Beneath Shadows and Secrets

♔ 𝕰𝔩𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫 ♔

♔ 𝔑𝔦𝔯𝔞 ♔

Libitina looks the same as the last I saw her. Light eyes that harbour secrets, glinting with the promise of another's downfall. Her blonde hair falls free down to her elbows, pin straight, scattered with braids that are wrapped in metal clasps. Some solid, others fragile and twisted, holding dark black gems against her hair.

I know beneath it lie two curved ears titivated in jewellery, and whatever earrings she wears now skim her shoulders with the end of the tassels. Her entire body in fitted in leather, showing a physique of lean muscle, once that pulses with every slight movement. She still sports the curves of femininity, especially seen in the way she folds her arms to rest beneath her breasts, and fixes her stance to favour her left leg, which lifts her hip somewhat. She looks down on me with lips pulled into that half-hearted smirk, one that is always tied to trouble. One she wears when she does something that she should not. She smiled the same when she sat in Calix's chair during the Solstice, or when she dealt me with a favour after I had caught her rooting through Ezekiel's desk.

The favour I have called on now.

She knows this is trouble. She is the only other, outside the close-knit cohort of beings outside of Abutilon who knows I am alive now, when I should not be. She is in control, despite being stuck in the summoning mark I drew.

"Well, you have looked better." She tells me, eyes skimming my withered frame. "What do you ask of me? To wash you of the vomit down your front?"

Paying no mind to her taunt, instead I look towards the Court House. Zaire has fallen quiet, enough so that it renders me suspicious. I do not have time to embark on a juvenile rapport with Libitina. She may not be aware of the severity of this situation, but I am. I do not look at her as I begin clawing at the dirt on the floor. A small break in the mark, and she can walk across Abutilon grounds and help me.

"I need you to get me away from here." The ground is soft, but I have no luck in tearing the soil away. I muffle a groan of distress, scraping with both of my hands.

Perhaps she sees my panic, for she drops to a crouch, and lays her hand against the barrier between us to steal my attention. "Nira, spare me an explanation. How do you live?"

I shake my head, continuing to tear away at the ground with alacrity. "Not now. You need to get me away from this place." I manage to rip a small chunk of the ground away, splitting the mark and freeing the demon. Libitina curses and does not move.

"Perhaps you should have thought to ask, but I do not have a method to helping you leave." I look to her desperately as she rises, glancing off towards the direction of the Court House.

I almost heave, the stress and anxiety doing little to keep my stomach settled. As I bow over the ground, I let my fingers drag through my hair, pulling it away from my face. "You must – can you fly, or spell? Or even Scere?"

I look up, noticing the odd expression she pins me with. As though she has delved right into my soul and uncovered all of my secrets. It is knowing, and sceptical, and conniving, all at once. "No. I am a demon, and my only skill is in tormenting. I cannot Scere, but I expect you can." She reaches for my arm and drags me from the mark to my feet. She is not delicate, and I am hardly standing before she lets go, leaving me only to fall again.

"Do not lay your hands on me." I snarl at her, bracing myself on my knees. She rolls her eyes.

"Do not expect me to be polite when you chose to summon me while I was in the middle of enjoying some riveting company." She crouches beside me, and with much gentler movements, wraps her palms around my forearms. "Now think, made Fae, of my home, and take me back to him."