She didn't so much as think about what she was doing, instead she leapt over the back of the couch and her hands were soft on the face of the first man, cupping his cheeks as her lips found his.
The man was dead before he knew what happened and she shivered as his life filled her, vibrating through her like a song.
The second man was gone only a breath later, the third looking too dead to care.
He looked at her as she approached, her black eyes reflecting in his. He reached for her just as she reached for him, welcoming death to free him from his suffering.
The thump of the third body hitting the floor was incredibly loud, because no one was breathing. Everyone had frozen at the sight of death standing amongst them.
Izziah wasn't all that phased by the events, but he watched with fascination as her form filled out before their eyes, the dullness of her skin and hair brightening, and a soft pinkness filling her cheeks.
She turned her black eyes on him, wondering. "I've never tasted a drow before," she purred, reaching for him. He danced back and metal clad arms wrapped hard around her body.
The metal burned and she screamed, jerking violently away from him. The shock of the metal had knocked her right out of her feeding frenzy and she turned on the guard, eyes wide and feral.
"What… What happened?" the guard asked, looking down at a small strip of skin that smoked itself away into nothing.
The patch that had peeled away on her shoulder healed before his eyes and he realised.
"Our armour has iron in it..." he said slowly. "Princess I'm sorry, I didn't know! Please forgive me!"
He sounded genuinely terrified and she looked at Izziah, not understanding.
"You have the right to his death for hurting a woman," Izziah said, panting slightly
"You didn't realise, go back to your post and we don't speak of this again," she said finally, filling in the story in her head and knowing she didn't want him to die for it. He had been kind to her and was only protecting one of his own.
Realising the threat of the men around her, she sat down in the couch that faced them all.
It was clear by some of their expressions that they realised the threat they posed to her as well.
The three bodies had been removed quickly, leaving the room perfect once more.
***
Drizdan returned several hours later, his eyes sweeping the room and finding her immediately.
"Looking better I see," he said calmly, only slightly disappointed.
"Come and find out," she threatened. For a second she was sure he actually would, but then he shook his head and turned away from her.
"Ensure she is given a steady supply of food, we can't have our guest dying on us before negotiations are completed," he called out, disappearing into his room and closing the door.
"What negotiations?" she asked, looking at Izziah. He looked annoyed at her finding out that way.
"My mother is negotiating your return to the Winter Court with your grandmother," he said calmly.
The realisation that the Winter Queen was her paternal grandmother struck her as ludicrously funny for some reason and her voice rang out in a laugh.
"What is it?" he asked, looking concerned.
"I just now realised that my grandmother is Tatiana, the Queen of Winter," she said. "I go from being a half breed on the run for some nine hundred years or however long it has been, to being the Princess of Winter, do you not realise how insane all of this is?"
He looked taken aback for a moment and then he realised what she meant and he grinned.
"How do you even know I actually am a princess?" she questioned, genuinely asking.
"That test mother performed on you, it would only be triggered by a royal of Winter. There is one for Summer as well but it glows yellow."
Well damn, that put a hole in her thoughts.
"Aelen had a light just like that," she recalled, frowning.
"Yes, it is a fairly uncommon thing, but some keep them for lights due to the purity of the colour. I don't know where he gets the blood, or even if it is the same test," he said and she nodded slowly. She would have liked to have found out for herself, but it was now looking impossible. "But from what I understand, the light will last for centuries if you don't introduce anything else to it, like water."
"When do you suppose I will be leaving?" she asked, her mind going to Epharis for an odd second.
"A few days most likely," he said and his tone made her look at him. "We didn't want to have to do this. I regret my actions, but I cannot take them back now."
"No, you'll have to live with them for the rest of your existence," she said coldly, unforgiving of his role in her situation. He had the good graces to look ashamed at least.
***
It didn't take a couple of days, it was the next day when she was told she needed to prepare for her trip and she was terrified. She didn't know what to expect from these people who were her family. At least with Izziah and Drizdan she knew what to expect, but not with this new group. Not with people whose sole interest in her was her ability to one day take the throne and produce more fae. Not with these people who wouldn't give her an ounce of freedom.
But she packed what few things she had, mostly clothes and a few pieces of jewellery and placed them neatly in a bag, the guard who had been so kind to her taking it out.
Drizdan had gotten moodier as the day wore on and Izziah had started pouting.
"I'd say I'd miss you, but given our circumstances…" she said to Izziah and when her eyes turned on Drizdan, she glared. "One day I am going to find you and I will kill you for daring to lay a finger on me."
He smirked. "And when that day comes, princess, I'll finish what I started."
Hatred burned inside her and she turned her back on the two men who had so completely ruined her life.
As she walked from the rooms, the guard led her along.
"I hope I never see them again," she said quietly to the guard who smiled sadly.
"Princess, Drizdan is obsessed. He will follow you to the underworld and back just so he can watch you from a distance," he turned to her and withdrew a new clean handkerchief, tucking it into her pocket. "Don't forget, some of us drow aren't terrible people," he said gently and opened the door.