death incarnate & night triumphant

The soft sigh of relief this is so emitted from Lani's lips has him pausing in the water, something stirring deep in his gut, something rather primal. Shoving that down, he calls out to her and sidles closer, careful to keep his waist below water, though his defined chest is exposed to the frigid air. Planting himself to her right, he watches her, deeply amused as she flushed that brilliant red, her scent shifting enough to have Andras narrow his eyes at her. Such an interesting smell she had, how he wished he could delve into her mind and see just what she was thinking about. For now, he merely settled himself, that lazy smile dancing upon his lips as he watches Lani drop farther into the water, the liquid lapping at her chin. Well, at least he didn't need to ask that particular question. She made it rather obvious that she was, indeed, not clothed. It almost made him want to chuckle, to tease her more, considering she couldn't escape him unless she wanted to show him her whole body; something Andras would not be opposed to. So, the faerie man settles with a wicked grin, stretching his arms out behind him to lay them across the frozen concrete.

Her rambled explanation, however, does manage to draw quiet laughter from him as her nervousness rolls off her in waves. Her forced cough has his hazel eyes narrowing in on her, her cheeks a rosy pink as he's very careful to keep his eyes from roving too much, not that there was much to see, considering how dark and steamy it was. As she insists she's intruding, Andras flicks his hazel eyes up to hers, "Lani darling, you are never an intrusion here. Perhaps if I had known you wanted to explore the hot springs, I would have mentioned I spend most of my nights up here," he explains with a sweep of his hand, "I might have worn clothing too if I had known," he winks at her, a dark chuckle rumbling through his vocal chords. The way she starts her next sentence almost has a roar of laughter emitting from his lips until it is so suddenly changed in content, Andras immediately stiffens in the water. Of all the things she had to ask, it just had to be that. It takes a moment before he can gather his thoughts, his hand dropping to rub at the short scar across his sternum, a battle wound from centuries ago.

Glancing away from Lani only briefly, his gaze finds her blue eyes once more, a seriousness entering his hazel eyes. "Fae can be born, just as a human is," he starts off slowly, "It's much harder to conceive and Fae children are extremely rare. The fact that Somnia has several faerie children is a miracle in itself. They are guarded fiercely until they are old enough and strong enough to defend themselves, the loss of one faerie child is terrible," he frowns slightly debating on how he wanted to continue. "Humans can be turned into Fae," he starts, hesitating as he searches her face, "It's considered dark magic and its highly frowned upon. I don't allow any such thing within my court and if that were to ever happen within in Somnia or a member of my court committed the deed, they would be executed immediately," he states sternly, every inch the High Lord in that moment, "A ritual takes place in order to change a human to a faerie," he starts, glancing away, a brief memory of a member of his court being caught in the act of changing a human dances across his mind.

"Being changed is not something you agree to, it's forced upon the human. They are kidnapped and held hostage for a time before being murdered. Only the strongest of humans can survive the change, I've never witnessed anything like it myself so I'm not entirely sure how the humans are brought back to life," he shrugs, eyes closing briefly to chase away dark thoughts that so desperately wanted to haunt him. Letting his hand come up to rub at his face, he successfully smears droplets of water across his chin as they drip into the springs. Opening his eyes, he glances back at Lani, allowing a wry smile to so coat his lips, "Let's change the subject, I don't particularly enjoy discussing black magic, it's bad luck," he grins at her, watching the way she is nearly fully submerged into the water. "How about we talk about you?" He suggests, that lazy smile so dancing upon his lips as he shifts closer to her, only a foot or so of space between them. "Like how very daring you are, considering you decided to go skinny dipping," he grins delightedly at her, "I don't suppose you wanted to get caught, now did you?" He purrs suggestively at her, though he's so very careful to keep his eyes only on her face. Though, Andras does reach out his fingers, to brush her wet strands of hair behind her ear, those fingertips brushing so very gently across her cheek.

How he enjoys the warmth she so emits, that lazy smile adorning his lips once more as he allows his hand to cup her cheek. His eyes darken as he takes her in, how close he was to completely snapping that leash. This woman would be his undoing.

Andras Steinhello darling