Re: Hope Falls

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 1:04

“I remember you telling me the story about a great great great whatever grandfather of yours who was King and had six wives all at once. Maybe you will bring that back into fashion. Maybe the reason you are so great as I have seen is because you have a harem of beautiful wives and dozens of beautiful children.” Fiadh chuckled. “Love is not a bad thing… loving people is never a bad trait Kael. Love is what will mend things… The love you have for your family, for your children, for your friends… you will rely on it often, and it will get you through every time.”

“Kael will know the lies are lies. He won’t allow my name to be slandered, he knows me… I’ll be okay, Florence.”

Iskra hesitated before nodding, gingerly sitting on the couch.

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 1:15

"I suggest you wake Prince Kael from whatever drunken coma he is in, Princess." Aoife advised frostily, not being gentle as she checked over of the futurs Queen's sisters. "His mother is suffering in a kind of exhaustion caused by something deeper than alcohol, and his father is beside himself with worry. The last time I witnessed Prince Aodhän so emotional it was when he learned Princess Nerissa was dying, before he closed off part of himself. There is no time for alcohol poisoning."

Agatha grunted as she was grabbed, as her face manipulated and arm moved upward to inspect the bruises.

Florence inhaled, a breath that had been to try and calm her nerves but erupted instead into a terrified sob.

Sullivan unseen, unusually quiet, stood in the doorway of his parents room gazing out. Clinging on to a stuffed animal that he held to his chest, observing.

"I-" Kael swallowed, nodding. "Okay, okay. Thank you."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 1:23

“Love is what will keep me and you connected forever… love is what will allow me to come to you again, when you truly need me. And I’ll be here, waiting. Love is knowing that I’ll also be waiting when it’s your time to join me… because I will. Even if it takes ten thousand years I will wait for you right here Kael.” Fiadh promised, pressing her hand over his heart. “I’ll be waiting here for all the stories, for all of your love and your heartbreak, for the battles and the glory and the defeats… make them good ones mm? Worth writing books about.”

“The Queen is ill?” Daphnes eyes widened as she watched Aoife with her sisters. “Why was nobody notified sooner?”

“Kael will not allow any harm to come to me. The worst is dismissal. You really think Kael would allow Isolde to have my head?” Wyatt tried to soothe Florence, glancing over to his fellow soldiers. “You have my word I will come with you. Just give me a few moments in private with my family, please?”

“Two minutes Hawk, two minutes.” Luc grimaced as he left their quarters.

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 1:37

"I was notifed, Lily was. Aodhän is aware. No one else had to know whilst a wedding was being celebrated." Aoife raised an eyebrow over her shoulder at the Princess. "Prince Aodhän is the Queens next of kin, not you nor your husband. It is not my responsibility to announce such things until absolutely needed. Now it is, developments like this... Kael can't be given time to come around from his alcohol poisoning like some wilted flower."

Iara hesitated, before following her colleague out. Closing the door quietly behind herself.

Florence, despite it, stayed blocking the doorway. A physical barrier, with trembling breath and trembling legs. The golden hue of her eye rises faded to their regular dull brown as the fight drained and the wolf inside her subsided. "K- K - Kael i- is no- ot Ki- He-" She stammered, unable to get out clear words. "I trust Kael, I do not tr- trust her. N- not since sh- she was happy to le- et you di- die. Not si- Ince sh- she let her dau- daughter be cr- cruel to ou- our son with n- no consequence."

"More excitement, from when I was a teenager. Being the subject of stories, of songs that bards sing. It is all so much to live up to now it is so close though, Fiadh. What if I fail? What if I'm not strong enough?"

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 1:48

“A hangover is not poisoning… he just enjoyed a friends wedding, how was he supposed to know something terrible was happening if nobody told him?” Daphne frowned meekly, before once again heading to the door and leaving to speak with the guards outside.

“Trust in me then. Trust in me.” Wyatt rested his hands on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “If you don’t trust anything then trust in me. That I know I will be okay.”

“You won’t.” Fiadh assured, face screwing up in frustration for a brief second as she once again tried to hold him. “You will only fail when you give up. If there is a moment you feel like giving up, that it is all too much, then you come here. You come here and you summon me or your mother or Dmitri. You summon Ada - Gods even your grandfathers have words for you.” She laughed sadly. “Whenever you feel like you are failing you look in the mirror and you tell the ancestors if they want you out they’re going to have to fucking wipe you out themselves… they may send an army though your door a moment later to do the job, and if they do not then you have not failed and you are to keep going.” She chuckled. “When you feel like you are failing you look at your children, you remember they would not be here without you. You look at your sisters, who would not be alive if you did not do what you did. If you feel like you are failing you are to look at your parents, who may end up getting to live out their golden years in the peace your mother has been chasing her whole life because you sit where they could no longer… If you are truly done… you come to me.”

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 1:59

"I- I annoy you when I am scared. I- I know I annoy you when I am scared, I am sorry." Florence laughed humourlessly, shaking violently beneath his touch.

Aoife observed the door, waiting until it had closed before gripping Agatha's arm tightly. Purposefully above one of the bruises she had given herself and hissing ag both sisters, "These men are the backbone of this castle. They fought to keep it free of Razi scum and they won. If you think that you two little girls are going to claw into anyone's heads you are sorely mistaken. Stop the lies, stop the act. This place is not going to be pleasant for you if you begin to lie about the staff."

Agatha flinched, biting her tongue to stop from crying out.

"Tha- thank you." Kael swallowed. "Thank you, for everything. I - I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Fiadh. I am sorry I was so young, so stupid. If it were to all happen again I would react better, I'd know what to do. I was just so scared... I just thought she loved someone like I love you, so she'd listen."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 2:08

“If you hate Razi scum so much why were we beaten for calling the youngest one a little bastard as he is?!” Iskra snapped, shoving Aoife from Agatha.

“It was my time, Kael. It was never your fault I died. I never blamed you, I never will… Promise me you will stop blaming yourself? There were a million things you could have told her that day and she would have killed me either way. There was a future where I was not there when she attacked, she killed another guard, but I died the same day anyway because I tripped down the stairs and broke my neck. The sun was setting on that day without my soul seeing another sunrise, one way or another. You did not cause my death… nothing you did would have stopped it… They are cruel… We got all the time we were ever going to get… and it wasn’t enough, I know. It will never be enough…”

“You are not annoying me, I just need you to trust me. I would not allow myself to be taken if I was to be executed. I wouldn’t do that to you and Sully.”

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 2:15

"He is not one of them, he is one of ours." Aoife hissed protectively, twisting Iskra's wrist when she was shoved as if inspected for any injury though purposefully making it painfully uncomfortable. "Step back, Caleeri. Retract the lies, before I prove that these injuries are self-inflicted. It is easy to see, to those who know."

Kael merely nodded, unable to form words for fear of sobbing. Turning his face away as his hand lifted to wipe at his eyes. "No, no. Never enough. You're the love of my life, Fiadh."

"O- okay." Florence swallowed. "Okay, I - Oh." She breathed shakily as she finally noticed her son in the bedroom doorway. "Sully, you're up."

"I'll go back to bed now... sorry. Sorry."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 2:22

“There were witnesses to how roughly we were removed from that room last night. We were manhandled all the way to our rooms and my sister had no choice but to defend us before worse happened.” Iskra doubled down. “As for the little brat, he will always be a Razi bastard.”

“I have sent the guards to bring Kael.” Daphne informed Aoife quietly as she entered the room once more.

“Funnily enough you were the love of mine too. I was your first love… and you my last.” Fiadh mused. “Allow yourself to love another the way you loved me and life will not seem so heavy all the time… Just know I carry you with me, as you carry me. That each time you look at your wrist once you get it tattooed I will be thinking of you as you are of me. You are all I knew… all I ever wished to know, Kael. Not Prince Kael. Nor His Highness… just my Kael. I am proud of you, I will always be proud of you… know that. For the father you are, the King you will be… What we had was never enough but I know we will have more, one day.”

“Come here and give me a hug before you go, son?”

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 2:30

"Oh wonderful, I am glad to hear he is on his way so he can hear once again how you call his son a bastard. You are aware the man has buried a child, yes? Losing one makes you fierce over the others, more so than normal and Kael is no exception to that. You are also aware, that your sister loves the boy. Don't you, Princess Daphne?" Aoife glanced over her shoulder as she rose to her feet. "You shall have to excuse me, but these injuries are minor and I have people more in need to care for. Aside from that, I can not possibly stomach to treat women who are cruel Idris when I had to hols the dead body of his twin brother. When I had to hear Kael, who I also knew as a babe, scream as he did." She tucked a breath in between her teeth. "Apologised, Princess Daphne. I simply have more deserving people to attend to then women who have beaten one another for attention."

"I know that now. I - Thank you, Fiadh. Thank you."

Sullivan took hesitantly steps over, stop at his father's side and leaning against him. Still gripping his toy to his chest.

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 2:35

Fiadh reached for him once more, letting out a hiss of frustration. “I am going to get into so much shit for this…” she muttered as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before suddenly launching herself at Kael. Slamming into him solidly as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck with a delighted laugh.

“Aoife you cannot decide who you do and do not treat.” Daphne frowned deeply, “My sisters are injured and in pain… Would you suddenly decide to not treat me if we had a disagreement.”

“We told you Daphne, they are not as glorious as you think they are.”

Wyatt wrapped his arm around his son, ruffling his hair gently. “You be good for your mother, okay?”

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 2:45

"The Queen is more in need of my skill set. Your sisters have minor cuts and bruises so I shall send my acolytes." Aoife repeated frostily. "Next time you see that little boy, I hope you can feel happy with yourself for defending such an innocent soul against such bitter women."

"More lies. Pretending we are simply telling tales about what has happened to us. When all we are trying to do is defend you, sister."

"I am." Sullivan whispered sleepily. "Always am."

Kael let out a 'oof' at her weight, tumbling backwards. An explosion of white flowers burst from beneath his back, enveloping the forest floor and wearing into a canopy above them as his arms wrapping around her to bring her tightly against him. Eyes closed before the tears from a choked sob could sound, "Fiadh."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 2:51

“Do not forget that in those first weeks when his mother was too weak to keep her eyes open for longer than an hour at a time that it was I who sat with him when his father was so deep in his grief he could not. That I too have been woken in the night and tended to his cries. Just because my sisters have shared a view we do not agree with doesn’t mean you can dismiss their injuries as lies. Two things can be true - they were unkind in their words and they were beaten for it.”

“Kael…” Fiadh whispered as she tucked herself into him, closing her eyes with a shaky cry. “We do not have long… but I couldn’t not… I needed to hold you just one more time. Just one more time…” she leaned up, pressing her lips to his in a desperate kiss.

“You’re a good boy, I love you, okay? Be good.” Wyatt reminded him once more before patting his arm to send him back to bed.

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 2:57

"I can prove they are lying. You are aware of Wyatt's size, his dimensions, look at those bruises. They are too small, even with minimum effort he would have caused much more damage than that. Any of our men here would have." Aoife challenged. "You want my professional opinon than that is it. These injuries were not cause by males, especially not males trained in combat. Nor are they pressing enough for my time when there is a more important patient who needs me, respectfully, of course. Now am I excused?"

"I love you too." Sullivan mumbled, drowsy as he wanted back to his own room to sleep.

It only taking a breath after the door had closed before Florence had pulled Wyatt back into a hug, tangled fingers in his hair and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Kael laughed gleefully against her lips, tumbling sidewards, so she was beneath him. So he could run his hands down the length of her body as he kissed her back with young, fast-paced, and hungry affection.

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 3:03

“Make sure your acolytes arrive quickly.” Daphne snapped, waving Aoife off with annoyance.

“I will be okay, I promise. I would not go with them if I thought my life was in danger. Worst case possible here is Kael dismissing me. Not my life.”

“God I love you…” Fiadh half laughed, half sobbed as she pulled him closer, hands tangling in his hair. “We - we do not - we do not have long…” she warned in between eager kisses.

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 3:16

Aoife swiftly removed herself from the room, eyes narrowed, focused until she returned to the healing wing and ordered acolytes out. Hisses when it was only her and Lilly in the room, "Royal snakes. I could not stand it today, I could not put it to the back of my head. Not when it is so obvious, and there is so much more important matters then their little - " She cut off with an 'Argh'. Grabbing unusable herbs in a voal from the countertop and launching it towards the nearest wall.

Agatha swallowed thickly. "We would not have lied to you, Daphne."

"Kael is not in charge right now, Wyatt. We are months away from Kael being in charge, and as I have said I don't trust Isolde. Not with you."

"I- I love you." He stammered as he returned them, "We have long e-enough for th- this. One la- ast time. Slow d- down. I have gotten better."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 3:27

“One last time… but you cannot tell anyone you held me… it is not allowed…” Fiadh’s hands moved to rip at his clothes, pressing her hand against the skin of his bare chest once she had cleared a way in.

“I will be okay. I promise you. Trust me?”

“Swear it… swear it on the Gods.” Daphne moved to sit down heavily, hand moving to cradle her stomach.

“We swear on the Gods those guards hurt us. We swear we thought they were going to do worse and Aggie had to defend us.” Iskra replied without hesitation.

“What has Daphne done?” Lily frowned, the last she had heard was that Aoife had been summoned by the future Queen. “I know you do not like any of them but… I thought you didn’t mind her so much, with her manners. A bit of a drip but still polite?”

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 3:39

"Ignore the new scars, the ones that did not exist before. The one from Avani's nails, what remains of Arzen's head butt, the swords of Ishaan's men. Wolf bites. Ignore those." Kael breathed, arching towards her touch momentarily before batting away and leaning down. Undoing the leathers similar to what she wore when she had passed and running his tongue along her inner thigh.

"I trust you." Florence whispered. "I trust you."

"Why would we lie about something so terrifying? We had to fight back, had to keep ourselves safe. There was no other choice."

"Hawk arrives yesterday with a knife through his hand, not a dining knife but one used on hunts to slash through flesh and muscle and bone. He can't put pressure on it without being vocally in pain, and you know how Hawk is, he is normally good at masking that. Then today the Drivas show up to Daphne's room saying that have been brutalised, with bruises so tiny only women's hands could have caused them." Aoife scoffed. "Calling Kael's boy a bastard as soon as Daphne has left the room and Hawk and his men are arrested. I can not treat them, I refuse."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 3:47

“I will not be ignoring anything, I want to bring all of you to memory.” Fiadh inhaled deeply, moving her hands to his hair and tightening her grip. “All of you…”

“I will be back. I will be okay.” Wyatt promised, kissing the top of her head before leaving.

“I believe you.” Daphne nodded, staring ahead with deep contemplation as she massaged her bump. “I do… I believe you would not lie about this. I believe you…”

“Good, it did. I know we have had our differences since we arrived but we need you.”

“Do you think the Princess and Prince are stupid enough to believe the lies? They - to lay hands on a foreign guest, a royal one… Kael could have to execute them! What a - why would they lie and play with men’s lives like that?”

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 3:54

"We are spoilt here, by how much they care. Most royals don't, we are their play things not people." Aoife seethed, anger coating more viciously where her voice wanted to break. "Do you see why I hate them? It is us and them. It is only us and them and it only takes one for us to lose our friends!"

"I want to relearn every inch of you." He breathed against her skin as they faded to black.

"We do. We need you."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 4:48

“Our royals have never acted in such a way before… I find them selfish and entitled yes but… ours aren’t like this usually.”

“I believe you.” Daphne assured, “I do…”

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 7:45

"She is not ours yet. She is choosing her sisters." Aoife mumbled.

"Thank you." Agatha nodded. "Really... thank you."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 9:16

“She is pregnant and you know what that does to a woman’s mind… and there is the solidarity. If I came to you and said I had been beaten you would believe me instantly too. We are women; these things happen.” Lily frowned, moving to take Aoife’s hand. “I know you are seeing one of the Guards even if you will not say who. Is he one of the men that have been accused?” She asked gently.

“You are my sisters… of course I believe you.”

**BestNameEva** Tue 10 Sep - 11:26

"Seeing one of the guards? Ridiculous." Aoife scoffed, pulling her hand away as she shook her head. Ignoring the warming of her own cheeks.

Agatha nodded slowly to herself. "Th- Thank you."

"Look at you," Kael breathed afterwards, curling a strand of Fiadh's hair around his fingers. Tiny flowers growing wherever his fingers touched, braiding with another strand of hair. "You're everything."

Phoenix Tue 10 Sep - 11:33

“I have sway with Kael… even if he does not believe you I will not allow him to send you back. I promise that, with all I have.” Daphne took her sisters hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Seeing or not, I know you are fond of a few of them… Was one who has your fondness accused?” Lily rephrased the question softly.

“Mm…” Fiadh hummed blissfully, pressing her lips to just above his heart. “This is who you are Kael. A man made to love… That’s what that was… love…” she sighed in content, moving her lips to his.

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