Open for Negotiation

Chapter Three

***A trigger warning here. There is a potential trigger in a scene in this part of the story. I tried to keep it mild, but I thought a warning was in order nonetheless. By the way, I would love any feedback I could get. Enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it**

As was mentioned before, this is not a love story in its truest form. There is blood and war in the making with betrayals making the first blow. Every situation being turned to favor one who foolishly sought to rule. That one didn't have the spine for it, yet she pursued the high throne with a cunning vengeance. Lethe was her way in, she believed. Only he was trusted by the high king implicitly. So leverage was the key. Guards haunted his steps. He noticed, but as he had told Astra, he expected no less.

His repeated and ever-increasing returns to Astra's side did not go unnoticed. The enemies he'd spoken of stalked his steps. Followed his path. That's how they found her. 

That's how they decided to use her. They approached this one with guile and an easy smile as she was sitting outside, meditating. She often did it to clear her mind. Lately, her mind had more on it; so to begin with, she was oblivious to their presence. To their eyes, she was nothing more than a mortal that had caught Lethe's eye.

As her thoughts that day kept circling back around to her faery, she blew out a frustrated breath. He had thought about marking her, had he? She shook it off and focused on the sounds around her. She needed to ground out after her ritual. It had been one to raise energy for protection and had left her with unspent energy. She heard the whisper of his voice on the wind and frowned.

"Hello, beautiful. Let me in."

Her head came up and she looked around warily. Astra stood, her hands sliding into her pouch. He had never asked to enter her circle and he never just called her beautiful. She made a doorway and stepped through it, curiosity getting the best of her.

Yet, she kept her shields raised. She was a witch after all. A competent one. She murmured a chant. Their charms and magic were tossed back at them and they became visible. Two finely dressed faeries stood there, oozing charm and a harmless air. Her feet remained firmly planted and stormy eyes coolly analyzed them. Nothing was ever as it seemed with the faery. Even Lethe agreed with her on that point.

"Easy, child. We are friends." one of them soothed. She laughed outright and annoyance flickered in their eyes.

"Friends of who? My friends don't lay magic on me. Get lost, creep."

"Enough of this. Let's just take her." One of them reached out to take her arm.

Her blade flashed and he pulled back with a startled sound of pain, blood dripping from his hand. In the seconds it took them to assess the wound, she had stepped back and closed her circle back. Fire flamed up at them when the unwounded faery tried to breach it. She blew out a breath. Well, apparently she was getting a boost from somewhere. It usually took more than that for her fire to manifest. A lot more. No reason they had to know that, she decided.

"I said get lost," she said scornfully, then sat down with her back to them. After a few minutes, they vanished. Astra was taking no chances with a return visit and stayed seated.

That was how he found her later that day. Sitting in her circle calmly cleaning her blade. He halted his approach when he sensed the salted circle. And seen the blood. His went cold.

"Open your circle," he demanded. She glanced up and around. "Are you hurt?" Seeing the hesitation, he sighed impatiently and became visible. "Keep the blade out if you don't trust me. Just open..."