"Stand straight, don't slouch," Dorian whispered quietly, as the council members approached. Terry scowled at the reminder but followed it regardless. Dorian had been around for centuries now, and the council members were quick to prosecute. Royal or not. "My Prince." The head council member sneered giving a slight bow along with the other council members as they scuttled past. Following them were shadow wraiths; dark grey creatures that were neither organic or ghost but everywhere they passed they brought the stank of rotting corpses and burning flesh. With that thought in mind, and once the wraiths had completely left. Terry nudged Dorian and said, "Hey, how has Lauri been?" Dorian's left eyebrow twitched in what Terry could only assume was aggravation. "Terrence please refrain from speaking so brashly," Dorian said rubbing his head. "You mean stop speaking like a human," Terry said. "No, it's brutish," Dorian said blankly. "Translation, it's human. "Terry said fully grinning. Dorian rolled his eyes, "Terry you have been here for over twelve years. GROW UP."
Terry sniggered. "Just answer my question." Dorian tensed, "She's fine." He said looking away. Terry scowled, "that's not an answer." He glanced at the elaborate two-sided staircase that led to the royal rooms. Laurena sat perched in the middle of one, the skirts of her dress alone taking up half of the stairs. "Fine. I'll just ask her." He said abruptly walking away before Dorian could stop him. Dorian looked at him incredulously. "You can't just approach Laurena!" He almost screeched his eyes wide.
"Hey, Lauri," Terry said grinning. Laurena looked away from her the book she had been reading with her eyebrow raised.
"Terrence." She said rearranging her skirts so he could sit beside her which he promptly did. "I take that back, apparently you can," Dorian said dryly as he approached them both. Laurena ignored Dorian in favor of her brother. "There's been the talk of war among the wraiths, have you heard anything in court?" Dorian and Terry both looked at her blankly. "War? With whom?" Terry asked sounding completely dumbfounded. "The wraiths talk to you?" Dorian said aghast. Laurena turned to look at Dorian and sensed immediately that something was off. "Dorian are you alright?" she asked a line of concern etching her brow. Dorian started at her concern. "She has a point, you have been off lately. Tense. Is there war brewing?" Dorian sighed. "I'm not at liberty to say. You both must know that." He glanced towards the two Darkling's who for the first time since he'd met them sat side by side. He could immediately notice the family resemblance between the two of them. The dark hair, strong facial features, and both had clear blue eyes, eyes the color of the deep sea. Eyes that he remembered from their mother. Whom had been trapped here for so long. Gianna. He looked back at Laurena and wondered if she was destined to share her mother's fate. If she too were doomed.
"Yes. War is brewing in the far east." Dorian said. Laurena and Terry looked at him in shock. "The East? But there's nothing there but forest!" Terry said looking back at Lauri, whose eyes had not left Dorian's frame as he refused to look back. "Everyone avoids that area...something tells me there is a reason why." Dorian looked back at her his eyes dead.
"Zafira. The Witch Queen. Nathaniel's Witch Queen." Dorian said looking intensely at Lauri. "Nathaniel. As in my father?" she whispered her eyes huge in their shock. "Yes. The same." Lauri's eyes widened as she thought of the past; her father had raped her mother while she had been held custody here for a stupid ritual to gain power. Her jaw tightened as she turned back to look at Dorian. He watched her with a knowing look on his face. "She left the kingdom a while back. Now she's starting to cause trouble again. Raphael and I will be leading a legion into the forest to eradicate her followers. We hope it will be quick." Dorian said. "You and Raphael? What of father?" Terry said looking up at him. Dorian cringed. "He's in the North. Again." He muttered rolling his eyes.
"I thought as much," Terry said irritated.
"What's in the North?" Lauri asked. "Nothing that I'm allowed to say," Dorian said looking down the hall. "Nothing you can say?" Terry said his eyes narrowing.
"Terrence drop it," Lauri said cutting off whatever Terry was going to say next. Lauri leaned back towards the wall, she looked at Dorian carefully before she looked back to Terry. "You overstep your boundaries brother. It is not in your place to question." She said. Smiling she ran a hand through her curls. "You forget that Dorian is still Ariste' and he's bound to the rules in his genetic make-up. You don't want to get him in trouble, do you?" she said. Terry grinned before he sighed. "I've been here for so long but I'm still rebelling. I feel like there's something off. Like something is supposed to happen."
Lauri's eyes narrowed. "Like the calm before the storm?" Terry nodded, scrunching his eyes. "But how did you—"
"I've felt it too." She said. They were both silent for a moment before they both looked at Dorian at the same time. "You need to be careful." They both said in unison. Dorian smirked, "I knew you were going to say that even without reading your mind." Dorian said grinning.
"Well isn't this lovely." Lauri's head swiveled around looking at the true bane of her existence. "Raphael." She said any trace of happiness gone from her face. He leaned casually against one of the stone pillars. He, like Dorian, wore an immaculate suit. The crisp white of his shirt was open at the collar giving way to the dark marks that curled his chest. Lauri knew that the marks went down all the way to his navel. Her fists clenched once before she forced herself to relax. Raphael's eyes glittered as his focus went straight to her before he straightened. "Terry. Dorian." He said nodding at them both. He sauntered over to the steps in a gait that made Lauri's skin crawl. Her mind flashed back cruelly to the first day she had entered the throne room, to her fate...
"Well done Terry. You found the lost princess. And the people that harbored her?" King Victor asked. He sat on his throne, his spiky blonde hair gleaming in the dark pallor of the room. Laurena's first thought was that he looked like one of those blood-sucking creatures that the storytellers used to wind long tales about in the village pavilion. "None were spared, My Lord," Terry said bowing low. Victor nodded, "Good." He turned his attention to Lauri. "By now you must have realized that you are not human. You are like us, and this is our true domain. Away from humans and Angels both. Free from conformity. Except for my own, and one day your brother shall inherit the throne."
Lauri inwardly shuddered as she thought back to the coldness, the hopelessness she had felt that day. She looked up now as Raphael put out his hand for her. Her face blank of any emotion she took his hand obeying meekly to the man she had been given to. The one that controlled her. She felt like screaming inside. A scream of torture and pain, fear, and anger. A scream that Dorian with his gift could hear clearly. He watched silently as Raphael walked away with Lauri at his side and knew without a doubt that between the two of them he helps more freedom than she, and he was but a slave. "That sickens me," Terry said a grimace on his face. "Why did my father give her away, to him no less." Dorian masked his features and looked back at Terry. "Because he is your father, not hers."
Dorian's eyes dimmed then his thoughts went back to his former master. Nathaniel. He had been cunning and cruel and had ruled with an iron grip. Dorian doubted if he hated anyone as much as he would always hate Nathaniel. The cause of so much death. And Treachery. Only Dorian and Terry's Father, Victor knew of their mother's true origins. Only Victor knew of what pain and injustice Dorian had suffered at the hands of Nathaniel. And now Zafira was back and seemed ready this time to bring Vemos to its knees.
Lauri waited, watching the moon on her side of the bed for Raphael to reach a deep slumber before she dared to rise off the bed. Her clothes flew about her the cloth light as a feather and finer than any silk she had ever worn. It was dark blue. A color she seemed to wear more and more often since the Masquerade massacre as she called it in her mind. She slipped the light soundless slippers on and encasing herself in a robe she left the room to seek peace elsewhere. She finally found it in a shimmery pool of water that could only be seen by Simeon's Tower. She knew that even if he saw her here he would not bother her. With that in mind, she kicked the slippers off and let her flowing clothes drop into a puddle at her feet. In a single fluid moment, she jumped into the middle of the pool, submerging her whole body. When she rose up, she realized she was not alone as she had thought. His eyes seemed to gleam in the moonlight. "Dorian, what are you doing here?" She asked, bending deeper in the water, cursing her state of undress. "A woman should not be without an escort. Seeing as you have none, I decided to follow." Dorian said calmly. Lauri narrowed her eyes at him. "Still tailing me?" she quirked an eyebrow. "I suppose I should be flattered," Dorian smirked at the pointed sarcasm. "Flattered or not. Someone should be watching you."
"Why because I'm dangerous? Unstable? Which one?"
"I'd say both. But that's not my point." Dorian slid down and laid himself down on the bank. His arm perched on one knee, his voice came out gentle, "It still hurts, doesn't it? Makes it hard to sleep." Dorian said nodding at the sunburst scar that laid just above her breast. She covered it with her hand, feeling the burn of it against her skin, always hot. Always burning.
"Must you know everything?" she said a little of her irritation showing. Dorian smiled knowingly. "He marked me. But he refuses to complete it. I know not what he's planning." Lauri said leaning deeper into the water. "Don't worry for now. He won't be able to do anything for a while. We both leave in less than a week. And we have no idea how long it shall take." Dorian said. Lauri leaned against one of the edges of the pool, the water at her neck, she bit her lip her brow furrowed in worry.
"You will be careful, won't you?" she said looking at Dorian then. He smiled at her. "Don't worry I'll be back and when I do I'll expect you to be able to block me properly," Dorian said.
Lauri scowled. "Is that even possible?"
"It is for you. You are the Daughter of Nathaniel, High King of Vemos. He was a powerful warlord in his time."
"If he was so powerful, how was he defeated then?" Lauri said crossing her arms in the water. "He had one weakness. Greed. He never seemed to have enough. And that is what did him in towards the end."