"Ooooooooh! Damn the man! No…wait. Damn all Terrans to the fiery Pit!"
The door to the royal sitting room slammed so hard it bounced open again once before finally settling closed.
"Well good afternoon, sunshine," Princess Minya of Venus greeted the infuriated princess of Mars, barely managing to keep a straight face. The regular lover's spats between Raye and her latest beau, the Terran Shitennou of the Far East were rapidly becoming one of the prime sources of amusement and gossip at court. Princess Serenity had no such luck containing herself, grinning broadly at the prospect of new and interesting entertainment.
"So exactly why are you intent on killing Lord Jadeite today, Raye?" inquired the Mercurian princess over the cover of her book, with the detached air of a scientist taking notes on a subject of continuing interest.
"This is the final, the last, the absolute end!" fumed the irate woman. Her raven dark hair swirled around her in a frenzy as she paced.
"What is?" inquired yet another royal, poking her pony-tailed head out from the adjoining room where she was busy perfecting a new recipe.
"He all but accused me of playing false with him, the bastard! And to try and make him jealous, no less!"
The princesses of the royal court stared, speechless for a moment. Even Amity, called Amy, in an entirely un-Amy-like fashion, gaped. The ringing crash of a dropped metal tray in the other room indicated Jovian princess' level of stupefaction at the accusation.
"You're kidding!" Serenity whimpered, wringing her hands.
"No I most certainly am not kidding," Raye growled, snatching a crystal trinket off the nearest table and hurling it at the wall where it shattered with a satisfying smash. Unobtrusively the other women quickly removed all breakables from Raye's immediate reach. She glanced around, looking for another missile. Finding none, she vowed, "He'll rue the day he insulted me in such a fashion!"
Her green eyes narrowed like a cat's and sparking with temper, Lita stalked into the sitting room and began pacing with her friend. She flexed her fingers experimentally, then curled them into a fist.
"He shouldn't think he'd be allowed to besmirch a lady's good name like that. Would you like me to go explain a few things to that Terran lunkhead, Raye?"
Amy winced, having visions of the blond Terran lord staked out on a lightning ant hill in the fashion of Lita's Amazonian ancestresses. Waving her hands in the air, she tried to cool overheated tempers. "Now, don't let's blow this out of proportion. Why would he think that, Raye? He must have had SOME reason."
Raye snarled, pinning the petite woman with a venomous look. "He saw Princess Uranus being, well, Uranus. And he immediately thought the worst of me. Now if nobody minds, I don't want to discuss it any further. I have a murder to plan and an alibi to create."
She stalked out of the room, practically leaving singe marks in her wake.
"P-princess Uranus? But Amara always looks and dresses and flirts like a…a man." Lita's righteous indignation on her friend's behalf faded at Raye's exit confession, leaving the Jovian looking confused at best. She glanced over at Serenity and the others. "Has the Earth entourage even met the Outer Princesses?"
Amy shook her head mutely and sighed, setting her book aside to go on an errand of peace to the wing of the palace where the Terrans were staying. Someone had to.
A disgusted look marred Minya's pretty face. "Knowing Amara, she was probably flirting outrageously like always. And Jadeite's so gone on Raye. Well, it's no wonder he got jealous. I'm only surprised that Amara's not here crowing about it yet."
Not quite ready to let the Earth lord entirely off the hook, Lita scowled, picking up the cookies that she'd dropped and began piling their broken bits on her now dented baking sheet. "He really ought to have known Raye's character better than to think that of her."
The Venusian rolled her baby-blue eyes and sniffed. "What can I say? Jealous men are stupid men. And stupid men say stupid things."
"It could have been so easily handled," Serenity moaned. "But Raye's so proud she'd never have explained the mix-up."
Minya, the most learned in matters of love, summed it up best.
"I swear those two invent more reasons to squabble than any couple I have ever known. I can only assume that it's the making up that gives them a charge."
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The soft satin of a long, lavender evening glove lashed across his cheek without warning, making both the Shitennou of the Far East and Princess Amy jump.
"What was that for?" he barked, turning to glower at the Martian princess and rubbing his face. The soft glove hadn't hurt him, but it was the principle of the thing.
"I challenge you to a duel," Raye snapped, throwing her version of the gauntlet to the floor, completing the ritual. "You insulted my honor and I demand satisfaction."
Jadeite's golden brown eyebrows shot upward, practically disappearing beneath the tumbling fall of his rumpled bangs.
"WHAT?! You're blaming me for this fiasco? You could have defused the situation with a single word, Princess." He practically spat the last word. Amy tried to slip away unnoticed but froze guiltily when the Martian princess shot an 'I'll deal with you later' glare at the traitorous blue-haired bluestocking. Caught!
She was saved when one of Jadeite's fellow warriors unwittingly stumbled in on the dangerous scene. Galvanized by the presence of the strawberry blond man, Amy grabbed his hand and dragged him away to safety, mumbling apologies left and right. Jadeite and Raye never really noticed the other man's entrance or exit, caught up in their building argument.
"Well it's certainly not my fault you can't recognize a woman when you see one!" Raye was not about to accept blame for his misconception or bruised ego. "You should have trusted me, dolt! But you went off slandering me instead!" she yelled.
"And you can't say you didn't get a kick out of seeing me jealous because otherwise you would have explained before I made a fool out of myself!" hollered Jadeite, red-faced, wondering why his contrary lover had to look so damned appealing…especially when she was mad at him. Raye was like a fever in his blood.
She had rather enjoyed seeing him jealous for a bit, a tiny voice whispered. Raye firmly squashed the feeling of guilt before it could push her into the trap of feeling sorry for him. Blast it, he had still insulted her.
"I admit I overreacted," he continued, his face a black study, "but you're as much responsible as I, Raye." His eyes blazed with blue intense flame. "Maybe more! You deliberately encouraged me in the wrong direction for your own amusement."
The sting of truth in his words only strengthened her angry resolve. Firmly she told herself that he was not, not, NOT the best looking man she'd ever seen…especially when he was mad. It was a big universe. There was someone else who could look better. There had to be.
"More insults? How dare you say that?! Raye stamped her foot peevishly, hands fisting on her hips. "Accept my challenge or apologize at once!"
"Fine, my lady," growled Jadeite. He had come to a decision. "I accept your challenge! But as the challenged I choose the weapons and the location."
That was his right by Code Duello. She gave a curt nod of agreement. "Unless you choose to publicly apologize, Lord Jadeite, state your terms."
"There will be no apologies, my lady," Jadeite murmured, advancing on her with a sudden predatory gleam in his eyes, "for I spoke no more than the truth. However, you wanted a duel and you shall have it. In my chambers, using the weapons with which the gods have endowed us both. And I don't mean magic."
"What?!" she sputtered, thoroughly startled when he yanked her close, scooping her up into his arms. She kicked out with her feet but found no purchase; he had her well and truly captive, and was so near she could feel his heart beating. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Jadeite?!"
"I believe you demanded satisfaction."
An alarmingly wicked smile flitted across his lips and her smoky violet eyes widened as he strode across the room and kicked open the door to his bedchamber. She knew that look well and her blood began to heat at his next words. "You shall have it, Princess. Of course I assure you, I too shall have mine."
Raye's last coherent thought as he caught her lips in a scorching kiss was, 'I guess can live with that.'
