Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.Lord Alfred ought to have known better than to summon the evil by speaking them into existence.It happens while the three men are gathered in Alcina's room that night. In the Heartlands, it had been the regular custom for Alfred and Nordin to spend time with their younger sister at the end of the day.Nordin, with well-practiced hands, deftly tames Alcina's hair with a brush as Alfred peruses the stack of books accumulating in the corner.Brendan had been unable to leave, not with Alcina looking at him with such an imploring gaze. He's now flipping quietly through one of his own books from the floor, seated beside Alcina's nightstand, where the girl is currently having her hair attended to."This is a pretty brush," Nordin comments idly, eyes fixed on his task before him.Alcina smiles. "Brendan acquired it for me," she says, not without a furtive glance in said lord's direction.Brendan doesn't look up from his book, but his lips do press tog
When Alcina wakes, it is with a gasp and cold sweat breaking on her forehead.She opens her eyes, desperately attempting to flee the horrifying images dancing behind her closed eyelids. It grounds her, in the next moment, that she can feel the warmth radiating from Orion and Perseus, like twin flames circling her head.They had been nearly inconsolably agitated earlier when she'd finally returned to Brendan's room where they'd been waiting.They'd felt the spike of fear running through Alcina's heart at the intruder's attempt. They had nearly thrown themselves at the separating door in order to get to her.There's a constant brand, now, in the back of her mind, in the form of two fierce, nearly bloodthirsty protectors. It isn't at all a bad feeling.Heart still hammering in her chest, she looks wildly around the room. Her panic subsides only when she sees Brendan standing by the door - evidently, having just returned.Lips trembling, Alcina reaches out with a hand and sinks into the h
The moment Nordin ambles into the hearing vicinity, Alcina puffs up with all the irritation of a younger sibling scorned.“Brother,” she hisses, looking not unlike a ruffled kitten. “What do you think you are doing?!”Nordin rolls his eyes. The dramatics with this one. Though he supposes he cannot blame her when it had been Nordin who practically raised her, after all.“I was testing your future husband’s mettle,” he drawls. “You are welcome, by the way.”Alcina makes a strangled sound in her throat just as Brendan approaches from behind Nordin. “You- testing him, for what, you almost ran him through-”“Alright,” Brendan protests churlishly. “I was not almost run through.”Nordin snickers.“Yes,” Alcina snaps heatedly. “You were.”Brendan stares at her in mild affront. Just whose side is this girl on?Alcina turns back to Nordin with a scowl. “What would you have done if he- wait.” Alcina blinks. “Wait, did you- what did you just call him?”Future husband.In the time since he and Alf
The dragons continue to grow. They are still relatively small, enough that Alcina can cradle each of them in her joined palms, but no longer small enough that she could do so one-handedly. As Orion and Perseus grow in size, so do their personalities, each growing louder and louder inside of Alcina’s head until she has to learn anew how to tune out the dragons’ sensations from her own. Their fire-breathing capabilities, too, become confirmed, as both of them have recently begun to snort out brief jets of fire when they’re agitated.It’s all in harmless fun for now, but Alcina dreads the day they grow more masterful with their flames and isn’t at all sure how she’s going to tackle that particular hurdle when it arrives.Perseus, as of late, has grown particularly attached to Brendan, such that he’s found sidling up to the lord at least half the time, even in Alcina’s own presence.There’s a part of Alcina that wonders with mortification whether it’s a matter of transference, given tha
The night before their wedding day, House Warner throws the grandest, most lavish celebration of all: a masquerade ball.Alcina had never been to one before.In House Clair, everything was about superiority in association with their famed bloodline; anything that would at all conceal their identities would be diametrically opposed to what her parents deemed as the one and only importance of such events.But Brendan had read a book about a masked ball to Alcina once, and since then, Alcina has been fascinated with the idea.And what is Brendan to do but to make the arrangements when he catches Alcina re-reading the passage on the masquerade with wide eyes?For the first time in a long time, however, Alcina enters the grand ballroom alone, as Brendan had been called away to attend to some matters briefly.It makes her strangely nervous, as though attending her first ball in the Western Plains all over again, to do so without Brendan's grounding presence steadily at her side.When Alcina
It is nearing midnight, Alcina breathless after countless rounds along the dance floor, when Brendan begins to guide her to the doors.It is late, but the ball is still in full swing, the music crescendoing louder as the people, too, grow more vibrant and rowdy with the sinking evening.Alcina, cheeks flushed with exertion, glances in confusion between Brendan and the slowly diminishing dance floor, but going willingly nonetheless.“What is it?” she asks but receives no answer in favor of a little, secretive smile.Halfway down the marble hallway, Brendan discards his mask, and Alcina, befuddled, slowly does the same.In silence - though not unbroken by Alcina’s occasional grumbles, something along the lines of acting so mysterious for no reason other than to seem bizarre - the two of them walk along a series of halls until Alcina finds herself being led through a previously unexplored part of the palace.It feels calmer here, as though there aren’t enough people walking through it on
The wedding is a small, intimate affair, given that it has been born more of political necessity than celebratory fanfare. It had intentionally been kept small for the purposes of efficiency. For all of Alcina’s personal emotions on the matter, the stark reality is that there is a looming war on the horizon and that Alcina and Brendan’s betrothal is the next key piece on the board. Even Lady Darla and Lord Arison have agreed not to make an appearance, given the present circumstances involved. Said circumstances being that pesky matter of repeated attempts from mercenaries as numerous as flies flitting around. Alcina had caught a glimpse of the grand hall, which had been transformed into the place of ceremony earlier that morning. Despite the limited time he had, Nordin had - predictably - managed to create a scene, not unlike a fairy tale. Dark, green silks have been hung from the ceilings and down the walls, creating a lush backdrop for the towering, blooming wall of greenery a
Marriage, Alcina finds, is oddly not very different from being engaged.At least in the way that she experiences it.Nothing changes between the two of them, and it’s a constancy that Alcina revels in - this feeling of being settled. Of being wanted and of being kept.Her two brothers depart rather quickly after the wedding, given that they’d already stayed longer than they were really able to.It’s a bit of a tearful goodbye, of course, and Alcina clings to them for longer than propriety might have deemed proper.It helps that they would be seeing one another in only two months’ time. Nordin and Alfred’s wedding, after all - a grand and widespread event that had been in the works for years - would be their next reunion. It also helps that Alcina has Brendan’s hand to clutch onto as she watches her brothers board the carriage that would take them back to the Heartlands.She stands on the front steps of the castle, holding too-tightly onto Brendan’s hand, watching with wet eyes the