings and engage in 'important Queenly business'. Her smile had been lazy and mocking when she said the latter. Instead, she had assigned him Henry, a dark skinned man that talked too much. For the past six days, rather than determining the state of his nations's future, Elias had been paraded around the City of Lovella at Henry's side to admire the clean cobblestone streets and glowing butterflies of the Oakland Woods. Despite his wearing patience, Elias could admit one thing. Lovella was as ethereal as it's Queen. Today, on the seventh day of his visit, the Queen finally joined him for breakfast in the wide expanse of the Castle Solar. Despite the grand height of the precious and private chamber, the room only beheld three walls. The space where a fourth wall should've been, on the outer most side of the castle, was nothing but fresh air and a view Livian Slaves would beg to die with. The tiled floor and ceilings were so impeccably polished that they reflected whatever beauty stared back, mirrors upon mirrors upon mirrors. Elias felt as if he we were walking on clouds sometimes. Despite his wearing patience, Elias could also admit that the sunrise in this room were one of the most breathtaking things he had ever seen. Right after Cuda's beaming smile. The breeze from the open expanse danced across Elias' right cheek as the Solar Doors opened, her heels clicking on the floor as slowly as she desired. Elias glanced up from his breakfast, swallowing back his surprise at his company. He had eaten alone, with Henry as guard, every day so far. Perhaps the Queen simply did not like Breakfast. "Good morning, Captain," The young woman purred. Elias had forgotten the way her power vibrated in her every syllable. He felt it; the magic of her presence glide across his skin. She only had to exist, and her power thrummed across every heart and soul it encountered. Today, for the first time since witnessing her, the Queen wore red. A blood red gown that clung to her bodice and flared out at the waist, the neckline dipping generously at her cleavage. Rather than satin, though, this gown was delicate lace. Silver jewels shimmered across the lace in intricately swirling patterns. He attempted a smile. Elias had never been good at smiling at anyone that wasn't Radin or Cuda. "Good morning, Your Majesty." A delicate eyebrow arched, "Still calling me that, I see?" "You have never given me the privilege of Star, Your Majesty. I wish not to overstep." Her eyes raked over him, head to toe. He felt her heavy assessment. "You seem a charmingly polite man, Captain," She tilted her head, her movements as smooth as the stories say they are, "What is her name?" Every muscle in his body tensed, and he feigned confusion, "Your Majesty?" Her lips twitched as she took a seat across the long table, the shimmer of expanding blue skies to her left, "Your love. What is her name?" He ignored the flip of his stomach. "How-" She winked, "Let's say magic." Elias did not drop her gaze, despite how much he wanted to. He missed Cuda more and more with each day. "Cuda Yalia, Your Majesty." He hated that recognition flared in the Queen's dark eyes, "The Healer." Elias made himself nod. Cuda, his beautiful, beautiful Cuda, was the strongest Healer in LivGuard. She had saved more lives than Elias had ended. Her good heart washed away his sins, and for that he lived and breathed for her. The Queen watched him for longer than he could bare. He fought the urge to fiddle under her heavy gaze. The silence stretched for what felt like years. And then she looked down at her plate. Chocolate croissants. "I love breakfast," She murmured to herself, smile small and real. How could such a soft bundle of words still whisper danger. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Hellios was due back two days ago. Victorias ignored the churning of her breakfast in her gut and took her place beside her Queen's throne. Elidia did not look away from the heavy oak doors of the throne room, but still nodded her greeting to her cousin, "Morning, Vic," She murmured. Victorias did not bother with softness, not today, "Any word from him?" Elidia clenched her jaw and gave a small shake of her head. Victorias swallowed down the bile in the back of her throat. Her damned, damned brother. Hellios insisted he go alone, he insisted he go alone on a journey to the fucking Motherlands. And they just let him. Hellios had never been late back from a mission. The Queen of Darkness and Starlight sent a calming, warm breeze Victoria' way, the flutter caressing her flushed cheeks and sweating neck with the scent of nutmeg and honey. Victorias' favourite. The breeze seemed to whisper to Victorias. Breathe, it hummed, Breathe Victorias. My brother could be- "He is not," Elidia whispered, eyes still on the grand doors bound to open any moment now, a King gliding through them, "I would feel the loss of his essence." She would feel his blood spill onto the holy ground, the snuffing of his flame, his very last breath. A Queen of Darkness and Starlight, of Sun and Moon, of Living and Dead. King Radin will tremble in her shadows. Elidia laughed softly at Victorias' thought. Whether Victorias' cousin could truly read her thoughts or her emotions, she did not know. Elidia had never shared the secrets of her magic. She had always kept it settled, calm, tranquil. And even then her power thrummed through every living being she came into contact with. Victorias glanced around the modest throne room, empty save for Elidia, Rico, and herself. She wondered just how deep that well of magic was inside of her cousin. She wondered just how bright that Star could shine. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Queen smiled as King Radin opened the throne room doors. The smile was a feral one, dripping with predatory focus and delicacy. Gods, she was beautiful. She did not say one word as Radin and Elias made their entrance, Mage trailing behind them. Despite his roaring mind, Radin made himself puff his chest, push his shoulders back, and stride in the way his mother would have hissed at him to. He hated that even now, he was her clay to mould. Radin did not let himself look away from the Queen's dark eyes, a swirl of the night sky and the tumbling earth and the mountain rocks that he had climbed as a boy. He watched her gaze dance over the familiar Elias, and then land on his younger sister. The Mage of LivGuard. Radin did not know if Mage met the Queen's gaze, and he could not bare to turn back and check on her. His mother said to never confirm his connection to another. The Queen winked at Mage, warmth fluttering in her cold face so fleetingly that Radin was not sure if he imagined it. He felt rather than heard Mage loose a breath. Radin felt the Queen's magic caress him. A smooth breeze across his limbs, tickling the apple of his throat. In that breeze was molten gold and starlight and something else. A song. Of land and sea and sky and mountains. Mountains. He felt the mountains in her magic. How was that- "Many impossible things are possible, King," The Queen purred, her voice both the sharpness of bloodied blades and the gentle shine of moonlight. Nothing existed like this woman before him. No mage, nor Fae, nor Angel. She belonged to the Kera, creatures with magic in their veins or essence, by definition. But- She was also something else. Something more. She smiled again. And then the smile faltered. The Star's face, so full of lethal power and beautiful smugness, suddenly flashed with an emotion he had not expected to see so soon. Fear. Any warmth that lingered in the room vanished, sucked away by ice and frost and magic. The beautiful, dark haired woman standing beside the Queen shivered at the drop in temperature, her breaths immediately dispelling small puffs of mist. Radin felt the goosebumps run along his smooth body, felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand up on their ends as the Queen's dark power involuntarily swept across the room. She stood from her throne, the jewels on the lace of her red gown shimmering in the sunlight. For a moment, Radin could not help but admire her. Her body hummed with danger, with darkness, with a quiet sort of wrath as her expression stilled with deadly focus. A terrible silence fell upon them for a moment. The Star stared at the oak doors behind Radin, the blood draining from her already pale face. The most powerful being he had ever come across; afraid. Radin did not even think before spinning to his younger sister. He did not think before running to her and scooping her up. She gasped into his chest as he spun her away from the oak doors, Elias in his wake. The heavy oak doors burst open with a roaring wind so forceful and so cold that Radin grunted against the bite of it across his back. He held his trembling sister closer to his chest, sheltering her from the worst of the frost. That ice would leave scars. A wall of shimmering silver light spun itself to life before the Queen, her Second, and her Captain. A similar one appeared around Radin and his family. It lasted for one moment- enough to shelter from the ice that crawled across the throne room. It crackled and spat as it danced it's way across the floors, up the walls, across the ceilings. The only surfaces free of the frost were those protected by the Queen's starlight. A deadly sort of silence slithered it's way into the room. No one spoke, no one breathed, no one looked away from the Star. The Star, though, watched the dirty, golden haired man limp in. Her face was colder than any of the frost as she met his eyes. ------------------------------------------------------------- "Elidia," Hellios whispered to her, her cousin's voice as jagged as shattered glass. "Hellios," Elidia felt herself murmur, her starlight shining in her misted breath. His usually shining eyes were so grave, so, so broken. What had her cousin seen in the Motherlands? "It's coming, Elidia. It's coming for all of us."

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