The last dance

chapter 1

Thunder boomed all over the dark forest and if you listened very carefully you could hear the beast who roamed there growl with pleasure, lightning could be seen from several miles away and that could only mean one thing. The queen was in a bad mood. The wind began to blow more strongly.As if nature itself tried to calm her down, a storm was gaining to take form and it was unfortunately the one that would not stop if she did not solve the matter.

Queen Delaney knew her subjects took the blow coming from her anger but she also needed to release her emotions or else she would not be able to rule them correctly. Her father, one of the council members of her court, had propositioned that she had to take a husband very soon to begin producing heirs ( as he and her mother had done for the kingdom ). The problem was. She was quite happy and satisfied with ruling the kingdom by herself. The death garden, as her kingdom was called, was not a place for the light-hearted. It consisted of poisonous plants and trees and deadly smoke radiating from the flowers. If one who was not born here breathed in that smoke, they would suffocate and die immediately. So, finding a man to rule beside her would be difficult if not impossible, but she promised to do it, one day.

Delaney stood on her balcony in her chambers looking down on her private garden she had tended since the day she could walk on her own two legs. It was full of belladonna and her own favorite creation, Auclair, a rose-like flower with neon green petals giving. One of them gives off enough radiation to kill at least a hundred beings in its surroundings. Useful and effective, but not for everyone to use. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "What is it, " she asked into the air.

A shadow soul they use as servants appeared in one of the corners of her bedroom. They are shadows shaped like skeletons. Originally, they were lost who never got through to the afterlife and instead roamed the earth for a purpose. Become more sinful and twisted with the years passing by, they needed to be contained, so Delaney herself set out to catch them all and at last give them purpose.

" Your highness ", he hissed and bowed deeply.

" Out with it "was the only thing she answered, still with her eyes closed.

It was quiet for sometime until that nightmare given life decided what to say to her.

" We have caught a werewolf in the forest. The beast seems to be of power " The shadow hissed again.

Delaney smiled. Finally, something for her to do. She hasn't had the chance to take care of prisoners since she ascended the Throne.

She waved her hand and wine-red rose petals started climbing over her body until it made a skin-tight dress that covered her legs and spilled onto the dark marble floor.

" Gather my tools. I shall be down in a few minutes ", she ordered.

" Yes your highnesses " The shadow hissed as an answer.

--------

The dungeons were dark and cold. Water dripped somewhere in there but she never really cared where. The shadow-whisps had gathered in front of one of the cells, hissing and slashing with their long claw-like fingers. Delaney walked forward and they made way for her to see the prisoner. Whatever she expected, it wasn't a dark-haired fit man staring at her with dark-almost black eyes with a little red in them.

" I have been informed you have been trespassing on my land. Care to tell me why ? " she purred and smirked at the man. He tilted his head slightly and just watched her, like a beast assessing its prey.

"What's your name ", the man asked her, still watching her every move.

" It is extremely uncommon for a prisoner to ask questions during an interrogation,. You are aware of that correct?" She only said, not even bothering to answer his question.

" Now I will give you two choices. You can either answer all my questions and come to no harm OR my guards here can start cutting off little limbs until you give in. " She said, giving him a small smile.

The man before her looked at her and then at the shadow-whisps. It seemed to take him sometime to decide. Was he really that stupid? She couldnt decide.

" I was searching for my soulmate. I tracked down their scent to these woods." The man said, not breaking eye contact.And neither should she.

" Your soulmate? Did it ever occur to you that you walked right into my kingdom unanounced and without permission? " She said.

" I didn't even notice if I was gonna be honest, if you would just give me a few days to look for them" He asked with pleading eyes.