The King and Queen were quite a lovely couple, and they were curious when Malik strolled into the room with his arm linked with hers, especially when he had waved them off the night before in his attempt to coax her into the bath.
"Malik, we weren't expecting you for a few more days," the king said, stepping down from the low dais to embrace his son.
Etani slipped her arm free of his and her eyes swept the room, taking in the quiet space with very few courtiers present that early. The Queen was watching her intently, and she knew what was on those thoughts. She was not interested in Malik as a mate, though she couldn't blame the woman for wanting a partner for her son. Even if they were different species.
She had to wonder what children with Malik would look like though, halflings with her skin and his hair, perhaps?
The thought made her want to laugh, it wasn't likely he would survive intercourse with her anyway, it was laughable if she were in her powers, the urge to kill him would be too great.
"Are you going to introduce us to your friend?" the queen asked as she swept down to hug her son tightly.
"This is Etani, a miscreant who snuck aboard my ship," Malik said and grinned when she looked at him with an indignant glare.
"Is that right?" the king asked.
Etani nodded slowly, unsure what to say to them. "It was a matter of convenience," she said quietly.
The woman's eyes focused on Etani's mouth as she spoke. The Queen was annoyingly observant, and her eyes swept back to Malik, studying his neck and shoulders.
"Interesting, you're clearly not one of our kind," the king said.
"Etani is one of the Fae," Malik supplied.
"Fae?" the king asked, squinting as he tried to remember the word.
"One of the Lords and Ladies of the Courts of Faerie," Malik said, the two nodded in realisation.
It was so amusing to watch their expressions, so open and unable to hide it, which was so different to the cold indifference of the mythicals.
"Why didn't you just move by the normal means for your kind?" the king asked. It was clear to see his fascination with her, he was almost projecting it.
"I can't at the moment due to complications back in Ayathian. My kind are uncommon even there."
"Alaric trying to add to his collection?" the king asked darkly, and she couldn't hold the laugh in.
"Is he that well known for it?" That was interesting, and rather amusing.
"Very much so. Everyone knows he likes to collect unusual beings."
"And with your physical appearance, it's not all that surprising he would try," the queen said.
"How long will you be staying? We'd be glad to offer you a place here in Istralis."
That was a rather generous, and potentially lethal offer the queen made, but Etani only smiled and tried to ignore the way they reacted to the simple show of happiness.
"That is an exceptionally generous offer, however I am needed elsewhere."
"You're a stowaway," Malik said, meeting her glare with a smug smile.
"Exactly, you're obligated," the king said, snatching at the excuse.
"To what purpose would you have me staying here?" she demanded of Malik.
"As my personal guest," he said.
She could see his parents looking between the two of them in a way she didn't like at all. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to respectfully decline your offer."
"We can always put you back in the cell and dump your stubborn backside back off at Ayathian," he said with perfect calm.
"I could break both of your legs," she countered.
The King and Queen exchanged a glance, even as Malik burst out laughing.
"Isn't she fantastic?" he asked his parents.
"It'd be good for you to have her around. Teach you some humility," the queen murmured.
"You need a stronger woman than I to teach him humility," Etani said dryly, making Malik scowl, but his father burst out laughing.
"I feel like I should know who you are, why is your name so familiar?" the queen asked, frowning at her.
"I thought that too," the king said, still grinning.
"Common name," Etani said, turning her eyes from the couple as Russo and the other brother came into the room.
This could end poorly, and she tilted her head at the two, Malik looking around and his eyes widened in a moment of alarm. How any of them could lie to anyone was a small miracle, they projected every thought like a shout.
"There you two are... did dad agree with me?"
"Dad?" Etani asked, the word unknown to her.
"Another word for father, mum and dad, mother and father," Malik supplied.
"Your language was difficult enough to learn, do you have to change it constantly?" she complained.
"Agree with what?" the king asked, throwing a glance at Malik who cringed at her, they knew what was coming.
"Don't say anything, Russo," Malik warned.
Etani dropped her face into her hand, knowing full well that would only get the couple more interested.
"Say what? What's going on?" the king demanded.
Inching herself back from the conversation, she angled towards the door and was ready to run should the need arise.
"That's the queen of Winter," Russo said, pointing at her for dramatic effect.
Her brows lifted as she looked at his finger and contemplated biting it off.
"What?" the king demanded.
"Etani... as in Princess Etania?" the queen asked.
Etani shrugged, inching herself further back from them.
"Princess? No, Queen... wait, Princess? In Ayathian?"
Looking up at Russo, she very much wanted to smack him.
"Epharis' new bride?" the king asked, half horrified by the idea.
"Not really 'new' at this point..." Etani said, unsure of how long she had been married to the lich. "You're an annoyingly well-informed bunch aren't you...?"
"Do you really want to be kicked through another wall?" Malik asked his giant brother.
"She won't do that again," Russo said.
She looked at him, her face clear that yes. Yes, she would. "How much are you willing to bet on that?" she asked.
"You brought a Queen of Faerie into Istralis without telling anyone?" the queen was indignant.
"I wasn't going to go around announcing that! She's on the run, what am I supposed to do?"
"You're supposed to keep your mouth shut, Malik," Etani growled, frustrated by the lot of them.
"We could get a lot out of the Fae if we ransom her out," Russo said.
"What could you possibly want from the Fae that you would risk your life for?" Etani demanded. "That kick was a love tap compared to what I will do to you if you try that again," she said in a low voice, the only warning the man would get.
He glared at her and she bared her teeth at him, which seemed to have the desired effect, given her double canines. His face went slightly white and then flooded with colour as his anger flared.
"I am here under the invitation of Malik. I am a guest, and you will treat me as such," she said to the giant. "Or would you rather I see this stupidity as an act of aggression against both Ayathian and Winter? I'm sure my people will be glad for the chance to wipe your city off the map. Fae like war."
She wasn't lying either, if it was righteous and meant they could kill indiscriminately, then the Fae were exceptionally quick to turn vicious, especially against the humans whom they held a grudge against. And if it was in defence of their Queen, they were ravenous.
"There is no aggression," the king snapped at his son, who was still glaring at her. "Isn't that right, Russo? None at all."
"Right, no aggression," the giant man growled.
She didn't believe him, but there was nothing more she could do about it right then, unless her actions be seen as aggressive. Regardless, she didn't think her problems with the giant were over.
"Well, welcome to Istralis, I'm sorry we aren't prepared for your visit," the queen said in an effort to ease the tension.
"I hadn't intended anyone to know I was here, or even on his boat," she said, nodding at Malik.
"How is it you came to be captured in the first place?" the king asked. "From all accounts that should have been almost impossible."
"I was wounded, Malik and his mage treated me."
"Is it healed?" the queen asked.
"Yes, it no longer causes me issue. Though I'd probably be dead if he hadn't found me."
Malik shrugged, trying not to look smug that he had saved the life of a Queen.
"The Fae can die?"
"I can die, I simply can't stay dead."
None of them were getting it and she frowned, thinking of a way to word it that they would get. Resurrection was nothing to brag about in Faerie, it was common.
"It's a little bit like a ghoul, you die and then are reanimated. Except that when I die my soul goes to another place and my body is grown—" She broke off, tilting her head slightly as a thought popped into her head. How had she regenerated a body if there was no crystal? Did she still reform from a part of Versalis? Did he have to cut a piece of himself off? That wasn't going to be fun for him.
They stared at her while she thought and she shook her head, forcing herself back to the conversation at hand. "I will have a new body," she simplified the explanation.
The King grunted his surprise at that.
"Not all that many of us are that way, but some. It depends on the species usually," she said, studying the king while he studied her.
She had never spent time with humans and the whole experience was more than a little confusing, given how much they were both similar and incredibly different to her own kind, and it only made her realise that she would have killed any one of them had they crossed her path when she was hungry. They simply didn't matter to her, or at least, they didn't matter before, and the fact that her opinion of the humans was changing was more than a little alarming.
Once she was back to herself, she would likely go back to eating humans, wouldn't she?
Shaking her head at his quizzical expression, she turned to Malik.
"Why don't you show me around? I hadn't heard of this city before you mentioned it, I'm curious to see what a human city is like."
He nodded quickly and offered his arm to her, Etani accepting it quickly before turning to the king and queen and bowing to them politely.
"It was a pleasure meeting you both."
The kind bowed in return, but the queen was looking down at her arm in Malik's with a slight frown on her lips.
Following Malik's gentle pull on her arm, she looked around the halls as they headed back out the way they had come in the day before, stepping out onto the stairs and down into the garden.
"You have odd relatives," she said, making the man laugh softly and nod his agreement.
"No one ever said humans were normal," he said.
"If they were, they would be lying."
He glanced at her with his head slightly tilted, curious about something.
"My mother is smitten with you," he said.
"She doesn't know me," Etani said dryly, knowing full well the woman wouldn't be so keen on her being near her son if she knew what Etani was like.
"Even so, do not be surprised if she tries to convince you to stay."
"I really don't need another husband, and in all honesty Malik, you would not survive intercourse with me." She wasn't bragging, it was fairly simple and blunt fact, he was human, and he was delicate in more ways than he realised.
Pulling her to a stop, he looked down at her with an eyebrow raised and she saw the challenging tilt to his glare.
"How do you know that?" he demanded.
"You're human."
"So?"
"Do you have any idea of how violent sex can be between mythicals?" She wasn't being rude, she genuinely wanted to know if he was aware of the risk.
"No…" he said, scowling now.
"I would kill you, within minutes possibly. If you are curious, then you will be better off with a nice dryad woman. Something less violent than me. I eat people, remember?"
"What makes you think I am even interested in you like that?" his chin lifted slightly.
She laughed. "Your heartbeat increases when you look at me, you have a tendency to stare at my backside when I'm in front of you, and you watch my lips when I talk."
He looked up to her eyes and then scowled, irritated.
"Do not feel embarrassed, your reaction is normal. I was bred to attract the attention and desire of men, human men especially."
He frowned at her and she smiled back at him, amused. That was until he grabbed her face and kissed her hard on the lips.
She froze, her eyes wide and indignant that he would dare. Him, a human!
Jerking back from him, she backed away several steps and the warmth of his mouth lingered on hers, almost burning, even though they had only been touching for a few seconds.
He blinked once and then his face turned red.
"I was not inviting you to challenge my statement, Malik," she said slowly, trying to force down her anger and keep herself from ripping him in half.
"I know, I'm sorry. I wasn't really thinking and I just…" he shook his head, his eyes on the grass between her feet. "I apologise, I was not thinking clearly, and it will not happen again," he said formally.
Watching him for several more seconds, she forced her anger down and then nodded, accepting his apology, even though she wanted to hurt him and make him pay for daring to touch her, but then a thought came into her mind and she tilted her head, considering him.
"Thank you for not slapping me into oblivion, as I would have deserved," He said sheepishly.
She snorted her amusement at the mental image. "I was considering ripping your throat out, actually," she said, and he met her eyes once more, wary and uncertain.
When she didn't glare at him again, he offered his arm and she took it, allowing him to guide her down the path and into the grounds, though they were not permitted to leave them again without suitable protection.