6. bloodline

Her breath hitched in her throat.

Immediately, chills ran up the girl's spine. Although the small tree cabin split in the middle by the tree trunk was shockingly warm compared to outside, the warmth that suddenly exploded throughout Nyx and made her cheeks blush seemed to originate elsewhere.

There, standing in front of a large stone fireplace with fire blazing inside, was the apparent leader of the fae, Alastair. And Nyx knew just from the sight of her that she was a leader.

The eyes that pierced her with a gaze so sharp were dark crimson with hints of amber that smoldered like the fire burning before her. Her face was fair, her eyes the most prominent feature next to the large set of dark scarlet lips that sat below her elegant nose. Cheekbones, high and striking, ran parallel to her pointed ears. Her hair, thick and voluminous, was a deep chestnut brown that held a subtle red glare, one that could only be seen because of the light of the opposite windows casting upon her.

The fae was just as tall as Caspian, donning black leather pants that were skin-tight on her lengthy legs. At her upper half she also wore leather in the form of a looser blouse with long sleeves that widened at the ends. Her figure was slim but curvy, the kind that all human women longed to have.

This fae and her liquifying stare was already enough to strike fear in the most grueling of beasts, but it was something else that truly intimidated Nyx to her very core—the set of wings on her back that were even larger than Caspian's. These wings were raven black with dark streaks of red in them, and at their very ends they were an orangey scarlet, as if the color amber had been charred until it was dark.

She was magnificent, and she was scary. Nyx felt suddenly small and weak before her, and there was no doubt in her mind that the faerie could kill her with ease. Putting together the fact that Caspian, a water fae, looked as if he was water walking on earth, she realized that this fae most likely had the powers of fire due to the way she looked like a walking flame.

"Nyx, this is Alastair, our leader," Caspian's strong voice emanated from behind her head. The sound of the door being closed shut prompted a fearful jump from the girl. Their eyes were locked on each other's. Although Nyx was led to believe this was their very first time meeting, she was unaware that Alastair had seen her many, many times before.

Alastair, whose body had been facing the firepit and her head turned towards the human girl, twisted her upper body around to also face her. She could feel Caspian's inquisitive stare on her, but her demon red eyes flickered not from the girl across the room. Her long leg extended outwards as she took a step forward, head tilting slightly as her fluorescent eyes seemed to read and analyze everything in the mind of Nyx who felt suddenly transparent as a piece of paper, one whose corner hovered too close to a flame and was close to burning up.

Alastair took more slow steps forward, hands folded behind her back. Her shoulders were tall and erected, strong and valiant as Nyx's eyes fell over them from her inability to keep the fae's sharp stare. The fae hummed quietly as her slow footsteps veered to the side of the girl whom she was now inches away from. Nyx trained her eyes on the wooden planks of the floor, her entire body suddenly warming as the fae circled her. She could feel heat physically radiating from the fae, further confirming her suspicion that she held the powers of fire.

The burning of her lungs made her realize that she had been holding her breath while the fae circled her, but it wasn't until the creature was back in the corner of her vision that she could silently release it. She watched as the fae's pale, bare feet, somehow soft-looking and elegant after a lifetime of stepping over the bumpy surfaces of the Earth, appeared in her line of sight still aimed at the floor.

Hesitantly, she raised her eyes, feeling a whole new wave of nervousness the moment that her eyes reconnected with those inhumanly red ones that were blank in their stare, invincible and unreadable. She watched as those eyes shifted to the corner of her forehead and trailed down her cheek. This goaded her to remember the wound on her head and the trail of blood against her cheek, and the fae's stare on it made it burn.

"I thought we fixed that up for you," Alastair's voice came suddenly yet in a slow, languid tone. Her voice was thick like molasses, low and husky as if it had not been used much. Her stoicism told Nyx that she was probably a fae of few words, that what she did speak was always heard and listened to for its value. "Unless my memory is failing me," she added, eyes moving back to Nyx's golden-brown orbs.

Her voice had an edge of humor to it, but her face was only serious. Something about her stare was striking—it was perhaps the way her scarlet eyes and naturally dark lips popped from the pale skin of her face, or the way there were cracks of orange in her irises that made Nyx wonder if those orbs were really made of lava, or the way she loomed over her only a foot in front of her.

"The girl had decided that she was not too fond of moss bandages, so she ripped it off," Caspian spoke for her, Alastair's eyes moving to his for the first time since they entered. "Right before she tried to set the guest cottage on fire."

Nyx had just met the man, but she could hear a smug smile in his voice. Alastair's dark brown eyebrows perked upwards once, the first expression Nyx had seen of the fae. Her eyes moved back down to the girl. "I suppose no one ever taught you that setting fire to your freely given lodging is not the best way to thank someone for helping you."

Caspian's chuckle from behind furthered the blush of embarrassment and anger in the girl's cheeks. She pursed her lips, raising her chin to feign some sort of confidence. "Are you going to tell me why I'm here or am I wasting Your Majesty's time?"

The chuckling from Caspian stopped immediately when he picked up on the hints of sarcasm in Nyx's voice. Nyx felt inky fear blot the pretense of her courage, but she clenched her jaw and stood tall, anyways, watching the fae closely.

Alastair did not make an expression of anger, only a patronizing curl of the corner of her lip so subtle that Nyx almost didn't catch it. "I appreciate you recognizing my status of power. It's nice when someone admits they are beneath another." Her accent was proper and regal with that hint of rasp that came with true valor. Nyx could tell this fae was an impenetrable force after only having met her for a matter of minutes.

Nyx held a competitive and forceful stare with the fae as she listened to Caspian's footsteps near her. "You know, Nyx," he began as he took a seat in a chair that sat against the wall right beside the human girl. "Al here is the one who saved your life."

Blonde eyebrows sewed, her confusion prompting her to break her stare with Alastair to glance over at Caspian's refreshing blue eyes. Hearing some sort of scoff, she snapped her eyes back to Al and caught glimpse of her rolling her eyes as she turned away and walked to the other side of the room.

Then Nyx remembered. She remembered waking up after what had happened in the woods, in someone's arms high in the sky. She remembered their warm, soft skin defrosting her frozen body, and she remembered the sight of black and red wings. Glancing up at the back of the fae who now stood near the row of windows, she realized it was her who had saved her.

"W-Why..." she began, eyes blinking as she remembered why she was there in the first place. "Why was that ice lady trying to kill me?" She looked over to Caspian for an answer, but he only silently turned his eyes to Al, causing Nyx to do the same.

Al sighed gently, only the back portion of her side profile visible to Nyx. The light from the windows cast shadows onto her high cheekbone and defined jawline, her pointed ear moving slightly as if she had heard something from down below. "Eira sees you as a threat," Al began, "which, I must say, is understandable."

Nyx tried to understand, but she was only pushed into further confusion. "Eira? Who is Eira?"

"The Ice Queen," Caspian answered for her, voice solemn as he leaned his elbows on his knees and rubbed his hands together. "She holds the throne to the Fae Kingdom."

"She's a tyrant of a Queen," Al interrupted, not moving her stare from the window. "It's a stolen throne that she uses to strike fear and oppression. Eighteen years as Queen and she has already changed the Fae people for centuries to come."

"B-But why am I a threat to her?" Nyx questioned, chuckling at the ludicrosity of that statement. "I'm just a human, just a random person. Why and how would I be a threat to her?"

Al turned slowly, locking eyes with Caspian who shared an unreadable stare with her. They hesitated, and when Al turned back to the window, Caspian sighed and adjusted his position in the chair.

"Nyx," he drew her attention away from Al. He opened his mouth to speak but then stopped, his navy blue wings ruffling slightly as he again readjusted his sitting position. "This may be hard for you to understand all at once, but—"

"Your father was a fae."

Al's sudden words caused Nyx's eyes to snap over to her, widening as her blood ran cold in her veins. "What?"

The tall fae turned around, the auburn ends of her hair whipping as she did. "Nikolaus, your father, was King of the Fae. He was one of us." She took a few steps towards, chin raising as something in her red eyes burned and her voice hardened with repressed emotion. "Eira killed him and took the throne."

Nyx's rosy lips fell open as a maelstrom of emotions filled her. She didn't want to believe what they were saying because it all sounded like pure nonsense to her human brain, but something inside her began to break in fear that it was true. "Y-you don't know my father."

"Nor do you," Al snapped, impatience evident on her face. "I am not going to waste time trying to get this through your human, pea-sized brain. Your father was King of the Fae, meaning that you are the only heir to the throne." She inhaled deeply, wings twitching as her gaze pierced the girl's shocked one. "That is why Eira wants to kill you. She is afraid you will take her throne, as is your god-given right."

"B-but..." Nyx whispered, shaking her pounding head and squeezing her eyes shut. "Even if this was true, I am human. I couldn't be... 'Queen of the Fae' or whatever. I'm not one of you."

"Fae runs in your veins. It is in your bloodline," Al sternly told her, dark lips pressing together in agitation. "And even if it isn't, you are Nikolaus' daughter, meaning you have every right to the throne. We would rather have a human leading our people than that witch rat of doom."

Nyx kept her eyes shut, shaking her head furiously. She thought about her mother, all the times she would dodge questions about her father. She thought about how she was always so afraid of strangers at the door—perhaps she was always afraid it was Eira. No, that sounded preposterous. Her father was not a fae, and she was not in line to the throne.

"No," Nyx began in a whisper, placing both of her hands on either side of her flushed face. "No, no, no!" She removed her hands and looked up at Al with rage, the fae's red eyes widening with disbelief and anger. "This is either a mistake, or you people are just crazy, or I'm just dreaming..." She began to walk backwards to the door, her eyes closing as her headache began to return, bringing a sharp ringing in her head that made her visibly wince.

Caspian noticed this and stood from his chair, gently taking hold of the girl's arm. "You have a concussion, Nyx. Don't work yourself up."

"Let go of me!" she exclaimed, jerking her arm away from his hand. He raised his hands in defense and took a step back, giving her space.

"I knew you were too much of a poor, uneducated fool to understand this," Al spat, her eyes glowing red with what even Nyx could read as anger.

"This is all very new to her, Al," Caspian stated, lowering his hand in the air to signal for the fae to calm down, but even he knew that was pointless with the ill-tempered fae. "She just needs time."

"We don't have time!" Al shouted, her voice loud and strong, echoing throughout the tiny tree cabin and causing Nyx's headache to worsen. "Eira could attack at any moment, and the one thing we have that she doesn't is too ignorant to comprehend simple concepts."

"Al just calm down," Caspian urged her, not daring to touch her. He knew that her skin could get hot when she got angry—he still had scars on his hands from times before when he tried to calm her down.

Nyx tried to listen to what they were saying, but her headache was blinding. Her vision was dimming, the world deviating from her and she from it as the words swirled in her head. Your father was a fae. You are in line to the throne. Fae is in your blood. It all swirled inside her head, along with the fact that her mother had kept it all from her her entire life. She stumbled backwards again, this time her vision going black as the ringing grew deafeningly loud in her ears. Next thing she knew, she hit the floor with a hard thud.