↘↘↘ let there be -- war ♞♥♚

[Winterling42]

Julian looked up, startled by her words. Of all the ways she could've reacted to his outburst, sympathy had not been the route he'd expected. He had almost given up on the idea that she held any sympathy for him at all: why should she? He was one of the monsters who'd kidnapped her and forced her into slavery. Why should she do anything but hate him (why would she wish him well)?

"I–no. I just have to finish this spell, and then I suppose I should go out somewhere." He ran a finger over the Draconic scrawlings on the table, frowning. "There's nothing I need."

[zombliez]

Kindle looked at Aneira blankly. He wasn’t very surprised that she hadn’t understood the real reason for the meeting, but a small part of him had hoped that her intelligence was a little higher then what he expected it to be. It wasn’t. With a flippancy in character that could only be best described as Kindle, the yellow eyed man nonchalantly commented, “Well, we’re not leaving.” He didn’t bat a single eyelash at the face she gave him—not wanting to confuse her he reworded his statement. “I’m leaving. You’re most likely going to stay here and fond over the stable hand.”

He grinned at her, completely satisfied with the situation and the leverage he had (not that there wasn’t plenty of other leverage available to the boy prince) openly exposed Aneira to. The dragon knight wanted her to understand the fullness of the situation. The fact that he had already examined her eye candy and the rhythm of her heartbeat—that it was plainly obvious and that Magnolia was so close that the simple suggestion to her could ruin everything for Aneira. Everything.

With a quickness he took her hand and kissed it gallantly. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” He whispered the words against her wrist, his voice barely heard on the wind and not the least bit audible to anyone standing five feet away from the situation. Straightening up he took a step back, "Make sure you at least make it worth wild." He gave her a simple smile and with that, the Dragon Knight left the ginger princess to her blossoming love affair.

xx

Amelia couldn’t help but frown at the shortness she was met with. She really didn’t have a right to complain, he hadn’t been outright angry with her for her statement. But he wasn’t showing the slightest interest in her attempt to comfort him—which only discouraged her speaking further. With the scuffling of her shoes and fiddling with her fingers she decided to ask him the only thing she could manage. “Should I leave?” She didn’t want to, there wasn’t a place she felt safer in and yet she was still far from safe and not sure what to make of that.

[Winterling42]

For no reason at all, his heart skipped a beat. "You don't have to," he hurried to assure her, though the hope was blatantly obvious in his tone and expression. "You really don't, I've got nothing to do that can't wait–" He stumbled over the time, not wanting to assume she'd like to stay for any certain length. Now a little red tinged his face, easy to see in the daylight streaming through his window.

"Would you tell me something?" Julian wasn't sure if the question would earn him frozen silence or (at best) a cautious answer. "Why do you call me 'monsieur'? Is it the same as 'lord', in your home?"

[zombliez]

Amelia didn’t even blink at the question, she barely even thought. “No.” She answered him quite solemnly. “No, it doesn’t mean lord. It means Mister.” Her tone was even and held an underlying sense of dignity. She hadn’t bowed when she responded, or looked sheepish in the slightest. Instead she held her chin up high as she was taught from an early age on. Not even the servants in Ilentalien were expected have such a mild, scared manner about them. They were of course to treat all royalty with respect but they were never told to keep their eyes on the floor and their head to their chests as several of the servants in Impesteee were ordered to do.

But the servants in her home were given the option to be so informal in intimate settings. If she had been addressed as anything but her majesty by a servant in front of the court it would be another matter entirely. But they hadn’t been in court and he had already spoken so out of turn with her she couldn’t imagine he would be so hung up on something that seemed so insignificant in her blue eyes. But look at the situation now she wasn’t quite sure, perhaps he would be angry with her, and perhaps she deserved it.

She bowed her head carefully, in embarrassing submission. The color of shame infected her skin and she wished she had chosen not to say anything at all. She had wished that she hadn’t learned a lick of Elvish as a child and used the simple excuse that she couldn’t properly speak the language. But that wasn’t the case, and she knew the lie wouldn’t have gone on for long. Instead they would attempt to educate her on something she already knew and it would have been more frustrating still.

“Forgive me, my lord. I meant not offense.” Her eyes fell to the floor and this time, she wished he would send her away. The unsaid insults of her behavior were far more painful then anything else he could wish to throw at her. The idea of being beheaded no longer seemed like a painful and pathetic way to end but more honorable one. She wasn’t going to make it out of Impesteee alive, she wasn’t going to return to her homeland and she couldn’t do a damned thing to correct the situation. So perhaps, for a moment, her pride had out shone her judgment and perhaps, in that moment, she was glad it had.

[gingerprincessannie]

Aneira’s mouth dropped open as Kindle spoke, and she tried to sputter out some kind of response, but she couldn’t form words. As he walked away, she watched with wide eyes, the green irises showing shock and fear. If the queen ever found out…her heart stuttered and it felt like all of the breath left her chest. All at once, she felt very alone and very afraid.

Green eyes darted over to the stable and she stood there indecisively. She was torn between the urge to hide in her room, and the hope that maybe the Dragon Knight hadn’t taken her hunting to allow her time with the stable hand. She shifted her weight, heart pounding, but did not move from her place.

[Winterling42]

For a few moments, Julian saw someone he could not recognize as the terribly cautious Badb. This lady was who he had seen in Magnolia's throne room, the day Kindle brought her and the red-haired knight in chains. The first humans in Impesteee in who-knew-how-long, and she stood with head unbowed and mind unmoved by the whispers around her.

This was not Badb, and for her he felt a surge of affection, mingled at once with shame. She was right, of course, not to call him 'lord' in any language. Most of the time he didn't feel like he deserved his title anyway (it had never been his to begin with).

And then, in another half a moment, she had disappeared behind her quiet facade. Though she was still sitting right there he was half-tempted to say he'd imagined her. And it tore him apart, to see her so meek. "You were answering my question," he said, realizing that the silence had gone on too long (again). "There'd be no reason for me to take offense." I would never, from you.

"You speak Elvish so well, for someone not raised here," he managed not to include the fact that she was significantly younger, objectively, than any of the elves at court. "It sounds better on your voice than on mine."

[zombliez]

Ceatherine had done his best to listen to the conversation between his princess and the dragon knight. But the damned dark haired man had not given him the slightest clue on what he could have said; everything had been hushed between them. Even when he left her, awkwardly, standing alone and leaving her mouth open in pure awe, he couldn’t understand what it was that made the princess so inclined towards Kindle.

But while she was left there he couldn’t keep staring at her, though he wanted too, more than anything, he couldn’t. Instead his attention was turned to her horse, a fell pony that had more hair then he imagined any horse should have had. It was beautiful; he couldn’t deny that but short. His eyes looked over at the princess and he was reminded why in fact she had such a small horse. She was so small it made his heart swell at how wonderful it was, how much it added to her natural charm.

When his eyes caught her he couldn’t help but smile at her—knowing full well it wasn’t polite or expected of someone so lowly as he.

xx

Amelia hadn’t a clue what to say. The man in front of her didn’t seem to be angry at her once again outlandish speech in the slightest, not even cold in his polite manners; instead he had offered a compliment. A mild suggestion that her voice was even a fraction better then his was an unspoken honor that a lord could give a servant—and an unfavorable one as well.

Her back stiffened as she attempted to keep her thoughts even. She couldn’t allow it to go her head; he had to see what it was that he hid behind the compliment (for all royalty hid their true intentions in between their words). The nervousness that had left her a few moments ago was back suddenly with full force and the grip on her dress made it tear slightly.

The comment about language had not been a compliment at all, but rather a hidden question, she was sure. Of course it would have came up sooner then later and she couldn’t find anything to say that wouldn’t seem flat and dismissive. Instead she allowed herself the uncomfortable silence for a moment, to collect herself.

“My lord, I can’t disclose the nature of my language skills for it isn’t fit for your ears.” She swallowed hard, the air slipping between her lips felt like shards of broken glass cutting every sensitive part of her tender mouth. Her eyes fell to the tear in her dress and she continued numbly, “For it isn’t much of an interesting story in the slightest. It would not do you any good to listen to such nonsense which is human.”

[gingerprincessannie]

All at once Aneira’s heart was pounding for a different reason. At the sight of his smile, she felt the fear leave, and she made her way over to the stable. Her dress swished around her legs as she walked and she was suddenly aware of how plain it was. Blushing, she smoothed her hands down the front and ran a hand over the braids that held hair away from her face.

She nodded to Baedwin. “You were admiring my horse, well, my pony,” she corrected herself, the blush spreading further over her cheeks. She smiled at him tentatively for she had realized, now that she was there, that she didn’t know if he reciprocated her feelings. Searching to ease her nerves, her hand moved to stroke the pony’s velvety nose. A laugh escaped her lips when the mare nudged her hand, looking for a treat she was sure.

Her gaze moved from the horse, to the stable hand, trying to badge his reaction to her approach. A bold move, she knew, and she wasn't sure if it had been entirely a good idea. The queen was always watching. She felt the hair on the back of her neck p***k and she shivered internally, but nonetheless, she was here and there was nothing she could do about it now.

[Winterling42]

Julian blinked once or twice, hurt by the distance she had shoved between them so hurriedly. "Oh?" There was so much he wanted to say that the inflection of the word was jumbled into incoherence. The only really certain thing was that it was meant as a question; other than that interpretation was impossible. He scrambled for something else to say, some other topic of conversation that would allow them to continue the conversation. "It would not bore me in the least," he managed at last, which was not the same thing at all.

[zombliez]

Ceath’s eyes seemed to deceive him as the pretty princess approached him with her burning cheeks—the pink kissed her sweetly and he wished if he would ever be given such an honor. When she spoke to him, he wasn’t sure how to address the situation. She wasn’t completely wrong, he had been admiring something and he had been paying mild attention to the pony, though they were two separate entities entirely. He nodded carefully as she approached him. “I was taking care of her, my lady.”

His eyes fell low, towards her hidden feet. He wasn’t supposed to look directly at her, or so he had been informed. He missed his homeland quite suddenly for he would have been given at least the honor of keeping his copper eyes on her lively face.

With an irrational action that could only be described as Ceath he looked up at Aneira and spoke, rather openly with her, “Would you like to go riding, my lady? Or would you like anything else from me?” He raised his eyebrow only a fraction above appropriate, a sudden suggestion caught in the space between them and if it ended in his beheading he could at least die knowing that she had not loved him as he had loved her.

xx

Amelia hadn’t expected him to let it drop, why would he? It just made sense after all and it seemed that Lord Julian was not about making any sense at all—she should have expected as much from a wizard who doubled as a noble. Her cheeks began to burn, if she had been a normal servant and he had made the request then he was surely attempting to shame such a lowly girl and how she had come into such a situation. But he did not seem like the kind to shame his servants and yet he had been insulting her continuously since she was presented to him.

But she wasn’t a normal servant and she hadn’t the slightest idea of what she could pretend was the cause of her absurd abilities. Amelia had been many things, but a liar, wasn’t one she liked to pretend to be. Cheeks still blushing and eyes falling anyway but towards him she tried to attempt to give him some kind of story, some reasoning for such an odd skill. “You see, my lord,” She started quietly, her voice slightly shaking. “When I was a knight I traveled a lot and in the Queen’s guard an Elf named Ealt taught all of the men and women who were to protect the blossoming Queen. He thought it would make us seem rather intelligent as was expected of the Queen’s personal guard.” It wasn’t a complete lie, Ealt had been an elf and he had helped her in her language studies. He wasn’t much of a knight though.

[Winterling42]

Julian just nodded and sighed a little; her tone of voice did not encourage questions. He really did find the story fascinating. He'd always had more imagination than had been good for him. If she had been more comfortable with speaking, he might have asked her more. "You fascinate me." He hadn't meant to say that, or not that exactly. The words, like most of his behavior today, just kind of happened without his conscious intention.

[zombliez]

Amelia’s heart missed a beat when Julian spoke to her like that. Like she mattered to him on some level, any level. But she couldn’t let herself believe it, no matter how much she would have liked to. Of course she fascinated him, she was a well-trained human woman—to an elf her life was a mere moment that would be gone in the blink of an eye. She wouldn’t let it go unnoticed, she wouldn’t pretend that he had meant to be sweet to her or that he had been attempting to compliment her when it was so painfully obvious it wasn’t. “I imagine,” Her voice started off steady; though her heart was filled with a great pain, she would’ve rather walked on glass then think he would insult her so. “I would imagine, my lord, that most humans would fascinate you. We are but small creature compared to your kind.” She wanted to look at him, but did not allow herself the pain.

"I wish, my lord, that your affections were not based on insult."

She hadn't meant to say such a thing, why would she? It wasn't warranted and it wasn't in the least bit considerate of Julian in the slightest. But she couldn't take it, she couldn't have him feed her false compliments to make her adore him for she already did and it only made their matter worse entirely. The thought of being Kindle's was no longer the worst thing she could imagine for at least then she wouldn't feel so pathetic, so small.

[Winterling42]

Julian frowned, the instinctive flinch from her words moderated by his confusion. He could hear the hesitation, the microscopic stutters in her words. He could hear the pain in her; it lashed out towards him but didn't take hold. "Insults." He spoke numbly, expression rapidly reverting to the calm blankness he used to defend himself so often. He let the word hang in the air for half-a-second too long, then took a deep breath. "They are not meant so, though obviously my word must be suspect." He tapped two fingers on the open book next to him, and fixed his gaze on the words beneath them, as if to shut out everything else. "I'm sure you have better things to do than listen to me." Julian said, counting the least of her chores more important than whatever their conversation had been. "Thank you for your time." He gathered up the book and bowed, just a little. Just enough that both of them knew it was a bow and could not mistake it for anything else. "I hope the rest of your day goes better." And before she could react, in any real fashion, he retreated from his room, half-shutting the door behind him.

[zombliez]

Kindle wasn’t surprised in the least when Julian had decided to retreat into his room, surely leaving the princess pink faced and at a loss for words. He allowed his mind to trail over the thought of her lips, slightly opened for just a moment before his eyes snapped to the dark skinned man who had stumbled in the room. The dark haired knight had fashioned himself on Julian’s large bed, sitting against the freshly carved chestnut headboard that he was sure Magnolia had demanded be put in place before the wizard even arrived. His hands were folded in neatly in his lap; his attire hadn’t changed in the slightest from what he had presented Lady Aneira with just moments ago. Surely his servants in the walls gave him a play by play of his situation with Amelia.

Not missing a beat Kindle moved, barely, out of his leaning position and into a more upright alert one (however he was still laying casually on the bed, it was just a slight move of his shoulders to dare suggest that he would get from the bed and aid Julian in his misery). “Sleeping alone again?” He asked sympathetically, his mouth formed in a false frown that quickly cracked into a smile as he patted the bed next to him. “I mean, we can certainty sleep together if you’d like.” The suggestion was empty, mostly.

After a moment he peeled himself from Julian’s bed and rubbed the length of his back. “Though I don’t blame your reluctance to woe her Julian, I would hardly want to make love to a woman of such prestige on a rock such as this.” He looked at the bed spitefully, just another measure for show for the bed, compared only to his, was quite wonderful. He looked back at the Julian with eager yellow eyes and allowed his pleasant hands sit on his lack of hips. "Unless of course, you're into that kind of thing."

Before Julian could speak Kindle was already at it again, approaching him in slow measured steps until he was barely two feet from the other man. “A word of advice, my lord," He whispered carefully so that the words would only be kept between them, not that he had to worry much about the ears in the walls. "When a woman isn’t experiencing any pleasure from your insults it is best to keep them to yourself." He let his eyes trail down Julian slowly, "As most things you have to offer."

Kindle, of course, knew that Julian hadn’t meant to insult her. Not really, in fact the mage had meant to compliment her—a daring move on his part and it would have been endearing to Kindle if it had been executed in a better fashion.

[gingerprincessannie]

Despite herself, Aneira felt her mouth pull up into almost a smile at the half-elf’s bold question. Her cheeks were already burning, she knew she could hardly blush any more. A surprised giggle (for it couldn’t be described any other way) escaped her. He could be beheaded for such a question, she knew that. She wondered what it meant, that he had asked her so fearlessly. She hoped it meant what she wanted it to, she believed it did.

She looked up at him. “What if I do want something else from you?” she responded. She was pleased, her voice hadn’t shaken at all and she felt surprisingly calm and confident. “Would you risk the consequences?” she asked.

A sudden fear, the fear that should have prevented the conversation from ever happening, erupted in her chest. “Th-the queen is interested in me you know,” she said, the fear trembling into existence in the notes of her voice. “And if she ever found out about anything-“ Her voice caught and she took a quick gasp of a breath.