One

                                    

                                          
I've decided to call my character Daisy, just because I think it suits her more than Iris, which someone suggested in the comments (sorry, I've forgotten your user and I'm lazy af, but thank you anyway!) 
DAISY
                          
Hi. My name's Daisy- well, that's not my real name, but I won't tell you my real name. In Faerie, real names are a secret- at least when you're full faerie and the Queen's favourite, like me. 
                          
Anyway, you can call me Daisy. I'm a faerie- as close to a princess as you can get in my world. 
                          
It makes me a very dangerous enemy, but I'm not the one you should be afraid of- the real scary one is the Queen. And the Queen- well, the Queen has decided I'm her favourite, her apprentice- her daughter in all ways but blood. 
                          
Sometimes I love it. And other times- times like now- I hate it. 
                          
I'm alone, dipping my bare feet into Turtle's Pond and relishing the quiet. In the Queen's Realm, as her daughter, there's no peace- no quiet- no privacy. 
                          
That's the part I hate about being the Queen's daughter. I'm never alone. 
                          
The other part I hate is the Shadowhunters. For as long as I can remember- a long time, ever since i first saw one- I've been fascinated by them. The way they move, the way they act, the way they throw themselves into the path of danger for the Mundies. I've seen generations of Shadowhunters grow up, and I've seen them fall in love and get married and die. There's just something about them- their runes, their seraph blades, their parabatai... I don't know what it is, but they're beautiful. All of them. 
                          
That's why as I sit by the pond just watching the ripples spread across it, I'm not too bothered by the appearance of Isabelle Lightwood. 
                          
I know Isabelle, of course, from Merliorn. Merliorn was a friend of mine: not close, but a friend nevertheless, and he knew about me and Shadowhunters, and had told me a little about Isabelle and her family. I didn't know why Isabelle Lightwood, of all people, would be sitting by Turtle Pond and striking up a conversation with a faerie girl. 
                          
'Hello,' Isabelle says, sitting next to me. 'I'm Isabelle Lightwood. I'm, erm, friends with one of your knights in the Seelie court-' 
                          
'I know who you are,' I say lightly. 'Merliorn told me about you. You can call me Daisy.' 
                          
Isabelle looks at the daisy flowers plaited into my hair and smiles. 'The Seelie Queen has requested our presence in your courts,' she says. 'I'm waiting for my brother and my friends to arrive.' 
                          
'Your brother?' I raise an eyebrow. 'And friends? I do not think it would be wise to bring any more than necessary into the faerie courts.' 
                          
'My brother is reliable,' Isabelle assured me. 'And so are my friends, Clary and Simon.' 
                          
'Good.' I stand up. 'I need to go and see my mother, now, if you'll excuse me. But, Isabelle Lightwood- don't eat or drink anything we give you here.' 
                          
I don't know why I say it. Isabelle isn't stupid- she knows. Maybe I say it to show her I'm on her side- which is stupid. There aren't sides with the faerie court- there's what the Queen wants, and what the Queen wants is to support Valentine and his Circle, something I completely disagree with- not that it makes any difference to the Queen. 
                          
As I walk towards Faerie, I think over Isabelle's words. The Seelie Queen has requested our presence in your courts. The Queen hadn't mentioned it to me, which was strange. Normally she ran things past me, more as a courtesy than her actually wanting my opinion, but she still told me. The Queen wasn't blind to my opinions on Shadowhunters, and normally she would have mentioned that to me. 
                          
I frown, but decide not to worry about it. The Queen would do what she wished, and there was nothing I could do to change that. 
                          
*** 
                          
It was only a few minutes before the Shadowhunters arrived. The Queen sat on a low couch, and I sat near her feet- a signal that I was her ward. 
                          
'My Queen,' Merliorn says. 'I have brought the Nephilim to you.' 
                          
As the Queen replied, I took the opportunity to look at the Shadowhunters surrounding Isabelle. One was blonde, tall and muscled- Jace Morgensten, no doubt, next to his sister, the one with shocking red hair- Clarissa. And beside them, a boy with glasses and curly hair. Isabelle's brother, maybe? If so, Merliorn had been wrong when he told me that Alec Lightwood had blue eyes and black hair, and was a hunter. This boy looked sweet but nerdy: not like a Shadowhunter. 
                          
I blink and realise the Queen is talking. 'More blood of the Folk?' 
                          
Oh no. What had I missed? 
                          
'No,' the blonde one, Jace, says. 'More Downworlder blood. He needs the blood of a vampire, and a werewolf-' 
                          
'That seems hardly our concern,' the Queen says smoothly. 
                          
I feel my stomach clench. Hardly our concern? We were all Downworlders together- we helped each other, looked after each other- their deaths mattered. What was the Queen saying? 
                          
'He killed one of yours,' Isabelle says sharply. 'Don't you want revenge?' She looks at me as she says it, and I try to communicate with my eyes what I'm trying to say. Keep pushing. I want revenge: I want to stop this. 
                          
The Queen opens her mouth, but I'm too focused on Isabelle to listen. 
                          
Her eyes say she wants too. The Queen is dangerous. I don't want to offend her. 
                          
I can read between the lines. Fine. I will broach the subject to her, later. 
                          
For what price? Isabelle seems to say. 
                          
I know it's ridiculous I think that I can read another person's expression so well- that she can read mine- but I've always been able to read people well, and I hope, for all our sakes, Isabelle Lightwood is the same. 
                          
No price. Have you been brought up to think that all the Fair Folk ask for something in return when they grant a favour? I'm doing this for me, too. 
                          
Isabelle looks shocked. I suppose most Shadowhunters are brought up to fear faeries- but then again, most faerie would have asked for something in return. I, however, know when something is wrong. 
                          
Like now. I snap my head around and see a panic-stricken Clary Fairchild standing before the Queen, eyes wide. 'It's true,' she says. 
                          
The Queen leans forward so her hair swings by my face. 'Watch and learn, my petal,' she whispers. 'These are the Shadowhunters- the feared- reduced to this-' she breaks off and addresses Jace. 'Perhaps I am only curious,' she says. 'It is not often I have young Shadowhunters so close...' 
                          
I feel frozen. Shadowhunters... 
                          
I needed to find a way out. My Queen was turning to the side we all had but never showed. My Queen was turning Dark. 

                          
I own no characters apart from Daisy. All things that seem familiar belong to Cassandra Clare. I only own Daisy and her plot lines. 
                          
Never fear, Daisy and Alec will meet soon :)
                          
xxx Jade