Burning Iron and Honey Sweet Promises (TNTDUO/Quackbur)

Chapter Four

Quackity hated the new moon night.

Usually? No, usually he gave no fucks because he was in his palace, and barely affected by the weakening of his powers. He still remained the most powerful creature in his entire court, so why would he care? But this new moon had been different. He was trapped in iron chains, in an iron cage, in an iron box. While the constant visits from Lapis had given him something to work with, iron sickness had finally set in without his powers to ward it off. Even though the spell jar hidden away in his boot worked overtime in an attempt to save him, he knew he wouldn't have long. A few days at most, before the iron sickness finally got to him.

The Unseelie King had thought he had been hallucinating when he heard gentle chimes.

That was until he realized that the chimes he heard rang in a specific way and sounded louder each time it ran. Almost, as if it approached him from the ladder he had been thrown down at the entrance to the cellar. It confused Quackity. Sure, bells could be used to repel fae - but the bells that repelled them were heavy iron bells, not gentle wind chimes. In fact, everyone knew the melodic sound of wind chimes had a risk of attracting fae. Hunters would have known that though. Were they trying to taunt him? Tease him with something he wanted, but couldn't reach?

Quackity had no intention of going down without a fight. They might have gotten him onto death's door, but he was still a monarch. If he pushed it, he might have been able to take out one of the hunters with him. He lived a decent life, and he knew that his court would be able to function without him. He wasn't completely certain who he wanted his power and title to go through, but they would be fine. The only regret he had was that he wouldn't get to see Lapis one last time. As the lock to his room clicked, he felt his talons sharped.

His jaw nearly dropped when the door opened and revealed who was on the other side.

Multiple thoughts ran through his head at the beautiful stranger dressed in his colors, covered in rubies, who chimed with every movement he made. The first thought had been if the stranger was a fae. Not from his court, he'd recognize one of his fae from a mile away. A solitary fae that decided that it liked the Unseelie Court aesthetic was a possibility, if a fae became solitary of their own free will rather than banishment it was possibly they were bold enough to just dress however they wanted. Then he thought the stranger must have been a half-fae, as no true fae could have withstood the iron. Then he wondered if this was a hunter, one that wanted to torment him in multiple ways, and had started with psychological.

But his instincts soon corrected him on all fronts.

Pretty. Shiny. Mine. All mine. Pretty for me? So pretty.

Yeah, he knew who he looked at after that. His instincts around most of the hunters were usually more violent, the thoughts of a caged animal. There had only been one fae hunter who hadn't caused his instincts to lash out viciously and wildly, and, coincidentally, it was the one hunter who didn't hunt. Lapis. And he really couldn't disagree with his instincts - the witch looked breathtaking, and Quackity wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold him tightly.

"Not that I hate your usual look, but you're looking absolutely lovely tonight, Lapis" Quackity greeted.

The witch pouted, "I was hoping to at least catch you by surprise. How did you even recognize me?"

For some reason, Quackity thought he should probably leave out the part where his instincts had gotten so attached to the witch that they wanted him - wanted to be with him - so they had recognized him.

"Not many hunters have been visiting me with food, water and healing supplies" Quackity said instead, "Though you look like you have brought a lot more than usual. I thought you weren't able to visit tonight?"