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divinemare · 1 year

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⊹₊ ⋆ 𝔠𝔬𝔩𝔡 𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔯𝔩𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔰 ⋆₊ ⊹

┊⁀➷ nyx x oc

┊ part seven

part six

☁︎·̩͙✧

The next morning, Demetria awoke to a new sensation, one she couldn't quite place, but one that was rather... warm and cozy in her chest. She'd spent the entire night talking, dancing, and kissing Nyx as they'd watched the northern lights. It had been the strangest, yet most comforting experience of her entire life. Not once before had she thought it would be possible to have that kind of interaction with the Prince of the Night without threading each other to death if only they breathed, let alone wanting to be kissed and touched by him.

Her lips felt it then, as she remembered the feeling of his lips on hers, how they fit so perfectly and felt so out of this world, how his hands roamed her body in search of even greater proximity than possible and how they could be so loving, sweet and soft, but also hard, sensual and full of lust.

She cursed herself a couple of times before getting out of bed. She didn't know what the hell she had done last night, what kind of enchantment had taken hold of her, but she could feel it still dominating her. They had parted when it was all too obvious that they had to get back to the party before anyone noticed they were both gone and they haven't spoken since, a last glance and a sly smile was all they exchanged as both families returned to the castles for some rest before the next day of celebration took place.

Just as she emerged from the bath in her dressing gown, three knocks on her door brought Demetria’s thoughts back to reality. When she gave permission, a servant entered her room.

Malika was unlike any other servant, by far her favorite and one of her true friends. The female was part High Fae and part Ice Troll; she had pointed ears and the normally larger, sleeker features and body of a High Fae, but her skin was a cold blue and her upper teeth were slightly too large for her mouth, what should be white in her eyes was almost completely black, were it not for the deep sky blue of her irises. She was also much taller than a normal High Fae. Malika had taken care of her since she was ten, and with her rather shy and sweet personality, it hadn't been hard to befriend her.

"I'm surprised to see you here," was the first thing the blue-skinned female said, a playful smile on her lips, as if she knew something Demetria was unaware of.

"In my room, you mean?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Malika approached as she sat at the dressing table, her hair wet and in need of shaping. "I saw you out last night with the night boy," the air in her lungs suddenly vanished at the female’s words, and despite her attempts to hide the change in her body, Malika noticed it at once, her rather cheerful smile intensifying. "I thought you couldn't stand him".

"And I can't," she replied more quickly and defensively than she intended. It was partly true. She couldn't stand the way he made her feel, not knowing what exactly the feeling was left her out of control over it and she didn't like that. Demetria couldn't stand his cheeky grin and his rather obnoxious behaviour, he was still a pain in the ass, it was just that she felt weird about it and found herself unable to stop thinking about him. She felt different, she didn't know how, but the feeling was... there.

"If you say so, milady," she looked at the female through the mirror, but said nothing. Malika had known her since she was a child, knew she was lying, but still she didn't bring it up again, much to Demetria's pleasure.

Once Malika had finished with her, she escorted Demetria to the royal dining room, where her family and guests were already waiting for breakfast. When she entered, Nyx was sited between Elliot and her brother, the three males engaged in conversation, but at her entrance, Nyx raised his eyes at her, a sly, way too personal smirk slipped from her lips, and Demetria got that old and too well known desire to punch it out of his face. She simply ignored it, and smiled to the others present.

"There you are darling, we've been waiting for you, come on, your mother is starving and you know how she gets," Kallias instantly earned a glare from his mate at his comment, to which he simply responded with a blown kiss.

Demetria tried not to think too much about what happened last night, or the fact that Nyx Archeron was sited right in front and she could feel his eyes linger upon her far too often, but she found it much more difficult than she expected, and much more difficult than she liked to admit, even to herself.

Breakfast passed in soft and amid conversation, not to much of her tho, she just stared at her food and now and then commented something, still trapped in her own thoughts. That, until Asterin changed abruptly the subject, earning a kick from her.

"So, we're not talking about my brother and Dem dancing last night, or the fact that my dear cousins just lost a bet with me, or.... Ouch!"

After breakfast, Demetria approached the High Lady of the Night Court with a box in her hands that had been carefully wrapped by her, Feyre was talking with her godmother and her aunt when she went up to them.

“Oh, darling, what’s that?” The High Lady asked, leaving the conversation with the other females to walk away with the youngest.

"A gift, I thought, since I won't be able to be around for your birthday this year, I'd give you an early happy birthday present right now," she smiled sweetly, handing over the beautifully decorated box.

“Oh, Demetria,” Feyre pulled the young female towards her for an embrace, and Demetria returned it with with appreciation.

In her century of life, Demetria had known many powerful females, she herself was the daughter of one, but Feyre Archeron had always been at the top of her list, always so sweet, always so welcoming, always so motherly and loving and full of joy, but also fierce and protective and powerful, she had been the first High Lady of all Prythian and had rightfully earned her place.

"Thank you very much, my dear, you shouldn't have bothered," the older female said with a big smile, pulling out of the embrace.

"Oh, it's nothing, really, just something I found in the woods and figured you'd like."

Feyre smiled enthusiastically before opening her gift, gaping then at the beautiful watercolours.

Malika had long ago taught her that flower petals were great for making watercolors, and that the most amazing and beautiful colors could be obtained by the unique color of the flower, she had never really considered the knowledge useful, until she had seen some of the prettiest flowers that only bloomed at the Winter Court and remembered a painting Feyre had given her on her last birthday. It had been strikingly beautiful, and when Demetria saw the flowers blooming, she thought it might make a good birthday present.

“They are absolutely beautiful, thank you, Demetria,” the female squeezed her hand before retrieving back to the other females.

✧₊˚.

Nyx had watched the whole interaction between Demetria and his mother with an involuntary smile. Blaze had been talking about something, Elliot had laughed and acted stupidly smitten as he was, but Nyx hadn't paid them the slightest bit of attention.

"Oh my-, go away, please, before I throw up my breakfast," Asterin urged her brother, Nyx hadn't realised that it had been so obvious that even his sister and Kardam were scowling at him.

"Uhm, yeah, I'll be back in a minute, Blaze," without waiting for the male's response, he stood up and walked towards Demetria, who didn't notice him approaching at all.

"Well, looks like it's just you and me, then," Elliot said, resting his chin on his hand and looking at the white-haired male.

"Darya, it's your turn," Blaze said to the female at the other side of the table.

"What? But it was my turn last night!" She argued.

"Ok, you two have to decide, because I may have a heart for both of you, but not a body, or, well, actually I could have my body-"

"Oh my Mother, someone cut out his tongue, please!" Hollyver stopped the words that were about to come out of her brother's mouth with a snarl and a horrified expression.

"You know, Holly, just because you don't have anyone to love in your life doesn't mean you have to take out your frustration on my love life."

"Oh, you're going to regret that, you bastard!" Before Elliot could react, Hollyver launched for him.

Nyx stopped hearing the utter chaos behind him as soon as he was close enough to Demetria to smell her scent. It was undoubtedly what had driven him most mad for decades, the unique and all-too-precise scent of honey and winter. He remembered, then, an occasion when Viviane had given his mother and aunts some beautiful snowdrop flowers, which only bloomed at the Winter Court and happened to be Demetria's favourite flowers —as he had discovered thanks to Asterin—, and which also smelled just like Demetria: of honey and winter. He had been so enraged by the smell that had invaded not only his home, but also the House Wind and his aunt Elain's house, and that house was filled with delicious smelling flowers. There was no escape, wherever he went, he smelled Snowdrops, he smelled her. It had driven him so mad that he had thrown the flowers from his house into the Sidra. His father, for some reason, had lied for him when his mother had found out that the flowers were gone, saying it had been his fault, that he had accidentally knocked over the vase and the flowers had been ruined.

To this day, he was still haunted by that smell whenever it was winter in his court or he was close enough to her to smell it, he just couldn't seem to escape it wherever he went, apparently.

"You were very quiet at breakfast, I still can't decide if it was because you were too tired from last night or because you were ignoring me," at the sound of his voice, Demetria had startled and jumped slightly.

She turned to look at him, and Nyx felt his heart drop into his hands when he saw Demetria’s flushed cheeks and her beautifully unique eyes looking up at him at last. If he hadn't seen the look in her eyes when he walked into the dining room and she saw him, he would have sworn he'd dreamed everything that had happened last night. Now, with her so close to him, he was finally one hundred percent sure that it hadn't been a dream. His heart leapt in his chest so hard he could have sworn the organ almost jumped out of his chest.

"You- I- What are you doing?" She whispered in a low, anxious voice, as if someone were to eavesdrop their conversation.

"Nothing, what are you doing? Are you trying to run away from me?"

"I wasn't...!" When she realized she was raising her voice too much, she sighed and closed her eyes to calm herself, a gesture Nyx knew all too well, as she almost always used it to calm herself because of him. He smiled sideways but tried to hide it when Demetria opened her eyes again. "I wasn't running away, least of all from you," she folded her arms indignantly, and Nyx couldn't help an amused chuckle as he too folded his arms and leaned against the wall, shielding her flushed ears from the views of everyone inside.

"Did you know that your ears turn red when you lie? It's very subtle, I must admit, and of course I can't see it with all that beautiful white hair covering them, but," before Demetria could protest, he moved so close to her that she didn't have time to react as he pushed her hair aside to take a look at her ears. They were, indeed, flushed.

They stood like that in silence for a minute, Nyx pulling one side of her hair to her ear so that the pink of it remained visible, his hands lingering too close to her neck, and he stared into her beautiful, mesmerising eyes with no intention of ever looking away. How had he not noticed it before? That when she was mad or frustrated, her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly?

"Will you stop this, Nyx?" Demetria pushed his hand away, and Nyx couldn't help but smile as he licked his lips and furrowed his eyebrows in such incredulity as he leaned back against the wall.

"Stop what?"

"That," she pointed his body up and down with her hands.

"What what?"

"For the Mother, please... no, I get it now, you just want to frustrate me, don't you?" She snorted, rolling her eyes, Nyx just cocked his head, amusement written all over his face. "Of course you do, that's what you always do, you just want to annoy me, and make me mad, and-"

What Demetria hadn't taken into account was that Nyx had already learned the perfect way to shut her up, and now that he knew it, he wasn't about to let that knowledge slide.

And so her words were cut off so unexpectedly by his hand on her cheek and his body forcing hers against the wall, they were now hidden from prying eyes, and it gave him the freedom to be as close to her as he wanted.

"Stop what exactly, Dem? What?" He whispered the last word in her ear and, just like the night before, he heard her heartbeat increase until it matched his own. A symphony so perfect it made him gasp internally, but a symphony Demetria didn't seem to hear at all.

"What do you want from me, Nyx?"

Her voice sounded so serious that it snapped him out of the enchantment their synchronized heart had plunged him into.

Nyx sighed and rested his head on her shoulder, if only for a split second, until he regained some of his self-control. He looked into her beautiful eyes, which were looking at him with such frustration and confusion. Damn the mother, even their feelings were in a ridiculous sync, because he felt just as frustrated and confused.

"I want you to hear it," he replied desperately.

"You want me to hear what?" She asked back, growing increasingly frustrated.

"Hear it, Demetria, just. hear. it."

They got into a horrible silence, in which she scowled at him, trying to search for some more rational answer, only to find pure despair and frustration in him as well.

Nyx waited, and waited, and waited for something, anything, any sign she could give that she could hear too. But nothing came, nothing at all.

So his heart slowly lowered its beat, and the excitement in it descended into a painful emptiness, he lowered his head slightly, defeated, and took a step away from her before it was all too much.

Without a word, he wanted to get as far away from her as he could, so he turned around, walking down the hallway, until,

"I heard it," he had never stopped as abruptly as he did then. "I heard it but...", at her lack of words, he turned around slowly, fearing disappointment again. "But I don't know what it means."

He released the air he hadn't been able to breathe, and so he took one step, then another, closer to her, her delicious scent again invading his nostrils with intensity.

"Yeah, me neither."

"Then what?" He took another step closer.

"Then what what?" She rolled her eyes, and he again felt the need to smile.

"Then, what are we going to do?"

"Nothing," he took the last step he needed for them to be so close that she had to tilt her head slightly to look him in the eye.

"Nothing?" She repeated, incredulous.

"Yeah, nothing, nothing at all. Just once, Dem, don't do anything, don’t try to control it, don’t try to understand it, just do nothing, just listen to it," Nyx took Demetria’s chin under his fingers and stroke the skin under his thumb.

"I don't know how to do that," she admitted in a mere whisper. Nyx smiled, not taking his eyes from hers.

"I know.”

"Then what?"

"Nothing," they spoke in whispers now, their faces mere inches apart.

"Ok, then, nothing."

And so they stayed there for a while, doing nothing, and just hearing it.

✧₊˚.

Seraphina had begged her to go see the puppies, Demetria hadn't been able to refuse the girl, so she had taken the younglings, with Asterin, Elliot and Kardam, out of the castle and to the stables. Hollyver and Darya had decided to "leave it for next time", which really meant they were too hungover and went back to bed.

Beyond the horses, there was also the place where they kept the family wolves, all of whom, frankly, belonged more to Demetria than anyone else. She had trained most of them since birth, the pack now looked up to her as the alpha.

"Come on, tell us everything!" pleaded Asterin for the fifth time.

"I've already told you; we danced, he was his usual prick self, and that's it, what more is there to tell?" She dared not look at them, thinking that, especially Kardam, would instantly realise her lie if she looked up. Instead, she focused on the puppies playing with Seraphina, Inara and Asra.

"Oh, you're not fooling us, I know there's something else you're not saying."

"Honestly, I hadn't even realised you'd danced, I was busy being dragged around by someone," Elliot complained, pointing out his disbelief too obviously to Asterin, who merely shrugged, too eager to hear her story to pay him any attention. "I thought you were bitter enemies."

"Oh, my obvious and stupidly naive cousin, of course they’re not-"

"We are! I mean, not enemies, but not friends or allies or anything resembling any kind of relationship," she rolled her eyes, wanting to end the conversation there and grateful for Elliot's obliviousness.

It didn't feel right to lie to her friends, even if it was a small omission of the truth. But she still couldn't tell them what she didn't understand. First she had to find out what the hell had happened, yesterday night and today, and what was going to happen, before she could tell them. After all, if things didn't end well —which was a very likely possibility— she didn't want to have the reminder of them that something had happened at all.

Besides, she didn't want to spend the last day she had with her friends talking about such complicated and frustrating things, she would leave that for later, for the one person she needed to have that conversation with.

Mother, how she now missed the days when the most difficult thing with Nyx was to try not to hate him.

✧₊˚.

Demetria walked through the forest with her heart in her mouth, the hood of her cloak pulled back to hide her face, her breathing was rapid, if anyone found her sneaking out at such hours....

"There you are, I thought you weren't coming."

She stopped in her tracks, but did not look up. They were far from her court, on the border between the Middle and the Winter Court, she didn't know what was more dangerous, the fact that she had done all this behind the backs of her entire family and court, or the place they were in.

Demetria gathered her thoughts and calmed her fears, raising her head and staring at the owner of the voice, her expression sharp as ice, as she pulled her hood down.

"Yes, well, it seems we're both full of surprises, how did you get out of your court?" She raised an eyebrow suspiciously, her eyes itching to use her power to probe into the true intentions behind this encounter, but she held back, waited for whatever was about to be said.

"That's a story for another day, I'm afraid, we don't have much time."

"Then get to the point. Now. Before I find out for myself."

"Accept the deal."

Demetria rolled her eyes and huffed incredulous at what she had just heard. When she snapped out of her astonishment, she burst out laughing, the whole thing had been nothing more than a sad attempt of a joke. A true waste of her time and energy.

"Yeah, no. If you were that bored, you could have said so in your note instead of wasting my time," she was about to turn her back on the cloaked figure and walk away.

"Wait! Just... wait, listen to me," the voice sounded desperate now, pleading.

Demetria considered it for a second, before her curiosity made her give in and turn away as she clenched her jaw.

"Speak. Now, and be very clear."

"Take the deal. Marry that son of a bitch, or at least pretend you will."

"That doesn't sound very clear to me. Why, for the fucking Cauldron's sake, would I do that?"

"Because you can help me save my court, you can help me take that motherfucker down once and for all."

For a moment she stared at the figure in confusion, pulling her eyebrows together and analyzing every word that was said.

"Put an end to what, exactly? Tamlin?"

"Please, he's nothing more than a dog that barks but can't actually bite, it’s his horrible son who takes on his worst traits, but multiplied. He's the one plotting behind your back, plotting even behind Tamlin's back, he's tired of his father not taking steps to hunt you down and marry you to him, or kill you so you're not a threat to his plans."

"He plans..." Her face fell as she comprehended each word and tied her own conclusions, her face pale much worse than natural. "He plans to kill his father, ascend to High Lord."

That would be bad, to say the least. Abraxas was anything but a leader, he would lead the courts into civil wars, he would feud with every High Lord who disagreed with him and, being the manipulative bitch that he was, he would probably twist the narrative of her powers to gain the support of those he could manipulate into fearing her.

The cloaked figure nodded, then spoke again."He wants to destroy you and your court for the humiliation you have subjected him to, and..."

"And what?" Getting no answer, Demetria took a step closer, gritting her teeth. “And what?”

"And... he wants to destroy the Night Court, turn other courts against all of you, get revenge for what Feyre and Rhysand did to Tamlin. Ridiculous, isn't it? He wants to kill his father, blame the High Lady and the High Lord for it, and then use it all as an excuse to start a Mother damned war all over again."

"That's... that's not possible," she tried to laugh it all off, refusing to see what was in front of her. "He'd be a new High Lord, too young, they won't take him seriously, let alone knowing what Tamlin himself did in the past."

But when again there was no answer to that, Demetria felt her heart give a flutter at the hole in the plot that still remained to be filled.

"What aren't you telling me?" She asked, startled by the silent answer.

"He already has the support of Eris's nephew, who would gladly put a knife through his cousin's heart to get to the throne."

She knew Rein, he was an absolute imbecile like his father, and just as bitter about not having been the one to gain power. He was very influential in the Autumn Court, those who had been his father's supporters were now his, the court could be divided if he could get just enough to win even more support. Exposing her secret would be a perfect way, for example.

"Just... just him?"

"No, not just him. I don't know how, but he contacted the Prince of Vallahan, you know very well they didn't accept any peace deal long ago after the war with Hybern, peace is not an option, certainly especially not now. And, he's also getting support from Dawn, probably, if he plays his cards right, if you or the Night Court make a mistake."

Demetria took a step back, her mouth suddenly so dry that she had to swallow twice and lick her lips to moisten them again.

That would put three of the seven Courts against them, not to mention a whole other kingdom, and, even if they had secured the support from Amren and her daughter, therefor of Varian, he was merely a Prince, not the High Lord, and Tarquin had daughter, if she too was convinced…

"Demetria they... they know about your secret, they all know about it.”

She dared not blink, she dared not breathe, she could not think straight. How was it possible, how had all this happened?

After several minutes of feeling her heart in her throat, she swallowed hard and finally got up the courage to look up and speak, her voice firmer than her legs felt.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked, more wary of the whole situation, of this help.

"Because we can help each other, if we work together. I will help you avoid a war against your court and that of your friends, and, you will help me become the next High Lady of the Spring Court after we both kill my horrible brother."

Demetria stared into Selah's green eyes when her cloak fell off her head and noticed a spark she had never seen in the female's always dull and drab eyes. Demetria didn't have to read her soul to know that the firstborn of the Spring Court was ready to take her throne, to whatever ends.

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