➥ PROMPT | water flowers, night time, poison, lace, and roses

[nestingdevil]

It was a contrast; a constant mirroring in the proverbial game of tug of war. From the wealth and the riches, to the pit and the monsters. From military take over to the seedy belly of the underworld. The two were opposites; a balancing of powers.

Night and day.

Yet, they always met on his turf. When the sun had sank and the cool chill of night washed over stone. Usually, it was only business - small talk behind closed doors and between bottles of fine liquor.

But tonight, it was a little different.

Because things had changed; the cards had been flipped and there had been a cut-off of communication. A severing of the wire.

And the Queen had lost her metaphorical crown.

Lights sparkled in the pit-pattering of water. The gentle wash of a fountain in a rather deep basin of water. A courtyard centerpiece to make the world envious. And she was there, just as expected. Thinking, contemplating. Holding the world on her shoulders and ice in her chest.

Greed flicked the remnants of a cigarette to cobblestone. Dragged his heel through tobacco and sparks flew off his heels. Like the devil crawling upon Eden and he slipped from the dark, hands shoved deep into his leathers. "Y'know, normally I wouldn't ask - " He began, a baited hook on his forked tongue. A clicking to the backside of his teeth as he tilted his head backwards. Exposed his throat to her as a signal he meant no harm.

After all, that wasn't exactly his style.

Elizabeth turned eyes up, the forced smile a bit more characteristic these days. But it was with tense teeth that she spoke, her tone a very strict warning:

"Now is not the time."

"What can I do for you, Master Greed?" A leg poised tight, body formed against her place at the waters edge. Fingers feigning a delicate nature as she pushed away a flower or two that had made a home at the surface. "I'm in no mood for games."

"Not interested in playing any games with you, lovely - " The Sin spoke, hands going above his head as a means of surrender. A gesture given with a playful click before both dropped to his sides. And he threw his head forward, forced his spine over to roll his heel against stone. "-but it seems you could use a bit of a favor, hmn?"

"I'm in no need of favors," she spoke, tone like that of a cracked whip. And for a moment, she held that icy gaze. But as fingers settled into the cool wash of the pool, breeding took over. A heavy burden of a family name. "My apologies - I am not exactly myself at the moment."

But the monster only shrugged. Raised his shoulders to send the fur-cuff of his vest fanning around the back of his neck. And his walk slowed, a rhythm to offer silent comfort. "Not interested in your apologies either."

And it was there that the Queen understood; understood with a watchful eye the sort of game they played. The quiet whispers between the two, the acknowledgement without words.

For a moment, it was a comforting feeling. To be disregarded as a Queen and spoken to like a person. Like a woman. Like an individual without a title.

No, the devil stripped her of that entirely.

"C'mon," Greed ordered as he gestured with beckoning fingers. Waltzed past her with that poised stance. With an offered dip of the shoulder. "-unless you'd rather stay here. Whatever you want, after all."

Elizabeth pulled her hand from the water. Wiped it clean with a gingerly motion that had been beaten into her by blood. That had been forced despite her own wants, her own needs. And she smiled with a polite push of her lips. "Of course," she said, palms taking the trail of her dress. Tugging it up only to let it fall as she followed her business partner.

And it was of little to no surprise that the Sin knew the layout of the garden. Seemed to have it mapped as he slipped between tall hedges, leaving the lights behind in exchange for the darkness. The warm sort of wrap that came only from shadows and moonlight. "Seems to me this has taken a bit of a toll on you, hasn't it?" He spoke from his back, not at her side. Not following her with 'Yes M'am(s)' and 'Your highness(es)'.

He instead spoke to her simply.

It was when they turned a corner, to a hedge coated in a blossoming set of roses, did the creature turn. Dark sunglasses hiding away his rather eerie eyes. And his jaws spread open, the moonlight practically catching on those dangerous teeth. "Not that I'm complaining, but - " Greed trailed off, heel smoothing over the carved terrain. And for a second, Elizabeth paused. A warning bell going off in her head:

"Do not open the door to the devil ... "

But his mouth was at her ear, a whispered hiss. "- I just hope it won't end badly for you, lovely. I wouldn't want to see you fall from your throne, after all." It was with honesty that he spoke, an admiration as sunglasses fell. As slitted pupils watched her with that ever-present need.

With that terrible desire.

And Elizabeth could take no more of it. Because what was mourning, what was loss, with no one to care. Of course, her things - her possessions - showed her sympathy. Offered her court, offered her comfort.

But that wasn't what she really wanted.

And as fingertips sunk into fur and leather, she felt her heart sink. Felt it being dragged away from heaven's warmth into something far more wicked. Felt that familiar comfort akin to a lullaby drop into fire. Into something raw.

The hand on his collar had razors at her neck, tracing her throat, feeling that hitch of a pulse. That desperation clenched between veins. And he merely opened his jaws, took her with the gentleness a predator would offer its kin. A safe haven against her neck as he coaxed her against briars and bush; against thorns and roses.

A leg slid against his leathers, a heel pushed against the back of his ankle, and the Queen tilted her head back. Let hair tangle in roots, let the woods she had called home take her. And it was like a poison rushing through her body; a burning to kill off everything she cared for. To pay back the favors God had given her in exchange for the pit below.

Because He had stripped her of everything she could ever want. Everything she could ever have.

And avarice promised it all back.