Ember

"I have felled the Autumn Lord," a male voice declared, the long end of his dark cloak trailing behind him as he strode forward, face obscured by his hood. "I am Light, the one who will embrace all of your repressed desires and bring them into the light. I am also your new Autumn Lord."

One of the little men intercepted him. "Your challenge was not made official and therefore it is invalid-" he choked, eyes overtaken by a paralyzed fear as he lifted his tiny hand- which now gripped a white arrow that hadn't been there before- and stabbed himself. He dropped dead meters away from his dead king.

Light turned to the rest of the dead lord's entourage.

They bowed simultaneously. "Praise the new Autumn Lord."

The statement echoed around as the others- wisely- followed their lead. A few guards lifted the dead bodies and took them away.

One of the little men raised his arms, voice booming, "If there is anyone here who would like to challenge our new Autumn Lord, you may come forward to place your challenge!"

Strangely, it wasn't Arius who the fae stared at with this declaration, it was at a young man whose beautiful face was burning with rage, cheeks streaked with tears. He had antlers smaller but similar to the late king's.

His son?

Would he challenge the new Autumn Lord? Try to get revenge?

He didn't make the challenge though, casting his furious gaze to the floor in what would've been an obvious sign of submission in werewolf language. Looks like it meant the same thing to the fae as well, the three little men raised the bloodied antler crown and handed it to Light. He took it and I thought he'd lower his hood, but he just plopped the crown right on top of it. He turned around, showing a face covered by a colorful butterfly mask that was at odds with the tattered old cloak he wore. And his dirty bare feet. He was willowy too, giving off a very strong grim reaper vibe. In fact, if it weren't for the mask, I could practically imagine a scythe in his hand. (With Billy and Mandy in tow.)

I bet his real name isn't Light, probably gave himself the name to look cool or whatever...

"As there are no challengers," the little man began, only to be cut off by a voice that had me cringing.

"You've forgotten this man right here," Ian said, pointing directly at Arius as he joined our side. "He's been waiting to do-"

"Nothing," Arius said, raising a hand to his chest. "I have thought it over and have come to the realization that I have no real need for a castle nor a title. May your reign be joyous."

I gave a dubious look at his sudden change of heart, although I was also experiencing an immense amount of relief that he wouldn't be taking on the grim reaper dude.

I was the only one relieved apparently. Light narrowed his eyes (which I noticed were yellow now that I wasn't distracted by the initial sight of his mask). "Joyous? I'd find it much more so if you'd stupidly challenge me and add more red to the lawn here."

I scowled. If the previous king had been cruel and scary, this one was creepy and annoying. But he also had some weird shit he had used to kill two people without even lifting a finger, so it was wise not to respond to his grating comment. Arius seemed to agree with me as well, he bowed his head slightly. "You have a great amount of loyal subjects at your service now, I'm sure one or two will be more than honored to entertain you if that is what you truly desire."

He was a smooth talker, I had to give him that. I wondered what Aster would've done if she were here...the thought trailed off when I noticed Ian about to open his mouth again. I slapped a hand over it, giving him a shut it look when his forehead creased rebelliously.

Thankfully he kept his mouth shut.

Thankfully the creepy grim reaper guy had his attention elsewhere.

He raised a bony pale hand, slowly moving it across the air. No, not moving, he was pointing at something- at someone.

The dancing girl.

"In light of my victorious inauguration, I demand a greater performance! Give her more fruit!!"

***

I used to think everyone in my pack either pitied me or thought I was a nuisance so I avoided them, ignoring the instinct to interact with the very people who were supposed to be my family. My pack used to think I was a snob who thought she was better than all of them, ignoring the instinct to protect me as their omega. My mom used to- ahem, she probably still thinks- that I was her property and therefore hers to toy around with, ignoring the instinct to be a decent living being.

So if there's one thing I've learned, it's that a werewolf that ignores its instincts is usually on its way to either getting screwed or screwing someone else over.

Don't ignore your instincts.

And right now my instincts were telling me that the girl was going to die if the fae kept feeding her pieces of that pink fruit.

As she munched, unable to stop herself from eating as much as she could stop herself from dancing to the now raucous music, Arius told me everything. Faerie fruit, although harmless to the fae themselves, makes any human that consumes it dance nonstop until they collapsed from exhaustion. Horrible, and that was only after eating one fruit- now there were plates of that wretched fruit circling around, faeries of every shape, color and size scampering after the girl, throwing- sometimes shoving- slices of the fruit into her mouth. She danced harder, danced quicker until her moves were faster than the song playing, until her eyes were doing zigzags, a soul trapped inside a body that no longer had any control over it. But the fae obviously had no intention of stopping and while I'm sure some were afraid of being coerced into stabbing themselves by Light, the majority seemed to be enjoying themselves. The only two people who had tried to help were a stocky, short man and a green-skinned woman, but they were hauled away screaming and struggling by half a dozen guards (after knocking out five fae and seven more guards). No one else came to her rescue.

The dancing girl was going to die at this rate.

Light wasn't even interested in her anymore, had forgotten all about her five minutes into it and was now reclining on a ridiculously ostentatious throne made of flowers and the skulls of different animals while gorging himself on the food servants kept piling up on the table they'd brought forward. The butterfly mask had somehow receded, revealing a wide purple mouth that slobbered as he chewed. Paying no mind to the girl he'd condemned.

The whole thing was terrible enough it made me want to vomit.

There was also something else my instincts were telling me: I'd regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't do something here and now.

I told Ian and Arius my plan.

Ian nodded in agreement right away, but Arius remained quiet.

"Are you in?" I asked tightly, deciding then and there that if he brought up some crap about exchanging favors-

"You needed verbal assent?" Arius asked. "My apologies. I'd like to declare that I'm in agreement with this plan."

I grinned at him. "Good."

He nodded. "Good."

"Our target is on her way here," Ian said.

He was right, there was no time to think about what will happen if we fail, no time to consider the disturbing reality that a person's life was in our- questionably capable- hands. The girl in the white dress was coming our way, a gaggle of giggling fae at her dancing heels, her dress stained with sweat at the armpits and blotched with fruit. It was hard to tell if the dampness at her cheeks was sweat or tears, but her mouth was certainly releasing a string of insults that would've made a sailor blush.

I forced myself away from the anxiety just waiting for me to fall into a certain line of thought to pounce, signaling Arius to get going and nodding to Ian.

I haven't been fighting in the cage ever since I agreed to try and get along with Kane so I was a bit rusty, but I tried to remember everything about the fighting I haven't been putting to use lately as Ian muttered a couple of things in a different language, opening up a gigantic gaping hole the fae dropped into immediately, giggles turning into startled screams as they went down, down and down. Then he shifted his gaze to the girl and whistled once.

I dashed forward- just in time to catch the girl as she crumpled like a pile of bricks. Or a pile of sticks for all she weighed. I scooped her up in my arms, risked a look around us- some of the fallen were already crawling out of the hole, a few shooting out with wings flapping furiously, guards were jerking into action even while their king continued devouring a chicken leg- and then I made sure I had a tight grip on the unconscious girl in my arms before I started running for our lives.