Who: Katherine & Rhysand When: April 30/May 1 ~10pm Where: Fire Night > Forest What: Dancing. Flirting. Magical Insanity. Rating: Medium-High for violence and suggested plundering Closed Complete
To the fae of Prythian, Calanmai was a crucial and enjoyable evening. It was also, on various levels, a wicked and carnal night that left more party goers than not totally drunk off their rears if not laying on the ground passed out. Among other things. Yet as Rhysand cruised around the Bonfires, dancing with strangers he had yet to properly meet, he felt empty. Sure, he was thrumming with magical energy that would soon build to climax and explode across the land, but this wasn't his land and his heart ached. Whether he let others know it or not he was fiercely loyal and protective of his court. He had slaved away, almost quite literally, to keep them safe.
Now, in this hellish hole in the universe, he had nothing.
Well, Rhysand considered he might have something if he was patient. He stood on the other side of the fires watching the crowd after having circled around and admired a handful of women he had mild interest in. All of his senses, they pointed to another. From the distance he watched the beautiful Katherine. She was so independent and strong, cunning and yet young. It was attractive. Her smile was radiant. He also owed her a date, but this would not, should not, count. He disappeared from his swaying place to reappear near the halfling, stepping from the flickering shadows and moving the back of a finger down her shoulder. He was glad to be by her side once more after having tried to play coy and wander away to see another.
“We meet again,” Rhysand crooned. “How are you liking the festivities?”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Katherine had eyed Rhysand most of the night. Yes, she had chatted with her friends and even a few strangers but her attention had always wandered back to the mysteries fae. Fae - before Rhysand she had always thought them rather ridiculous with their wings and their far too good - hearted attitudes. This one though she could not place and that was the best drawer you could possibly be in when you tried to raise Katherine's interest.
A charming smile and a warm nod covered the demi god’s dismay over the lack of attention she had received from her conversation partner. The man had even promised her a date and here she had been nothing but air for him. Kat liked having things her way - this had not been it. Jealousy was one of her most ugliest sides. One she was fully aware of and despised but could help nonetheless.
“It is nice to see a little life in this place,” she commented, fully nonchalant. “Most events are just so dull. I do not care much for all the weddings.”
~~~~~~~~
Humming in agreement, Rhysand moved around Katherine with that hand that drew down her arm moving around her back as if to guide her. He seemed unable to do away with touching her but less she requested it he would not assume it bothered her, either. “They say I’m a bit of a wedding crasher,” he teased with that nearly fanged sort of grin from his impossible height. The lords of his land were more than fae, they were by some consideration like gods. Those humans from his home world were so frightened of them for they were mischievous, devilish creatures. Should Rhysand ever find out of the fairy stylings from a more Disney style, he might actually become physically ill. Fae were not nice. Some were, surely, but most had a chip on their shoulder against humans and as such the great wall had been built to separate their kind.
“I’m pleased you like the party. In our land it is a yearly tradition. I’m shocked it seems to have turned up here. Is that common with Purgatory?”
~~~~~~~~~~
The touch prickled on her skin. The fine garments of her blue and silver dress swayed in the air as brushed back a strand of her hair. The heat already let clothes seem redundant but it had not reached the point where they became a bother yet. Nonetheless, the breeze in the air was a welcome one. Her mood lifted, his previous negligence of her on its path to be forgotten.
"Well, before I answer your question, let me employ you to crash a few parties around here. It would make this place just a little less boring. As for what is common to it, everything and nothing. Stranger things have happened. Stranger things willhappen. So what is this all about?”
~~~~~~~~~~
And a lovely dress it was. Rhysand clearly devoured Katherine the more he circled around her and stood by her side. He was dressed in his usual inky garb, decorated with a moonlight white stitch that sparkled in just the right flash of the fires. Yet the sleeves were gone leaving him in a sleeveless tunic and baring his toned arms. The fabric looked light for the heat but warm for the evening.
“I’ll crash them, but only if you go with me,” he said with a cheeky smile. His hand on her back moved to her wrist and gently nudged it before aiming to raise it and actually begin to guide her through a dance, more than a sway less than a full out waltz.
“Calanmai, Fire Night, is a celebration of the new spring. We gather to honor the magic of the year and release it to grow the crops,” Rhysand glanced away momentarily as he added in a very saucy sort of tone, “The High Lord takes on all the magic in the court, then releases it at dawn after laying with a worthy maiden. The magic fills the lands and our food and stock will have a fruitful year the more magic the Lord and his lady release.”
~~~~~~~
Oh, Katherine loved dancing and, if she could say so herself, she was rather good at it. All the classes Holly had made her go to for years had left a mark. She let him guide, left him completely in control, curious as to where he would lead her.
Her eyebrow quirked up at his explanation. The wedding talk was forgotten. She laughed briskly. She could not decide whether it belonged into a bad romance novel or the deeply perverted thoughts of a medieval monk. “A worthy maidan? Is that what you have been looking for when you were browsing all these women?” He had seemed like a bloke flicking through a catalogue. To be fair, that was the typical behaviour of a single guy at a party. It almost made her laugh again to think of Rhysand like an average single bloke. He wasn’t. He was quite something.
~~~~~~~~~~
The tall fae laughed as he brought Katherine around in a playful spin. “Something like that,” he said both truthfully and with a bit of a taunt in his tone. “Even that dog Tamlin can’t resist. No, he’s worse than me,” he chuckled and drew the peite--to him--woman close. “And if were what I had been doing? What would you think?” Rhysand continued to smile, cool and easy and breezy like their dance, like most of their engagements. Comfortable.
“I suppose it’s not as important here. I don’t have crops to look out for...but it’s a decades-old habit.”
~~~~~~~~~
During a lazy twirl she managed to look up at him and those radiant dark blue eyes. He was so tall it was almost scary but she adored his otherworldly appeal. Tall, dark, mysterious stranger - he fit the cliche in every lovely sense. “That I am quite disappointed that you decided you had to look,” she purred, hiding behind her teasing tone that this was very close to the truth.
~~~~~~~~~
Another chuckle, Rhysand nodded. “It’s my duty to my court and our crops!” he falsely implored. His left hand moved to stroke through a curl of that luscious dark hair of hers and tuck it behind an ear. “Of course, it was always you,” the fae then added in a quiet voice that had lost its play and regained all of truth, or as much truth as perhaps either of these two guarded souls were willing to reveal, before he smiled and looked away at the crackle of a fire.
Three fae danced and chanted around a new flame with their hands in the air, their twisted, gnarled faces filled with delight. One looked like some kind of humanoid bat, great leathery wings folded in like a cape with the claws hooked regally at the neck. The other two were akin to Rhysand, tall and human-like but with very obvious fae distinction. Both were women and they tossed their skirts around their high knees.
~~~~~~~
She smiled a smug smile into his chest. Of course, his words appealed to her ego. It had once been so crumbled that she had seeked male attention wherever she could. But her family made her comfortable enough that she had put that need to rest. Still a good ego stroke did not go unappreciated.
“Why not choose one of them? They are your kin” she asked as she followed his gaze. A pensive stare lingered on the two tall women that belonged to a world she could not imagine. For a short moment despise and hatred filled her. She had none of it - never ever had she had any real culture. It all seemed borrowed and stolen. People here were stranded. No one belonged.
~~~~~~~~
Bowing down from his place high above, stopping in their sort of circling sway, Rhysand followed her line of sight and then whispered to her ear. She liked ego trips? She could have them. He was king of the ego trip.
“Because they’re not you,” he told her privately, quietly, so only she could hear. Not even a fae with their fantastical hearing could have caught his words. They were simply, singularly, for Katherine alone. “Because I am not attracted to them. Because they’re my maids. But, mostly because, they’re not you.” Rhysand then stood back up, satisfied with himself.
~~~~~~~~
There was a fine line between flattery and a good stroke of the ego. One was nothing she cared for - the other very much so. “Then what am I what they are not?” she asked. Curiosity started to urge her on. She was truly interested in what he saw in her. There were people whose opinion she did not give ten craps about. So many people were just utterly boring. If you asked her, it should be a punishable crime. Posting baby pictures - off with the head!
As much as she wanted to feel comfortable and aloof, the tickling on her skin did not let her. It was the feeling that would stay in your head and keep you restless for days to follow.
~~~~~~~~
Rhysand resumed their dance as he looked down at Katherine with a tilt of his head. “I don’t understand how you cannot see it,” he commented after a languid blink. “Look at them,” he said. “Closer. See through them,” he motioned in their direction. The girls were beautiful, tall, of his own kind, but they were also vile creatures. They wore glamor to look beautiful but if you knew what to look for they were hideous. Besides, they still weren’t Katherine. Rhysand couldn’t tell her why or what he saw, only that he did see and like liked it.
“You worry too much about what others are or aren’t, I think.” He smiled at her once more and turned her away so she could only see him and the empty field, trees, and wilderness behind him, the fires to her own back.
“Will you dance with me tonight?”
~~~~~
Head tilted - eyes firmly locked on the target, she looked at them. Two years ago she would not have stood a chance to catch the meaning of his words. All she would have seen was beautiful creatures that were almost too good to exist and she would have despised them. But now she was used to seeing what was not there, guessing the truth behind the lies her father spun. And then he saw it - the features of something that should be hid far beneath the earth. There ugliness was almost something to admire. She laughed. Wolves in sheep clothing! Did Rhysand himself belong to the group? Was there something hidden behind that almost disturbingly perfect appearance?
She was silent for a moment, just letting his words and the evening sink in. Maybe she did worry too much about it. But how could not when all others had ever seen in her had been something she had no say in? “Yes. I will,” she said quietly as she leaned her head against his arm.
~~~~~
Smiling, the world seemed to go soft for the High Lord. He said nothing as he let her rest, his free arm lacing gently over her back to keep her close. Easily Katherine could hear his great and slow intake of breath, the beating of his heart steady and strong. And humming. In a moment of trust and a dropping of his guard he murmured an old tune and enjoyed that passing. In the rush and slavery of the last five decades, in the meeting of that annoying and wonderful human, Rhysand had forgotten himself.
His eyes looked to the stars as they peeked from the orange setting sky. Maybe tonight he would fly.
~~~~
She simply listened to him - listened to his humming and his breaths, to the rustling of his garments and the wind surrounding them. She could stay like this and be happy. “So how will the night progress?” she asked quietly. All the games and the teasing was gone.
~~~~~~
“If you can stay awake until dawn,” Rhysand said after breaking his little song. “We’ll dance and drink and partake in the bon fire until morning. The more dancing, the more magical energy I incur.” The hand around Kat’s back moved to stroke through her hair, twisting around the waves and coils from above and below in lazy play.
“Somehow, I seem out of words to explain the usual ritual.” He chuckled at himself. “I suppose even I don’t have it in me to ruin a pleasant moment.”
~~~~~~~~
That was usually the time her uncle expected her to start her training but she could stay up that late. “If you remind me to text my uncle so I can postpone the early morning training, then I am all yours for the night,” she said. She was far too comfortable to do it right now. Nonetheless, she could not help but chuckle at his explanation - dancing, magical energy - it all seemed very stereotype.
~~~~~~~~
Considering he came from a fairytale world based on pre-existing fairytale stories, incredibly stereotype. But then again, what wasn’t this many years into creation and story? Rhysand nodded. “I will do my best, but I make no promises after midnight.” He laughed and mused something about how he might get a little wild on the energy, then resumed their contented hold.
~~~~
Katherine herself stayed silent for a bit. The energetic young girl inside of her urged her to resume the dancing - be part of the life behind them. But she felt quite content where she was. Rhysand wanted to dance, then Rhysand should make the effort. A woman liked to be wooed sometimes. “How often have you participated in this?”
~~~~~~~~
Mmm, that was true enough. But, could they not enjoy it for a moment more? Rhysand hummed as he replied, “Every year since I became High Lord of the Night Court, following my father.” Once he had answered he gently pried himself away, took a step back, and reached for Katherine’s hands to twirl her around and dance.
~~~~~~~~~
An almost giggle escaped her lips as she was spun around. She used the quiet moment shortly afterwards to ask another question - keep the conversation going for now, she wasn’t done with it. “What was your father like?” she asked. The tense was a hesitant choice to make. But everything that was not here was in the past, she concluded.
~~~~~~~~~~
It took quite a bit of silence for Rhysand to respond. A part of him was not sure what to say, another part of him was not sure how much to say. He wasn’t exactly known for baring his soul. “He was a strong man, in ideals and physicality,” he finally gave her. Somewhere in his chest he felt guilty for not telling her more but he also did not feel he should divulge information. All of the things he did, he did so he would not be forgotten...His father was not of that kind.
“We’re very different.”
~~~~~~~~~~
While other people might have taken the hint that the subject was on the uncomfortable side, Katherine spotted and ignored it. If people were too polite to say no, it was entirely their fault. Only a small circle of friends and, of course, her family had earned the privilege for their discomfort to be considered. Rhysand had yet to find his way inside. He was an intriguing man and certainly someone which invaded her thoughts even when he was not around but she was no little girl - the man was above all a stranger.
“What ideals did he have?” she asked in a quiet voice that was barely conveyed over the music. For a moment she wished they had not picked up another dance. This was not a conversation to be had between swirls and steps.
~~~~~~~~~~
And yet she asked the question. She could have chosen not to. Rhysand gave a languid shrug as he took her across the grass in sweeping draws of their feet before pulling her close and holding her near for a sway. “Headstrong, but he did not see reason in the way a strong-minded leader should be. He cared for the Court but not….as I do. I don’t approve of his methods, which is saying something all things considered.” The Lord chuckled at himself before bowing Katherine into a very low dip that was made all the easier by his strength and stature.
“What about your father? What is he like?”
~~~~~~~~~
Katherine tipped her head to the side. She wanted to ask more questions but he had cut in with a question of his own and she let him get away with it. “Oh, he’s quite something. Any description I could give you would suit him ill. Whenever I think I know him, I find that I don’t.” She was quiet for a bit. “He’s a good father though. And that is what counts for me. Was yours not?” It was strange how Rhysand had only considered his father’s qualities as a king. For her that was not her main concern. Her father had to be her father first - Asgard came further down the list.
~~~~~~~~~~
The man gave another shrug, but only after raising up Katherine and taking frame again. “No. He was never a father. He left nothing behind but laws and legalities. I'll leave behind something better,” Rhysand smiled at the idea if only for a split second.
“Your father sounds interesting. Tell me about him, anyway. I'm sure he will forgive you if he is as good as you say.” He teased, that smile back on his face.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Katherine leaned into him and let his body provide her comfort. Her thoughts wandered to her own family and their past. Had Odin been as absorbed with his own kingdom as Rhysand’s father had? Whoever adopted a child with only strategic intentions in mind had to be. She swallowed with bitterness.
“Oh my, uhm…” She had no idea where to start with a stranger. Most people had at least heard of his name. “Well, as I told you before he’s a prince. Have you heard of Asgard?” she asked.
~~~~~~~~~~
The man shook his head. “No,” he said as his fingers moved around her back again. “I can't say I have. Is it a place?” Rhysand glanced up at the sky as it grew darker, watching the stars dance. “Are you from there?”
~~~~~~~~~
She chuckled softly. “No, I’m from here. This is the only place I ever lived in. It’s a realm. Their realm - their kingdom.” She shrugged. “I’ve only ever been there twice in my life. “It’s beautiful but I can’t say I know it.” She stared ahead. The original question was lost to her as she went over all the ‘what-ifs’ she had collected in the past year. What if they ever were to return would she end up taking Rhysand’s place of the forgotten child? Her love and vanity complained about the mere question but doubt nevertheless unsettled her mind.
~~~~~~~~~
The idea was rather disheartening to Rhysand that she had never known anywhere else but this hellish scape. Though he did not say it there was a softness that passed over his handsome face before it was gone again. Softness did not suit the lord.
“Well, it isn’t your home,” he said. “I imagine the humans of my world are much the same. Once, we did not have a wall between our peoples. Now they look at us with fear--as they should. It never paid well to play with mortals.”
~~~~~~~~~
She laughed at the irony of the statement. “Daddy learned that one the hard way,” she said, chuckling. Slowly, the chuckles ebbed away. She blinked shortly before her gaze went up to meet his. “You do realise I’m part-mortal, don’t you?” The tone with which it was said was most casual. If he would judge her any differently because of it, it was his loss.
~~~~~~~~~
He smiled. “Not the same,” he teased and stroked her hair. “I see your glass as half full not half empty, little princess.” Rhysand then looked away as if he felt something, saw something, and a shiver ran up his spine before his form became all that more magical in appearance. He had an aura about him, a subtle starry white glow, as magic buzzed and filled his tall figure.
Then he looked back and laughed. “Sorry.”
~~~~~~
The young woman’s senses were keen when it came to auras. It immediately caught her attention and made her turn her head. She absorbed it and buzzed in its energy. It was a mere shadow of what the sceptre represented but even a shadow of it was a power not to be unappreciated. He was strong - possibly one of the strongest beings around - and yes, she was impressed. How had it escaped her for so long? She settled back into his arms and onto his side. How he had called her left a beautiful ring in her ears.
“Rhys - how old are you?” she asked softly.
~~~~~~~~~~
He was powerful, certainly, but now more so as the energy of the land collected in his soul. Rhysand sighed through it and enjoyed the thrum that swelled through his cavity. “I am almost nine-hundred years old,” he said as he resumed once more stroking her soft and lovely hair. “Which is still not very old.” Also vain, he hated the idea of growing old and withered. Fortunately, the high fae aged with grace unless their souls were filled with pure rage.
~~~~~~~~~~
Nine-hundred years? It surprised her. If it had been under a hundred, she would have been disappointed but nine-hundred was a proud number. Almost as old as her uncle and her father. “That depends on who you compare it to,” she asked. “For a twenty-four year old, it’s impressive. You must have seen the world change around you.” Her father had rarely been to earth during his childhood and youth. All they had experienced were snippets. She had quite a romantic image of it - seeing the world go by, civilisations rise and fall and knowing that you were just a mere watchman.
~~~~~~~~~
Rhysand nodded as he remembered the days before the wall, the humans and their foolish squabbles. “I saw the end of humanity,” he commented. “I was there fighting in a war that doomed the humans to their hatred and tiny scrap of land. I can still see the blood on my blade when I close my eyes.” And as he did so he seemed pleased.
“I hear twenty-four is a good age for a mortal. How do you find it?”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Now I’m back to being a mere mortal?” she asked with a mocking voice before she could respond to anything else. The mocking and teasing was pure instinct. “How did it happen? What was that war about?” His question got ignored as there were more important ones to be answered. Who really cared about what it was like to be twenty-four?
~~~~~~~~~~~
He cared, at least partially, otherwise he would not have asked. If the question was meant to be rhetoric golly would you have known. Rhysand could turn on and off the sass, among other things, like a light switch.
“Mmm, only because I don’t know what to call you...Will you slow your aging now that you are an adult? Or will you continue to age as the humans do, I wonder?” His head tilt and a long lock of his black hair fell alongside his face as those violet eyes looked down into Katherine’s very soul.
“Oh, something about a mad king wanting to take over the world. The usual. Someone always wants to take over the world.”
~~~~~~
Katherine rephrased his question in her head… would the aging slow down now that her Jotun side had been strengthened with the help of the sceptre? She had asked herself the question many times - she had even asked her father. A shrug was her answer. “I don’t know… only time will tell,” she said. There were so many things only time would tell and, god, she could be impatient at times.
The last statement made her chuckle again. “Are you sure you’ve never heard about Asgard? Daddy quite fancies putting his skinny ass on a throne,” she giggled. She would have never said this in a sober setting but the dance, the music and the man besides her made her tipsy in the most dangerous and splendid of ways.
~~~~~~~~
Rhysand laughed loudly, joyfully. “I see...Well, to each his own. I have a throne, of course, so it doesn’t much matter to me.” He smiled as he said this in her ear as if bragging, which perhaps he was, before spinning her again. Somehow in their sway they had gotten farther from the crowd, further into the quiet and closer to the wood with the twinkling sky overhead. More magic thrummed, he took a deep breath as if accepting it through a whiff of sweet spring air. He was so against this and yet it was what he would do, must do.
He then stopped the spin and reached down to scoop her up, as if to lift her up to the sky like a child thrown from their parents hands. However, Rhysand didn’t let go. He looked to her and laughed again, it was charming and almost haunting.
“I need to go soon,” he said. He smiled but his tone was momentarily sober. “I need to hunt in the place of that fool. I need to finish the Rite. Come with me.”
~~~~~~~~~
Katherine’s first instinct was to defend her father. Her words had treated him poorly. Humor and sarcasm was her way of coping with the madness that came from being her father’s daughter. But her father had his reasons. He had been mistreated and raised in an ill manner. She swallowed down the guilt as she suddenly was spun and twirled and caught. It wasn’t enough to make her completely forget but it lightened up her mood. “Uhm, what do you mean - you need to hunt?”
~~~~~~~~~
Gently, Rhysand set Katherine back on her feet. “There’s a creature here, I can feel it in my soul, that I need to find and kill as a sacrifice for the ritual,” he explained, still in that sober tone as if he were almost fighting with himself. “The magic is growing strong as the night goes on. I didn’t tell you everything about the evening when you asked,” he then confessed but he did not feel or sound guilty in the slightest.
There was another pause as his gaze was drawn away and a white flicker in the distance. The creature. He looked back to Katherine even as his body started to slowly shapeshift, forming in the shadow and darkness, leathery wings extended from his shoulders. They were dark like his robes and thin between the monster-like separations of bone and muscle to fly. And his right hand seemed to becoming more of a talon than a hand at all.
“Come with me.”
~~~~~~
A sacrifice? How very old-fashioned… before she could make a biting remark though his body started to transform and he turned into a mix between dracula and a gargoyle. She blinked and stared. Blinked and stared. “Right… is that what you usually look like?” she asked. Eyes wandered over the estranged body. There lay an appeal in this monstrous form. A hunter. A demon. A creature of the night. Something that should only exist in your deepest nightmares. A smile slowly spread over Katherine’s face. Oh yes, she quite liked to see him like this.
~~~~~~
“No,” Rhysand said. “Not usually,” he shook his head and then extended his taloned hand for her to take. “I choose you, with all of the sanity and morality I have left...Come with me.” His fingers had grown long and like vicious claws. So gentle was his motion, so graceful and feline, but so deadly was the knife. His wings flexed before folding behind his body.
~~~~~~~
Katherine hesitated for a second. Everyone with an ounce of sanity and intelligence would have done the same. But she was too intrigued to decline. She merely took his hand, gave a nod and remained silent.
~~~~~~~
A great smile spread across Rhysand’s face, a joyful one and also a smile that was wicked and unlike that which she’d seen before. He wasn’t really himself anymore, or rather he would soon fall into the overwhelming pit that was the magical overflow. Taking hold of her hand with his clawed one there was something rough yet careful in the way he yanked and pulled her close, his free arm looping around her waistline before his wings stretched open to their massive expanse. They lurched off all at once with grace and inhuman speed before they were then gone into the next shadow of the night and reappearing somewhere deep in the forest. His feet landed and they were no longer in their classy, well-dressed shoes but also like some kind of monstrous bird’s claw.
Rhysand dropped Katherine off and left her in the middle of a beautiful clearing that almost seemed as if it couldn’t exist, yet so many had visited this place--the falls could be heard not far off in the distance. A shadow was cast well across the ground in his wake despite their being no possible light to cast it, no way to make it that great with the sun having set beyond the tree’s line. He moved at great speeds, faster than a human’s eye could follow, only stopping just in the darkest shade of the small glenn’s perimeter. Something rustled and then ran out, streaking toward Katherine, a beautiful creature that could have been only of myth. It was no stag, no unicorn, no creature yet told in lore and yet it glittered like the star’s over the Night Court’s land and moved with the fluidity and beauty of the most well versed ballerina.
And Rhysand was going to kill it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was different from flying with Thor. While her uncle went at one constant speed, Rhysand was bound by the movement of his wings. As an experience, flying was amazing, the wind ruffling through her hair and the view were unique. As a matter of transport - geez, did she prefer teleporting! Quicker with more dignity remaining. Katherine had never been someone who liked to rely on others, especially strangers , no matter how dark and mysterious they were.
She had barely brushed down her dress when she noticed the creature darting towards her. Elegance was hardly something to be taken in during the second she noticed it and decided that she had no intention of standing in its way. A second she was in front of it, the next behind it. Shall it ran wherever it wanted, just not into her. Katherine glanced at it with unimpressed scepticism. Whatever she did not know was potentially dangerous, especially if it was this quick. No blade clung to her body but she was by no means weaponless. Another second later and her skin started to turn blue. She could follow in Rhysand’s footsteps and monster up.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Rhysand was grateful for Katherine moving out of the way. There was a ripple and a tremble in the darkness as he reappeared, a full demonic creature somewhere between a massive humanoid raven and a hellish grave keeper with a handful of feathers. He was as majestic as he was grotesque. And without Katherine in the way of the charging beast the high fae was poised for the catch.
The animal didn’t know where to go, caught in a trap and barreling full speed ahead it had no chance to change directions. There was a growl from Rhysand’s throat, a horse-like whine, and a snap. Then Rhysand was gone, leaving the beast to hobble on three working legs and a broken one, his figure disappearing as if wrapped up in the night’s twist. When he resurfaced at Katherine’s side his hand moved down her back, dragging those talons along without much care as to if they ripped through her clothes but he was mindful not to cut her flesh.
“The color suits you,” he said in a deep voice that was both gravel and velvet.
~~~~~~~~~
She watched Rhysand transform into something that was oddly beautiful in its grotesque way. When he attacked the beast, she did not move, just stood there watching in solemn grace. She channelled the ice inside of her. A cold blade grew from her hands while her companion broke the poor creature’s limb. It took his abandonment of the prey to cause a reaction from her. Her muscles twitched into a frown of disapproval. Her bladeless hand caught his arm.
“You do not leave it like this. It is disgraceful. Do not turn a hunt into a mockery. It is an elegant creature, it deserves more than this,” she said sternly. Bright blue eyes cut into his violet one. She did not care what he was and if he could overpower her.
~~~~~~~~~
The fae at her side laughed and it was certainly not the sound or voice that Rhysand had once before. He was a twisted beast of his own making and moved away from her to go resume the hunt. She did not need to appreciate his tactics or his motives. He was not the High Lord of the Night Court in this moment. He was magic given form. He was more than high fae or a god. He was something new and different and that oozed off of him like a rolling fog settling across the land.
Darting through the grass at the animal, Rhysand grabbed it by the throat with one large taloned claw. They stared, momentarily, into each other's eyes before there was a hard break, a squelch, and silence in the glen. Holding in his other massive fist was now a heart, blood spilling unfiltered upon the ground, his feet, his leathery feathery skin. Disgusting. Beautiful. Then the demon raised his hand high while still easily supporting the now dead creature with the other and looked at the final memory of a beat.
Squish.
Immediately following the crumble of the muscle, blood falling around Rhysand and the grass, the earth gave one great ripple of a tremor from where he stood moving outward. It stopped only after reaching the trees, their roots halting further quaking. Magic poured from the heart, the creature, and the demonic lord that had slain it. It rushed around the clearing, swarmed Katherine, and then spread out across the forest in a starry shimmer before all as quickly as it appeared it faded away as it was but the first of many magical releases to the land, and the people.
~~~~~~~~~~
Katherine was relieved to see the end of the creature’s suffering and relaxed for a moment. It remained to just be that one moment though. Her body shook with shock at the trembling earth. She had not expected something that usually only the spire provoked - or her uncle - to happen from a mere kill. The magic was bittersweet. The tickling sensation of power and the prospect of her future surrounded her and she let every second of it sink in.
As quick as the shock came, she regained her composure. The creature was slain and she shook off the ice on her hand. Arms were crossed in front of her stomach, shoulders strong, expression neutral. Silence. His turn.
~~~~~~~~~~~
With his sacrifice made there was only one thing left to do to complete the Great Rite. Rhysand, deep down, did not like this. Spring was not his Time, his Court, but somehow this awful ritual had called him forth to take part. Externally, he was more alive than he had been in years. So he dropped the beast with a heavy thud and the crushed remains of the heart to the ground. Dripping in the red blood that shimmered as if filled with diamonds, Rhysand moved toward Katherine. From within his dark shroud that had come to overtake his form his violet eyes pierced the blackness.
He moved slowly toward the young halfling, thoughtful and stalking, extending his hands despite their stained features.
“Lay with me,” the high fae said, but alas it was no longer truly Rhysand.
~~~~~~~~~
Katherine laughed. It was an odd laugh, one about the absurdity or the situation and one that stemmed from feeling just a tad objectified. “Aren’t you a romantic?” she said, eyes sparkling. She looked at his outstretched hand and considered it for a moment. She then pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side.
“Woo me. I’m not a whore,” she said decidedly.
~~~~~~~~~~
Woo? Overflowing magic and insanity thereby did not see reason, logic, or romanticism. It saw centuries old tradition that would not be stopped because the maiden chosen decided to be coy. How unbecoming of the high lord. Nothing more than a base, instinct driven beast like that Tamlin. Disgusting. This was his court’s problem, not Rhys’. So somewhere in the consciousness of the magic-filled fae Rhysand tried to find control, but he made no hold.
And so he lunged, reaching for her with a wicked grin of play to try and snatch her up.
~~~~~~~
She wasn’t sure whether it was his monstrous form or the way he behaved but it was off putting. It pushed all the wrong buttons. Katherine evaded his grasp and ducked to the side of a tree. “I said woo me, not rape me.” With a heart that slowly picked up speed, her eyes met his and she stared him down. That was not the man she had met before. The High Lord of the fae had been so much in control and this - this was not.
~~~~~~~~~~
True. That is what she said. Still, Rhysand within shook the iron bars of his cage and howled to be freed. This rite was becoming tiresome quickly. How did Tamlin put up with this? Oh, because the women all knew what they were getting into and wanted to be part of glory and honor as the high lord’s mate. But Katherine did not know that, nor did she sign up for this, and where he had known this would be blinding he had not expected this.
He stalked after her playfully, graceful as a cat, not charging but clearly as if he were toying with a mouse. Behind his back those giant wings folded down and he seemed almost drenched in a leather cape, his limbs took on a more normal, human appearance but he was still very much magically engulfed.
“This is an honor,” Rhysand said in that deep, terrible voice of rock and silk. “You’ll feed the land with me!”
~~~~~~~~
One step after another she was stepping back. The alarm bells continue to ring and they were growing stronger. His voice was so unnatural and estranged that it could provoke fear alone. The words however made her snort. “Yeah, I’ve heard that before and this land-” she shook her head “- doesn’t need you. It’s not yours. The only one who needs this is you.” Another step and she almost stumbled. Swaying back and barely able to catch herself, finger nails digging into the bark of a tree.
~~~~~~~
At this the man-monster paused and considered her. He looked shocked, as if for a moment you could actually argue and reason with pure unhinged magic. And in that moment Rhysand broke free through the iron that usually kept a fae and their magic shackled.
“Katherine,” he said, voice wrapped around that horrid sound and his own, twisted and contorted with effort.
“Get out of here immediately. Go!” Rhysand demanded, staggering back two steps before covering his face in his taloned hands, cowering down doubled-over in a fight. “I made a grave error. Go!”
~~~~~~~~
If she hadn’t been scared before, now she fucking was. He did not need to say it twice. She teleported but just a short distance and hoped that whatever Rhysand had turned into could not sense the presence of someone like her father did. Fuck! He could not be left there. He would go after someone else.
She fingered for her phone and started to type. It wasn’t easy when your heart hammered like a blacksmith’s tool and her guard was anywhere but on the phone.
~~~~~~~~~
He could, it was easy, but with what sanity he regained Rhysand remained doubled-over one more moment before taking off. He escaped deep into the woods, far away from Katherine, somewhere he could hide until the dawn. This was unbearable and embarrassing. Could he face her again? His tiny reputation and the opinion of the few he knew mattered deeply and yet now he was certain he was ruined.
Off in the distance where he had holed himself up there was a hearty and mad crow. Magic rippled again through the forest, touching Katherine in her hiding place, before dissipating as it had before.
~~~~~~~~~~
She had just pressed “send” when the magic touched her. For an awful second her heart stopped and she thought that was it. Suddenly the memory of the beautiful creature getting ripped apart strung from a horror movie. What if he found her? She screwed her eyes shut - stuff only stupid people did in horror movies.
No, she had this. She could always get away. But a moment or two of peace and she wondered if that was even necessary. The rustling off the leaves was going in the wrong (or was it right??) direction. Fuck, she was losing him. She teleported a little closer when her phone beeped.
~~~~~~~~~
There was another crow but no wave of magic in it’s wake, only a sorrowful sound that echoed the forest. This was not what he wanted. This was not what he needed--not what these people needed. Of course as a terrifying man of the Night Court he was a bit aloof about what humans needed, he did terrible things for fun, but this was beyond him. He had a line and this was it. It had been crossed and he was furious.
Another wail, mournful, from within a cavern or heavy tree twining. Rhysand did not move from there.