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 Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:52 am
The Wedding. The sun was low in the sky, hanging on the last threads of day. The night was slowly ushering itself past the golden eye, setting the sky ablaze in a melding of the lights.
And under this symphony of colours, three solitary figures stood on a hilltop, two with clasped hands, another speaking at length in a hushed voice.
~~~
Much time had passed since Linaia and Aelus had fled the Manor, their determination to be together set in motion by the knowledge Lady Siri would soon be summoned to court. Duke Cassius did not approve of his eldest daughter's love for the penniless Aelus Linquais, and had been very vocal in his views in the past.
Close since childhood, the pair's bond had blossomed into love shortly after Linaia's retirement to the Manor at age sixteen. She had been sent back, much like her half-sister later, as a punishment, but had found happiness her father had never offered in the arms of her gentle, quiet lover.
In secret their affair had grown and prospered, and in this, the culmination of their commitment to each other, their bliss in each other's company was evident.
Perhaps the first Siri to give way to true love, Linaia was beautiful as ever as she clasped her new husband's hands within her own.
Gazing up into his black eyes, a smile floated over her features.
"We shall be as happy a family as ever was known," she whispered to the pale, gaunt face of Aelus.
"You, me, and our baby."
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:51 pm
The Return.Daybreak. An inn stood alone against the burgeoning light of day, the ribbons of pink and orange streaming about it, silouetting it against the flaming sky.
And within, the movements of a pair on the polished wood floor noted the small signs of life springing up.
Gazing out the window for a moment, Linaia's eyes then travelled to her husband. A very few weeks had passed since their union, and yet how she had grown!
Putting off their wedding until their secret was evident had provoked knowing looks in the priest to perform the ceremony, but had guaranteed them no chance for her family to attempt to hush up the matter, send her away to be little more than a blot on the Siri dynasty's history. She would not have been the first.
But now, she was safely married to a man that adored her, with a child swelling inside her.
A hand snaked around her middle, pale almost as the crypt. With a smile, she turned to meet her beloved, sealing his lips with her own.
When the embrace came to an end, Aelus' hand remained on her stomach, and with a blissful look, he smiled down at that growing waistline.
"What shall we name it, darling?" came that soft, deep voice, as his dark eyes locked with her own.
"Do you think it will be a boy, or girl?"
Entwining her fingers with his own, she laughed.
"At this size, both, I should think!"
In truth, she was a good deal larger than she had expected at this point in the second trimester, and the thought of a pair of children loomed high in her mind.
"And if it is twins, Aelus, shall we cope?"
His answer, "undoubtedly," came hoarse and almost inaudible as he dropped another kiss on her.
~~~
The coach was not brilliantly sprung, for it leapt and jarred on the road, leaving it's inhabitants clinging to the straps swaying from the ceiling.
At least they were nearing home now, for out of the window the sea could be seen, glistening in the afternoon sunlight, a golden ray catching on the crest of each wave, sending a beam of light skittering away to play with it's brethren.
The beaches were forming, too, a sure sign they were near.
Out of the cool waves sands began to rise, jagged and pebbled at first, gradually fading into the more established, finely pressed sands which had that gift of appearing as soft and mobile as the water itself.
And out of these layers of white sand came the first few buildings, first just the sheds and dock-buildings, then shops, houses, marvels of architecture and wrecks alike, all seeming to smile upon the happy couple as they passed.
Home.
The word had been so long simply a part of Linaia's mind, and yet now it danced before her eyes, scented the tangy sea air, was a gentle murmur on her lips. They were home. And the Manor waited.
It took twenty minutes from sight of the first building to catching a glimpse of the Manor. The buildings had fallen away, giving way to trees, greenery, and that cobbled road which would, once through the park, feed into the drive of that beloved building.
Anticipation building, Linaia clung to her husband's arm, face a mixture of excitement and fear. What if Naita did not wish her return? What if she was away at court, and worst of all, what if she had alerted their father?
Finally, the drive began beneath the hooves and wheels of the carriage, and leaning to see best, the familiar red bricks came into view.
It was, in truth, breathtaking to approach, and the woman marvelled quietly away.
The bricks shone almost golden in the day's late light, each of the many windows winking as a beam hit it, and those huge oak doors standing proud, inviting visitors into the atrium.
The horses drew to a halt. The breath caught it Linaia's chest, and a footman handed the pair down.
The next few moments were a blur. Ringing the bell, the greeting from Riife as he embraced each, and then a girl's scream above stairs.
So little had changed. Riife, warm and yet proper as ever, Breena torturing Ceiba, and Lady Siri, her dear sister, allowing her young Eydis escape.
Aelus, Linaia, Riife, Ceiba and Breena were all seated, the adults discussing their travels, before Naita returned, her eyes widening as she caught first her sister's face, then girth.
Running forward first to kiss Linaia's cheek, then congratulate her, the young woman exclaimed;
"Why, you must be about to pop!"
A laugh met this.
"I hope not just yet, sister. But soon there may be two more children in this place."
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:55 pm
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:56 pm
Changes in the Manor.
As the early afternoon wore on, a chill wind rippled through the air, a tiding of winter's coming wrath. It came from the west, billowing the curtains and disturbing a babe from her light slumber.
Breena's lids fluttered momentarily, before the light of day came streaming in, a knocking at the door toying momentarily on her sleep-drenched mind. A soft blanket of ebony curls fell over one side of her face as she pushed herself up in the crib, keen gaze sweeping about the room.
In an armchair by the open window Lady Naita Siri sat, completing a piece of embroidery for yet another nursery in the process of completion.
That nursery, unlike the one currently housing her youngest ward, Breena, would not be coated with black silks, a chest full of items to delight the youngster locked for safety. The dagger to most delight the babe worried Lady Siri no end.
But for now, her mind was clear of such worry, the plans of purple bedding and cheerful embroidery on walls interrupted by curiosity as to who could be calling.
Standing, the woman stopped to kiss the pale youngster before continuing out the door, ceasing on the landing, gasp caught in her throat.
There, stood in the doorway, imparting some greeting upon Riife, was a familiar figure. Golden hair shining in a sudden, inopportune (in her eyes) burst of sunlight, strong figure accented by the garb of a court guard, was Eshal. Eshal, a man to have known her since childhood, to have made far too bold, and a man who yet drove her to distraction for no apparent reason.
Applying as haughty an expression as possible when so shocked, Lady Siri nodded her sister back into her room. The expectant mother had stolen out to greet their guest, but the sight of a court official struck any joy from her face. Why should any from there be in such a place as the Manor? Could her father have learned of her union? What consequences would there be?
Linaia safely tucked away, Lady Siri continued down the stairs, meeting Eshal with as unfriendly an eye as she could muster.
"Sir," she greeted him coldly, though this manner had no effect on his obvious look of admiration.
"My Lady," he replied, "I bring terrible news from court."
Though his eyes never left her, his features faltered, a frown burgeoning on his brow.
"You may wish to be seated."
Grey eyes narrowing for a moment, Naita obeyed, depositing herself on a red velveteen sofa and meeting his blue gaze.
What possible news worse than that she had known could come? She had lost her mother and baby brother but days before her brother's execution. There was little sadness left for her family.
"Your father discovered your sister's return."
So fate still had tricks up her sleeve after all. Lady Siri shuddered at the thought of his wrath.
"He disowned Linaia once he heard of it, feeling it an insult to his late wife and sons. In truth, he had been ill for a time when he heard the news."
Though this fate for her sister was horrifying, the woman was sure there was more, from his manner.
"He died last night, before sending this letter to your sister;"
here he delivered her an envelope, the Siri seal pressed into the burgundy wax. Much the colour, she mused numbly, of blood. Fitting, of late.
"His fortune falls on you, m'lady," Eshal continued on, though Naita had long since ceased hearing.
"However, the duchy, unless an heir is produced within the next half year, will become void. I hold myself at your disposal for the legal proceedings."
At this, she merely blinked, a single tear glistening on her lashes.
"And I wish you my heartfelt sorrow," he said last, before dropping a kiss on her hand and instructing Riife to bring her some wine.
With that, he bowed and was gone.
Cross-posted.
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:18 pm
Telling Linaia.
Time shuffled on his slow way, sand trickling through his hourglass, old man ever tapping at his watch.
And as this slow progression went on, Lady Siri stared blankly at the paper in her hands. Her entire body, her mind, were numb. She had never been close to her father, she had feared him, to be honest. And yet... to have no family in the world left, save for a half-sister blessed with that denied her, it was to be sure no feeling she had ever wished for.
A glance at the door brought some pang of feeling, though she could not quite decide what it was. To see Eshal had shocked her, and the news had allowed her no time to interpret her joy on seeing his handsome face.
No matter. Such was of no consequence, she had no doubt he would not return.
Sighing, the young woman stood, eyes focused on the letter. The seal seemed to her imagination to rest on newly spilled blood.
No more Dukes would use it. Though marked Siri, it was a mark of the Duchy of Siri. And unless Linaia was able to bring forth a male, never again would the duchy be claimed.
No comfort lay in the riches now laying on Naita's pale hands. They were cultivated by a dynasty now so tattered and torn she saw no way of it ever returning to power.
A boy executed, a woman dying with her baby son, and now a Duke fallen not in battle, but in bed. No, the Siris were ruined.
With a wan smile to Riife, she instructed the butler not yet to remove the mourning clothes from the wardrobes of the manor, and swept up the stairs to meet her sister, now perched at the top of the stairs.
A tear sparkled on Naita's cheek as she pressed the letter into Linaia's grip, kissed her cheek, and uttered a single sentence;
"He is dead."
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:30 pm
The letter.Quote: Daughter. As my eldest child I had held some hope you should do me proud yet. From the kind services of friends in the area, I am informed otherwise. To know that you have conducted an alliance with one so beneath the family, against my express wishes angers me indeed. To have you return from an elopement full with child, this is unforgiveable. I am ashamed of you, girl. No more are you my daughter. No more are you entitled to a cent of my money. As you choose poverty over wealth, so shall you find it. To conduct yourself so in light of recent events, I deplore the thought you were once welcome at my table, sat at my hand. No more shall you see my person. I wish never to see or speak with you again. Your choices, my girl, fail you, and I hope that you shall live to regret them. -Duke Cassius Siri.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:29 pm
Welcome to the world. A crescent moon sprinkled a dewy glow on the world turning below, all at peace. Silence had engulfed the winter-kissed meadows, the frost-nipped treetops, the slumbering wildlife. And then, piercing the peace like a knife point, a shriek of pain erupted, was held, then waned away. Labour had begun in The Manor.
The red-brick mansion lost some of it's beauty at night, no sunlight winking off the many windowpanes, no golden glow lending majesty to the brickwork. It was merely a huge shadow, candlelight dancing on the edge of this or that curtain, attempting to peep through and escape into the outside world.
Behind one such pair of curtains a woman lay drenched in sweat, having been experiencing the agony of labour for some hours in relative quietness, but now the contractions too close together, too strong to withstand.
Gripping one hand was her husband, throwing away the traditional nonchalance of a father-to-be and demanding access to the birthing-room, much to the cook-c**-midwife's dismay.
The party assembled were Linaia, as mentioned, on the bed, Aelus at her side, dressed in a nightshirt, his usual cloak thrown over top, Lady Naita, who had spent much of the time running to and fro attempting to get all items of any use together, the "midwife," and Eydis' nursemaid, soon to be appointed to the new babes, also.
Another scream from the woman on the bed. They were coming thick and fast now, and from the audible crunch of Aelus' hand as she squeezed, were suitably painful.
Lady Siri shuddered, the last birth she had witnessed had been somewhat less than successful, the memory haunted.
A simple "I love you," passed from the man's lips, a kiss dropped on his wife's forehead. The pain of his beloved was hard indeed to endure, but such was the will of nature, that she, and not he, must bear the birth.
He could not do as other men, and go about his business while he endured for hours the poking and prodding of some midwife, he could not abandon her as their children struggled forth into the world.
Finally the fat old woman spoke, her first words since a sturdy lecture on men in this sort of time and place.
"There's the head," was her full message to the assembled company, voice gruffer than usual, she was missing her sleep.
Linaia shot a panic-stricken look first to Aelus, then to her sister. Much pain was to come, she knew it.
Another few great pushes, another few gruff words, much more yelling, and the first of the two expected was wailing, his little body red and far from immaculate.
Lady Siri's reaction was immediate, "the new Duke!" she simply exclaimed, giving away the gender.
The mother brushed away a few tears, craning to see her son, and the proud father rushed to hold him, gripping the tiny boy through the cutting of the chord, before angling him to that exhausted, but unfinished, woman lain on the bed.
"Our son," he whispered.
Again the contractions, the pushing, the pain and the screams to deliver the second child, but at last both were out, and the younger declared a girl.
Linaia was at last allowed to hold her children, tears of joy streaming down her face.
"Hello," she cooed to each in turn, brushing a finger over their smooth cheeks, dropping kisses on them as they cried, the adjustment from the womb a difficult one.
Standing above, Aelus smiled down on his little family, a rogue tear making an appearance, too, on his cheek. Life's true blessings were his, against all odds.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:40 pm
A name for the ages.
Daybreak. The first staggling grey fingers of day had made their track across the lands, tickling away the last niggling threads of night, casting away the shadows of darkness, making way for the new morning. And so it came, the sun first showing only a pinprick of gold on the horizon, then bursting forth in a long, thin beam of sunlight, golden glow exploding into view, rousing the world from it's slumber.
Awoken also were a pair of new parents, their sleep only the work of an hour or two. Their new babes were now dressed, placed in a crib beside their own bed, dozing, their tiny digits shoved willy-nilly into each other's faces and torsos.
The room had emptied of all but the prinicipal four, Lady Siri had returned to her chambers, the cook to her bed, whence she refused to be dragged from until dinner time, and the nurse maid to her small apartment by Eydis' nursery. It had been thought fitting for the babes to remain with their parents.
A deep yawn denoted Aelus' return to the waking world, accompanied as it was by a stretch of the arms and legs, before he swung his feet out of bed and padded, quietly, to the crib.
Silently he peered down into it, looking upon his tiny son and daughter.
Each was perfect. Ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes, a sprinkling of brown hair. They were beautiful.
"They won't disappear," came a tired voice from the bed, followed by a chuckle.
"But they might change before we know it," came his response.
"And so might we."
She patted the space behind her, calling him back to bed with a look.
"And what shall we name them, Aelus? They must have names."
Here his mind went blank. He had not thought of names, so preoccupied with their mere existence, their perfection.
"Have you any wishes, my love?"
He returned to the mattress, enveloping Linaia in his arms, dropping kisses on her eyelids.
Her expression changed, a fleeting glimmer of guilt twinkling over her features.
"I had thought..." she began, before ceasing, locking her gaze with his own.
"I had wished to call the boy Cassius, after my father."
She was explaining herself before he could even react.
"I know he was unkind, and I know it is a lot to ask to name your son after a man who disliked you so, but Cassius, Duke of Siri, has for so long been a title with wealth, and no honour. Cassius Linquas, Duke of Siri, perhaps a change to the fate of our family?"
Aelus merely smiled.
"A fine name for our boy, though 'Duke' is a heavy title."
They each sighed, casting their eyes over the tiny boy, new head of the family before he could understand the ways it had come to be.
"And what of our daughter, Linaia? Have you an idea?"
She thought, tucking her head into the crook of her husband's neck as various names flitted through her mind.
"What was your mother's name, dearest?" she asked at last, eyes cast upwards to the fraction of his face she could see.
His mouth dropped it's smile, memory straining.
"I never knew," he answered at last, "but I was raised by Erina."
"Then Erina she shall be," came the words of Linaia, "Cassius and Erina."
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:24 pm
Back, Eshal?
Mere days had passed since the arrival of Aelus and Linaia's twins, and The Manor was scrambling to return to it's quiet routines, while allowing the arrival of new ones.
Each morning wore a little longer, for as well as two toddlers, a young girl and the adults to ready, there were two newborns, unable to last the night without awaking some portion of the inhabitants a few times.
Thus a knock, coming early in the day, found the house ill at ease to answer immediately. Riife was above-stairs dealing to an incident between Breena and Ceiba, Elsa was styling my Lady's hair, the nursemaid was dressing Eydis, and Linaia and Aelus were holed up in the hind-parlour, simply admiring their twin children.
The visitor sighed, eyed the watch dangling from his waistcoat, and knocked again. It was unlike Lady Siri to allow her hospitality to lag behind.
At last Riife, rather flushed and with Breena on one hip, flung the door open.
"Apologies, sir," he breathed, before waving the man in.
In he trudged, tall figure denoting power, training. He still wore the King's livery on his chest, though relieved of his mail when not on official duty. The livery was instead small, tucked above the heart on his coat, grey apparel doing little to play up that swathe of flaxen hair, that tanned skin.
His form folded carefully into one of the velveteen chairs in the reception room, and with a surety of manner the butler was informed the visitor wished to see my Lady, he fancied himself of some use.
It was a short wait behind Naita ushered herself into the room, though she stopped dead once through the door. Those grey eyes widened, one hand fluttered, yet was pinned back down to her side. Still and silent she remained for a moment, before at last her voice was found, her legs once more drove forward.
"Back already, Eshal?"
"Indeed, ma'am. I heard of the arrival. Has your family an heir?"
How he had known she dared not guess, and pausing to seat herself, she nodded.
"We do indeed. Named for his grandfather."
Eshal, too, nodded, his eyes never leaving her for a second.
"The King is ill," he stated, shortly.
"His eldest son, Lucien, is acting as Regent until the death we all know is imminent. I would advise you address him, state the boy's birth, and beg his rightful title. He is young enough to feel for the child, though the issue of fortune is beyond even him."
Lady Siri's eyes met the man's, her face taken over by her thoughts.
He nodded once more.
"Compose the letter, I will return for it."
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 3:35 pm
Dear Sir.
To His Royal Highness Prince Lucien,
Dear Sir, on hearing of your appointment to Regent, I felt it incumbent upon myself to write, not only with the humblest wishes for the recovery of your father, but with news that will I hope, in time, allow a Siri to once more sit at court.
My sister and her husband were recently borne of twins, the elder of the pair of the male gender. Given the circumstances surrounding my father's death, his is a precarious position.
My sister, as you will know, was disowned, but matters in the late Duke Siri's will dictated that were a boy born to either myself or my sister within the mourning period, he would have rights to take up the Duchy, though no money from the family would be settled upon him from my father's estate.
I ask that you allow the child, of the name Cassius Linquas, to take up the Duchy. I shall take his wardship upon myself for any official matters pertaining to court, my sister knows it to be impossible for her to return.
I beg of you, sire, to allow a line old as the Kingdom to not die out when an ember still glows.
With best wishes for your highness and your highness' family,
Your humble servant,
Lady Naita Siri.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:43 pm
The library already?
A grey mist hung over the meadows like warm breath expelled from above, curling it's thick tendrils around the worn bricks of buildings, the trunks of trees, colourless in the dull light.
Everywhere colour existed only in dull patches, blotted from view by yet another swab of downy fog.
The time was just gone two in the afternoon, yet the hazy light creeping over the area bespoke the last hours of evening, before the moon's blanket engulfs the world, caressing away the worries of a day, ushering in nightfall. But no pin-pricked night was due, the only black on the horizon storm clouds, gathering, rolling over the mountained horizon in grim haste. Soon the fields would receive no sweet kiss of rain, but a veritable downpour from the heavens.
Inside, fires graced each grate, filling The Manor with a glow Linaia liked to call magical, flames licking at the various pieces of firewood placed to appease their hunger.
She had been wandering the place idly for a while, following her inclination here and there, talking to whichever servant was free, checking in with the girls she liked to think of as her "nieces." Well, two of them at least.
Breena had been curled in her crib, eyes cast out to the impending storm. A child with no fear, but instead a great hunger for the tempestuous weather she had never met before, and on the whole it was as unnatural in her eyes as much that tiny girl enjoyed. The anger of the thunder and lightning, the fear it struck in others seemed to feed the babe, satisfy some lust for chaos.
Eydis, on the other hand, had been curled in Naita's lap, her pale eyes closed, her tiny face buried amongst the layers of black silk to make up her guardian's apparel. And that woman had simply lain stroking that crop of white hair, shushing gently as Frozen, avian equivalent of a doomsday prophet, hopped about her shoulders. It had seemed ill-judged to interrupt the moment, and so the search for Ceiba had begun.
The girl was not in her room, nor that warm corner of the back parlour she adored for reading. Only one option remained on such a day. The library.
Smiling to herself at the predictability, and yet the chaos, of children, Linaia thus set off, adjusting a few ornaments to sit ill along the way.
The library door was in sight when Aelus appeared before her, casting a glance up and down the hall before scooping her into an embrace, pressing his lips into her own, lifting her feet from the ground in the crush of limbs.
A few breathless moments later, the two disentangled, the fairer standing upon tiptoes to deliver one final kiss, before delivering her hand into his.
"I seek society," she giggled, before pulling him forward, continuing on to the huge rounded doors that marked the book room.
A great heave was required to part the oaken doors, and on the other side lay an unexpected sight.
Row upon row of leather-bound volume marked each wall of the circular room, a very few chairs scattered here and there, augmented by the great piles of books already devoured by the mind Ceiba propelled forward at every opportunity. A fireplace marked one of only two breaks in the shelves, bar the door, the other being a large bay window. From this grate an orange glow radiated, basking the musty room in it's warmth.
All this had been known, a given, that which surprised the new mother was located in the very centre of the room. There Ceiba sat cross-legged, a huge book open before her. Again, a given. However, the twin babes balanced within her lap were not an expected sight. Their soft tufts of brown hair shone in the firelight, their pale blue eyes were alert, and their attention focused on the voice so usually quiet, retiring. Now it soared with every passage, changed pitch and timbre as a character spoke, took on every facet imaginable.
Linaia pressed her body into that of her husband, holding one finger to her lips, begging him be silent, for the trio had not yet taken note of their presence. Of the twins, she was not surprised, they were still so new she was shocked their attention was held at all, let alone passed with ease, but of Ceiba's removal from reality within the pages of adventure, she marvelled.
Alas, even her beloved magical glow of firelight could not hold forever, and a page on, a draught to pass through the open door broke the spell.
Looking up, the young girl's voice broke away immediately, retreating to it's usual quiet lilt in the back of her throat. In her eyes, however, a sparkle still defiantly twinkled, daring reality to encroach on her mind.
An explanation of the babies' presence immediately broke forth from her person, peppered with apology.
"I thought they would like to be read to, I... I know I think it's soothing in a storm," she finally offered up.
"Do not worry, child," Aelus almost scolded, "you seem to be doing a fine job."
Then, it was his turn to lead Linaia, securing the door behind them and seating himself on the floor by the girl, gesturing for his wife to do likewise.
"Please, do not stop on our account."
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 10:12 pm
The storm rages.
Outside, the wind blew a gale, any unfortunate leaf to venture from it's parent branch swept away and battered against any surface to give it leave.
The sky had grown dark with great columns of clouds, towers rising high above the earth, dropping away into a great grey carpet to carress the heavens, blocking away that father sun from the earth below.
Amidst the sky's fury sat the red brick dwelling, it's residents ever safe from the elements, save from the odd draft, the occasional leak.
A hall led to a door, that door to a room, and that room to a cosy familiar picture. A fire burned bright in it's grate, flickering now and then as a rogue gust of wind found it out, a large chair lay unused, save for the man leaning against it, sat on the floor.
His frail frame was swathed in black, from his cloak, to his trousers, to his socks. Only his shirt provided a break, white, and ruffled in the manner his wife and sister in law had picked out.
Against him lay a woman who, physically, was infinitely his superior, for her bones did not appear to peep through her flesh, her cheeks held no hollows, her figure no look of habitual starvation. Quite the opposite, she seemed rather fleshier than her usual form, for the signs of pregnancy to two healthy children were not easily done away with. She still held some of the belly to have grown to house the pair, her body still clung to that rounded physique it had grown used to in the last months.
Her arms held one babe, the little boy they had named Cassius, sound asleep, whilst one arm of her husband was occupied with Erina, gazing up at her father with huge blue-grey eyes.
The tiny girl was too young to speak even in her own gibberish, too young to sit up alone, too young even yet to smile, but still she held her parents entranced, smacking her lips, flexing those tiny fingers. Even a belch in one so young is considered endearing to doting parents.
Erina, detaching one hand from her son with considerable internal struggle, gripped that of her daughter lightly, smoothing a finger over the babe's chubby plam, before runing it across the fingertips of little Erina, smiling to herself, and her husband, at the physical response the infant showed, her fingers growing tense, wriggling when tickled, going loose once more when the nerves ceased to confuse her.
Twisting to gain access to Aelus' face, Linaia there planted a kiss, smiling up at him idly.
"I know they'll start screaming soon, and our lives will be sleepless and full of them, but they truly are beatiful," she mumbled, before curling once more into the heat of his body, and shutting her eyes. She was tired.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 8:41 pm
Guard no more.
Bleak was the morning Lady Naita Siri chose to walk the grounds of The Manor, alone for the first in a long time.
She had none of the three girls in her charge, nor her sister, brother in law, nephew or niece to keep her company, merely the rustling of her black silk gown, it's every fold chilly in the crisp morning air.
"Last of a dynasty," she sighed to herself, all to aware that the days of the Siri were over. Either the Linquas dynasty would be forged, or her family's toil would come to nothing.
She held no romantic notions of how their family had risen. Politics, innuendos and intrigues had resulted in the sharp claws with which her family both clawed their way up, and guarded their place once there.
And now all for nought, and for what? Foolishness. All frippery and fornication. Such was the Siri legacy, such she hoped to pass on to the latest Cassius?
But such were the ways of the world, and a position based on the lies of others was better than no position at all.
Hoofbeats stole her mind away from this train of thought, a blind hope occuring that it were news of her request speeding her forward with such a burst of speed the single rider almost collided with her at the head of the drive.
In the tumult to pass, insults were heaped upon the skill, intellect and mother of the horsemen, until at last one such remark froze on the woman's tongue, a familiar set of blue eyes laughing down upon her.
"I have no doubt you will forgive the implications upon your mother, Eshal, for the rest I make no apologies," came Lady Siri's icy tones.
"Oh, of course," came the rejoinder from that abused fellow as he dropped from his mount, stepped forward lightly, then, laughing, wrapped his arms around Naita, much to her protestation, his grip vice-like.
"And I make no apologies, either," were his last words before he sealed his lips to hers, almost crushing the breath out of her.
Minutes passed, the entwined pair oblivious to the possibility of being caught, until at last Eshal released his somewhat eager victim, her usually pale face scarlet, her breath coming in bursts.
"Your letter, my lady," he bespoke in jovial accents, before mounting his bay once more.
Before he rode away, however, he shot back one remark;
"I had it with my last commission."
With that, he was off.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 8:42 pm
A response.
Lady Siri,
Your nephew is as all Cassius' before him, a Duke.
Please, ensure he is not as all Cassius' before him.
Yours,
His Royal Highness Prince Lucien, Prince Regent.
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Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 6:57 am
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