Lucian had seen the others try to think of what was going on here; clearly he had been allowed to set foot into the cavern, but he wasn’t allowed to take the trial yet, which gave him some hope that his mother was somewhere still in the world. But it was agreed that for now he would have to rule in her place until either she made an appearance or let the spirits become aware of her death on their own. “Alright. It will stay between us all”, he spoke in agreement before he felt Episcia felt up against him. She was the most lost of all of them here, at least he was able to register some of what was going on. His mother and aunts had explained enough for him to grasp this situation, not that it gave him a huge advantage.

Lucian felt conflicted- he wanted to look for his mother but they were right- the last thing they needed to do was to address this publicity and spread even more panic and craziness. Not to mention that  he didn’t want to spread false hope in case something was wrong with the spirits and that she was actually dead.

So the plan went according, he was said to have passed the trial and he took the mantle of the Red Court King that day. He had the news travel to reach his Father and Melina while making sure that word spread throughout the land to reach his distant relatives. The first day of his rule wasn’t even halfway done and he felt exhausted already. Whether it had been listening to his people’s daily problems and offering the best and fair solutions, or ducking and dodging every attempt by a house to have him wed their daughter (or of the women that threw themselves at him to get his favor and hand in marriage), he sat upon the throne and kept trying to remember what he learned to apply to each judgment he made. The latest one had been of two women bickering over who had the right to be courted by him, much to his pleas of trying to get them to stop. Rubbing at his temples, their bickering wouldn’t cease though nothing got physical just yet so he wasn’t about to have them thrown out by the guards. Whether by luck or fate, Episcia came and nearly dragged him away, though he wouldn’t lie in saying that he wasn’t thanking her in his head as they slipped away from sight.

Eventually they sneaked out into the gardens and they laid low for a bit until they were sure that no one was looking for them there. “How do they put up with this?”, he groaned, finding a bench to sit back against. He was cursed with his father’s looks, which didn’t help his already established beauty from his Rosenite heritage. Ironically it was known that Raeguel had a problem of dealing with females from his clan in a similar sense, though unlike Lucian, he did bring it upon himself. His eyes latched onto Episcia and shook his head. “Thanks. They were driving me nuts in there. I think that’s like the sixth and seventh time I had women trying to get my favor.” 

Rosenite women were absolutely crazy. Not wanting to get in the way Episcia had been hiding up in the balcony of the meeting room. The room was large, obviously for banquets and meetings like this, and the hallway of the house’s second floor went through the room using a balcony walkway around it. Her eyes peered through the marble railing that lined the walkway and she watched as the women began a fight over him.

She hadn’t wanted him to know she was watching, more so for his safety then the jealousy that she felt. It was a low simmering feeling deep down in her guy that made her want to grab them by their hair and throw them out. She had spent weeks getting closer and closer to Lucian… who were they to come in and demand what Lucian and her had worked so hard on?

Besides – they were clearly not his type. She let an angry snort leave her nose as she watched the fairest women of the Red Court argue. They were pretty and it made her glance down at the reflection in a nearby mirror. She scoffed again and finally she had enough of this. She made her way down the balcony to the grand stairs. Got through the crowd, by way of pushing mind you, and separated the women before taking Lucian’s hand.

“You can’t do that! You need to get in line.” The women were yelling.

“Bite me,” Episcia said as she about dragged Lucian from the throne and out the door. Everyone was speechless except for Nerezza who was laughing in the corner. Once they were out in the well-guarded garden she sat by Lucian who looked too relieved. “I don’t know… I don’t know how your mother put up with it. I can imagine they came to her looking for husbands too.” It was a popular thing to be in an arranged marriage by the queens here.

“I thought I was going to have to punch them out.” She laughed with him as she leaned into him. “You should speak up for yourself more and tell them no. I mean they aren’t your type. Pretty damsels in distress don't suit you very well.” She knew that the funny thing was they were in their situation because she had been in distress over her father… however, it wasn’t like she couldn’t fight physically. 

“We should just stay out in the garden while the house clears… Your sister was having a field day with everything.” She could hear some of the staff clearing the house now.

Lucian had grown bored of the bickering by the time he was pulled away by Episcia. He had nearly forgotten in all that was happening that she had been there watching from a good distance. He felt as though the court seemed more like a circus and he was the main attraction. “Ugh, that’s all I need to hear. I know next to nothing about arranging that”, he said with some disdain. That was one of the last things he wanted to do, though if push came to shove, then he would oblige by setting up marriages.

“You’d think by now I would be used to them wanting to be with me. Rosenite men are hard to come by and I was once told that some of the husbands already taken have to be on guard. Women here can get pretty crazy, ask Kaiser about that”, he jested, referring to the poor soul’s relationship with Nerezza. It wasn’t hard to figure that he was be driven mad day in by day out until she got what she wanted.

“It wasn’t that serious.” He looked at her with some surprise before he snickered at the thought of her fighting them off him. “Rosenite women aren’t known to listen to reason when it comes to men. If they spot a bachelor, especially one of in my position, they will do everything possible to gather my attention. It's annoying but they are damn persistent about it too. His hand found itself around the small of her back instinctively, not paying any mind to what it could possibly entail. After all, they had spent so much time together, nothing really felt odd to him about their closeness. “My type? I didn’t even know I had one; yet you know?”, he spoke matter of fact like.

“By all means, enlighten me. I wanna know what type of woman suits me.” He moved his head up against hers softly before reeling back. He liked her idea of hiding out and avoiding the crowd. He could use a breather or two after dealing with all of that. Fortunately people will starting to be forced out of the house, but they could still remain here for a bit longer. “It nice to see her in a better mood as of late. With everything that’s been going on, been worried about her and my other siblings. You too, though you seem like your perky self with all this talk about decking people.” 

Episcia frowned a bit at his words and shook her head. “Could always ask one of your Aunts… Not that I think you should ask Toya.” She laughed a bit at the part about Nerezza. “I think half the time she is just torturing him. Nerezza seems like the type that once she gets what she wants she’s uninterested.”  

She tilted her head at him and gave him a devious look. “Oh, I thought it was. The last thing I want is a primadonna becoming your wife and no longer being able to hang out with you.” Women were stupid like that. The prospect of that happening hurt her. She smiled as she curled up more into him as he wrapped his arm around her. This was how it had been since the day her father had left and she wasn’t looking forward to losing him to another when that day came. 

“You most certainly have a type.” She chuckled at him as he pondered. She nuzzled her head against his instinctively before he reeled back. Her amber eyes watched for just a few moments as the sun caught his white hair. “A woman who can hold her own and doesn’t constantly nag you. Can be your equal so you don’t always have to worry. Doesn’t require much from you as not to bother you…” She blushed a bit as the thought trailed off. She coughed a bit as she looked away and a silly little thought popped up in her head that she was describing herself.

Turning the attention back to his siblings she nodded. “It’s not like they forgot but Lady Angela was clear that we needed to be just and well. She didn’t want us to mourn her death that much is for certain.” She blushed a tad more at his last thought and laughed. “I just don’t like to see you in distress… you get quite stressed out from all of this and the last thing you need is women fighting over you to make the matters worse. Is that so wrong?”

“Perhaps, and yes, no Aunt Toya.” While he loved his Aunt dearly like the others, Toya was a wild card in that he didn’t wish to hear about her defending his honor by fighting on the streets and then having his Uncle drag her back home. Enough of that already happened before he took the crown. “If Kaiser ever breaks that is. She can get…rather moody when she doesn’t get her way, already heard about her dropping Aelwen from the second story window because her lover came back and let Kaiser escape her trap inadvertently.” Still, she had a point, his sister was likely testing her fiance’s mettle and who knew what would happen once things went her way.

Beyond it being annoying, Lucian didn’t exactly have a problem with the ladies of the court wanting his affections. Although he wasn’t exactly looking forward to dealing with it any further today, there would come the day that he would have to deal with it accordingly. However, it seemed as though his companion didn’t share his views on the matter which caused him to look at her as she gave her opinion. “No, I don’t think I could bear dealing with someone like that around constantly. Likely to drive me mad.” He tried to play it of, but there was a strong possibility that she was right- no matter what sort of woman he would marry, it would have likely been inappropriate to be around Episcia as he was now. They wouldn’t be around each other for great periods of time and surely they wouldn’t be in each other’s beds at night. No story readings to comfort one another either. He hadn’t really thought about it before up until now and he wasn't too much of a fan about it up and going away one day.

It seemed to bother her more than what she was letting on, which confused him a bit but then again so did his own thoughts on the matter. “Well seems like you describe a good woman for me. At least then I wouldn’t have to deal with with a primadonna.” He smiled witty before peeking over when she shied away from him for a moment.

“No, but you are right; we have to carry on. And I think slowly we are moving forward with our lives”, he spoke in a more serious tone. His mother wouldn’t be forgotten but they couldn’t mourn forever. That said, he certainly wasn’t going to tell someone when to get over it because he hadn’t fully recovered from the devastating blow. Plucking a flower nearby, he twirled it in his fingers for a bit as he thought about her words. It was true that he didn’t need the added on stress, but it seemed a bit silly for her to get riled up about it. It was something he had to deal with since he came out of his mother’s womb. “Looks to me like you were getting stressed when it came to them pouring their hearts and words to me before”, he spoke up with his eyes remaining upon the flower. “There are some things I don’t get as far as you are concerned, but one of the things that I do know from our time together is when you are hiding something.”

Episcia blushed deeper as he admitted it sounded like a good choice for him. She took several deep breaths as she attempted to calm herself down. He didn’t need to know about anything not when things were like this. She didn’t even know what was going on with herself as of late. “Yes, so we can move on with peace in our souls.” That would be the only way to get past this terrible circumstance they were in.

Though, once they were past that he seemed to want to call her out on how she was acting. She froze up for a moment. “What makes you so sure I’m hiding something?” The blush still hadn’t left her face all the way as she turned to look at him. She watched him looking at the flower for a long time.

“I don’t want someone taking you away from me Lucian. That’s what’s going to happen eventually. I’ll get married off and they won’t let me see you anymore or you’ll get married and you wouldn’t be able to be around me like we are now. That’s not fair.” She didn’t know what she was proposing and she didn’t care. 

Episcia had tears forming in her eyes as she looked at him. “I lost my mother, my father, your mother… I don’t want to lose you too Lucian.”

“Because, I’ve been around you long enough to tell when you are happy or when something’s bothering you. Call it a curse of my race, but it's not hard for me to pick up on your feelings at times”, he replied to her. They spent so much time together that they were amazing close for friends, perhaps even more than best friends. Whenever one of them needed comfort or reassurement, they went towards the other before anyone else. It had been true when her father was sent away and when he had to deal with his mother’s demise. Their situation wasn’t one that would be deemed normal by typical standards of friendship and the more he looked into, the more it seemed that it was deeper than most.

“That, and the redness of your face is clarifying my beliefs”, he chuckled lightly before continuing to play with the flower between his fingers. Episcia wasn’t an easy book to open up, but eventually he could read her even if it took bit by bit of reading her. Not to say that he wasn’t as conflicted as she was, he just had to juggle that with the problems he was having as a new leader. When she came out and told him that she didn’t like the idea of not being around him anymore, he looked to her with his mouth slightly up in shock. Was she…jealous? She seemed possessive of him, and looking back, he could see that it was possible from all these proposals the women from before could have been the reason for it.

Also his own throat went dry as he thought about her getting married off to someone. It wouldn’t be hard to find someone that would take her hand- she was beautiful. While he knew it in the past, looking at her now seemed, different than before. Like he actually took into account that she was stunning. She’d make for a lovely and proud wife for any man she chose.

Looking back at the flower and then at her, he was confused about this whole matter. Nearly as confused as when they first met and then when they got closer, they had sex in the middle of the training room. He threw his head back and looked into the sky for a bit, as if looking for an answer before he looked in time to see her tearing up and proclaiming her want not to lose him. The young ruler leaned towards her and placed the flower into her white hair. “You won’t lose me. I don’t care what we have to do, but nothing will separate us. I don’t care what happens, and though…it may seem wrong to say, I wouldn’t let anyone come between us. I don’t care if our relationship is seen by others as more than friends. We are in this together, no matter what. Even if some lucky bastard is able to win your heart, I will be here for as long as you need me.”

Episcia watched him for what seemed like the longest time. It was true that she was jealous and that she was being possessive of him but hadn’t she earned that right? The things they had been through together gave her more of a reason to be that way.  She was trying not to feel entitled to it. “It’s just a little color, Lucian.” She was pale so of course, it would show up. She tried to ignore it but she couldn’t and soon she was spilling herself to him.

Their relationship was odd normally it was sex that came after getting so close but not in their case. Their struggles had been that of the body first and then it was like they forgot and became really close. They were comfortable around each other without the need for anything else. 

She smiled a bit as he put the flower in her hair and blushed a bit as she began to wipe her tears away.  Nerezza had been watching for a while. She had thought it best not to interfere but she rolled her eyes when it became clear that they weren’t going to take the obvious answer. Pulling her from her bench she made her way over to the two.

Just the sight of Nerezza made Episcia shy away. Nerezza raised her hand and thought against slapping him silly. She took a bigger sigh. “Can I offer a solution to the problem?” Episcia blushed a bit more as she looked away. “What’s with all this… If someone won your heart shit?” Nerezza was glaring at her brother. “Why don’t you win her heart and just solve the whole damn thing. This has been the same dance you two have been doing for the past few weeks.” Episcia’s eyes got huge for a moment before looked back over to Lucian.


“Luc,” Nerezza made him look at her if he had looked away. “You don’t really want to be with anyone other than Episcia. You don’t even remotely look at another woman the same way… sooo..” She shoved him a bit towards him. “Just like Papa and Melina at this point.” She chuckled and walked away walking. “You both need a push.” Episcia was looking at Lucian with disbelief.

“Do you think what she said is true?” She only whispered it as soon as Nerezza was gone. Even then she thought she saw Nerezza spying from inside the house more. Though for a single moment she had thought that it was best just to see if maybe it was true. Leaning over Episcia gave him a kiss deciding on the fuck it approach.

The moment Nerezza showed up, he felt as though she was ruining the moment between him and Episcia. Had he any sense, he would use his authority to have the guards “escort” her back inside or something. Or have Kaiser be sent on some mission, and with luck she would follow him like a puppy. “How long have been you watching?”, he said with a narrowing look. Heaven knew that she was pryer of other people’s business and loved to gossip like there was no tomorrow. There was no reason at all to ask her such a frivolous question; for all he knew, she was watching them for the start. He would have apologized to Episcia, but his big mouth sister had to speak up and voice her own suggestions on the matter.

“Clearly Kaiser has his work cut out on making you a proper lady”, he spoke, rubbing his temples as she kept on going. Lucian was conflicted on the matter; he cared for Episcia deeply unlike anyone he had felt about before. Nerezza had valid points, much to his displeasure; before he couldn’t imagine him being distracted with a woman, but now he couldn’t imagine being with any woman other than Episcia. Perhaps all along he knew how he felt about her, but with everything happening so fast and with their relationship as complicated as it is, he thought he was fooling himself.

He didn’t know what to say and as he turned away from his sister, she drew him back and then pushed him nearer to the elf. “Rezza, you pain in the ass…” He had half a mind to let Aelwen get her back as she trailed off, proud of her work. Whatever thoughts of vengeance though left him as he came to terms with this. “…Hm…I…wouldn’t say that she was lying…” Lucian scratched the back of his head as he tried to get his words right and admit to her how he felt. But just as he went to open his mouth, he was met with Episcia’s lips pressed against his, and without a second thought he followed suit and kissed her back.

It was tender at first and he pulled away for a brief moment only to come back to her and kiss her with more fire behind it. He wasn’t really caring anymore if his twin was watching or not; he could have sworn that he could hear her giggling despite her nowhere around. His hands moved on their own accord and felt onto her sides as he deepened the kiss further. 

“Long enough to see you being a fool,” Nerezza was soft spoken as she watched her brother. The last thing she had wanted was him to be hurt. The path he was on was surely one that would do that. She rubbed her brother’s hair and laughed a bit. “He loves me the way I am. Plus I would love to see him try.” She winked at Episcia as he called her a pain in the ass and she was off.

Episcia blushed at his words more and she chuckled a bit. That was when she decided to kiss him. They sat on the bench for a long time kissing before long she was under Lucian. She pushed him back slowly and she didn’t want him thinking she didn’t want this but… one look at the house and she could see someone looking out. “Not here.” She pressed a finger to his lips and chuckled. “We can go to the room and lock everyone out.”

Taking each others’ hands they began to walk back into the manor. It wasn’t a quick walk but they were more so enjoying each others’ presence. Despite what could happen up in the room they were doing as they always had. Coming out to where the grand staircase was there were some women left over trying to get his attention. Stopping dead in her tracks as Lucian kept going she pulled him back and kissed him hard in front of him. Giggling she pushed him away. “Now get the hell out. He’s made his choice.” She shooed them before they went up the stairs together. The women were absolutely floored but they couldn’t argue just weep. Their chance at the lord was gone.

She thought she heard Nerezza actually laughing at the situation that had happened. Episcia was quite proud of herself as they got to the room and closed the door. Resuming where they were earlier they kissed until they made their way over to the bed. Her face was red as she thought about it but it was silly since they had already done it once already. Though this time was entirely different.

They closed the curtains, locked the door, and fell onto the bed with each other. It was soft at first and there was certainly no rush. They still had a large amount of inexperience as they tossed clothes left and right. Though this time they cared more if they were pleased by the whole thing.

By the end, he was over her and she holding onto him as he rested against her. She let her hands search for the blankets as she pulled it up to his shoulders and smiled up at him. “Much better,” she liked the thought of having him all to herself. Well, as to herself as she could. Not having to share him with another woman was a nice thought to have. She was glad that Nerezza had ultimately said something to them.

She rolled them softly so she could snuggle into his chest. “This was a good decision.” She pressed her lips gently to his neck as she reached over and grabbed the book they were going to read. “Later…” She showed him it and kissed his cheek. “Or now… depending on how you feel.” She wasn’t sure if he was tired at all. Before she let the book slip from her fingers she put it back on the stand. “What do you think?”