AN: This was a fun part. What's making me giddy is knowing I have the next chapter done and not posting it deliberately. I'm evil, I know. But it is worth the wait - besides which, it makes it easier to keep a roughly once-a-week update schedule if I keep extra chapters prepared when I hit those spurts of inspiration between chapters. If that made any sense. I might post this by the end of the week though, depending on how much I feel like cheering myself up.
I just bought myself my first car, you see. Not that I haven't had a car before, but this one is the first car that's ACTUALLY mine. The only problem is that it's a manual transmission and I've only had automatic. I'm having some trouble learning how to get that first shift into first to work without A) stalling the car or B) jerking around like it's possessed. So yes, having a little bit of stress with that.
Not that any of this affects anyone else. But it may mean I'll need a little pick-me-up and post something earlier. So we'll see.
Shatter
She was bored. Walter was an excellent swordsman, she'd give the old soldier that, but he was so slow. She dodged another blow with a neat little sidestep that she'd learned in her dance lessons of all things and then quickly bent her knees. Her body swung in an arc and the sword in her hand was an extension of her arm. Walter hastily brought his own weapon up to parry the blow but she narrowed her eyes and slightly overextended her own motion deliberately so that her lighter strike fell against the weak bit of blade she knew was there. The odd ripple that meant the folding while it was forged hadn't gone as well as it could have.
His blade broke and he stared at it astounded and pleased and terrified all at once. She straightened and held her sword down and pointed away politely as she fixed him with an expectant look.
"Ha!" he exclaimed triumphantly. She raised a single eyebrow curiously and he grinned widely at her. "You only went and broke it! Look at that! Am I a great teacher or what?"
Her lips quirked faintly at the amusement and pride that played across his face. Then her attention was caught by the sound of feet rapidly approaching from the corridor and she tilted her head in the direction of the door even as the amusement on Walter's expression faded and that sombre resignation flickered into his eyes.
"Listen, there's something…" he began hesitantly and Rose turned to watch Eliot burst into the practice room gasping for breath and terror rolling off him in waves she could practically smell.
"Walter! You have to come quickly." She shifted and Eliot's eyes found hers. There was relief in his gaze now – the terror and anxiety vanished in an instant when he saw his best friend. It pleased her to no end that he trusted her so explicitly. "Both of you," he added quickly, holding out a hand as if to escort her as he'd done teasingly that very morning. She ran a hand down the short ruffled dove-gray skirt she was wearing (practical, for her lesson) and nodded a short affirmation.
Eliot flashed a quick thankful grin and dashed down the hall with Walter hot on his heels. She followed at a more sedate pace and wondered if she could convince Logan that it wasn't wasteful in the slightest to burn the frilled white and blue monstrosity the seamstress had sent up to the castle.
"What's happened?" Walter asked seriously as they went.
"Outside the castle," Eliot explained. "It looks like a demonstration."
Rosalyn hummed thoughtfully – more curious than worried. But Walter reacted as though the news was dire. "This is not good." She frowned only very slightly. She'd already scolded the kitchen staff for propagating rumours and she could hardly let him get away with doubting her brother's decisions now just because he was an old friend to the deceased Hero Queen.
"They're right inside the castle grounds," Eliot explained needlessly as they came up to the long front windows and Rose decided she couldn't be bothered to say anything. She glanced at the guards and their vaguely nervous expressions and almost wished for another pointless lesson on swordplay. Boring. "I've never seen so many people out there."
"Balls!" the abrupt curse made Rosalyn huff distaste. "I should've known this would happen. I don't think they realize what your brother is capable of; this is not going to end well."
She sincerely hoped Walter would begin making sense soon. Her brother was the King. Who cared what he did with his subjects? Besides, if they didn't like him ruling they could rule the damn Kingdom by themselves. Then they could deal with the horrid amounts of paperwork she'd seen keeping him up until the wee hours of the morning. Reaver pressed his furry body against her side and she absently scratched his ear. His long pink tongue lolled out and he yawned at the two hastily conversing men before her.
"Let's go while we can," Eliot murmured to her, grabbing her hand and tugging her towards the stairs. Rosalyn blinked out of her thoughts and peered at him absently – noting that Walter had disappeared. He wanted something? "To find out what your brother is going to do," he said – correctly interpreting the blank look she'd given his statement.
"Oh." Her brow furrowed thoughtfully. "He's probably in the war room with the elite guards," she offered.
"Then let's go before anyone sees us," his grin was mischievous even through his nerves and she laughed lightly, stepping quickly after him, and quieting in amusement when he made a shushing motion. "Quick, you can see them!" He looked ridiculous peering through a keyhole and Rosalyn made no motion to join him.
"Why do we care?" she asked softly. The brief amusement at her friend's excitement had worn off almost immediately. Eliot was listening to the conversations she couldn't make out from where she was standing and he gasped suddenly at something. Her attention shifted abruptly. It hadn't been astonishment in that gasp – it had been fear. Eliot hadn't been properly fearful of Rosalyn or Logan in years.
"He's ordered the guards to shoot to kill. We can't let him kill all those people," he looked up at her and she knew what he was going to ask. Rosalyn's eyes were golden brown and dark, her lips a thin line, as Eliot spoke. "You're his sister; maybe he'll listen to you. We have to do something."
She opened her mouth to respond when the doors swung open abruptly. One of the guards scowled at her and she curled her lip in an automatic response – twisting her usually soft features into something wicked and deadly. He paled and stepped away to reveal her and Eliot to Logan and Walter. Walter who was, she noted with immediate displeasure, fallen hard on his hands and knees on the floor. Her brother sucked in a harsh breath and she looked up at his stony and furious countenance.
That fury was hiding betrayal. Her lip lowered slower than she'd intended it to. Betrayal at what? A coil of vague interest twined and she blinked at her brother's harsh, "What are you doing here?" He visibly drew his temper back and continued in a would-be calm voice. "The War Room is no place for a child. Leave now."
Eliot knew immediately that Logan had picked the wrong words. The King did too, from the sudden alarm that flashed across his eyes before he hid it away. But Rosalyn had latched onto that weakness and she purred "Child?" innocently at him. The guards nearest her flinched and her spine straightened into an elegant posture that brought her decidedly womanly features on display while simultaneously forcing all attention to fixate on what she was saying.
"I'm here to stop you, Logan," she declared finally. Eliot wasn't sure if he was glad she was going to do something or terrified. Queen Sparrow had been careful to keep her children from competing with one another for a reason. Logan was stubborn and impulsive just as Rosalyn was but she always seemed to be able to grasp precisely what would happen as a consequence of whatever action she took to achieve her goals. "You cannot kill those people."
"No, wait…" Walter said plaintively, softly pleading with the Princess. Eliot winced at the dark look that crossed the faces of both siblings.
"Enough!" Logan snapped irritably. "How dare you turn against me?" he added to Rosalyn.
Rose hissed at him. "How dare I?"
He snarled. "Perhaps you think you should be the one making the decisions!" Her eyes were all gold and Eliot trembled when she reared back as if struck. "You really wish to defend those traitors? Then so be it." He raised a single hand and the men in the room snapped to attention. Rose was all coiled energy at the movement and the young man frantically tried to get her attention without drawing attention to himself.
Rose did not respond well to provocation. She most certainly would not take well to her own brother challenging her after she'd so placidly gone along with everything else he'd demanded of her – not the least of which would be giving up meeting with Reaver.
When the gloved fist closed, hands grasped the arms of Eliot and Rosalyn. Her expression shuttered and blanked and then she was all cool calmness and a perfectly stony façade. It wasn't even a deliberately forced expression; Eliot could not tell if she was annoyed and hiding it to see what her brother was up to or if she honestly had stopped caring or if she had really never cared at all.
"Let us see how you do," the King declared. "Take my sister and her friend to the Throne Room. We shall settle this matter officially."
If the King was the unstoppable force then the Princess was an immovable object. She held her place as though the guards attempting to escort her out weren't even there. Reaver was silent but his hackles were raised and his eyes were fixated on his mistress for any sign of a threat to her person. The Princess stared at her brother for what felt to Eliot like an age before she dipped her head and turned. The guards holding her arms still had to move quickly to keep up the appearance that they had been the ones to convince her to move rather than it being her decision.
As they were escorted, Eliot chanced a look over at the ramrod straight back of Rosalyn. She didn't even look at him. There was a distant threat looming behind her expression that he knew meant that, whatever she decided to do, Logan was going to regret ever causing his sister to challenge his authority.
End
