Second Chances
By Rillan macDhai
Inspired by "The Art of Seduction, by Kael'thas Sunstrider" by PennyForTheGuy, but it's gone running off after the little animals…. Plot bunnies?
Copywrite 2010 by Rillan macDhai except for the parts owned by PennyForTheGuy and Blizzard. Yadda, yadda, yadda, all the stuff I mentioned in the first chapter…
I'm not up on all the lore, so I might make some terrible gaffes, Please Do Poke me about them by leaving reviews.
Part Two: Dinner Conversation
"You're right on time. I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to this." He took my hand and brushed a kiss across it.
Such a charmer, you'd almost believe he hadn't used that line before, but he looked so good I didn't really care. It was my personal belief I'd gotten as far as I had with him by keeping him off balance. Hit him with enough difference to be puzzling, throw in being able to talk magick with him, and it brought his curiosity forward. It kept him from retreating behind the haughtiness he could throw up as reflexively as I threw my shields and for many of the same reasons. Doing it here, in this situation, when he was so comfortable with both the location and the pattern was going to get tricky.
"You look amazing tonight," I told him, which I suspected he'd heard before as well, but sometimes the truth is just the truth. The truth was he looked better than me. At best I've been told I have a great smile and beautiful eyes. He could have been a model for Michelangelo for an elven version of 'David.' Shame the sculptors in Silvermoon hadn't had the nerve to show him in the nude instead of those concealing robes.
The magisters would probably have had coronaries …
Not that Kael's robes were being particularly concealing tonight . . .
I had on my best clothes, nothing compared to the style of his, and certainly not as revealing, though they were tight enough to show hints of my body without showing skin. I was not in a dress or a skirt, but I'd found a tailor who could do amazing things. We'd had a short argument about the pant legs, long versus short, but since I was the one with the money, I'd won. And my tailor had actually come around to see what I was trying for at the end. I had my Fleet blues again or at least, an elegant approximation of them.
His room was lit with dozens of tapers, but while it showed luxurious high elven flair in its furnishings, it still reminded me of an efficiency apartment crossed with a high-end hotel room. What kept it from looking totally staged like a Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot was the towel I could just see puddled on the floor of his bathroom. And what made it uniquely his was the perch near the circular sofa-bed-giant floor pillow and the tiny, flickering flame creature there that fluttered occasionally and made rude, but charming noises.
"A phoenix hatchling," I said, delighted to see one up close. Then, without thinking, I added, "Is that Al'ar?"
"Yes," he said softly, in an odd voice, and I realized I'd slipped up. He'd never mentioned the phoenix in our conversations. I looked back at him
"How did you know, Lady Blaze?" he asked and his eyes were guarded, wary, through he did shut the door without other signs of concern.
I sighed. All my sins come home to roost, eventually. "The same way I knew who you were when we met. If it wasn't clear before this, I've been watching you for a long time, Kael'thas Sunstrider."
I'd had a dream the night before about this meeting. In it Kael was beautiful and sweetly attentive and low-key amorous, but it had also been clear he had a certain scenario in his head, something involving inexperienced young female mages, which was both amusing and frustrating. I 'd eaten his chocolates, making idle conversation about how our days had gone since we'd seen each other last, wondering if there was a glass of milk to be had anywhere in his suite And wondering if the man I'd set my sights on actually had a brain in his poor wee head; no doubt a result of my reading too much fanfiction online. But the planning and thought he'd put into trying to seduce me gave me hope. Though much of the dream sequence had been precise on layout and even how Kael would be dressed, it was clear my brain had been freewheeling. And his hair was very decidedly not black.
Why was that such an annoying, persistent detail? His hair had never, ever been black - as far as I knew . . . I wondered what the game designers would have told me about it, if I ever managed to talk to them. Or dug far enough back into game lore . . .
Which wasn't the problem right now
Not when he was looking at me like I might suddenly sprout a dozen knives and come after him. "I'm not from here, Kael. I'm not playing your game of council or faction politics, other than to keep the Bronzes content enough they don't pluck me out of this timeline. None of what I'm trying to do aimed at harming anyone here, especially not you or your people."
He relaxed again, but slowly. "If you know about Al'ar, your spy network is disturbingly well-entrenched."
"Not spies," I told him. "What spies there are in Dalaran are none of mine, don't let the Council take it into their heads to purge your servants. Or any of theirs, for that matter. And honestly, do you think I really need spies? I've been here for maybe a month, what conclusions have you come to about me?"
"Other than that you came here via a very small manifestation of a greater portal which is maybe closed currently but definitely still there? Very little."
He gave me an annoyed glare as though I were being a particularly aggravating puzzle instead of a potential date. Actually, I thought it might be an improvement.
He continued, "You have nothing of demonic magicks about you, but beyond that? You fight with sword and dagger with a certain amount of skill. You have a large amount of gold you seem to have arrived with here. And you talk to ghosts. You re-opened the portal apparently by some type of necromancy we've never seen before . . . seemingly by doing nothing more than asking for aid. And then you let it shut again. If it had been anyone but Antonidas and myself there, you'd be in a cell in the Violet Hold right now."
"Maybe," I said mildly. "I was standing right next to my Gate after all. And yet, you asked me to your room anyway."
"That choice had and has nothing to do with the Council," he snapped and hissed breath out between his teeth. "And now I've ruined the entire evening. I'm sorry."
"No, don't be sorry and you haven't ruined the evening. I'm not so easily put off as that. Besides, you have every right to be frustrated. I haven't been particularly helpful or forthcoming about why I'm here."
"Why are you here then?" he asked, reminding me why the phoenix is considered a bird of prey in some cultures.
"To meet you and to find teachers and allies," I told him bluntly.
Ah, yes, that startled him.
"Me?" A moment of disbelief was replaced by acceptance. He nodded, somewhat reluctantly, "You've known about the Council since, I would guess, since well before you arrived here?"
I nodded in return. "Are you familiar with the book, The Guardians of Tirisfal?" I asked. Kael turned an interesting shade of cream, so I continued. "The story reads a bit differently back home. Shall we order dinner and I'll spin you a story, Prince of Silvermoon?"
"Yes, let's do that," he said. "I believe I could use a drink. Would you care for one?."
