Zephrun’s Imperium

"Yes." Torturing is all I know. And despite how much I hate it, Ivian is right; I am getting old. I do not simply have the time to learn something new.

Riva stalked forward. "I cannot just leave, fool. I am the Raveness and my only protection is here, in the kingdom. If I stepped outside for a moment, I would be ripped apart!"

"Of course I do," she hissed. "But the king was adamant even when I threatened him."

"Obviously. I have no time to fall in love and I've never planned to. Particularly not with that brute of a man. I fear for my life being made to marry him!"

The Raveness sneered. "Individually, I hope."

Riva walked in with her chin raised in slight disgust, arms folded smugly. "What is this about?"

The Raveness did not arrive in time to pass Caden, as she resided in the sub-basement and little Peter had a little bit of trouble retrieving her. The brave paige was, admittedly, very thrown off and sickened by the dungeon; he'd never been down there before and it was worse than he'd imagined. In fact, he almost vomited halfway through, the smell of human foulness far more overwhelming than anticipated. To Peter's credit, however, he successfully wound his way to the sub-basement - which stunk heavily of the Raveness's signature pine instead - and, with a hand that was only shaking a little bit, knocked on the Raven's door. She answered. Peter could not help but gape at her for a moment, taken aback by her strange beauty. "What do you want?" she hissed at him with a raspy and deep voice. "Come to stare at the Raveness, have you?" Her eyes narrowed. "There are punishments for that, boy." Peter shook himself. "No, miss, no. I was sent to fetch you." The Raveness raised a sharp eyebrow, folding stick-like arms. "Well. You're certainly a brave one, aren't you?" The compliment made the corners of his mouth raise. "Thank you miss! Well... if you'll come with me." "Fine...." After wandering for a while, the woman all dressed in black asked at where they might be going and when Peter answered her, she scoffed. Upon hearing that it was to-do with the wedding, however, she shut herself up and continued to follow until Peter and she arrived. "I have her, Brother Tomad!" said Peter with a knock on the door. @Frustration

"Right-o, sir!" he said. "I'll be brave, I will!" With that, he ran off.

Soon enough, Peter the Paige brought the General to Brother Tambor. "I fetched him for you!" he said. "Would you like me to stay and wait? Or I can fetch the Raveness now, assuming your meeting with General Praetorium will be short." He rocked back and forth on his toes.

"The priest - Brother Tambor - would like to speak with you in his office about the wedding this evening. If you'll come with me, please..." The paige turned around, expecting to be followed. He was immensely confident, for a boy his age and he walked with a fire in his chest, evidently quite proud of himself for fetching the General.

"Alright...." The paige collected Caden first. After asking around, he finally bumped into the man in the hallway. "Uh, hello," he said. "I have a summons for you." @The Ward's Guard

"At least twice...." the paige said. "Who knows how old she is? Uh... do you want me to bring them to you now? That would be easier than going through the king. Even though... the Raveness is... pretty terrifying."

"Uhh..." The paige was pale. "Maybe you shouldn't. It's the Raveness that's getting married, sir. Married to the High General, Caden Praetorium. By order of the king."

"Well... it's a rather unconventional wedding, see. Gonna be kept pretty on the low down."

A blonde young man - perhaps 12 - wandered in. "There's a wedding tonight, sir. The King would like you to perform the ceremony."

"A message for Brother Tomad!" squeaked the voice of a young boy.

Riva awoke invigorated. Her senses were sharpened, her reflexes faster, her body completely healed. (At least of any short-term wounds; her muscle and bone deficiencies could not simply be healed, even with the potion.) She might have used the concoction more often if it weren't for how long it required her to be unconscious and how fast the effects wore off. Even still, it was a nice brew to have at the ready for a quick-heal and she wanted to be at her best when she was sent to live with that monster. When Daku came to wake her, he found her sitting at her desk gluing on fake eyelashes. These particular eyelashes were made of black feathers; quite fitting for the Raveness, she figured. “Well, Daku? How do I look?” Riva turned in her seat for him, displaying her heavily-done-up face. Her wrinkles were all but gone, her already-sharp cheekbones contoured to make them pop even more, and her eyelids glittered silver. “Absolutely stunning, Lady Raven,” said the janitor. “Mmm, thank you.” She turned back to the mirror, focusing on painting her lips a deeper shade of red than she usually did; so deep, in fact, that it was almost black. “How much time do I have until the wedding?” “A few hours, miss. I believe Ivian said the wedding was at sunset.” “Lovely…” Riva replaced the cap on her tube of lipstick. “Now, run along; I’ve still got a lot to do before the wedding…” She grinned at her own reflection in the mirror. Caden would fear her. He would fear her because if he did not, he would die. That was how she liked it.

Without anything better to do, Nico made his way up the stairs. He’d find the girls later. For now, he had a question that was bothering him and he’d like to have the answer. Nicolae knocked on the door, his limbs shaking. He never came to her. Would she assume after this that he was trying to make a move on her? Nicolae dearly hoped not. She scared him more than anyone else and the thought of her wanting to spend more time with him… Allivia opened the door with a scowl on her face. She was actually quite pretty, but Nicolae’s fear of her greatly outweighed any attraction he might have. She perked up when she saw it was him. “Oh. Nicolae. Come in, come in.” “N-no,” Nicolae muttered. He cleared his throat. “No, miss. I just a-have somethin’ to ask ya.” “Well, by all means.” She leaned against the doorway. “I’m all ears, Nico.” “Ah…” He wrung his hands. “You... d-doesn’t happen to know who tried to come spend the night with me yesterday, do ya?” She screwed up her face in thought. “No. Wasn’t there a ball last night?” “There was. Which is why I was confused, see. But, ah… You doesn’t know who it was?” “No.” She chuckled without mirth. “Say, you don’t happen to be available tonight, hmm?” Nicolae couldn’t look her in the eyes. “You... don’t usually ask permission, miss…” “No, I don’t, do I?” She came closer and Nicolae started to sweat. “Oh, Nico, I know you just came to see me. Honestly, you know you don’t have to make excuses.” “No, no. I didn’t a-come just to sees you, miss, I-” “Oh, c’mon, you don’t have to hide it!” Allivia grinned rather maliciously and tossed her hair. “I know you like me. You can just say it.” Nicolae shook his head. “I don’t gots to say nothin’. An’ I-I been reassigned, miss. Couldn’t come even if I wanted you to.” Which I doesn’t, he thought. I ain’t never do. Nicolae felt like a coward. He should have said it aloud, but he just couldn’t. So many things were like that: No, you can’t sleep with me. No, I don’t like the attention. No, I’m not going to be a pushover this time. Why couldn’t he just say them? He opened his mouth, summoning the courage to do so, but Allivia spoke before he could. She looked angry. “Yes, I heard about your reassignment,” she hissed. “You’re assigned to the queen?” “It ain’t yer business why, miss, but yes. I been assigned to Eleanor. She’s the king’s betrothed, she is, an’ she treats me nice.” Nicer ‘an you, certainly… “Why?" she hissed. "Isn’t the king worried you’ll be laying where you shouldn’t?” Nicolae shifted uncomfortably. “‘pparently not. He trusts me, Allivia. Told me he trusts me.” “Well, I can’t imagine why. You’re a tramp and everyone knows it.” That was it. The last straw. Nicolae reddened, clenching his fists. “Yeah? An’ who’s fault is that, hmm?” Allivia grabbed Nicolae by the front of his shirt, bringing his face up to hers. “Yours,” she spat, glaring at him with poison. “And don’t you ever forget it.” With that, she shoved him away - her push making him fall over - and retreated into her room, leaving the thin attendant disheveled and lying on the ground. Nicolae shuddered. So that was what standing up to people felt like. It… wasn’t a good feeling. But at least Allivia was gone now. The encounter not only hadn’t gone well, but he hadn’t even learned who it was last night who’d found it so hard to wait for him. Not that he knew what he would have done with that information. Wasn’t as if he was going to find them and extract any sort of vengeance. He wasn’t that sort of person; he’d never been and he never planned to be. It was just hard, especially in the Mendahar court… He’d never know why in the world Ivian had kept him around (no matter how indebted the king felt to his father) or, for that matter, why Eleanor did, but that… that was its own enigma entirely. One he didn’t particularly want to dwell on. Nicolae might not have liked Allivia in the slightest, but she was right about one thing: his reassignment had been a particularly odd occurrence. In some ways, it seemed almost like a twisted sort of prize rather than a punishment. An opportunity for Nicolae to show that he wasn’t what everyone saw him as. That, or a rather convoluted way to bait him into doing something punishable by death. Ivian didn’t think he was stupid, did he? Oh, it just didn’t make one shred of sense! Just this morning, he’d been sure he’d be fired. Getting reassigned to Eleanor was the last thing he expected…

"Yeah..." Nicolae muttered. "Well, ah. Have a zu-bop of a day, miss." With a tip of his hat, he turned around to find that the girls were missing. "Oh, blimey," Nicolae exclaimed. He sighed.

"Right..." Nico swallowed, his face red for some reason. Stars, why does she make me feel... "I guess I'll be seein' you 'round," - he cleared his throat - "Lady Eleanor."

Maverick had not moved in hours. Forge, of course, was more than happy with the arrangement. The old, fluffy cat had curled up on his master’s lap and was purring pleasantly while he got his head scratched. Mav, meanwhile, tried hard not to think. Darrin... Mav’s relationship with his little brother was not quite as complicated as he often made it out to be. They’d been happy, rich, an influential family in court. And then one day, out of nowhere, the fire. Their parents had died and Mav and Darrin had each taken it very differently; Darrin had darkened, gone down a path that his brother couldn’t follow him down while Mav, on the other hand, had worked hard to get back to the life his parents had wanted for him. He sighed. He wanted that life for Darrin, too. He intended to ask the king if poor Darrin could be pardoned. Live the rest of his life here... That would probably be best. Maverick suspected that Darrin’s drug-use had been what prompted the reckless assassination. He’d always been a thrill seeker, but this.... Well. Maverick had meant what he’d said; torture world knock some sense into that foolish boy.