She wasn't likely to get the chance, as he went suddenly still and his head turned, hers following at the sound of footsteps approaching.
All three of them froze in horror as Aurora had walked into the room, scanning it, and then finding them. Shrieking, she spun away and covered her eyes, but it was too late, and she had likely seen way too much of what they had been doing. Dirdos growled angrily as Etani's fingers left him, but it wasn't like she could continue with Aurora in the room, even if it meant he went unsatisfied.
"Aurora, what are you doing here?" she asked, pushing the fuming dragon off her and sitting up.
Aurora turned back around and peeked under her hand to see and Dirdos glared at her as he blatantly rearranged himself, making it very clear that she had interrupted and wasn't welcome.
"I'm sorry, I wouldn't have come if it wasn't an emergency!" she wailed, her cheeks a solid pink.
Pushing herself up off the furs, Etani swatted at the dragon as he reached for her to try to drag her back down with him, suspecting that he was more than willing to have his way with her in front of Aurora if the woman refused to leave.
"What's wrong? What has happened?" Etani asked, ignoring the looming, furious form that rose behind her, knowing he was trying to burn a hole in her back with the force of his glare.
"Daemon is tearing apart the palace and we can't stop him," she said.
Dirdos snorted, grunting as she drove her elbow into his stomach.
"All right; let's go see what he wants," she said with a sigh.
"You go ahead; we'll be right behind you," Dirdos growled, and he must have levelled his fury on the Fae because her face went pale and she nodded, quickly disappearing.
Gripping her shoulder, he turned her and looked down at her, though his fury was somewhat mellowed as he looked over her mussed hair and lips swollen from the force of his kiss.
"I don't think I've ever told you just how beautiful you are…" he growled and she blushed, his lips quirking up into a smile as he bowed his head.
She lifted her chin to meet his lips with her own, lifting herself up onto the balls of her feet to press harder against him. She felt his smile, flames licking up around them. The chill of Winter flowed around them and there was a feral snarl. She pulled back from him, surprised by the sound. Looking around, she found a livid Daemon glaring at them from across the room and she flushed, realising Dirdos had intentionally lured her into the kiss so that he could drop them off in Faerie in full view of Daemon.
Stepping away from a smug Dirdos, she turned. Daemon had moved forward so fast she hadn't seen it and was breathing down her neck, his face red and eyes glowing gold. His eyes went up to her hair and then down to her lips before going to Dirdos who was grinning, his hands in his pockets and his erection still pressing against the front of his pants.
She was in trouble, and she threw herself back as the demon made a swipe for her, barely missing her. She backed away from him quickly, but he was already turning on Dirdos.
"If you touch her, I'll end you," the demon snarled.
"We didn't get that far. Not yet, anyway," Dirdos taunted, but Etani was wondering if Daemon had known that they were being intimate, and if that had been why he had thrown the tantrum.
Looking past him down the hall, she saw the damage he had been causing, and she frowned, stalking past him. She shivered as she left the protection of the dragon, Winter greeting her like a lover, with the sting of her body changing taking over her.
Dirdos whistled softly as he watched the changes taking place over her, her clothing melting into a long black gown that hugged her frame and flowed out behind her in silk waves that gave her the appearance of water. The weight on her head told her the crown had settled into her hair as it slid up her back and interwoven into a complicated braid to expose her bare back and the elaborate markings on her skin.
"I thought you were all kidding with her being the queen. Maybe I should align myself," Dirdos said, and Daemon snarled, his boots loud as he followed her.
It seemed that no people had been permanently harmed, but there was extensive damage to the palace.
A squeak escaped one fairy, and he shot off like an arrow with high-pitched screams about the queen being present.
The guards stood to attention, whether they were able to stand straight or not, and Etani's eyes trailed over them, examining their injuries and then the wall where she realised belatedly that he had thrown a pillar into it.
Turning slowly, she found where the pillar had been and looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling where a child was looking down, his giant green eyes wide as he waved down at her.
She blinked and returned the wave, the child vanishing as his mother apparently pulled him away from the hole.
Lowering her eyes slowly, she found hundreds of eyes on her and they bowed as one to her.
Realising that was the first time she had willingly set foot in the palace as the queen, she swallowed at the show of devotion to her.
Daemon came to a stop behind Etani and Dirdos gave an appreciative growl at the sight.
"I could get used to this," he whispered to Daemon.
Looking past them to the throne, she didn't want to go to it, but something inside her was demanding she do so. It was calling to her, and every shred of her being needed to go to it.
Her feet moved before she could tell them 'no', and the crowd parted as she moved, their eyes greedy on her.
Stepping up onto the dais, she turned, and her dress curled elegantly around her legs. Pausing there, she looked out over the hopeful faces of her people, and she knew instantly that she would never give them up. She would let no man or woman take them from her. They were hers, and she would guard them jealously.
Her hands found the armrests of the throne and she lowered herself slowly onto it, her palms tingling at the contact, and as she sat down the throne began to change. The rose seemed to wilt and decompose before their eyes, and Etani exhaled a slow breath as Winter drew on her. Ice shot up from around her, climbing and branching out all around her.
Gasps filled the room as people backed away from the growing mass, and yet Etani didn't need to look to know what it was. She felt it growing around her and she knew what it would be.
The enormous rose had changed into a massive tree, its branches stretching out into the air with roots that spread out across the dais. In the branches, orbs of a different colour bloomed like flowers, and she knew they were the worlds that would be born of her flesh, immediately above her two globes that were joined, one a deep green and the other a sea blue, swirled together and mixed, the human world and Faerie given form.
The most unique detail of the throne was that the branches were detailed not with bark, but with tiny figures: millions upon millions of different creatures from Faerie, the human world, and others that did not yet exist.
The room had gone silent as their eyes lifted and searched the tree, fascinated and eager to examine it. The fairies and pixies were already up there, adding their lights to the dancing beauty of the throne, and its inner light throbbed in time with the heart beating in Etani's chest.
She had finally come to claim her throne, and a sudden bellow from the back of the room had a fist rising into the air as the chant 'long live the queen!' started up and was quickly picked up by the crowd.
Her chin lifted slightly, and her eyes found Daemon, his face pale and his eyes burning with desire as his creation took her place as one of the rulers of Faerie.