The King Of Death | Hades + Fae

Chapter One

Tallulah 

Politics did not come naturally to me. I was never able to hide my emotions from my face or keep my power from dancing upon my fingertips. I didn't have a way with words that twisted falsities into truths, I was barely able to force myself into the extravagant dresses that were expected of a queen. 

I was not made for this, any of it. 

"My Queen, I really think you need to reconsider-" With one raise of my hand, the council chambers fall into a silent hush. Six of us sit around a grand rectangular table, a magic infused map within the centre that ebbs and flows with the ever changing terrain. The ceiling is high but voices do not echo, curtesy of an air Fae who enchanted the grey stone walls with soundproofing, keeping our conversations from prying ears. I sit at the head of the table, two large arch windows at my back but no breeze billowed through thanks to the magic that protected us. 

This is where the meetings always lead, for the last two moon cycles, ever since the crown fell heavy onto my brow. 

Find a husband. Secure your reign. Blend your power.

How archaic it all was, the tradition that dictated a female could not rule alone. A tradition that I planned to throw to the wolves, who would stop me? They had no other to take my place, none of royal blood. 

"If you do not shift the conversation, Councillor Vallah, I will shift it for you." Harsh, cutting. Nothing like my soothing brother or unreadable father. My emotions were as much on show now as they were when ice or flames coated my fingertips. 

The elder councilman dropped his shoulders an inch, the only show of disappointment he would allow us to see. His hair was still black as night but after the events of the last few months grey strands had begun to sliver through, a rare sight for a Fae even one of eight hundred years old. His rotund stomach presses into the table, hiding his fidgeting hands from everyone's view. A calculated move. 

"Danger is coming." I murmur, my plump pink lips pulling into a line as I lean back in my chair. My left leg was tucked up underneath me, tugging the thin almost translucent silver material of my dress with it. The colours of our court were blue and black, but I preferred something lighter and no one had yet voiced their disapproval. I suppose they already knew my response.

"We have fortified the shield wall between us and the humans." A boastful comment, not one to comfort. 

It came from Allain, my least favourite member of our council. She is beautiful and doesn't look any bit like the three hundred years she is, with golden hair always pulled back in a tight braid and pale skin that bore no signs of ageing. Her face may always remains the same, a tight smile and relaxed jaw, but her pale grey eyes give her away every time. 

"Are you saying there is no way for them to get through? Because I believe that's what you claimed last time, Lady Allain. Right before my brother was beheaded." There it was. The squint of her eyes ever so slight, the dulled twinkle given way to a flash of rage in her expanding irises. I should not find such pleasure in getting a rise out of her, but in my mind she deserves every bit of it. Boasting didn't save the kings. 

Our other three council members were yet to speak. They sit to my right, all gazes flickering and watching. Taking in the chaos. Platon is twenty years my senior, at one hundred and one. The second youngest within the council walls. His hair is a forrest green so bright and luscious that I swear the strands were blades of grass so fine that they mimicked hair. His eyes are brown speckled with black like the base of an oak tree, and his shoulders are as broad as one. No one would question his flora abilities, not when he looks like flora himself.