Heidrun’s tongue, much larger than it had any right to be, extended from her expanding jaw. Amaryllis noticed with horror that the blonde’s teeth had sharpened as well. Long fangs like knives had replaced the canines. The tongue came to rest on Bridget’s decolletage, which was still rising and falling, calm as could be. 

Heidrun ran her tongue along the toned flesh just below the knight’s collar bone, and trailed lazily up her neck. Smiling, the blond woman lingered on the limp woman’s jugular as she moved her tongue all the way to Bridget’s ear. 

Then suddenly the blonde was stumbling across the room. 

Amaryllis picked herself up off the floor where she had collided with Heidrun. She hadn’t planned to throw her body at the other woman, it certainly wasn’t something she had ever done before, but it had prevented the worst. 

She rolled over and scrabbled her way onto the bed and up Bridget’s chest. Grabbing the collar of the knight’s chest plate, she desperately searched Bridget’s face for any sign of awareness, but she found only placid sleep. She shook Bridget as best she was able, “Wake, Syr Knight. Please. Your Lady needs you,” she began sobbing with the last vowel, her voice trembling and then shuddering as The Princess’ chest was seized again and again by waves of panic. 

She felt something warp around her stomach before she was flung against the opposite wall. She felt the air rush past her for a brief moment and then the uneven log wall slammed into her back.  

For a moment all the air was forced from her. Gasping, she attempted a groan of pain before it was interrupted by the waves of sobs still wracking her body. After she could manage the pain, she stood, bracing herself against the cabin wall. Across from her, Heidrun had resumed looming over Bridget, slowly cutting the knights' armor away. She recoiled to see the blonde woman–the monster–using its elongated, blade-like finger to slice away the leather straps and ties. 

Amaryllis’ sobbing gradually subsided. As she turned, she noticed the altar near her. She wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the antler dagger. In the other hand, she palmed a knuckle bone from the small pile near the stone bowl at the altar’s center. Taking a moment to read the runes in more detail, she began to work out a plan. 

Bridget let out a pained yelp from across the room. 

Without further thought, Amaryllis sprinted across the room and drove the dagger into Heidrun’s back. 

The creature screeched in pain. Its inhuman voice caused Amaryllis’s ears to throb in pain. 

The creature swung a too-large hand at Amaryllis and knocked her against a table. The Princess crumpled to the ground, but in a moment Heidrun had her by the neck and was lifting her from the floor. 

Amaryllis squeezed her fist and realized with relief that the dagger was still there. 

“You miserable girl. You hateful humans. Once you knew how to respect my kind and live in fear. Now all you do is grasp at power and spread misery. Tell me your name, little one, so I may savor the line I snuff out with your life.” Heidrun’s grip tightened around Amaryllis’ neck. 

Amaryllis slid the blade, still warm and slick with the monster’s blood, against her other hand. She felt the blade click against the knucklebone still pressed in her palm. She pushed down hard and tried not to wince as the blade bit into her own skin. 

“I’m the daughter of The High King, filth. First heir of Lord Sinnid,” Amaryllis spat. 

Heidrun laughed cruelly, putting her dagger-like teeth on full display. “Too sweet to be true, little welp, but I would relish that. I would love to make the daughter of the High King pay for what was done to Kettenbach.” 

Amaryllis kicked out at the creature’s stomach. She felt her foot connect with the tense flesh there, and Heidrun gasped in pain. Snarling Heidrun shoved Amaryllis down hard against the nearby table. 

The Princess gasped as the wind was knocked out of her a second time. There was a loud tearing, and Amaryllis realized Heidrun had, with her free arm, seized The Princess’ sleeve and torn it away, shoulder and all. Amaryllis gasped in panic as she felt the cool air on her warm, naked shoulder. 

Amaryllis squirmed and thrashed against the hand pinning her down by the throat, but the monster Heidrun had become was far too strong. The Princess coughed and choked as she pressed her own neck into the creature’s unyielding grip. Amaryllis closed her eyes trying to fight down her reflexive panic and regain control of herself. She drew in a long, jagged breath and tried to relax her shoulders. Dagger still in hand, she drove it hard into the arm pinning her down. 

Heidrun screeched and withdrew the arm, but before Amaryllis could escape, Heidrun snatched The Princess’ wrist and slammed it to the table, knocking the blade from The Princess’ grip. Amaryllis tried to stand, but only managed to sit halfway up, her back now arched toward the monster.

Close as she was, she was able to see the creature’s face clearly. Heidrun’s visage had changed radically. The woman’s already pale skin had taken on an almost translucent pallor. Her gray eyes were now a glistening, inky black. Most of all though, her extended jaw had warped the woman’s face into an exaggerated scream from which her too-long tongue and canines extended. 

Amaryllis paused in confusion and horror as she took in Heidrun’s new form. 

Taking the opportunity, Heidrun lowered her jaw and sank her teeth into the girl’s exposed shoulder. 

The needle-like fangs sank deep and Amaryllis felt something sickeningly cold rush into her veins. “No,” she gasped. 

Heidrun chuckled cruelly as she drew away, licking her teeth. 

Amaryllis’ hand shot to her pendant, finally free and within reach. She squeezed hard, feeling the pendant and the knucklebone press painfully against the fresh cut on her palm. 

Heidrun watched greedily as little rivulets of blood trickled down The Princess’ round shoulder. 

A wave of dizziness rolled over Amaryllis. She felt her vision blur. 

“There you go, little mortal. I can already feel you going limp.” Heidrun’s grip loosened.

Amaryllis yanked her hand away, but the momentum of her own movement caused her to fall back flat against the table. Her skull knocked loudly against the wood. She felt the pain and heard the noise a full second after it happened, her vision was spinning. “Nooo,” she moaned weakly. 

“Don’t worry, little thing. You’ll still be able to feel everything for some time yet.” The monster trailed a bladed finger along The Princess’ exposed shoulder and arm, pressing the edge gently into the soft flesh there. The Princess’ softness yielded, forming a new gentle curve on her body–a little valley around Heidrun’s claw. A faint red line was left in the wake of the creature’s finger. Amaryllis shuddered. Distantly, through the cool haze spreading through her veins, she felt the gentle pressure and faint sting. “You satiated your hunger on my food. Now it's time for you to satiate my hunger.” 

Amaryllis’ vision swam. Her limbs felt like stone, she couldn’t even lift her legs. Heidrun’s caress sent shivers down her spine. She knew she couldn’t, but part of her wanted badly to just sleep, to let Heidrun punish her. She deserved it for what she had done. For Kettenbach. For Bridget. 

She could simply yield under the pressure looming over her. She was tired of running and fighting. She was tired of lying. 

She fought the urge. She knew what she needed to do. 

Pouring all of her strength into her insensate limb, she grasped her pendant hard again and focused on it as hard as she could. Her head was still swimming, but she could still feel the familiar well of power deep in her chest. It always felt to her like a warm light, gold and red. As she centered herself, she felt a whispering presence within the bone as well, and something older in the blood mixing with her own in her palm. Drawing upon years of training, she focused on the light and let it expand across her body. Breathing heavily Amaryllis sat up–head clear–and met Heidrun’s gaze. 

The monster hissed in confusion, “What is this?” 

Amaryllis smiled and opened her palm to reveal the glowing ruby beneath. 

Heidrun recoiled. Her bladed hands rose to shield her face and her expression contorted even further. Even framed by The Princess’ open palm, the flickering red light of the ruby shone irregularly from the blood-caked gem. Gradually though, the splotches of blood began to soak into the crystal until it shone unhindered. The knucklebone wedged between The Princess’ palm and the gem, likewise, shriveled.  

“I am the daughter of Lord Sinnid, First of the Sinnach, and Mother Elatha, Queen of the Formoraigh.” As Amaryllis spoke the crystal grew brighter, casting a wild red light across the cabin, and the knucklebone dissolved entirely, leaving only the gem in her hand. “I know your name: Dearg Due of the Formoraigh.” The Princess fully opened her palm allowing the pendant to drop, suspending it in the air by chain still around her neck. “In my palm, your blood and mine. Just as your line and mine mix, Sidhe.”

The creature hissed angrily, “Quite, girl!” She strode forward, clawed hand raised, but then she caught the Princess’ gaze, her glowing ruby eyes. Heidrun–Dearg Due, tried desperately to move her legs, to leap at the soft girl before her. 

“I am heir to the Throne Ogh’ir and to the Formoraigh line. I bind you, Dearg Due,” Amaryllis shouted. Her plump cheeks rounding in a satisfied smile.  

The name echoed in the blonde woman's ears. Waves of red light crashed through her. Dearg Due knelt, her fangs and claws retracting. Waves of exhaustion poured over her. The glow of Amaryllis’ eyes was all she could want to see.

In that moment, Her Grace was too beautiful for words. Dearg Due started in awe at The Princess’ glowing ruby eyes–her round, soft cheeks. The red locks framing her face danced in the waves of energy pouring off of her. 

Amaryllis reached down and cupped Dearg Due’s jaw with her free hand. “You needn’t worry, pet. All the fighting and dissembling, you can just let it go. I know what you are,” Amaryllis searched the creature’s face. The creature was dazed and distant–beginning to relax, but Amaryllis felt her own strength waning as well. “I am a kind and forgiving ruler. I will ignore your transgressions tonight. In return, you must obey. Leave now. Do not return to this place.” 

Dearg Due’s brow furrowed. She groaned heavily. Slowly she began to shake her head. 

“Look into my eyes, pet,” Amaryllis insisted sternly. Dearg Due’s inky black eyes had cleared to cold gray again. The creature’s eyes met hers and wavered. They were unfocusing, blinking. “Noooo,” the blonde woman hissed. 

Amaryllis’ heart pounded against her chest. She was already exerting herself past her limits. She wavered on the edge of collapse. 

Suddenly there was a long metallic scraping, and a blade came to rest against Dearg Due’s throat. “Best you listen to Her Grace, Madam,” Bridget said sternly.

Amaryllis dared not break Dearg Due’s gaze, but she allowed herself a smile. A tear of joy and exhaustion rolled down her cheek. 

Dearg Due rose slowly, shuddering.

“Dearg Due, you will leave this place and never return. I banish you from this home,” Amaryllis said, summoning all the authority she could manage. 

The blonde woman hissed and turned, stumbling out of the cabin and into the night. 

Bridget followed to the door and spent a minute or more watching, sword still in hand, before she closed the door. 

“Will that work?” Bridget’s brow furrowed as she turned and began moving back to The Princess. “Dearg Due? What happened? I’m.” Bridget opened her mouth searching the room and Amaryllis’ flushed face for words. “I’m lost, Your Grace.” Bridget was moving with unusually little grace, bracing herself against tables and beams as she hobbled. Most of her armor, aside from her arms and legs, had been stripped away, and Amaryllis could make out her toned belly and teardrop breast through her shift. The knight’s face was full of concern and her pupils were dilated. 

Fighting through her swimming vision, The Princess met the knight’s gaze and attempted a self-satisfied smirk. “That is how you handle a Sidhe.” Amaryllis crumpled to the floor.