The Princess and the Blade

[Emora Deen]

Laurius swallowed, and tried to keep his composure as he met the woman’s eyes. Milandra and Narissa had reputations as black as their dark eyes. He had avoided them as much as possible while in school at the citadel and he had planned to avoid them well into the future.

“I fuck a lot of people,” Laurius said evenly, uncertain how to handle the situation. He knew better than to allow them a glimpse at how he had come to care for Ren, though. “Tenara fucks hers. It’s almost part of the job of being its owner.”

Laughter rolled through the room, and he tried to avoid the black glare coming from Tenara.

“Speaking of,” Elias mused and reached over to her. She jumped back, but only had so far to go before the chair back stopped her and his hand found the pendant draped across her chest. He glanced at Havitharon and then at Tenara, thumbing the point on the horn shard. “How sweet. Does he have a lock of your hair in his pocket?”

“You really shouldn’t do that to the blade,” Laurius interjected, wanting so much to tear it from the table. “Stab it into the wood, I mean. Fondling is at your discretion, but the blade will dull… Besides, it is mine. So give it back.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi glowered at the prince, if only to distract himself from the way Narissa was tracing her fingers idly over his blade.

Milandra made a gasp of feigned guilt. "Oh dear, we wouldn't want that." She pulled the dagger free, appraising the blade. Beside her, Ren winced. The woman turned to him slowly, a spider that had just felt a pull on her web. "So part of owning them is fucking them, you say?" She licked her too-red lips. Ren's wide eyes met hers, his irises shrinking to pricks of vivid green surrounded by black. She looked pleased by the reaction. "And they'll do as they're told?"

[Emora Deen]

Laurius hesitated. “Within reason,” he said, trying to weave his lie well. “If you don’t take care of the blades, if you treat them poorly, their emotional instability will result in self-sabotage. They will melt down. The soul stones will crack. Look at the sword as evidence. The dagger’s handle shows similar strain…”

Elias tsked him, still holding the pendant in his hand. “That sword looked like that after Tenara helped forge it. It was damaged on the boat…”

“Because it was treated poorly,” Laurius added.

Elias was smiling, but his eyes had gone dark. Predatory. Thoughtful. He glanced at the sisters. He looked so much like the mother who hated him. Then, he turned his attention to Tenara again, following the pendants chain across the front of her dress. “I am surprised you would let anyone touch you after what we did.”

Tenara hesitated. Her heart lurched and her mind spun. The room swirled, colors blurring together. Not they.

We.

Laurius watched the color drain from Tenara’s face and all the fiery fight that had brewed in her eyes fizzled out.

The servant boy burst back into the room with the books in his grasp, stumbling into the table. They spilled out of his arms and onto the plates, clattering them loudly.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi stood behind Tenara's chair, his nails clenched over the seat back. He had met females who acted like this in the past. If he acted in Tenara's defense and revealed how close they were, it would only inspire these monsters to use him against her. His best chance was to act like a soulless weapon awaiting orders. That didn't make it any easier to stand there stone-faced while Elias practically bragged about raping her.

Meanwhile, Ren looked like he was about to be sick. Havi inwardly cursed at the other Ivis's abysmal poker face. He glowered at the man, twitching an eyebrow.

[Emora Deen]

Elias glanced at Havitharon, seemingly disappointed by his lack of reaction. Tenara wondered if that was why he had said it at all. Maybe it wasn’t true. Just something to strike a nerve in one or both of them. She tried to brush his words off, shove them down into the fog. The prince turned his attention from Tenara to the books on the table, picking up the book of Havi and Ren’s people, and admiring its foreign text. “Should I be plain about what we are taking?”

Laurius shifted in his seat. “The books and the notes, plus the materials are more than fair—“

“We have no interest in fair,” Narissa said. She pressed her cheek to the cool metal of the blade before she tilted her face and traced its edge with her tongue.

The act was enough to rekindle the rage Tenara had lost a moment ago.

[Soran Nightblade]

Milandra spun Ren's dagger on its point idly, splintering around the wound she'd already caused the table. "I like this one," she said to Elias, a bit like a child angling for a new toy.

[Emora Deen]

“A fine choice,” Elias agreed. “He seems more submissive.”

“And this one?” Narissa asked, pointing the sword at Havitharon.

Laurius shook his head and before Elias could answer, snarled, “That is not yours to take. You asked for a way to forge a sentient sword, and I gave you a book that could do that and more. I am providing you another book, as before—“

“I’ll put our cards on the table,” Elias said, taking a sip of wine. “We intercepted your tutor. She was talkative, and when we reached a point where she didn’t want to talk anymore, Milandra helped her find her voice. We learned a lot about your house, your experiments, and your blades. We know at least one of them can read this book.”

Laurius stiffened, but forced himself not to look at Ren.

“We’re taking your dagger, Laurius, as well as—“

“If you take the sword, I swear, I will tear your kingdom out from under you,” Tenara spat.

“We’re not taking your sword, Princess,” Elias said, sympathetically. “We’re taking you.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Artisuren sat as if frozen. His unblinking eyes were just staring at the wine-spattered plate in front of him.

"Abducting a princess is an act of war," Havitharon warned in a voice made of frozen lead. His raced through his options. Should he attack? How far could he get before they stopped him? Wouldn't it be wiser to wait for them to release the sword to Laurius, and then act?

[Emora Deen]

Milandra nodded. “He’s right. It would be an act of war.”

“Yes,” Narissa agreed.

Elias sighed. “It’s true. If she was taken, it would be an act of war. But unfortunately, there was a fire. Her magic was too strong, too wild, and Laurius’s pretty house burned down with everyone inside.”

Elias looked up at Havitharon. “Her sword, that she would never leave behind, might be found in the ashes with the bones.”

Narissa cackled.

[Soran Nightblade]

Somewhere amidst the ringing in his ears, the panic of his worst case scenario playing out in real time, Ren heard Elias's words. He stiffened, his head snapping up to look at Elias.

He'd imagined the possibility of Laurius forfeiting the dagger. But it hadn't occurred to him that they would be willing to write their valued merchant off entirely. They were going to burn Laurius's house? He was so proud of his house. He thought of all the plants and experiments in the library, decades of effort. A fortress of his life's work.

Wait... no one would believe their story if Laurius remained alive. Were they going to... He clasped the edge of the table like he might fall from his seat if he didn't. "Do not hurt him. I won't help you if you hurt him," he said, shaking.

[Emora Deen]

Narissa sighed, sitting on the table next to Ren. She pouted her lips and draped the sword along her lap. “I do so love when they bargain,” she said, brushing her finger along the curve of one of his horns. “I would like to see you on your knees, begging.”

“Maybe later?” Milandra mused. “You are under the impression you have autonomy, my sweet. You are a slave. You will know your new masters soon enough.”

“Ladies,” Elias said, holding up a hand. “I said you could work your will on the dagger for study, but it ultimately belongs to the crown—to me. Remember who the true master is.”

Milandra and Narissa’s dark eyes twinkled. “Of course, my prince,” they said as one voice, but each word danced with placating humor.

Tenara had said nothing. She had not looked away from the plate in front of her, her mind racing as she calculated a way out. Laurius looked much the same, appraising the room, calculating and weighing the facts.

All the answers kept coming up wrong. She reached up to the scaled collar at her neck, but her throat was already sore from tugging at it.

She wouldn’t go. She wouldn’t. Not again. She’d never be like that again. Tenara’s hand scooped up the knife by her plate. She lunged up from her seat and toward Elias, aiming for his throat.

“Stop her!” Narissa commanded, sword raised as if that helped her commands hold.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's hand shot out faster than the eye could follow, catching the back of Tenara's dress and pulling her just short of her target. He grunted, forcing all the will he could muster into his hand and trying to open it, but it wouldn't release her.

He couldn't release her.

The sight of Thvoros in such a state, combined with the stranger's touch on his horn, made Ren fall into dazed silence. He looked to Laurius, desperately hoping he had some kind of plan.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara screamed with frustration, swiping the air with the dinner knife, but the throat she wanted to cut remained out of reach.

Elias slid his chair back, further out of her reach, and walked around the table. He took the sword from Narissa, and admired it for a moment. “Break her wrist,” he said, his voice carrying no pleasure. Just harsh, cold weight. Punishment.

Milandra curled a hand around Artisuren’s horn and turned his head up so he could see.

Laurius rose from his chair. “This is all madness. Elias, stop this. We have done business together for years. We went to school together…”

[Soran Nightblade]

Something in Havi snapped. All his grim composure ignited into naked wrath as he hissed out, "No." His hand loosened from Tenara's dress and closed over her arm instead, but his whole strength wasn't in it. He fought Elias's command for dear life. He stared at the thing around Tenara's neck. If he could just get it off. If he could just buy her a few seconds.

The pressure of the command ballooned inside of him, tearing at his mind. "No," he strained again, but this time it sounded more like a protest than a refusal.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara looked up at Havi but there was no fear in her eyes. Her heart ached at the strain on his face. Again, she thought about grabbing his horn and forcing him down but she didn’t want anyone to use that against him or against Artisuren. They had too much power already.

“Break it,” Elias said, this time with weight behind the command.

“It’s okay,” Tenara whispered. “It’s not you.” She touched his cheek. “It’s not you.”