The Beautiful Lady Without Pity

He met her when he was seventeen. A soldier, born to defend the world from the wrath of demons and other creatures rogue. He, along with his fellow Academy students and a teacher, were tasked to go and retrieve a Nephilim child taken into the lands of the fey.

The Fair Folk were a mysterious race, which was why the Clave despised anything that had to do with them and their place. These creatures are part angel and demon, hence their heavenly looks and mischievous schemes. The lands were rich with mountains, seas, plants and animals —a literal fairytale, if there was one. However, don't be fooled by their beauty, for according to the Clave, "They will paint a beautiful picture of what awaits you there, but its beauty is false and hollow." Find yourself drawn, and your demise is guaranteed, though its time is not.

The Courts, Seelie and Unseelie, were places out of time. Upon entering the land of the Fey, a day in would mean thirty days for the real world, or thirty months, or thirty years, or thirty lifetimes. One will never know, until he escapes Faerie, which is impossible, and realizes what he's lost.

For years, this has been the image of the Fair Folk to those not of its realm. Now, entering the throne room of the Seelie Court, Julian Blackthorn repeated the same beliefs on his head. The path toward the room was covered in resin, preserving numerous flowers and butterflies in its walls. The double doors were a set of intricately woven vines overlapping each other. The Seelie guards threw them open, ushering the Shadowhunters in. Sitting on the throne was the Seelie Queen in all her glory. Julian averted his eyes to the Queen's right, and his breath was taken away. All thoughts on his mind went blank.

Standing beside the Queen was a Faerie gentry, he knew that much. She stands and exudes power the way a gentry does. Brown eyes met Julian's blue-green ones. Such beautiful eyes, he thought. The fairy woman was clothed in silver flowers, the petals hugging her figure and trailing from her chest to her hips, flowing from there to a long trail. Such a beautiful dress, he thought. But what got his attention was her hair, a mass of golden locks that ended up to her waist. He itched to touch it. Such beautiful hair, he thought.

He remembered Orpheus, who made a deal with Hades to get Eurydice back, as long as he doesn't look back until he is in the mortal world. Orpheus, who grew impatient and turned to look back at Eurydice, sending her back to the Underworld. He never understood the man's impatience until now.

He heard the Queen talking, but it was incoherent in his ears, as he strides towards the same brown eyes that were regarding him with confusion and astonishment.

Julian Blackthorn kneels and bows his head. "I pledge myself to you, oh fair lady."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He learns her name easily after, when the Fair Folk and his fellow Shadowhunters in the room were in a frenzy. His classmates asked what he was doing. Was he poisoned? Was he tricked? Was he threatened? The Fey warriors rushed to block him from the gentry. The Queen was shouting at him. Is this some kind of trick? What is he trying to do to Lady Delia?

Delia, Julian pronounces, trying the name from his tongue. Lady Delia looks at him for a long moment, before telling the guards to stop. Everyone freezes, even the Queen. The warriors warily moved out of the way as Delia sauntered to him.

He stands up, and sees that he is taller by a few inches, but that doesn't diminish the thrumming of his heart. He did not know what he was nervous about, of his sudden pledge to the Lady or her possible choice of shunning him. Delia looks at him thoughtfully up and down, before meeting his eyes once again. She seems to be searching for something there, and found it, because what she did next made no sense and made him fall for her more.