DIS: Haha, my Lucivar/Surreal phase has passed and a more difficult phase has entered – Rainier/Surreal! I hope I can do well at this couple. It is not as vague as the former. PLEASE read the warnings below. I cannot stress this enough.
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Title: Home
Rating: K
Genre: General/Romance
Summary: Spoilers. Surreal never had a place to call home, had never known that a single person could be considered her home...until now. One shot.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Jewels Trilogy
Notes/Warnings: Takes place after Tangled Webs; spoilers of Tangled Webs; Rainier/Surreal; one shot
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Home
Surreal felt the heat of the sun pouring on her face and was unbothered by it. She had trained herself to be prepared for any weather and the heat of summer was no different. Generally, however, she preferred to stay out of it, especially this summer. Lucivar had taken it into his hands to pick up on the training that Falonar had failed to do properly. She had evaded him so far, but she was beginning to wonder how long she would be able to hide out at SaDiablo Hall before Daemon gave her position away.
With a sigh through her nose, Surreal slanted a look to the massive building that lied behind her. SaDiablo Hall had once been the dwelling of several young Jeweled males and females of Kaeleer, as well as the home of dead Eyrien warriors and the High Lord of Hell. After a joint effort between Lucivar, Saetan, and Daemon to defeat Dorothea, the friends of Jaenelle Angelline's had escaped to their own land and the Eyrien warriors winked out of life, having fulfilled their duties. The High Lord, Saetan SaDiablo, resigned himself as one of the Keep's librarians. The only inhabitants that stayed for an extended amount of time now were Daemon and Jaenelle. Surreal generally remained in the family town house in Amdarh and Lucivar, although he had his visits at the Hall, preferred his eyrie.
However, at the time being, neither Surreal nor Lucivar were at their homes. Surreal was hiding from her self-proclaimed Eyrien cousin and he was searching for her. She would know he was coming soon enough that she could flee. Any other day, she might not have cared if he dragged her off to train, but Daemon had mentioned that one of her close friends would be stopping by to check in and it had been some time since she saw him.
Rainier, a Warlord Prince with an uncanny dancing ability, and one of the few men that accepted her without a deflated ego, had been a hesitant companion at first. They had worked together once because his students had been brutally murdered by a woman out for revenge on the male race. After that, they had grown accustomed to going out dancing with each other and visiting every once in a while.
Their recent adventure together had been a fight for their life in a spooky house gone wrong. Trapped inside a house with landen children that scoffed at their well-meaning warnings, they had to be wary of any traps or dead that came creeping out to attack them. One had taken Surreal by utter surprise so that she was poisoned and weakened to a point where she was helpless. Rainier, too, had been harmed, and if not for Lucivar's explosive rescue, she wasn't entirely sure they would have survived.
She hadn't had much contact with Rainier after their confinement with each other, glad for the freedom. Surreal might not have noticed how lonely she was without the Opal Jeweled Warlord Prince if Daemon had not told her of Rainier's visitation.
Just where is he, anyway? She wondered, more than a bit impatient, as was her custom. Her temper matched Lucivar's and she just as violent as him when she wanted to be. The family hated getting them together in the same room because, unless one of them was otherwise occupied, an argument was prone to erupt. Surreal sent out a tentative tendril to search for the familiar mind. A smile touched her lips when she felt it, not too far off. She drew back before he could realize it was her and she started towards the Hall, but froze with a groan. Hell's fire. Not only is Rainier close, but so is that obnoxious ass of an Eyrien.
With a huff, Surreal continued towards the Hall and stormed inside, moving straight towards Daemon's office. She threw the doors open violently and declared, "I'm not going anywhere!" Daemon, from behind his desk, raised his eyebrows mildly. "Sugar, you better keep your brother away from me or I'll have him hanging by his balls from the ceiling." His mouth twitched and he cleared his throat loudly. She smirked inwardly, amused by the image herself.
"Not in the mood to do Eyrien training today, hmm?" He queried instead, a humored glint twinkling in his eyes. If Rainier got here fast enough, she wouldn't have to deal with one Warlord Prince rising to the killing edge because of Lucivar's treatment towards her and another trying to bloat his ego. The third Warlord Prince...Well, she suspected Daemon would sit back and watch it all with a pleasant expression. He might tell them to take it outside, but that would be the extent of his involvement in her affairs.
"What's that?" A voice rang out from the doorway. Surreal turned and glared at Lucivar Yaslana, the single most problem in her life at the moment. He flashed a cocky, Eyrien grin and expanded his wings outward so that he filled the entire space of the doorway. Trying to charge him was pointless and seducing him was the last thing she would do. The last option was always reserved for him because the first two usually worked for others.
Verbal fighting.
"I'm not doing any training today," she told him in a calm tone that was quite unlike her and made his golden eyes narrow suspiciously. "I made plans with a friend of mine since it's been such a long time." Lucivar's eyes drifted towards Daemon in disbelief and she snapped, "Not him!"
A sudden clearing of the throat announced someone else's arrival. Lucivar withdrew his threatening stance and slid into the room. Beale and Rainier were standing at the door, Rainier looking politely puzzled. His face lit up with a smile when he saw Surreal and she felt her own mouth pulling upward in response. It was hard to deny him anything when she was on her moon's blood since he treated her so well. He treated her just as well when she was wearing her Jewels. No one had been quite that kind to her in her life besides occasionally Daemon.
Lucivar looked to Rainier with a look on his face that suggested he was seeing a particularly ugly rat instead of the Warlord Prince. "Oh. It's you, then." Rainier's eyebrows rose slightly, but he gave no reply to the comment. Surreal chuckled as Daemon gestured Rainier into the room, ignoring both Dea al Mon and Eyrien. With a reluctant look on his face, having hoped to catch Surreal in a lie, he queried, "And what plans did you and Surreal make?"
"We're going for lunch," Rainier responded, no doubt suspecting what had occurred before he had arrived. "From there on, it is unknown." His smile was full of dazzle and charm as he turned it towards Lucivar. Surreal laughed at the pouting look in his eyes, but he nodded and went quiet.
"I'll wait outside while you and Sadi talk," Surreal suggested, flashing a mischievous smile. His own smile turned a bit devilish, knowing how well the two of them had manipulated Lucivar. She sauntered out of the office and Lucivar followed out of respect for their privacy. Beale shut the door behind them and gave the two a look that might have translated into, 'No fighting, children,' before he took the space along the hall in deep strides.
"I think you and Rainier have been around each other a bit too much," Lucivar casually remarked.
"People think we're around each other too much, sugar," she countered with a smirk. He bared his teeth in a feral grin, a silent answer of how much he cared about that particular opinion. "You've just got a stick up your ass because someone is actually conspiring against you with me." He snorted, but didn't disagree with her statement. Nobody usually got involved except for Marian when it happened at the eyrie. Her excuse was that she didn't want Daemonar to be influenced by them.
The two wandered outside with a silent truce holding their tongues. Although the majority of the time they showed their care for each other through their many verbal fights, there were times when they would sit silently and enjoy each other's company. It was these times when they needed to dwell on their thoughts most.
At the moment, Lucivar was considering over the strangeness of Surreal and Rainier's relationship. There was an underlying attraction for each other that he could sense, but they were either too dense to notice or simply were unsure of whether to move forward. He could understand Surreal's hesitation, but he wasn't sure why Rainier would remain so reserved towards the thought of a relationship with her. He glanced behind him at the Hall thoughtfully, wondering if there was something that Rainier was keeping from them.
Just as he was about to return his gaze forward, Rainier came out of the Hall, looking as comfortable as he had when entering Daemon's office. He paused beside them and gave a respectful nod to Lucivar. "Yaslana," he greeted. Rainier turned to Surreal and smiled, asking, "Shall we?"
Lucivar watched them leave, a brooding expression on his face. He tried to figure out what was going on between them, but he had never been one who was in touch with emotions. Daemon was better at detecting such things. He pivoted on his foot and moved back to the Hall with a determined stride.
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I've never really had a home to go to, Surreal mused as she and Rainier walked off their luncheon in the streets of Amdarh. When Titian was alive, I suppose it was somewhat of a home, but not what I have now. I can't really say that the family townhouse is home, either. It's days like these that I spend with Rainier that seem to have a home-like feel to them. She paused in her thoughts, considering over that. Rainier accepts me unconditionally. He doesn't care what Jewels I wear and admires, rather than resents, the fact that I am a better fighter than him. Home...is where I can get acceptance, I suppose. She glanced at her companion through the corner of her eye. I suppose he is home to me.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, catching her eye.
"Sugar, if there was something wrong, this whole street would be empty," she joked. He laughed, something she appreciated. He saw her humor, just like Daemon and Lucivar did. She smiled to herself and saw a flavored ice vendor near. "I'm about to burst into flames. Let's get some ice." She nodded to the vendor to indicate what she meant.
"I'll agree to that."
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Daemon sat with his hands clasped as he stared down at his desk with a detached expression. The paperwork no longer appealed to him as it might have. Lucivar's questioning of Surreal and Rainier's relationship had left him a bit baffled. He had agreed that the two were attached to each other, but their lack of sexual intensity left them both off balance.
Both of them had served as pleasure slaves in Terreille courts, so sex had never been a thing they yearned for like many men. Once they married to women they loved, however, that had changed. Surreal had once had Falonar, but he had hurt her badly and damaged her in the process, no matter how much she tried to hide it. She was, however, still a woman with her sexual needs and Rainier, as a Warlord Prince, held similar needs.
However they want to work their relationship out is not up to us, Daemon thought, using the same words he had given Lucivar, and it is not our position to meddle.
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Surreal settled next to Rainier with her flavored ice and dipped her spoon in and slipped it between her lips to taste the blueberry. One thing that gave her pleasure with the change of seasons was the different foods. For women like Jaenelle and the other young queens, clothes were a personal delight for the change of seasons. Surreal hardly cared, as she had no one to impress. Whenever she tried to impress someone, it drove them away.
"Humph," she snorted, glowering down at her ice.
"Ah. Should I expect to see the area around us emptying anytime soon?" Rainier's dryly amused voice queried. She fought against a smile, wanting to hold to her foul mood, but it wasted away to nothing and a corner of her mouth tilted up despite her battle. She shot a dirty look at Rainier, but he was smiling with his innocent, puppy dog expression that Warlord Princes seemed to have a knack for whipping out when they wanted.
"You know, most Warlord Princes piss me off," she commented, taking another spoonful of ice.
"So I've noticed."
"You're the only one I can tolerate." And that's all you're getting from me, sugar. I sure as hell am not going to say something mushy and gooey just because you're a decent man. "Of course, if you pull something on me, then I'm going to have to use a few torture methods Lucivar taught me."
"But I don't think either of us have to worry about that," Rainier said in such a matter-of-fact tone that she looked to him with one of her fine eyebrows draw upward. He smiled and then turned to his own ice, as if their previous conversation had been without any subtle meanings. For a moment, Surreal watched him and then turned back to her ice, content for the time being.
I'm thinking that we won't have to worry about it, either, she told him silently.
Finis
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DIS: Hmm...Did I keep them in character? I sincerely did try to do so. I based Rainier's character mostly on Tangled Webs. His and Surreal's conversations are so funny in that book. I suggest y'all read it. Please leave a review telling me how I did. Ciao!