War of Winter (Iron Fey Fanfiction)

Chapter 42 - This Savage Darkness

The beat of drums and high whistle of excited fey deep in revelry could be heard nearly three miles away. Crystal had made sure of that. Winter fey swayed and twirled, dressed in terrifying costumes of animal skull masks and dark rags, unaffected by the cold.

She stood off to the side of one of the wild dances around a large bonfire, watching the fey dance their toenails off. A few had already lost some, glanced at the bleeding toe wound, and went right back to dancing. Faerie wine would do that to a person, she supposed.

Keeping carefully sober, Crystal glanced around and tried not to fidget in her outfit: a black dress with several slits up the side to expose her muscular legs and the many knives strapped to them, the bodice plunging to a suggestive v-shape while the cut enhanced the curve of her breasts. The dress had no back, and she was already regretting that decision as she leaned up against an icy tree.

She spotted Ash conversing with a few winter ladies, sipping a dark green colored liquid. Crystal reminded herself to pray for him; he wouldn't be escaping the women anytime soon by the looks in their eyes.

The feeling of cold, soft lips suddenly upon her neck made her start and whirl, pinning the unfortunate soul to the tree with a wicked black dagger to his throat. She relaxed as soon as her brain registered who it was. "You should know to never sneak up on a woman," she growled, still holding the dagger to his neck.

Rowan smirked, his eyes rimmed heavily with kohl and a dotting of dark silver highlighting his cheekbones. "I should know never to sneak up on you." He grinned and raised his hands in surrender.

"You're drunk, aren't you? That's why your senses are clouded." Crystal narrowed her eyes at him, trying to read him.

"I am entirely sober, dove." He gently placed his hands on her wrist, bringing the dagger away from his throat.

"You look ridiculous in that costume," she said, sheathing her dagger. He wore all black, a sleeveless midnight tunic that exposed his glorious arms and black velvet trousers with freshly shined black boots.

"This is a revelry, is it not? Aren't we supposed to look ridiculous?" he replied, his eyes raking up and down her body, pausing briefly on her breasts. "However, you do not look ridiculous."

Crystal felt her blood heat as his pupils dilated with desire. She decided to change the subject. "She hasn't shown up yet," she said, concern weighing her voice slightly. Rowan knew to whom she referred.

"Perhaps she is on her way. Give her time - she will come, as you said she seeks these kinds of revels out frequently," Rowan said, glancing at the dancing crowds and taking a sip of blood red wine.

Crystal shifted from foot to foot, needing a distraction. She snatched the drink from Rowan's hand and downed it, then pulled him toward one of the dancing crowds. He didn't protest or try to stop her. They fell into step beside the others, the music pounding in Crystal's ears. They moved around the bonfire, the orange flames a stark contrast to the black of night.

Rowan pulled her back against him, his hips swaying against hers as they moved in time to the music. Crystal looped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to hers, kissing him fiercely. He responded immediately, pushing his tongue into her mouth and digging his fingernails into the bare skin of her back.

Crystal grinned against the kiss and pulled away abruptly, stepping out of his embrace and dancing away, urging him to pursue her. And pursue her he did. They played the game all throughout the crowds of dancing fey, Crystal darting away from him when he was close to getting her.

A thrill of satisfaction went through her belly as she saw frustration mixed with desire cross his face. He shoved drunken fey out of the way in his chase, only causing Crystal to dance and dart faster away from him, this time heading for the dark shadows of the trees.

She let herself slow just a bit to let him catch her. When he finally did, Rowan snatched her arm, pushing her up against a thick tree and kissing her roughly. "You infuriate me, Crystal," he growled against her mouth, biting down on her bottom lip.

"I know," she replied rather breathlessly, letting him push his knee between her thighs. She moved her hips forward against his, wanting him inside her. She didn't want to think about her sister, or the war. She just wanted him.

As if reading her thoughts, Rowan lifted her, pressing her harder against the tree as she looped her legs around his waist. She dragged her hands through his hair as he kissed her neck, his teeth and tongue scraping against her skin. "Rowan please, we haven't got all night," she gasped.

"Bossy, bossy, bossy, aren't we?" he murmured against her skin, the press of his arousal making her mind go as fuzzy as the wine. He dug his fingers into her hips as his lips travelled down the exposed skin of her neck to her breasts, his hips grinding against hers all the while.

Crystal let out a deep moan and nearly snapped at him to hurry when a bloodcurdling scream that differed from the others tore through the air. Both she and Rowan froze, Rowan carefully letting her down to the ground as she deftly drew her dagger.

More screams and cries of fear reached them and Crystal glanced at Rowan. "She's here." He nodded and drew weapons of his own, two curling black blades decorated with blue sapphires. They carefully made their way back toward the revelry, keeping to the shadows. Crystal did not want her sister to see her immediately; she wanted to analyze her movements first, see what her sister had planned.

Apparently, a sort of torture was the plan. Dark tendrils of shadows snatched at fey, wrapping them in its grasp and lifting them off the ground, raising them in the air and tossing them about, some pinning fey to trees and against each other. Fey ran and drew weapons against them in vain, not even making it five feet before a tendril of shadow grabbed at them.

And then, Crystal saw her. A woman of vengeance and glorious darkness stepped into the center of the chaos, dressed in a long coat of dragon skin that hugged her curves and muscles. Neve looked much the same as the last time Crystal had seen her, with long hair black as night interrupted by creamy white streaks. Her eyes were inky black, the light of the bonfires dancing in them.

She stepped forward with black leather boots, the toes tipped in silver. She stepped forward and gave a small, satisfied smile filled with evil and a savage joy at seeing fey dangling from her shadows. The tendrils stilled, some still holding fey in their grasp. Neve came to a halt and glanced around, spreading her arms.

"Well, now. How exciting this evening is!" Neve spoke, meeting every fey's eyes. "How...precious...this all is that you've decided to throw such a party. And in who's honor, might I ask? Or...was it thrown in none other than my honor? To draw me out of the long hibernation in which I have been in all these years."

Crystal felt the hairs on her skin stand on end, an icy chill spreading up her spine. Rowan tensed beside her, as well. Thankfully, none of the tendrils had sensed them, as they were hidden by darker shadows.

"Is it possible that, after all these years," Neve continued, "that someone dear to me has grown lonely without my presence, and simply wants to see me again?" She turned toward where Crystal and Rowan were hidden.

Crystal felt a spike of fear that she had not felt in a while shoot through her. Neve paused, her eyes landing directly on Crystal. "Could it be that my dear sister has missed me so very, very much?" she said quietly, rage lacing her voice.

A beat of silence echoed throughout the clearing before Crystal felt herself swept off her feet, a tendril of darkness wrapping tightly around her body, around her mouth, and bringing her to rest, dangling upside down, before her sister.