The Princess and the Blade

What is known as the Outerlands by most of the people in Heirot. This is the land beyond Arken and Ighten, ruled over by King Atul Hajaris.
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Both Ivie looked over their shoulders, startled by the sudden entrance.

"Why not just use the knob?" Havi demanded. He rapidly took in the intoxicated flush in Tenara's cheeks and the way Laurius steadied her. Was she drunk? He was missing something. "We're not what?"
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Tenara looked at Laurius and burst into laughter. Laurius closed the door and went to the lounge, falling into it. “I think the Princess was excited at the prospect of you two touching each other’s… swords.” He kicked his boots off and lounged back with his arms behind his head. “And by swords I mean dicks.”

“Lies,” Tenara said, swaying further into the room. “Did you see how quickly he came through that door.” He fingertips danced over his head, a mock imitation of a miniature person walking quickly across Laurius’s red hair. “If anyone was hoping to see that, it was you.”
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Havi stared, his brain firing in too many directions. "Is that so? I did not realize you had an interest in that..." he said dead-seriously.

"You've seen that before?" Artisuren blurted in disbelief. "I thought this pervert invented it!"

Havi eyed Tenara thoughtfully as he said, "I have met Yurivie that wish to see it," he noted.

Artisuren looked like the tooth fairy just died. "I'm not touching your dick!"

"I can see that you aren't," Havi said matter-of-factly.

Artisuren's eyes drilled into Laurius. "I'm not!"
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Laurius tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if I made it a command... No. I think I'll keep you to myself for now."

Tenara slipped up next to Havi and wrapped her arms around his waist. She pressed her cheek to him, sighing at the feel of his comforting warmth. "Maybe some other time then," she said, her voice light and airy and amused. A joke. She stood on the tips of her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek and lost her footing as she settled back on the ground.

"As you can tell, Princess Tenara had one too many drinks at dinner."

Tenara glowered at him. "It was one drink. It never emptied."

"The markings of a good server, if you ask me. No one likes waiting for a drink at dinner." Laurius sighed and reached over for the book Havi had been reading. He pulled it into his lap.
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Since the princess seemed content on the floor, Havi just knelt beside Tenara, attending to her. Her soft kiss tingled on his cheek. He didn't dislike her in this mood... all he could think was that he found her very precious. He looped his long fingers around hers and sat on his knees beside her. His eyes went to the book Laurius had taken. Admittedly, he hadn't gotten far. He was beginning to notice some patterns to the way the symbols were arranged, but he certainly couldn't read it. He looked at it, holding back the desire to ask what it was about.

"You're going to read that thing too?" Artisuren said. It almost sounded like a complaint.
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Laurius looked over the book at Artisuren as he pieced together that Havitharon must have had the book. He began to read again. "Are you interested in maritime law, Havitharon?"

Tenara sighed, pulling herself closer to Havitharon and nuzzling her nose into the crook of his warm neck. She nipped at the skin playfully.

"Is it Havitharon's turn to be tamed?" Laurius asked, not looking up from his book. "Is his sword going to burn the ship now?"

Tenara's nose scrunched. "It's different for us." She covered her mouth to stifle the giggles bubbling out of her. "Usually, I'm the one on fire and needing to be timed. Tamed."
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Havi tried to answer Laurius's question, but what Tenara was doing was far too distracting. The truth was, he was interested in anything when Tenara was reading it to him, but he wasn't sure about saying such a thing aloud.

His mind rebooted as Tenara joked about him taming her. Havi stiffened.

Artisuren looked equally alarmed. "You tamed her?"

"I would never," he burst out, appalled.
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Tenara giggled at their reaction and Laurius smiled at his book. He closed it slowly and sat up, bending his face down to either conspire with the Princess or against her. "Clearly there's some confusion on what is happening in your bedroom, darling. Perhaps you should elaborate?"

Tenara shivered at the way he said "darling". She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I mean, I suppose I did tame him first... and then he turned around and tamed me for twenty-four hours straight." She faded into a fit of giggles, covering her face as she turned four shades of crimson.
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Havi's ghost tried to escape his body and flee back into the sword. "I did not such thing," he protested.

Artisuren, however, had caught on to the humans' giggling. "I think she's referring to when you got those rings," he said for Havitharon's benefit, tapping the base of his own horn in the place where Havi's own were ringed in thin bands of fresh gold.

A blank look of relief crossed the alien's face as he registered the meaning. Artisuren sneered. "Only lasted 24 hours, did you? I guess the rumors were true about you being a rock-headed virgin. Turns out you're an Ivis like the rest of us, after all."

Havi shot him a caught-out glare.
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Tenara sighed. "Actually, I think it was two days. I lost count," she said, melting back against the seat of Laurius's lounge.

Laurius rubbed his temples. "I'm sorry, did you say two days? You... for two days?"

"Mmmmhmm," Tenara hummed, nodding. "It was wonderful. Even the knot was wonderful..."

Laurius was nodding until he wasn't. "The what?"

"The knot," she sighed, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. "It's transcendent."

Laurius looked to Havitharon and Artisuren with wide, confused eyes. "Artisuren, what the bloody hell is she talking about?"
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Artisuren paled. It was hard enough to wrap his head around the fact that he'd had sex with the man one time. The idea of explaining his rut to him made his head hurt. "It doesn't matter, because it's not going to happen," he muttered.

"I'm pretty sure it is," Havi said, vengefully. "You're an Ivis like the rest of us, after all."

The male swallowed and glanced away. He was already doing mental math, trying to remember when his last rut had been. The answer was 'too long'. "Shit."
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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"What the fuck is a knot?" Laurius asked, feeling like everyone in the room was in on some joke that he wasn't. Tenara sighed heavily, as if she were most inconvenienced by his need for knowledge, and lurched up from where she was half-lying on his lounge. She turned around and beckoned him closer, and when he was near, she drunkenly pressed her lips close to his ear and whispered. As she whispered, Laurius's eyes widened. His face went from pale to crimson. He swallowed hard, his gaze flicking to Artisuren, and then the space between his legs. "Thar's Mercy."

"You're probably gonna need it," Tenara sighed, slipping back down. She rested her head on the lounge a moment longer.

Laurius was still mulling over his anatomy lesson when he noticed it seemed like she was drifting off. He patted her head, wondering if, when she sobered up, she would go back to being angry with him. "Perhaps you should get into something comfortable before you reach the black-out, pass-out stage of your little seafaring alcoholic adventure?" 

Tenara sighed heavily again and nodded into the crushed velvet. She stumbled up from the floor to her suitcase, throwing it open and rifling through until she pulled out a peach-colored nightgown. Then, she stumbled off to the lavatory and slid the pocket door closed. A few minutes later, Tenara opened the door again. Laurius's gaze drifted up, locking on her. His jaw tightened.

Tenara stood in the doorway wearing a long, silk nightgown with a lace bust. It was the sort of gown one would wear for a lover. Instead of being shy, she had her arms braced on the doors. Her cheeks and chest were flushed from drink. "When I packed, I did not consider the ship or sharing a room with anyone other than Havi."

"I... I do hope you packed something warmer for my house," Laurius mused with a smile. "It's quite cold there right now."

"I did not. I'll need to go hopping—shopping." She went to the table and poured herself a glass of champagne from the bottle delivered earlier. Laurius jumped to his feet and scooped it out of her hand, holding it aloft. She frowned at him.

"I don't want to hold that pretty hair tomorrow while you wretch over the side of the ship." His gaze drifted to her gown again and the deep plunge of the neckline, to the white scar between her breasts. The rose-color accenting her skin darkened. But, while her chest was lovely, he was more interested in the scar and its meaning. She should be dead…

"I don't get seasick," she said, reaching for the glass.

Laurius's head cocked. He recalled their conversation in the carriage. He was sure she said she did. And then, there was how ill she seemed on their arrival. She even seemed ill before boarding the ship. "...Do you get hangovers?"

"Nope."

"You told me you get seasick," he chided, wagging a finger. "Havitharon and Artisuren look thirsty." He passed the glass to Havitharon and then to Artisuren said, "Pour yourself a glass, Arti."
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Havi recognized the moment when Laurius's attentiveness shifted to interest. He noted how closely they behaved with one another after one evening together. She'd seemed to be at odds with him the night before, but now it seemed they'd been acquainted a long time.

Then again, he'd been exactly the same, hadn't he? He accepted the glass from Laurius and considered it quietly. Perhaps this was just normal. Just look at how quickly she'd come to accept his own presence in her life.

Artisuren quivered with irritation at the nickname, but complied anyway, pouring some of the amber liquid into a fresh glass. He loved alcohol and rarely got to taste it. He wondered what it would be like on this world, but he wasn't so sure about getting his defenses down in the present company. "How exactly are you planning to sleep all four of us in this room?" he asked the man warily.
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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Laurius looked around the room as Tenara sat on the lounge he'd occupied a moment before. "Well, the Princess and Havitharon can share the bed. I will sleep on the lounge, and you can have the floor," he told Artisuren with a smile. "The only other option is you and Havitharon return to the servant's area and sleep in the hammocks."

Tenara shook her head. "Havi can't. He has to stay." She glanced at Havi. "You have to stay."
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Re: The Princess and the Blade

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"I will stay," Havi agreed, pleased by her demand.

"I'll..." Artisuren looked at the door. He thought of the hammock and the privacy it afforded. Then he thought of the day he'd spent in the carriage, feeling emptier and emptier as his body realized it was lost, unchosen, discarded. His fingers tightened around the stem of his untouched wine glass. "...My body does not fit in those hammocks," he said. He grabbed the corner of the throw rug and dragged it up against the wall between the door and bookshelf, as far from the chaise as could be managed in the enclosed space. Satisfied, he sat down on it and sipped his wine.
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