YESZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzznkxxxxx

[dmjewelle]

She looks upon him with loathing, far more loathing than she should for a betrothed.

He reenters the palace after an absence of two years, no longer a captain of the Lamperghis army but the ambassador from the duchy of Bal-Berith, new home of the demons. She does not know how he escaped Orod-gir's unforgiving prison nor does she wish to, which works well since he speaks none of it.

He walks the halls of parliament and the palace the way she remembers; back straight, looking forward, the brisk, sharp click of boot heels on the tiles. When he eats, he cuts the meat in one stroke, stuffing large cuts to finish his meal faster so that he may attend to his duties. When he speaks, his words are carefully chosen, a faint smile with the rustling of dull black hair falling over his forehead as he politely bows.

He treats her the same as the day they met; Every morning he greets her and asks if she slept well; In the afternoon he bows and extends a gloved hand to have lunch at the rooftop pavillion under the bright Lamperghian skies; In the evenings he escorts her to her chambers and waits at the door, because he is an honourable man from an honourable family and a woman's virtue is hers alone. Their conversations revolve around the mundane; the plots between representatives to curry favour with her, her family's health, the well-being of the young lord he serves, and the weather, though that is rare. Sometimes he becomes a bit more daring and tells her about his travels over the continent after his prison breakout, but he never ever talks about Orod-gir itself.

She wishes he did.

She feels that he has not changed one whit after two years, and she is right to assume so. His manners, his speech, his walk; the only suggestion that time has passed is his expanded knowledge of skycities and ruins and caverns dotting the continent that she has not had the good fortune to visit. He never presumes nor peers into her personal life as a gentleman which she would not have minded if she was still a princess confined to musty books in a stone-walled library.

Now she is regent of Lamperghis, seventy thousand holts away from home; in two years she has robbed the Domfrey empire of their brat of an emperor, built an alliance once thought impossible with the Skycity Fortuna, and seen enough discriminating old men to last a lifetime; She wants him to poke and prod and ask of the lesson she has learned picking up the pieces of a nation torn apart by war and its royal family – her relatives – murdered by deceptions more cruel than cold steel. She wants him to cease with niceties practiced only by the most shameless of bootlickers because she thinks him a better man than them despite their new differences in rank.

More importantly, she wants him to raise his chin and look her in the eye the same way when he walks and greets everyone else but her and see that she hates it when he acts as though the last two years never existed, or how he tries so hard to be unoffensive that it brings about the contrary, or just to the fact that times have changed and they are both changed people and she would help him heal the pain and trauma and shame that plagues his heart if he would only tell her so instead of cowering under genteel bows and empty conversations.

She touches the raised patterns of the silver ring on her finger, his engagement ring to her during happier times when she was naïve and hopelessly infatuated with the hope of romance despite the arrangement and he much more carefree. A short sigh later, she puts on a pair of white silk gloves; She tugs them to ensure the ring's shape is concealed, and heads out of her room, prepared to face another day as regent, as she has for the past two and a half years.

Perhaps today he will ask to see the ring, but she already knows better.

Comments

[yuncyn.livejournal.com]

Hear that sound?

It's the sound of my heart breaking for these two.

The language is sound, the words appropriate for the running thoughts of a regent longing to break out and the descriptions so apt - the glove covering her ring was a wonderful touch. Says so much about the situation, especially when she tweaks it so it isn't noticeable. I can't wait to read their names and put faces to them. And of course, what will happen to the regent and her bethrothed captain-turned-ambassador.

Meaning, GO SEND THIS TO KIDCHAN AND LEMME BUY THE DOUJIN ALREADY DAMMIT. ♥♥♥

[dmjewelle.livejournal.com]

:ispray:

I'mma gonna rewrite it, let's hope it works. ><

But thanks for liking it so much. m(_ _)m

[ithronluin.livejournal.com]

......you call that bad?!

MEIN GOTT. I WANT THIS IN THE DOUJINSHI PLZKTHXBAI.

and I never like straight pairing original character stories but this caught me. *__*;;; I just love how you write it outtttt. gaah. *shakes you and mushes*

[mistressnaoko.livejournal.com]

I forgot to say...

This story is good. Language wise needs cutting out here and there, but besides that, quite good.

She wants him to poke and prod and ask of the lesson she has learned picking up the pieces of a nation torn apart by war and its royal family – her relatives – murdered by deceptions more cruel than cold steel. She wants him to cease with niceties practiced only by the most shameless of bootlickers because she thinks him a better man than them despite their new differences in rank.

Unless this is important in the story, make it short. This means to cut out.

[mistressnaoko.livejournal.com]

More importantly, she wants him to raise his chin and. Him to look her in the eye the same way when he walks and greets everyone else but her and. Him to see that she hates it when he acts as though the last two years never existed. Or how he tries so hard to be unoffensive that it brings about the contrary, that the opposite happens. or just to the fact that times have changed and they are both changed people so are they. and she would help him heal the pain and trauma and shame that plagues his heart if he would only tell her so instead of cowering under genteel bows and empty conversations.

This means I added or changed wordings.