Re: Hope Falls

Phoenix Sun 4 Aug - 20:39

“Then I need to begin planning, excuse me mother.” Rahul bowed his head in respect before leaving.

**BestNameEva** Sun 4 Aug - 22:52

(( Skip for them and play the angels now too? ))

Phoenix Sun 4 Aug - 23:04

A few days later…

Despite the mid afternoon sun beating down on the Palace on the day of her son’s funeral, Indira’s rooms were dark as she’d refused to allow the maids to open her curtains. Food from both breakfast and lunch still untouched on plates left on the table in her living area. She lay in bed still, staring at the empty crib opposite. Her clothes for the evenings event had been laid out carefully, the painting on her skin touched up - but this was all completely ignored.

“He will only get so much grace from people, if his attitude does not begin to damper it will start causing problems.” Kiaan commented as he watched his eldest nephew storm from the sunroom and shove past a guard as he did so, the door slamming behind him

“He is a young boy who has just lost his father and has the weight of a title on his head… your staff have been nothing but kind to us since we have been here, I cannot imagine them judging him for his actions right now.” Daphne said quietly from where she was sat in the corner of the room, having been eyeing Dita and her cubs with unease as the felines prowled around the room, chasing the sun at its warmest.

“He can be upset without being unkind, Princess.”

**BestNameEva** Sun 4 Aug - 23:36

"He believes he has to be his father's son, that is how he has been raised and yet his father was capable of hurting him." Avani whispered, sadly watching her eldest. "He feels like I abandoned him, because of the words Rajiv slipped into his ear so he is scared to seek out comfort. He has watched how his father spoke to women, and staff, so he does the same. He's just a scared boy though, scared and sad."

"Having a father whom... only loves you when you behave like them is not uncommon." Kael mused solemnly, his eyes flitting up towards Kiaan, then across to Rohan as he finished off the last few sips of his tea. "Though we must be better than our parents, learning how to takes time."

"His brother is not behaving the same way," Rohan scoffed, throwing some spare food towards the feline.

"Indira," Ishaan greeted quietly from the doorway, his silhouette casting shadows into the room. "I have been told by the healers that you aren't eating. You have to, you need to get better. You need to have enough energy for the ride out, for the ceremony."

Phoenix Sun 4 Aug - 23:47

“The Gods have willed it that I suffer, I have no doubt they’ll ensure I make it to the ceremony so they can feed off the agony it produces…” Indira whispered, voice barely audible. “I told them I wanted no visitors… Everyone else I have had turned away… I imagine you pulled the King card on them mm?”

“He asked to see the list of brides offered this morning. Said he wished to consult it and make his choice.” Kiaan glanced over to make sure the boy had left the room as they spoke. “I have it in my possession, but I told him I did not. Picking a bride in his current frame of mind will not go well.”

“You love your son with no expectation, there is no time necessary for yourself.” Daphne assured her husband with a smile, not noticing Kiaan rolling his eyes at her fawning.

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 0:05

"'I doubt he even really knows what it means, to have a wife." Avani kept her eyes on the door, wat bing after her son. "Rajiv never allowed me to discuss such things with him, and if he done it when I wasn't there the I- " She swallowed, "I dread to think. This is all a disaster, just as things were starting to feel better too..."

"More fool you all for having children in the first place, I say." Rohan scoffed, motioning first towards Avani and next to Kael, "Miserable, grief-stricken and doubtful. A sorry state. Stay alone, stay unmarried too for that matter, then there are no problems."

"I rarely do use it. If I am around long enough to have an heir and hand it over I will not be hesitating to do so. Father groomed Arzen for this, not me." Ishaan laughed humourlessly. "If the ceremony is too much for you, you needn't go. He will have plenty of people who are going to miss him there, who mourn. It will
go without saying that you are suffering."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 0:24

“I have to be there for this… you don’t understand because you’re not a parent but I have to be there for it all…”

“Mm, Ishaan won’t condone child marriage for all his faults so your boy will have to wait for a little while longer before he begins his search.” Kiaan picked at his the leftover before throwing a chicken leg into the centre of the room, watching as the animals scrambled.

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 0:35

"Zoya told me the child kicked yesterday, the first time. I didn't think I would care, until she forced my hand to her bump in time for the next." Ishaan argued quietly. "When does one become a parent, Indira? An- and if you have to be there, then why do you refuse to eat? You know you can't spend all that time in the sun without food. You are self-sabotaging."

"If there is anyway I can help, messenger to send more... support here." Kael offered hesitantly, flinching at the sound of the animals jaws.

"You can speak it as it is, Kiaan knows of my mate. Roban may aswell, as long as the children aren't involved in any of it."

Rohan lurched to an upright position, choking on his drink, "I'm sorry, what?" He focused his eyes at his twin, "You knew something I didn't?"

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 0:47

“A few days with no food will not kill me… I have no taste for anything. How can I eat when I am to scatter my son to the sands? How can I when all I have left of him is to - “ she cut off with a sharp breath. “Sleep and food won’t make this pain any better.”

“She’s mates with one of Forest boys soldiers. A milk white red headed soldier.” Kiaan chuckled as he lounged into his seat.

“Kael’s personal guard, for when Wyatt is off fifty. He’s more than just a soldier to us.” Daphne interjected quietly.

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 1:00

"Cavanaugh is one of the best, the only one who has a flame that can begin to match Hawk's." Kael praised with a warm smile. Directing, then, at Avani "He would be a great lose to us, however, I am sure I can twist a narrative with my mother somehow that means she'll send him over here for awhile then I can do it.".

"I do not need him, not for anything that has happened here. The comfort would aimply be nice. Why would I-"

"Your husband died."

"'He was cruel to me, my belated." Avani swallowed. "I have grown to tolerate you Crown Prince, but do not mistake it for anything else. I'm still... perfectly neutral."

"Neutral is a vast improvement." Kael snorted, addressing Rohan and Kiaan then too as he spoke. "My sons are your nephews. It ties us. I don't want a wall when Idris speaks of us all. I have no interest in 'mothers family' and 'fathers family'. I want to make it so it doesn't matter. You are his uncles, his aunt just as much as my sisters are his aunt. Then we include the extensions, Hawk, Ayaz too I am sure. So many people to love, to care. It's important. I know it's important to Indira too. We are not divi-"

"You are a romanticist and it is fucking pathetic." Rohan scoffed. "How someone so soft could ever be King, I understand why your coronation was delayed - if it even happens at all."

Ishaan stepped inside then, pulling the door closed behind himself and sitting down on the edge of his sisters bed. "No. No, but having enough energy to attend to begin with is something sleep and food will give to you."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 10:23

“You do not have the first inkling of what’s important to Indie. If you did you’d allow her to come home without making silly promises to stay for you.” Kiaan shook his head.

“You all treat your sister as if she is a child with no say so in what she does. It’s concerning. You care about her but you do not respect her choices.” Daphne moved to rest her hand on Kael’s arm gently. “Kael’s coronation was postponed so they could grieve the son they lose together. Your nephew. Your sister is pained over it all and it seems you’d rather be angry at Kael than help her through it.”

“I’m not ready to do this Ishaan…”

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 11:25

"I did not make ask her to make any promises, . I knew promising her freedom back meant the possibility she would come back here, it was a certainty in my head actually. Why would she want to stay after everything? She chose to stay, just as you..." He lifted his eyes to focus on Avani then, "Went to my mother pleading for refuge from your husband before this trip, and were offered it with warmth." Then to Rohan, "As monstrous as your family believe us to be. Mine are not. The ancestors had it woven into our souls that our families would be connected, and my sons have guaranteed that even when the Adair's greed tried to put a wedge in it. We don't have to fight, don't have to argue. All of you are welcome, and Indira, all of you, can create a home wherever you wish to."

"Well, Rajiv is dead now so there is no need to run from..." Avani grimaced at the word 'run'. Mumbling quietly to the room, to her brothers, "I am not a coward. I wasn't going to run away."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 11:42

“The way Indira is treated by the people at home is how Cavanaugh will be received over here, Princess. You know it as well as we do. But he will come with you anyway, knowing he is unwelcome, because he wants to keep the family you have forged together. It is only the same as Indira agreeing to stay so her son has a family to grow up with.”

“We argue because you have treated my sister badly. Someone captures your sister and holds her hostage, and the next time she returns is with the Crown Princes bastards? You would not want the head of the man that treated her in such a way?!”

“She was treated by Kael how she wished to be treated. How many more times does everyone, including Indira, have to tell you this?”

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 12:02

"I would be cautious, as rage filled as Princess Avani was towards me at first but even she has come to see that Indira is consenting to stay, was consenting of our intimacy before that. I - " Kael raised a hand to wipe at his face, clearing his throat and mumbling, "Excuse me. I have to prepare for my sons funeral, your bastard nephew does not deserve this bickering, not today."

"Wait. Find - Reach out to Queen Isolde?" Avani swallowed, looking from Kael, to Daphne and back again. "Tell her about Raj, explain that I need Rakesh and Aryan back so all of them can say goodbye together. T- Beg her on my behalf too, that it is Rauiri who escorts them over. I need him."

"Beg? Avani." Rohan shook his head, baring his teeth in disgust. "'We do not beg."

"I don't believe you ever will be," Ishaan whispered, offering his arm out to her for an embrace. "We shall all be with you though, and then Bodhi will be with our mother. I imagine she needs some company, only having father and Arzen up there she will be tired of all the strategists."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 12:19

“They will be returned when Indira is home, if you choose to stay. Isolde is not the one who will bend here. You agreed to them being held in her place. You disparage Kael’s nature as potential King, but he is the one who will make it so there are no hostages. So everyone is free - even free to go back on their promises if it’s what they truly want.” Daphne rose to take her husbands shoulder. “Do you care that your sister is suffering, and has been for so long because she lost her child? Or do you just care at the optics of the situation. Are you angry that your sister may have been violated or are you angry that it looks like she has, you all hold onto the illusion your departed brother created that nobody would dare under his eye. Because she has told you over and over and you do not care what comes from her mouth but what it looks like. Your sister has needed you and instead of surrounding her with her family all they have done is debate if she is so simple minded that her consent does not count. And for their parentage - you in this home are the only ones who make such a notion of the fact the twins are bastards. Does it offend you so that your family has been tainted with them, is that why so much anger is placed on Kael? Why the boy is not with any of you now but rather the Queen?”

“How dare you imply we do not love our sisters son because of - “

“I am stating what it looks like. But you are saying what it looks like is wrong? Do you consider that it is the same for Indira and Kael’s relationship? That how it looks is far from how it is?”

“I have waited so long for this day and now it is here and I do not know if I will ever feel happy again.” Indira let out a sob as she pushed herself to sitting, leaning against him.

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 12:45

Avani narrowed her eyes at Daphne, irritation twitching at her face that it was the Princess who answered her rather than Kael himself. Pushing to her feet and stepping from the room, leaving through the same door her son did as she, finally, went after him.

"It is impossible for an heirs mindset to be much different from the current leader. Queen Isolde uses hostages, is well known for her torture techniques. To teach her child psychological warfare is far from unlikely." Rohan countered, raising an eyebrow when he noticed Kael's fingers clench. "No one buys the act. No one is so warm. You act as if you have walked from a storybook Prince Kael and it is disgusting. How fake it all is. We see right through you, all of us."

"No one expects you to be happy. No one expects you to be anything." Ishaan locked his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. "Get out of bed, Zoya has Idris. Spend some time with me, her and your son until it is time to go. Don't spend any more time alone."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 13:03

“Nobody is warm when they have had parents whom treated them poorly? Your sister has never been cruel, your sister has never been violent - and yet your father did all he could to break her mentally. Would you say that it is all an act from Indira that she is so gentle compared to the cruelty displayed against her. Your King is nothing like the last. Isolde is who she is, Kael is who he is.”

“Indira is a woman. Women are soft”

“Not Isolde, as your brother just pointed out. Perhaps it is just that people can be and are different.”

Indira said nothing as she sobbed in her brothers arms, curling herself up as small as she could go.

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 13:19

"Let it rest," Kael whispered, only briefly turning his head to look at them all. "These people worry so much for Indira because they themselves are trapped. You are all terrified of placing one foot wrong, bringing in the wrath of the man who assisnated your father. This place is a prison, and it has been for you all since the moment you took your first breathes. I am sorry your father was cruel to you, sorry you were forced to conform to how he thought in order to survive and I am deeply sorry that your older brothers have meant further entrapment with their outlandish scheming. If any of you need refuge, you are welcome. Even with the unkind words. It can be subtle, royal visits, time to get to know your nephew and to see your sisters. Sisters, because Princess Avani won't subject Cavanaugh to being unwelcome in this place nor will she want her youngest to grow up to have the same disrespect Rahul has."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 13:28

“It is out of respect for how much my sister seems to care about you that you have not been touched during your time here. That you were even allowed here. One more word from your mouth and I have no qualms - “

“More violence. Exactly what we all need.” Daphne shook her head, taking Kael’s hand. “Let’s leave mm?”

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 13:39

"We will be going, tomorrow., if Indira agrees to it." Kael decided as they stepped from the room, tone heavy with exhuastion. "I still feel unsettled by the attack, and the constant accusations are wearing me. This place does not feel.. safe. I don't want any of us infected by the misery that plagues these people."

Rohan leant back in his seat, tilting his head to stare up at the ceiling in frustration. "We can't allow the girls to leave."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 13:46

“I think Indira will come with us… but not so soon. To travel for months to stay only for a week… she will feel robbed, and it will make her want to return sooner rather than later.” Daphne squeezed his hand. “But I will speak to the Queen, and see if there is another residence we can stay in whilst we are here? Close by, but not the palace where her husbands brothers clearly don’t want us.”

“Indira must, for Avani’s children to be returned. But Avani doesn’t need to go, Indira can send her sons back to her… And then when Kael is crowned and Indira is free we work on making her see that living here is better than living there.”

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 13:58

"I will be our undoing, if we stay here. How to grieve when I have to be careful of every word, so it isn't twisted and..." Kael swallowed. "We are guests to a pride of those felines that are prancing around. It isn't safe."

"It is almost time for you to get ready, they will be heading out, Kael will need you soon." Florence mused, though didn't bother to lift her head from where it rested on Wyatt's chest, listening to his heartbeat. Her legs tangled with his as she watched specks of sand and dust that caught in the rays of the sun.

"I fear for our nephew, if she chooses to raise him there. The boy will not stand a chance as a man, he will not be much good for anything."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 14:06

“Then we speak to Indira and tell her we are leaving tomorrow… It is your call.” Daphne reminded him gently, holding his hand tightly.

“Return with her then? And once she is free you can implore her to return with you. There are many things we can use to our advantage. She clearly misses here, for a start. Indira is clearly in love with the Prince, an affection he does not return. You can make her see that he does not return it and never will, and hoping for anything else is pointless. Eventually his Caleeri bride will pop out more sons, and he’ll be less interested in Indira’s. She will be alone, in a country nobody wants her in, loving a man who does not love her back, with a child by him he begins to ignore. That is when you bring her home.”

**BestNameEva** Mon 5 Aug - 14:13

Rohan snorted at the suggestion, shaking his head in blatant refusal. "You want me to take a trip across the ocean? Have you lost your mind?"

"I am happy for you to lead, to make the decisions. As long as we get away from them in some capacity."

Phoenix Mon 5 Aug - 14:18

“If you believe being here could end with your health or life being compromised then we are leaving. Indira will feel robbed but she has the freedom to return one day. You are my priority.”

“Then I will. We left her unsupervised for too long and now she feels forgotten about us and we may lose her to them. Her entire issue with Ishaan is that she felt used, forgotten. If one of us goes to her then she will see she is not and we need her home.”

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