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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Aug 30, 2024 16:55:12 GMT
Chadwick -- "Chadwick" When Alex insisted the traitor didn't have feeling for him, Chadwick realized with dread that the boy did not reject having notions for Dante himself. And he made sure to point it out. "You keep speaking of his feelings," His eyes were narrowed, "And yet you don't deny having feelings for him." Which would explain this whiny outburst of pathetic pleading and empty threats. When Alex claimed Dante was a nobody, Chadwick rolled his eyes, and when the boy insisted that he'd make Chadwick's life hell if he killed Dante, Chadwick actually smirked at the boy cruelly. "There's always a method of control, Alexiares, and I will use whatever method I must to keep you in line," His words were cruel and spoken low, just for the two of them, "I wouldn't test me if I were you, child. And I would forget about that pitiful little traitor in the Dungeons." He huffed, as if Alex was only an annoying child, "Whatever happened to you hating him? Things were much better then."
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Post by pallas on Aug 30, 2024 18:28:20 GMT
Alex didn’t know what to say to his father’s assertion that he hadn’t denied having feelings for Dante. He was right, he hadn’t. And maybe Alex did have those feelings, but he didn’t know what he felt. But the threat to Dante’s life was beginning to give him some clarity.
”Does it matter now?” was all the boy said in response, voice feeling suddenly raw. Whatever he felt for Dante, whatever he meant to him, would it matter if he couldn’t help him stay alive? If he couldn’t stall long enough for Athena to get Dante out?
”I’m not testing you. I am simply being the curse you have always said I am. You decided this. I told you if you let him go, I would toe the line, and you refused.” Alex answered. ”I have never been enough for you from the moment that war started. So just know that whatever I do now, I am what you made me.”
He was done denying his father his villain. If he was determined to make Alex his enemy, who was he to argue?
”Maybe it was better for you when I hated him. He made me see that I deserved better than you.”
If it weren’t for Dante, how long would he have gone on hating himself? Fearing himself? Not realising how much better he deserved? Thinking he’d was an awful person?
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Aug 30, 2024 21:25:49 GMT
Athena tented the tent and immediately shimmied her way out of the cursed dress as she smiled smugly. "I was hired to kill a prince. Paid more than you."
She heaved out a sigh and kicked the dress away from her into a corner. It landed with a dull thud and Athena turned away from it. She'd burn it later. It was too damaged to sell or wear again as a disguise. Even if she pretended to be kidnapped to sneak back into the castle, she was sure that Chadwick had already labeled her a traitor too.
"I told fortunes for a while," She started to explain as she picked out her new clothes. Dark trousers and a midnight blue shirt would fit her purposes for now. Just until she got her weapons back. "I got hired to tell fortunes at some nobleman's ball and there would be a bonus if I killed someone there discreetly. I did, and word spread of my talents," she said matter-of-factly. She was sure the nobleman expected her to get caught but having to hide and run for several years prepared her for slipping someone poison.
She paused as she finished putting on a pair of boots and sighed. "Oralee..." she muttered under her breath as she tried to figure out what to say. "Prince Alex has been my friend for years. He never asked too many questions and never ratted on me to his family. I only got caught cause I stuck around too long and kissed him to keep up an act. King Chadwick saw a way for him to get his son off his hands through me. So I was trapped in Oralee. Dante provided the escape I needed when he got arrested. Otherwise, I might have been a runaway wife instead of a runaway bride."
"Although, maybe I should have married him. I'd have my title back and then I'd finally outrank you," Athena teased, doing her best to bring a lighthearted tone into the space.
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Aug 30, 2024 21:26:53 GMT
Elena was dismissing one of her men when Minke walked into her tent unannounced and without permission. Such a bold little thing this girl was.
She leaned against her desk and crossed her arms as the littlest Lenore thanked her for bringing her sisters together. The older woman's face was unreadable as stone not indicating whether she accepted the thank you or not. She just watched the young girl as she kept talking.
However, Minke's last statement made Elena's eyes narrow the tiniest amount. She stood still, waiting for Minke to say more than she did. To explain what she meant or why she was here. When she didn't Elena spoke.
"Blood does not make one royal, pequeña ratón. If I cut you and myself we'd bleed the same color. Who is to say you have more claim than I? Blood is just that," She said evenly. Now, she raised her chin to look at the girl over her nose.
"I loathe your entitlement and distrust your words."
She would never respect the nobility. Not so long as they thought their blood put them at a higher power than the common people. Not as long as they took what they wanted from them or went where they pleased without permission. Lilith and her sister's may be better-mannered than most, but they still had time to prove they were just like the rest.
Waving a hand at Minke, Elena moved on to the important matter. "Speak, girl. What do you want?"
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Post by pallas on Aug 30, 2024 22:01:05 GMT
Lilith raised an eyebrow at her sister‘s words about being hired to kill a prince and it paying more than a contract to kill Lilith. She should certainly hope so. Still, she replied with a lightly amused ”they did not know what they had.”
She didn’t joke with many people. Probably Elena who had known her for a while now could still only count on one hand the number of times Lilith had made a joke in her presence. But her sisters were different. With them she felt more like someone else, more like the person she’d been before the fall. She didn’t know how to reconcile that person with who she was now, when they were so different and yet at the same time entirely the same people.
She listened to Athena speak, taking in everything she’d said. The girl had gone from telling fortunes to a killer well renowned enough to be taking contracts for royals. In a way, she could not be surprised. Athena had always been an impressive person. But it was no small feat.
She smiled at her sister’s joke. ”Do not go staging any coups now, little sister.” Lilith replied. It felt easy, talking to her. Easier than anything had in a long time, even though they were talking about the hardest times they had gone through in their lives.
”What fine messes we three got ourselves into, hm?” Lilith continued, approaching her sister now she was fully changed to fuss over her the way she had done many a time when they were younger, adjusting the way collar lay and the way the fabric fell. ”Fugitives and criminals.” At least they were alive.
She smiled, taking in her sister in the outfit. ”It suits you.” the elder sister said. She wanted to say so much more. How she missed her. How she was sorry for how long they’d been apart and how difficult things had been while they were separated. How much she loved her. Three years worth of things to say.
”I am proud of you.” Athena had, after all, stayed alive and been very smart and resourceful about it. She’d gotten herself out of some tough spots. And just surviving out there as a runaway and a Telekine was difficult. She was just as proud of Minke for that. ”And I think mother would be proud to know we all survived and found our way back to one another.”
Bringing up their mother was difficult, but one of them had to do it sooner or later. Losing their mother had been unspeakably difficult, not to mention that they had all had to grieve alone. But their reunion would have made their mother so happy. Her daughters had meant everything to her.
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Aug 31, 2024 17:46:27 GMT
Minke "Little Mouse" Minke's eyes narrowed at Elena's commentary. "If your presumption is that I somehow thought my blood was holier than thou own, you have sincerely underestimated my intelligence, Siren." Her greyish-violet eyes scanned the woman, as if she was looking through her. She used the fancy words as a mockery of what Elena presumed she was. It was sarcastic and scathing, just as Minke herself was. But then she was crossing her arms and leaning on her left leg more than her right, regarding Elena cooly, and yet with a no-nonsense attitude. “You are the only one here treating us as if we are different due to the blood we share. You’ve known Briseis for a long while, you know her better than I do, now. And yet, your opinion of her only changed when you learned that she was the daughter of a queen. Perhaps it is not us that presume we are of higher standing simply because we had the luck of being born in a castle.”She looked away then, finally getting to why she came. "You aren't the only one with a distaste for cruel Royals who think they are above everyone else simply due to their status and birthright." No, ever since she left home, that was the only type of ruler she'd found. She hated it. She wanted them gone. "Those who look down on others as if they are mere tools, pawns to be used in some silly little game. I hate them. I want them dead and gone." She couldn't look at Elena while saying it, the words were much too personal for it. She'd experienced being used as some tool for a mad King herself. She wanted him to suffer more than anything for what he'd done. "I had thought perhaps you'd be interested to hear in an opportunity to get back at one of the assholes, make him look as if he were a fool, and take his precious treasures right from under his nose," She commented, before shrugging and turning back towards the exit, throwing her other words behind her at the Siren, "But perhaps I misjudged your interests. What a shame. More for my sisters and I, then." She started making her exit then. After all, Elena had made it obvious she didn't want to work with entitled princesses.
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Aug 31, 2024 18:01:42 GMT
Chadwick -- "Chadwick" Chadwick glared at Alex, a withering, hateful glare. There was contempt and disgust in his eyes, a pure, unadulterated anger. "Of course it matters," He spit back, when Alex insisted it didn't matter what his feeling were, "Your affliction must be cured, just as your other has been."
He glanced meaningfully at the bracelets, and while they weren't a cure, they hid Alex's abilities, which was good enough for Chadwick. The same would go for these feelings. Even if Alex would not be fixed or cured, the loss of Dante would take away any meaningful outlet for them. Make Alex that much easier to reign in and control. Perhaps this whole thing wasn't such a waste after all. He regarded Alex coldly, before turning back to the exit. He let the boy have the last words, after all, words wouldn't stop what was to come. And then they'd see how much Alex's words really mattered.
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Aug 31, 2024 21:25:45 GMT
Elena laughed loudly at Minke’s outburst as she attempted to storm out of her tent. Taking a step forward, Elena grabbed the girl by her arm and threw her into a chair to sit before leaning over her trapping her in her gaze.
She narrowed her eyes and her smile turned cruel as she hovered over Minke. Daring her to try and do anything faster than she could pull a weapon and inflict harm.
“Did you not just walk in here without permission and refer to yourself has having Royal blood? What else am I to presume, little Lenore?” She asked in a dangerously quiet whisper. “I don’t hold anger at you or la Novia. I tolerate you. Which can quickly shift. Do not project emotions onto me and think to understand where it is directed.
”You are treated no different than any person first coming into my employ. You’d understand that if you used the head you think is on your shoulders. In fact, I have been too lenient with you after you attempting to steal from me and continue to speak as if you know better than everyone around you. You know nothing, child.”
Elena moved to the side, grabbed the back of the chair, and tipped it forward to dumb Minke out of it. She turned her back on the girl and started walking back to her chair. “Get out.”
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Sept 1, 2024 1:34:49 GMT
Minke "Little Mouse" Minke yelped as she was thrown back, and as Elena practically towered over her in the chair. It reminded her much of King Drake and his attitude, the way he would throw her around to keep her in line. But Elena was not Drake. And Minke knew it. "And which one between the two of us apparently requires permission just to be spoken to?" Minke shot back, rather coolly for the situation. Elena didn't scare her. If Elena tried anything, Minke was sure she wouldn't make it out of this camp alive. Both Briseis and Maylea had been hardened. Plus, Elena could threaten all she want, but Minke kept her fear hidden under a veil, because she was tired of being afraid.
She almost looked impressed by Elena's words, but kept her cool, "I'm not under your employ. I never asked to be, so it's not my fault if that was your presumption. But I am speaking to you as an equal. Not as a subject, and most certainly as someone whose under your employ."
She was tipped unceremoniously out of the chair, and as she landed in a lump, her gaze flickered at Elena with a spark of genuine anger. But she bit her tongue. Elena ordered her to get out, and she pushed herself to her feet.She might get stabbed, but it was worth it. "No."
She finally looked a bit fearful, warily glancing at Elena's hands as if she expected a slap or hit to some, but she screwed on a look of determination.
"Bris-Lilith said I should appeal to your nature as a criminal to get your help, but you are more than that. You wouldn't have helped me out if you didn't have a spark of kindness in that withered little heart of yours that you pretend you have." Her hands clenched at her sides, "I want your help to save Dante. He's only in a dungeon because he kept me safe. He kept me from being shipped back to King Drake. So I can't leave, not yet. My sisters and I can do it ourselves, but this is our chance to get back at one of those sick bastards sitting on a throne he thinks he can hunt us down and control us." She took a deep breath after saying it, she got passionate in her speech. It wasn't her cool and collected one from earlier, with the smart comments and wit. It was genuine, but it wasn't a plead. She wanted Elena's help, because Elena was strong and brave. And Elena had an obvious vendetta against Royals too. And this was their collective chance to start some king of resistance against them. "Plus, he's a giant asshole and he's got nice things to steal," She took a coin out from her cloaks pocket, tossing it in the air towards the siren. It was a golden coin, one from Oralee. A decorative, royal coin. It was worth a bit, and it was one of the things she took from the Castle before leaving.
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Sept 1, 2024 5:02:23 GMT
The Siren turned slowly back around to face Minke. Her face was still as controlled as ever but her sea green eyes were holding back a rage that was about to crescendo with every syllable that came from the girl's mouth.
The thought that she could just come in here whenever she wanted and yell at her about her feelings towards the sisters. Feelings that were not even aimed at two of them. That she still thought she was on some equal footing when this was her and Lilith's camp. Not Minke's. She was a guest under them as was the middle sister.
But the fear in her eyes was a pleasant sight. A very much welcome and needed one. She should be scared right now. Because they were alone. And the Siren had all her weapons nearby.
It was common knowledge that Elena was more protective of women and children than men. But, what was always mistaken was that she would never harm them.
She pulled a dagger from her hip and lunged forward. Her hand tangled in Minke's hair and pulled it back to expose her throat some more. Pressing the girl against her, trapping her between her body and her ironclad arm, she pressed the point of the blade under the girl's jaw and held her there for a moment.
"Apparently you lack manners as well as being entitled," she whispered dangerously. Her eyes were narrowed as she moved the blade from Minke's throat to press against her lips and keep her quiet. She apparently had to give Minke an etiquette lesson.
"First: This is not a common area where you could just walk up to me. This is my private tent. My escape. You do not get to come in here whenever you want and stay when you please. We are not equals because we are not friends. You have not earned that position.
"Second: I never said you were one of my men I said I treat you the same as if you were a new man. With caution and distrust until you earned the opposite. Would you prefer I treated you less than? Would you prefer to be treated like the 'Dog'? Stop thinking with your tongue before I cut it from your mouth so you're forced to use your head," she hissed as she pressed the flat of the blade harder against the girl's lips.
Clearly this girl would have failed as a diplomat with how quickly she blew up and failed to consider what she did wrong. This could have been a simple conversation that didn't need to involve knifes. They both could have apologized (though Elena would never) and discussed what she wanted but now they were in a pissing contest.
"Third: Kindness did not save your life. It will not save you now nor will it in the future. You proved to be a useful tool to get something from your sister. A debt. But, I will forgo that debt if I must. You should have listened to your sister's advice.
"What you don't seem to understand is that if you're useful to me, then I am useful to you. However, you are proving less useful with each letter falling from your mouth, Princessa. And now you want me to go on a rescue mission for your little noble friend who got caught because of you? Do you know how many mouths I already have to feed along with Lilith's and now her two lost sisters?" Elena asked as she chuckled darkly and sarcastically.
She turned the knife in her hand, so the edge of the blade rested on Minke's lips instead. A small cut blooming on her lower lip as she smiled at the Lenore sister, thinking about what she wanted Minke to do next.
Having decided. Elena forced the girl's head back a little further and moved the blade point back to her jugular pressing into it but still not cutting yet. "You have tried my patience so now you have two options before I pick the third. Either you tell me what use this advisor is to me that we need to go rescue him and why you need my help specifically or you change your target, and we go and kill the King. Because, if he's such a tyrant, why let him continue breathing? Seems counterproductive, no?"
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Sept 1, 2024 5:30:32 GMT
Athena batted at her sister's hands as she tried to fix her clothing. She groaned in annoyance, but she couldn't help but smile as she did. The action brought back memories of simpler times. Times she missed. But now she had her sister back to fuss over her all over again.
She wouldn't say it but it was obvious she missed this.
"She would not be pleased with my dancing as of late," Athena laughed as she recounted her attempts at court dances with Alex during the ball. The many times she stepped on his feet or other guests. She felt bad when it was her friend but never when it was someone else.
Looking up at Bri's face she put her hands on her sister's shoulders as her smile turned sad. "I wish I could remember her face. And her voice. I'm afraid you might be the closet I get to it though," she muttered somewhat sadly through her smile.
She had always thought her older sister looked the most like their mother. Even when they were children. Perhaps it was because she was the first born or because of something else. Even still, if she was going to remember her mother through Bri's face then she was happy to do so.
Wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulders she gestured toward the tent flap and all the people outside of it. "And hell it might not have a castle but you've got yourself a pretty strong kingdom, Crown Princess. Mother would hate it though," she sighed with raised eyebrows and a shrug of her shoulders.
She was fascinated that both her and the famous Lilith Killoran went into the criminal world after being royalty. Certainly, an interesting direction to go in.
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Sept 1, 2024 5:57:52 GMT
Minke "Little Mouse" Well, obviously Elena wasn't used to hearing the word 'no'. The thought came as a funny little thing, mingled with the panic as her hair was wrestled into Elena's grip and the dagger was at her throat. The quick movement caused her to freeze up. Completely freeze, a shaking in her limbs that she hated with everything in her. As Elena started speaking, the words went in one ear and out of the other. And she hated herself for those moments. The fear, the pitiful, stupid weakness. She hated how all she could think of was Elena shipping her back to King Drake. She hated how she could speak even, brave, but despite how brave she felt, her instincts still fell to this. How could she ever hope to fight back? Make Drake pay for what he'd done, when every time someone even moved slightly too fast in her direction she panicked? She hated how, after everything, everything that scared her anymore went back to him. Went back to his guards beating her down as he stared on. His words of how the pain would stop if she just did what he asked of her. She clocked back in to the words, barely processing them. But she clocked into some words, too many mouths to feed, something about the king. Killing the king. The demands Elena made, her rules, Minke nodded. A slow up and down tilt to her head. Options, options. "Dante knows the inside machinations of Oralee better than most," She spoke, noticing the shake to her words, careful of her breaths. The blood left a metallic taste in her mouth, but it was familiar. "But he was just an advisor, he hated the idea of breaking the law. Other than helping me, I doubt he's ever committed a crime," the honesty stung, but Dante had nothing to offer this woman. This was all for naught, after all. She came in, made another enemy, and when Briseis had her back turned, Minke would find herself back in Drake's palms in exchange for a pretty penny. She misread Elena dearly. The woman had shown kindness, perhaps because she knew who Minke was. Maybe Drake already had coin on her head with this woman. And this woman had no loyalty to Briseis, not like Minke had thought. It scared her, more than the knife at her throat did. "You have no need for someone like him, he's a complete goodie-two-shoes, and he used to hate magic just like every other mindless idiot. But then he changed. And it might not mean much to you, but it meant the world to me." The words were softer, not too vulnerable, because vulnerability meant death or worse, but as of now all she wanted was away from Elena and her knife and back with her sisters. "And we may not need your help, but you know my sister better than I do," she sounded sad at the admittance, but continued still, "And you know how to work with her and accomplish whatever you've set your mind to. I don't." Elena had asked why not kill the King, however, and Minke's gaze showed some bloodlust then, an angry little glint to her eyes, replacing some of the fear, "And trust me, I'd be glad to see that abusive son of a bitch dead, but I'd rather tarnish his image and everything he's built so he can watch it all burn to ash before the light leaves his eyes," and nothing there was a lie. She wanted Chadwick to pay for what he'd done to her, but mostly for Alex and Dante and apparently Athena. But more so, she wanted Drake gone. She wanted him to waste away in a cell. She wanted to storm his castle, and make him watch as she usurped what he'd worked 'so hard' to build. "If he dies now, some other tyrant will come and replace him, and it'll have never mattered anyways."But more than that, more than death or anger or fear or hope, she wanted Alex and Dante safe. She took a deep breath to calm herself, trying to focus her magic on the knife, move it away from herself. But when she opened her violet eyes, no such thing had happened, and the knife was still there. There were other ways, but she bit her tongue. She'd rather die than give Elena something to use and weaponize.
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Post by pallas on Sept 1, 2024 9:03:30 GMT
Lilith smiled a little sadly at her sister’s words about seeing their mother through Lilith herself. It ached still, the loss of their mother. She thought it might never go away, a dull ache that would always be there. Sometimes so faint that she could almost trick herself into forgetting the pain was there, other times sharpening into something so acutely painful she couldn’t believe she would ever feel anything different.
Perhaps she did look like their mother. It was not the first time Lilith had been told so in her life. But it was their mother’s nature that made her the woman her daughters missed so dearly. And she doubted she could ever be half the woman their mother was.
”She is hazy in my memory too, now,” Lilith admitted. ”Blurry around the edges. I got angry with myself the first time I couldn’t see her clearly in my mind or remember what it sounded like when she told us she loved us. I know it’s stupid, I couldn’t help forgetting. But memory was all that was left and I was furious that even that was being taken.”
She had been in a rage the first day she found she couldn’t picture her mother’s smile. She remembered that. It had bewildered the rest of the gang, for Lilith was not known for showing emotion without a clear cause. Or much at all, really. Not around them. Her anger, apparently for no reason any of them could discern, had them scared and wrong footed.
She didn’t know why she was saying all of that to Maylea. To show she understood, she supposed. To show that she had forgotten, too. That it hurt her too. That May wasn’t alone. But she’d gone years not being vulnerable with anyone, when she wasn’t even used to being vulnerable before. Having her sisters back, having her edges instantly softened and walls toppled just by their presence… it was a lot to get used to.
”But I have you and Minke back now.” Lilith continued, tone surer now. ”And in you both, I have something of her. Perhaps between all of us there is enough of her to go around.” What mattered most to her was having them back. Her sisters were everything other.
Then her sister put her arm around her, gesturing to indicate the camp around them. The people. Everything Lilith had built. Had she ever really stopped to appreciate what she had actually done? Had she ever paused in her dogged pursuit of what was stuck in the past to see what she had done in the present?
”She would,” Lilith responded with some warmth and amusement when Maylea commented that their mother would hate this place. Her eldest daughter’s ‘kingdom’. Perhaps no comparison to the crown her mother had always intended to pass down to her. ”I clawed and fought for all of this. Every inch of land, every coin. Every man’s loyalty. I was meant to inherit a kingdom; I never realised what a task it is to build one. But Elena understands what it takes to build power, she always has. And she understood long before I had to the horrors that people do with it.”
What she had built, she had built with blood and cruelty and she could not pretend otherwise. Was she not brutal? Was she not ruthless? Had she not done terrible things? There were many people to whom she was just as much a monster as the tyrants on the thrones.
”I hold a prisoner too.” Lilith admitted after a moment. Voice not holding much emotion, but she felt a great well of it inside. Because she’d felt it the moment Minke had told her what she had been through. And it was stupid, because Lilith had done far worse things and felt no guilt about it. In fact, all she felt for the prince himself was a detached kind of pity that softened her to him somewhat but changed nothing materially. But with her sister being around and what she had been through, her actions were framed in a new way that made it difficult to forget that there were many to whom she was as much hated as these corrupt kings and queens. ”The prince of Wisteria. A teenager, like Minke. I am no different from those tyrants who held our sister. And yet I claim to be. It is no wonder Elena is so angry at me when I am sure all she sees in me is more of the same.”
She couldn’t assume the exact source of Elena’s anger. Clearly she hated royals and at least part of the anger arose from the royal status Lilith had been revealed to possess. But was she angry about the lie too, about the deception? Lilith suspected so. And was part of Elena angry that when she had not known, she had come to perhaps like Lilith just a little - as far as liking went with those two, anyway - and she was angry to find out that she could like one of the people she had spent her whole life hating? Only Elena could know the true complexities of her feelings. But if they had any hope of working together, something would have to change.
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Sept 3, 2024 20:40:35 GMT
Elena watched her with that calm dangerous smile on her face. Watching her internal struggle with fear and panic as the older woman held the blade against her. Good. Now they were on the same page about who Elena was.
When she finally managed to gain some control of her body, Minke nodded and started speaking in a shaky tone. Though what she had decided to start with was good information and useful for Elena, the rest about this advisor was disappointing and would prove any convincing difficult.
Even still, he had stuck his neck out for Minke. And he knew how Oralee worked. Sounded like a head start into taking a kingdom.
This want to kill the King wasn't a surprising for Minke. She had said again and again that she didn't care for the nobility because of her past. But she was disappointed by her reasoning to keep him alive.
Moving the tip of the blade from Minke's jaw to instead tap her chin in a slow rhythm, Elena let her smile fall a bit as she gave her warning. "Leaving someone alive to watch as you destroy their image and their things only invites a window where they can get the upper hand. They have nothing left to lose but now you do," she whispered.
She should know. She had done it with her nobleman. She had nothing left. Not her name, not her voice, not her freedom, not her dignity. All that was left was her life. And that was of little importance. But Richard had everything.
And now it was hers.
"The dead still have eyes, girl. You're playing a dangerous and selfish game," she continued in her warning. She wasn't judging for wanting to see the realization on his face when he lost everything. There was no better feeling than that. But, there was a way to do it that didn't risk him retaliating.
Stealing the advisor from under his nose would only smart more ire.
Shrugging deeply, Elena let her hand holding the knife break at the wrist so that the blade hovered over her throat. Not touching. but still warning. "It's your head and your little advisor," She sighed and let the cold smile spread across her smile again. "I am not moved by your words. But your desperation is enough for me to help you only in return for a favor. Whenever and whatever I want. Are we in agreement?" she asked in a sickly sweet tone.
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Sept 3, 2024 20:41:41 GMT
Athena smiled warmly at her sister as she said she had a bit of their mother back in them too. She never thought so but she was happy to be a reminder of the rest of their family. However little it might be.
Her smile fell when Briseis suddenly got a lot more serious. Mentioning she had a prisoner too and sounded ashamed by the fact.
Thought Athena's face completely fell into bewilderment and slight horror when her sister revealed just who she had as a prisoner.
"You have the Prince of Wisteria?" She asked quietly. Shock had taken the air out of her lungs. "The same prince whose parents were just murdered? Brother to the Young Queen? Here? And you said Elena has the palace guard from Wisteria-" she cut herself off and turned to fully face her older sister as she searched her face. She grabbed her sister's shoulders to steady herself from stumbling at the news.
Murder was one thing. As long as you were quick with it and didn't get caught, there was no one to blame. Quick, easy, and over with. Holding a prince captive and alive along with the captain of the guard from the same kingdom was risky. It was mouths to feed, medicine to give and meant constantly moving to make sure no one recognizes them or simply hiding forever until they were gotten rid of.
"How did you manage that and how are you not dead already?" She whispered as she leaned forward into her sister's face.
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