She crossed the room and her hands rose, taking the tiny thing out of Bast's lap. She stared at his dark grey-blue eyes, and he growled at her.
"Don't you growl at me..." she scolded him, and he stopped, eyes narrowing on her, but he didn't growl again.
"Note to self… women like cats…" Dirdos said as she stared at the cat and watched as a big pink tongue licked at his little pink nose and her heart melted.
Without a word, she tucked the fuzzy little thing into the crook of her arm, kissed Uzo on the cheek, and returned to her room.
Deliberately, she dropped down beside Kai hard enough to wake him and held the cat out so that the first thing he would see was the adorable fluffy face.
"Cat," she said to Kai, and he blinked, confused and delighted by the feline.
"Cat!" he gasped, thrilled.
The cat in question was small, his fur a mixture of brown and white with black details. He had large, round, dark brown ears with a large white spot, and a thick tail with paws that looked far too big for his little body. A white belly and big, dark eyes added to his perfection, and she was entirely enchanted by him.
He hissed at Kai, but there was nothing that could stop Kai from being as enchanted as she was.
"What is he?" Letari asked from the other room, trying to see without vacating the comfy chair.
"Ocelot, it's called, according to the dryads nearby. The humans call them that."
"What's his name?" Kai asked and frowned when she refused to surrender the fur ball.
"Cat," she said.
"Cat?" Kai asked, looking at her curiously.
"Cat the cat," Letari giggled.
"Daemon the demon, and cat the cat," Kai said, amused.
"What?" a voice asked as the demon in question came into the suite, and she was moving for the demon.
He blinked as the little fluffy creature was thrust in his face. She had to show him to everyone. Everyone had to love him, or she was going to beat them until they did.
"Cat," she insisted.
Daemon looked at Cat, then up at her before looking down at the cat again. "Yes dear, cat…" he said warily. "What happened to her?"
"That's his name," Kai said as though it was perfectly obvious, and Daemon was just being dense.
"Cat the cat…" he said in a deadpan voice. "I feel like you're mocking me…"
"Not everything is about you, Daemon the demon," she said as she turned away from him.
He snorted, but she ignored him, folding herself into a cross-legged sit on the carpet and putting the kitten down.
He looked up at her and sniffed her fingers, then bit her before he prowled away after Kai's toes.
The vampire yelped as the cat bit his foot, and Etani beamed, delighted.
"How are you feeling?" Dirdos asked as he walked over and sat down beside her, plucking a long feather out of nothingness and dragging it along the ground.
Cat was on it like lightning, and the feather only lasted a few minutes.
"Fine," she breathed, already madly in love with the little beast.
"Why wouldn't she be?" Daemon asked, all eyes on the kitten.
"Epharis," Dirdos said, looking at the decimated feather.
"What about him?"
"Deal to get the elixir to keep Etani alive. He spent a pleasant evening with her drugged in his bed."
He said it so calmly that it took a moment for the information to process in all of their brains, and she looked at Dirdos.
"Did you watch?" she demanded, indignant.
"Only for a little—long while," he said. "Your husband is depraved."
She went pale and then shrieked as Damon wrapped his arm around her and thrust her up against the wall, his fingers around her throat.
"Why would you agree to that?" he snarled.
Cat had vanished like a puff of smoke, hiding under Bast's chair while Dirdos jumped to his feet, Jagum stalking forward and ready to rip Daemon apart.
"It's that or learn who I murdered while in a starvation fuelled rage. I killed how many when I was injured?"
No one had decided it was prudent to tell her the number then, nor did they enlighten her right now, and she glared at him, his face twisting in fury.
"I will not be responsible for another of my loved ones being killed because I was weak…" she said and Uzo shifted, his face anxious.
"It makes you weak when you give in to his sick fantasies," Daemon growled, but anger flooded into her.
"It makes me weak when you give me up to the Gods," she snarled, his face going white at the reminder.
"They had a valid concern."
"You betrayed me."
"I did what I had to."
"You're a traitor."
His hand struck her face, and she gasped; the demon pulled off her by three sets of hands with Jagum's battle axe pressed against his chest in threat.
"Touch her again and we will kill you," Dirdos growled, but she only shook her head.
"All the Gods are the same… you just do whatever you please and hope for the best."
Kai let go of Daemon and touched her burning cheek gently.
"And you're a whore," Daemon snarled, his eyes closing slowly at the angry words he instantly regretted saying.
Her breath choked as she took in his cruelty, pain radiating out from her heart to leave her burning all over.
"I know…" she whispered, brushing Kai's hand aside and stooping down to pick up the wide-eyed kitten.
"Etani wait... I didn't mean it!" he gasped, but she was already heading for the door, closing it quietly behind her as she started down the hall.
Her arms wrapped protectively around the kitten, his tongue rough on her finger where he had bitten her.
"It's okay, baby…" she whispered to him, refusing to cry until she was free of the castle and with everyone giving her a wide berth, she was outside in only a few minutes and in the garden a minute after that.
Dropping down onto the same bench and table she had first met with the twins, she set Cat down and he immediately bounded off to explore.
He would be safe in the garden, the gates closed and walls keeping him contained.