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Lavender Light
some creative writing I did about a femme fatale and a queen
inspired by this quiz
for Nixie @highly-functioning-mitochondria
Trigger warning: self-harm in the context of a fantasy magic ritual (burn wounds)
"It might do you good to share what you're thinking more..." the dark-skinned woman clad in expensive travelling clothes said, leaning over the Queen's desk with a dangerously gorgeous smile on her lips. "...Your Majesty." she added as an afterthought, eyes sparkling.
The Queen tensed imperceptibly, staring at the unfamiliar woman who had just waltzed into her study. A beautiful green structured jacket paired well with the black leather leggings she wore, and a few artful curls of her hair framed her lovely face, giving her an alluring yet commanding air. But the Queen's sharp eyes snagged on the dagger strapped to her leather-clad thigh, and the callouses visible on the woman's hands. She knew where one acquired callouses like that. This woman trained with weapons regularly. The threatening edge this gave her only enhanced her dazzling beauty.
There was a word for women like this one, the Queen thought. Femme fatale.
"And who are you?" the Queen demanded, rising from her desk. She had a solid ten centimetres height advantage over the woman, but somehow, the femme fatale seemed overwhelming in her presence.
Those sparkling eyes held her guarded ones like a vice. “Call me Nix, my lady. I was at the council meeting today, you see...thus my opening comment.”
“That it would do me good to share what I’m thinking more? Yes, thank you for your advice, Madame Nix. It is most appreciated.” the Queen said, her tone making it very clear that it was the opposite of appreciated. “But why were you at the council meeting and why are you in study, exactly?”
As if on cue, the study door swung open to admit one of the Queen’s personal guards, carrying a black leather overcoat draped over his arm and a look of barely-contained panic on his face. The moment he laid eyes on the two women facing off in the middle of the room, the blood drained from his face. His posture snapped into a low bow of apology. “Queen Dove! I tried to stop her, but she insisted! It was my fault--” he cut himself off, as if sensing the Queen’s glacial brown eyes on him without having to look at her.
“It’s fine. At ease, man.” the Queen said evenly, waving a manicured hand to dismiss the issue. “Madame Nix here doesn’t seem like the type to be stalled if she doesn’t want to be.”
Nix’s captivating laughter rang through the study. “You understand me already, my lady! That bodes very well for our working relationship.”
The Queen went very still as she began to catch on to who exactly this woman was supposed to be. “Working. Relationship.” she repeated, tilting her head to one side to show that it was a question, but her tone utterly flat.
The guard, still hovering in the doorway with Nix’s overcoat draped over his arm, opened and closed his mouth like a beached fish, as if trying to muster the strength to answer the Queen’s question, but finding no strength to speak of.
Nix seemed to find the guard’s discomfort amusing. Taking it upon herself to make it worse, she turned toward the desk and promptly seated herself on its mahogany surface. With a catlike stretch, she reached across a stack of papers and grabbed the Queen’s decanter of cognac, which she poured into the crystal tumbler that the Queen had been drinking from mere minutes ago, judging by the dark magenta lipstick stains on the rim.
The guard brought a hand to his mouth in abject horror.
The Queen’s eyes followed Nix’s antics languidly, her proud oval face showing not the slightest flicker of a reaction to this overt display of boldness.
Between sips, Nix articulated herself in words both concise and charming. “I was at the council meeting because I wanted to see you in action before deciding to commit my services to you. Your former bodyguard, may the Goddess rest his soul, was an old schoolmate of mine, and in our correspondence, he always spoke so highly of you that it made me curious as to what kind of liege could inspire such devotion in a man as ill-natured as he was. In his will, he left me one last letter, a letter conveying his wish that I might consider taking his place at your side if he was ever killed on duty.” the femme fatale finished her cognac and set the tumbler down on the desk beside her with a resounding thud of crystal on wood. “And so, here I am, my queen.”
Finally, something stirred within the perfectly impassive doll of a Queen. Her narrow shoulders pinched together with something that might’ve been interpreted as pain. Her slender arms came up to cross over her chest, as if to shield her heart from some unseen assault. “You were Vance’s--” her voice, which despite its natural softness, had always sounded strong and compelling to all who heard her, now took on a small, fragile quality in those three words that she quickly cut off with a shuddering breath. “I understand now. Though I don’t understand why you couldn’t have just explained all this in the first place.” as if nothing at all had happened, the Queen dropped her arms at her sides and smoothed the black velvet of her skirt over her narrow hips. When she raised her gaze again, it snapped to Nix with renewed severity. “So, I presume if you’re here to talk with me, I’ve passed your evaluation and you’re ready to perform the necessary rites to become my new bodyguard?”
Nix must’ve sensed the whirlpool of emotions locked tightly beneath the Queen’s poised facade, because her next sentence held something soft and almost compassionate, though her tone did not lose its glib cadence. “But of course. Not every queen can survive such a violent attempt on her life, lose her bodyguard of ten years in the process, and still attend a council meeting with such composure and insightful leadership left in her. But you, Your Majesty, did just that.”
In her first display of true deference since arriving in the study, Nix slipped off the desk and bowed low.
“Queen Dove, would you accept me, the mere daughter of a minor noble, to be your contract-bound bodyguard?”
The Queen was silent for the span of a single, slow breath. “Yes.” she assented with quiet finality.
Nix dropped forward onto a knee, bowing her head even lower.
The Queen crossed to her and held out an upturned palm, which Nix placed her calloused right hand into. Their palms flush against each other, the Nix released her magic first, as was customary. The femme fatale’s magic manifested in a lavender blaze that radiated from her downturned palm like a beacon, bright like her playful and unreadable eyes.
"I, Nixie Dearheart, swear my fealty unto you, Queen Dove Mayheart. I will protect you with my life endlessly, until you choose to release me from my service, or I should die in my service to you. Under these two circumstances alone will I ever leave your side.”
Accepting these words with a nod of her head, the Queen released her own magic. Hers was emerald green, spilling softly from her hand like candlelight, alive and strong like the branches of an evergreen tree, but somewhat subdued when compared to the blinding radiance of Nix’s aura.
The guard in the doorway, who had left hurriedly at the beginning of the contract ritual, now returned with a bowl with iced water and clean cotton cloth, and set it down on the mahogany desk as the smell of burning flesh filled the study.
Nix let out a hiss of pain, but seemed more concerned about the Queen.
The Queen, however, did not react at all to the contract mark being burned into the skin of her left palm. Her dark eyes were fixed on the wall above Nix’s head, as if entranced by something no one else in the room could see.
Nix’s gaze fell to the Queen’s other hand. On her right palm, another contract mark was seared into her skin. Vance’s contract mark. Now nothing more than a scar and a constant reminder of his death.
“It’s done.” Nix said as soon as she felt her magic settle, and she pulled their palms apart.
The Queen passively allowed herself to be led over to the desk where the guard began gently cleansing her new burn wound. Beneath the magically cauterised mess of puckered skin, lavender light flowed stridently along the lines of the mark. Corresponding perfectly on Nix’s hand, the Queen’s emerald mark glowed more gently.
Nix hummed in relief as she submerged her hand in the bowl of iced water. Her eyes never left the Queen’s face, searching for any semblance of human emotion in her impossibly deep brown eyes.
But the Queen’s unbroken facade was like a wall of smooth, beautiful Venetian marble.
Nix looked again at the emerald mark binding her to her new liege, and made a silent promise in the confines of her own mind.
Vance, you can rest easy now, darling. She’s safe with me. I won’t let anything hurt her ever again.
to be continued...
but then again, maybe not, I am very lazy after all
thanks for reading ❣
~ Dove
I Can See Your Death Episode 37 Brainrot
BECAUSE LIKE
PELL
most of the princes in romance fantasies or otome isekai are barely seen doing anything relevant to their position besides tripping over themselves to romance the FL
And even if they are seen doing stuff, it’s usually things like paperwork and getting fawned over by others in a public space, as if that’s all that is to their higher position.
Pell is one of the princes who actually means something to the citizens of the the Eliore Empire. He isn’t just a label or title and he has an actual relationship to the common people. He want’s to help them when they are suffering. He even gets captured by the lord when he’s supposed to be undercover and get back to the throne because he arrives at the district and sees the citizens suffering in poverty under the lord. And he decides that the danger of getting captured is less important than the danger his citizens are facing right now.
It’s just as one of the maids said. He is their hope. He became their hope just by being there. Just by existing.
Anyway, I think that’s so cool of him.
Immortal Nox: The Lost City
Stretching her arms over her head, Astra swished her tail and laid her ears back with a yawn. She’d been feeling odd since getting up from an unexpected crash hours earlier. It was the first time she’d ever had that happen while playing a VR game. “Maybe it’s an update?” she wondered aloud and squinted through the tree canopy at the sky’s golden hue.
Tiredness was a new sensation to her while playing Ashguard. She’d been gathering herbs and materials for hours in-game. Long enough for the sun to begin dipping down behind the mountain range that bisected the main continent. To the north were the three major cities of Aesir, Vanaheim, and Nifelheim, and Astra Diane’s current location was three months’ worth of in-game travel into the unmapped Southlands.
Being a Healer Class, it was a miracle she’d made it this far by herself. Usually, she had her Porter, Xander, but she’d sent him back to Aesir to sell some things in hopes that he wouldn’t catch the plague from her.
The plague plotline had come out of nowhere for a game with very little story. But attempting to find a cure for it had been a fun use of the Crafting Skills she’d spent so much time leveling up. Unfortunately, she’d caught it too, and while Players respawned at the Soul Stones in the three major cities, NPCs did not.
Astra Diane pulled her Menu out of her pocket. “I should check on him,” she muttered. She hadn’t been feeling the plague symptoms since her crash earlier. Her Menu, a Scroll that always existed in her pocket, was a touch screen once unrolled. Swiping through the tabs, Astra selected her teleport list.
As for the symptoms, they were miserable. It was similar to having the flu, but in her mind, the tiredness and aching in her body lingered even after logging out. Earlier that day, she’d collapsed in-game and woke up several hours later. Astra felt fine now, so she supposed the plague had run its course, and she was free to return to town.
Being in the Southlands for so long by herself was lonely. She was, after all, a squishy Healer Class and tended to rely on the fact that she could heal herself to get through fights with monsters more than an actual strategy. She knew she wasn’t a very good Player.
She glanced top left to see her and Xander’s health bars. The Porter was at full health, as was she. Top right, she could see the in-game time, which only showed hours and minutes of the day. That was the extent of Ashguard’s HUD.
If she wanted to use a Skill, she had to remember and activate it. There weren’t easy buttons that stayed in view to remind Players of what they had, and the Skills didn’t organize into trees. A Skill simply got stronger the more it was used, and there were rumored to be hundreds of Skills out there to find. She did have a menu that listed all her Skills, but battles required quick thinking, and Players tended to have Skills they relied on more frequently than others.
She’d left a daisy chain of Soul Stone Shards, small, single-use devices, on her way through the Southlands.
They weren’t very durable, as other Players or monsters could destroy them, but they lasted a week in real-time. The most frequent complaint about them was that Players couldn’t respawn to them. They were available as teleport locations in the list, great for a quick run back to one of the major cities for a minute, but that was it.
Astra stared at her empty list.
What the heck?
She was some distance from the last one she’d dropped, and the others were older, leading up to the Player town at the edge of the Southlands, but that didn’t explain why they were all gone.
“Ugh.” Backing out of her teleport list, she moved to Inventory to get a Soul Stone Shard. That all of the ones she’d dropped in the last four game-time weeks were gone was only an inconvenience if she died. She wouldn’t have a quick way back to her current location after respawning at the last major city she’d been in. The faster she got one activated, the better.
Astra activated the item and dropped it just as she heard shuffling in the bushes.
Looking up from her Menu, she met the eyes of a Razor Boar mid-charge. “[Dodge]” died on her lips as the two pairs of tusks ripped through her midsection. Pain like she had never felt before overwhelmed her senses. She collapsed to the ground. Her armor, which was as high-quality as she could make it, had protected her a bit from the attack, but the Boar continued to slash at her as she lay helpless on the ground, unable to think past the pain.
A tusk caught her in the throat, and a terrible coldness descended upon her.
Her consciousness hung suspended in darkness; before her were the options to Wait or Respawn. Choosing Respawn, her body exploded in sparks of light, teleporting back to the last Soul Stone she’d attuned to.
Astra wheezed out a moan of residual pain as her feet touched the pavement. Gripping herself, she shivered. Her pain setting must have gotten changed. Had they updated the game? Maybe that was why she’d passed out earlier.
She now stood in the Soul Stone Plaza of Aesir, a city built on the mountainous shore and sprawling onto an island within visual distance of the rocky beach. The architecture resembled ancient Greco-Roman, giving it an air of philosophical sophistication. It was her favorite city, and it looked gorgeous in the setting sun’s light. However something was off.
Why was it so quiet?
Turning away from the Soul Stone, she found that the plaza, usually bustling with Players coming and going, was filled with market stalls and a crowd that was just trying to get their last bit of shopping done before it got too dark. While physically, Players and Non-Player Characters were identical, the system showed Player names to other Players in text hovering over their heads.
There were no Players in the crowd.
The stall owners and their customers stared at her, pale, jaws agape. A Human grandmother had dropped her basket of apples directly next to Astra. A Lycanth woman clutched her cub to her chest.
___
Want to find out more? Check out the story on my Patreon
Or you can just buy the book.
It's also on Amazon if you want it in print, KU, or Audible.
I have a patreon with a bunch of WIP and early chapters for things. You can buy my books there for $4.99
Check it out on Amazon
Or, you can purchase directly from my Patreon
-----
She couldn't believe what had just happened.
Her Porter had knifed her!
Astra sat on the ground at the Soul Stone, seething. The crowd from earlier had all dispersed. Only empty stalls remained as a witness to her respawn. Thankfully, her Death Penalty from before had worn off, but now she had a new one, and if she died again while it was active, her stats would take the hit.
"He killed me!" Porters weren't supposed to be able to do that! Porters just followed you around and carried your stuff. Sure, sometimes Xander had done things outside of the commands she'd actively given, but that was just his AI trying to be helpful. She'd had him focused on casting [Cure] and [Resurrect] if she died. She'd never given him any Melee Skills since the only Melee Skill she had was a Player Scroll with Dual Wield. Astra had not leveled that up enough to make a Skill Scroll of her own to give him. If she’d had her Menu she would have been able to check her Skill levels and his, but since he'd taken it, she was completely blind.
-----
Find out what happens next in the book!
Check it out on Amazon
Or, you can purchase directly from my Patreon
-----
She couldn't believe what had just happened.
Her Porter had knifed her!
Astra sat on the ground at the Soul Stone, seething. The crowd from earlier had all dispersed. Only empty stalls remained as a witness to her respawn. Thankfully, her Death Penalty from before had worn off, but now she had a new one, and if she died again while it was active, her stats would take the hit.
"He killed me!" Porters weren't supposed to be able to do that! Porters just followed you around and carried your stuff. Sure, sometimes Xander had done things outside of the commands she'd actively given, but that was just his AI trying to be helpful. She'd had him focused on casting [Cure] and [Resurrect] if she died. She'd never given him any Melee Skills since the only Melee Skill she had was a Player Scroll with Dual Wield. Astra had not leveled that up enough to make a Skill Scroll of her own to give him. If she’d had her Menu she would have been able to check her Skill levels and his, but since he'd taken it, she was completely blind.
-----
Find out what happens next in the book!
I have a patreon with a bunch of WIP and early chapters for things. You can buy my books there for $4.99
My entry novel for the Action Fantasy Tourney
Tena koutou katoa [Hello everyone],
This Isekai and progression action fantasy with a sprinkle of dark fantasy story unravels the quest to discover what lies behind Irelina Mercius's mysterious nature and its ties to an unknown entity. Some chapters include a sweet & sour romance and comedy that are good for the heart. Let’s say…it is a twisted fate.
Check out my story at https://tapas.io/series/Irelina-and-the-Blood-Cursed-Sword/info
Chapter 14 of Irelina and the Blood Cursed Sword
Check it out on Amazon
Or, you can purchase directly from my Patreon
-----
She couldn't believe what had just happened.
Her Porter had knifed her!
Astra sat on the ground at the Soul Stone, seething. The crowd from earlier had all dispersed. Only empty stalls remained as a witness to her respawn. Thankfully, her Death Penalty from before had worn off, but now she had a new one, and if she died again while it was active, her stats would take the hit.
"He killed me!" Porters weren't supposed to be able to do that! Porters just followed you around and carried your stuff. Sure, sometimes Xander had done things outside of the commands she'd actively given, but that was just his AI trying to be helpful. She'd had him focused on casting [Cure] and [Resurrect] if she died. She'd never given him any Melee Skills since the only Melee Skill she had was a Player Scroll with Dual Wield. Astra had not leveled that up enough to make a Skill Scroll of her own to give him. If she’d had her Menu she would have been able to check her Skill levels and his, but since he'd taken it, she was completely blind.
-----
Find out what happens next in the book!
Check it out on Amazon
Or, you can purchase directly from my Patreon
-----
She couldn't believe what had just happened.
Her Porter had knifed her!
Astra sat on the ground at the Soul Stone, seething. The crowd from earlier had all dispersed. Only empty stalls remained as a witness to her respawn. Thankfully, her Death Penalty from before had worn off, but now she had a new one, and if she died again while it was active, her stats would take the hit.
"He killed me!" Porters weren't supposed to be able to do that! Porters just followed you around and carried your stuff. Sure, sometimes Xander had done things outside of the commands she'd actively given, but that was just his AI trying to be helpful. She'd had him focused on casting [Cure] and [Resurrect] if she died. She'd never given him any Melee Skills since the only Melee Skill she had was a Player Scroll with Dual Wield. Astra had not leveled that up enough to make a Skill Scroll of her own to give him. If she’d had her Menu she would have been able to check her Skill levels and his, but since he'd taken it, she was completely blind.
-----
Find out what happens next in the book!
Check it out on Amazon
Or, you can purchase directly from my Patreon
-----
She couldn't believe what had just happened.
Her Porter had knifed her!
Astra sat on the ground at the Soul Stone, seething. The crowd from earlier had all dispersed. Only empty stalls remained as a witness to her respawn. Thankfully, her Death Penalty from before had worn off, but now she had a new one, and if she died again while it was active, her stats would take the hit.
"He killed me!" Porters weren't supposed to be able to do that! Porters just followed you around and carried your stuff. Sure, sometimes Xander had done things outside of the commands she'd actively given, but that was just his AI trying to be helpful. She'd had him focused on casting [Cure] and [Resurrect] if she died. She'd never given him any Melee Skills since the only Melee Skill she had was a Player Scroll with Dual Wield. Astra had not leveled that up enough to make a Skill Scroll of her own to give him. If she’d had her Menu she would have been able to check her Skill levels and his, but since he'd taken it, she was completely blind.
-----
Find out what happens next in the book!
Check it out on Amazon
Or, you can purchase directly from my Patreon
-----
She couldn't believe what had just happened.
Her Porter had knifed her!
Astra sat on the ground at the Soul Stone, seething. The crowd from earlier had all dispersed. Only empty stalls remained as a witness to her respawn. Thankfully, her Death Penalty from before had worn off, but now she had a new one, and if she died again while it was active, her stats would take the hit.
"He killed me!" Porters weren't supposed to be able to do that! Porters just followed you around and carried your stuff. Sure, sometimes Xander had done things outside of the commands she'd actively given, but that was just his AI trying to be helpful. She'd had him focused on casting [Cure] and [Resurrect] if she died. She'd never given him any Melee Skills since the only Melee Skill she had was a Player Scroll with Dual Wield. Astra had not leveled that up enough to make a Skill Scroll of her own to give him. If she’d had her Menu she would have been able to check her Skill levels and his, but since he'd taken it, she was completely blind.
-----
Find out what happens next in the book!
Chapters 16-18
Pretend like I market on here instead of forgetting...
Read Atrophy of the Eternal Forest for free on Tapas!! It's amazing, I swear
My ultimate romantic fantasy: being accepted flaws and all
Not because of them, not despite them, just an acknowledgement that yeah, they exist, and that doesn’t stop commitment.