Drachne Ch. 05

Aless' wings drooped backwards, and her thin and frail arms coming out from them to go around Kisten's waist. The harpy dropped her head between the salamander's breasts and started crying, "You... Barely survived. Won't sister take into account?"

"Arachne... Is arachne." Kisten shivered, "Women born to rule. Men born to fight. I not Irrlichdan. I have no right to speak to sister. No right to complain when she sentences me. Probably bring me back, undead. Have to run."

"Fuckfuck." Aless cried, and clung as tightly as she could, which wasn't much. "I never leave you. Nevernever."

Kisten could probably just pick her up and move her. Harpies were easy to mistake for humans in a feather cloak, apart from their razor-clawed feet. They were delicate things, even for a weak salamander like a white. Kisten could overpower her woman.

If they were to run away together, and the new queen sent someone like Vestra after her, then Aless would be captured. Poisoned. They would force Kisten to watch them die, powerless.

Steam emerged from the salamander's jaw for a moment before the light flashed outwards with a gut-rumbling roar. Aless fell sideways onto the bed, stunned by the blow.

Kisten curled the harpy into a ball gently, tucking her wings around her, and kissed her forehead. "Sorry. I go. You stay."

---

The incubus opened his red eyes slowly, glaring at the elf.

The woman eyed him carefully, and the chains holding his hands above his head. "They tell me that I can't get closer than this. Cannot even enter your cell that we might have a polite conversation. Is it true? Are you nothing but a beast?"

"You're in my way." Raltin growled, his deep voice echoing. "Release me, or you will suffer the consequences."

The elf laughed at him, "Truly? You weren't blinded by my guards were you? I did tell them not to be gentle with you. Dead, would be useless to me. Damaged is acceptable."

Raltin growled, his black leather skin shivering and rolling like the surface of a lake. He glared at her, "Empress or whore, I will eat your fucking soul if you stay in my way."

She blinked, before bursting into laughter, "And how, pray tell, are you going to do that, beast? Those chains can hold a tauran. Bind a neko's magic. What exactly are you going to do about it?"

"You're not thinking longterm enough, elf." He snarled, "Eventually, someone will make a mistake. In a week, or ten years. It will happen. And I will come for you. You stand between an incubus and their mate."

The elf yawned tiredly, "Yes, dear little Cookie. Such a pity. If skinning her and turning her into a coat is what is required to control you, it will be done."

His chains clanked loudly as he tried to throw himself at her, snarling and snapping uselessly at the air.

The empress smiled cruelly, "I will tame you, incubus. By any means that I see fit. A bell-less little kitty is hardly an expensive cost. Whether she lives or dies is entirely up to you."

"What do you want?" He growled.

The woman sighed, "A former associate of yours is becoming a problem for me. You will get close to her, and slowly drain her life away until she dies. Slowly. It will look like another sickly bunny dying, or the cat will experience a death very public and very painful."

"Bunny?"

"Lady Finia de Leolian." The empress said and spat on the ground, "We will allow you to see your kitten. But screw with me, and she's dead. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." Raltin sneered, feeling his confidence increasing. He may have been captured, he might be now getting caught up in politics, but the goal he had been assigned by something greater than anything mortal might be easier to achieve this way.

Depending on what being allowed to see Cookie meant.

The elf smiled at him, "Good."