“Please... No more,” she gasped.
Raxx’s body was tensed, wracked with tremors, as her majick continued its assault on him. Even his wings shook as bright sparks danced and spread out across their dark surface. She squeezed her eyes shut. The wind was cold against her wet, tear-streaked cheeks.
Faye wasn’t sure how long she remained this way, seconds ticked by like hours, but eventually her eyes flickered open as the worst of the pain subsided.
Her hand where it grasped Raxx’s grew cold, like ice, and she watched in a mixture of horror and fascination as the intricate veins beneath her skin darkened before her eyes.
The princess knew she should be screaming and clawing at her skin, but as the cold sensation continued to creep further inside her, inching along her veins, all she felt was still and calm. Her skin tingled all over, just like it always did whenever she was around Raxx.
Faye’s body pulsed and the world slowed down, her vision tunnelling. She recognised this feeling. She was transitioning, like Raxx had, into the darkness of the shadow realm.
Without warning, the world crashed back to reality. She felt Raxx’s hand slip from hers and the grip of the faerie knight tightened around her ankle once more. Faye was on her back, being dragged across the frozen courtyard, as she had been moments before Raxx got to her. She stared up into the grey sky above as she desperately tried to make sense of everything that had happened.
“What is the meaning of—” the knight shouted. His sentence was cut off by a deafening thunder clap as bright majick shot from Raxx’s palm. The man dropped like a stone. Steam rolled up in clouds from his twitching body.
Faye rolled over, finally released from the knight’s grasp. She looked up at the shadow demon crouched over her, taken aback to see both of Raxx’s eyes entirely flooded with black, dark as night.
The princess sat up. Raxx reached for her and took her bare hand in his once more with not a moment of hesitation, as if he had been doing so all his life. Faye flinched, awaiting the pain that never came. She blinked, confused.
“Faye!” Lori screamed.
The knight holding her sister’s hair had released her, dropping her roughly to the ground as he attempted to flee back towards the fray.
Before she truly understood what she was doing, Faye hopped to her feet and sprinted after the knight. Her body powered forwards at a startling rate, much faster than she had ever been able to before.
“Halt!” she shouted, raising her palms and preparing to release a blast of majick. She had only intended to stun the faerie, but as the bolt shot from her, she nearly lost her footing, fighting against the powerful shockwave.
It cracked loudly as it collided with her target, bursting through the knight’s chest and forking off to spear another two faerie knights in the process. Blood rained down in a fine mist. Faye’s mouth dropped open and the shadow demon appeared at her side.
“Raxx!” Zelrus shouted, drawing Faye’s attention. The demon king could not keep the surprise from his face as he took in the bizarre turn of events.
A short distance behind Zelrus, Faye spotted another knight. It was clear the man thought to spring himself upon the demon king whilst Zelrus was distracted. Faye shivered as the knight raised his blade, slicing it down through the air with deadly force towards the king’s back.
No sooner had she thought about moving, than Faye stood at Zelrus’s back, blocking the knight’s attack. Her hand flew out, sparks flying from her body as the blade collided with the shield she had unconsciously summoned. With the other, she grabbed the knight by the throat and lifted him up off his feet.
The man struggled for freedom, but Faye squeezed harder and harder, until his muffled protests became screams of terror. She felt an indescribable heat bubbling beneath the surface of her skin and she watched with morbid fascination as the faerie’s eyes bulged, sizzling and popping, while they burnt from his skull. When the knight was silent, she dropped his body to the floor and steadied her frantic breaths.
“Yes!” Tabitha crowed excitedly as the witch hurried to her side. “That was exquisite my dear. I knew you could do it – far, far better than I had ever hoped.”
“Wh-what’s happening to me?” Faye asked with a shaky voice, looking down at her trembling hands. Her veins were still dark, standing out starkly against her pale, porcelain skin.
“I promise I will explain as soon as I can—” Tabitha paused, spinning to blast a nearby knight, launching him clear across the courtyard. “But we have a few more of these bastards to get rid of first.”
Faye clenched her teeth, startling as Raxx suddenly appeared beside her.
“With me.” The shadow demon grabbed her, dragging her to his chest. A blade swung past Faye’s face, inches from where she had stood.
“Always with me.” Raxx’s eyes flickered with some untold intensity and Faye nodded.
“Always.”
The demon disembodied and they leapt through the air in unison to reappear behind the unsuspecting King’s Guard knight who had attempted to strike her. Faye blasted him with a shock of bright light whilst Raxx jerked forward, sinking a dagger, built from majick, right through the knight’s chest.
It felt better than anything Faye had ever experienced. She was simultaneously terrified, sickened and thrilled. It was as if something inside her had finally clicked into place. That nagging feeling of loss and emptiness she had tried so hard to fill was sated, replaced with lust and rage. All the years of being feared, rejected and resented for who she was by these people, her father’s people, came bursting free.
She yelled, her first battle cry, and leapt forward once more as yet another knight made a play for the demon king. She couldn’t allow that to happen, now he washerking too, she supposed.
∞∞∞
