In hindsight, Braelyn should have been a little more skeptical about Varian's willingness to let her go hunting. She thought that by 'stick close to your guard', he meant the five people assigned to her in the Keep. She also interpreted 'stay close to the city' as anywhere within a day's ride.
She was wrong.
If the Queen ever left the city, her guard was doubled. 'Close to the city' actually meant the small wooded area directly outside the city gates. The same area that was heavily infested with people who claimed to be heroes of the Alliance, but who spent most of their time dueling each other and comparing mounts, weapons, and armor, and not actually helping all that much.
Any animals in the area would be long gone, scared off by either the heroes, or her own guards.
Her hunt turned out to be about as relaxing as a stroll through Blackrock Spire.
She tried again, this time ignoring Varian's wishes and heading for the land surrounding the Eastvale Logging camp. Her bodyguard scared off everything worth hunting, and after a while the locals became aware of her presence and Braelyn felt obligated to spend some quality Queen time with them.
"I don't see what the problem is," Varian said when she complained about it for the millionth time. "Nobles go hunting in large parties all the time."
"That is not hunting!" Braelyn scoffed, offended by her husband's words. "That is a group of idiots roaming round shooting anything that moves, then patting each other on the back and saying how awesome they all are."
But Varian wouldn't budge. "You can go hunting," he told her, "you just can't go on your own."
In the end, Braelyn gave up trying to make him understand, and took her frustration out on the training dummies outside of SI: 7. Learen, the angry little gnome rogue whom Braelyn disagreed with on everything, was nearby, complaining bitterly about being on guard rotation again.
Stab the Tauren Day, and he was missing it.
He also kept referring to Braelyn as 'Her Royal Bully's Eye'. In the end, she lost her temper, forcing the gnome into a pig costume. She then tied an apple to his head, and used him as a moving target.
Shoot the Annoying Gnome Day, and the queen was enjoying it immensely.
I have to get out of here, she thought. I need some time on my own. But how?
The next morning, she went to the Cathedral of Light to see Odariah. Varian thought she would be helping her friend Chelinka plan the priestess' wedding to Andorien, but she also intended to use the time to plot her escape to somewhere quiet.
The plan went like this; Braelyn would return to the Keep with her friends in tow, claiming to be unwell. They'd lock themselves in her room so she could 'recover', Chelinka would open a portal to Duskwood, Braelyn would go hunting for a few hours, returning via another portal.
Braelyn gets some alone time, Varian never finds out, everybody wins.
That was plan.
There was just one small problem; when Chelinka went to the pre-arranged meeting point to collect the queen, Braelyn wasn't there.
Braelyn's joy at being out in the wild again was nigh on infinite. She had all three of her pets with her, and it was hard to tell who was the happiest. She had taken care of a few feral worgen left over from the Battle, as well as some restless spirits near Raven Hill, being careful to stay out of sight of the small settlement there.
Apart from that, she'd hardly touched her weapon at all, preferring to run free among the trees. Some would call it frolicking, but Braelyn would call it... well, she'd call it frolicking, too.
How long has it been since it was just me and my animals? she thought as she watched a flock of ravens fly overhead. Too long.
Wrapped up in her own happiness, Braelyn failed to notice how quickly the time passed. It wasn't until she caught sight of how long the shadows were that she realised she'd missed her meeting with Chelinka.
"Shit," she swore under her breath, she headed back to the small hill just behind the old Yorgen Farmstead, hoping that Chelinka was still there. She'd owe the mage big time.
Puffing slightly, she crested the hill, grinning when she saw that both Chelinka and Odariah were there. She was about to apologise, when she noticed that both women were looking behind Braelyn, and cowering in fear. Bitey let out a happy growl and launched himself on someone approaching her from behind. A sudden feeling of dread hammering in her heart, she turned around.
"Hello, Braelyn."
Oh, he looks mad. So very, very mad.
"Varian! What are you doing here?" Braelyn asked, focusing on the sight of Bitey gnawing on Varian's boots, rather than on her husband's face.
"I believe I should be asking you that," he snarled, and Braelyn flinched. She had never seen him this angry before. His fury was like a heatwave radiating from his body, and those eyes... no wonder even Chelinka was petrified.
Varian stalked forward and took hold of Braelyn's hand. She got the feeling he was checking her over for injuries, but before she could reassure him, he snarled at Chelinka to open a portal.
"When we get to Stormwind, mage," he said, "make yourself scarce. I suggest Outland. Odariah, I suggest you and that druid of yours pay a visit to his family for a while."
"Varian!" Braelyn protested, trying to pull her hand free. "You can't just banish them for helping me!"
"Do not presume to tell me what to do, wife," Varian replied, pulling her through the portal.
Braelyn gasped. He did not just say that.
They arrived in the Keep's armory, Varian ordering Odariah and Chelinka out as soon as they arrived. Both women fled without a word or a glance backwards. Braelyn tried to follow them, but her husband would not release her hand. He began pulling the armor from her body, throwing it to the floor. When he had stripped her down to the linen pants and silk shirt she wore underneath, he began dragging her upstairs.
"Put the queen's armor under lock and key," he said as he left. "She is not allowed access to it without my permission."
"No!" Braelyn said loudly. "Varian, let me go!" She dug her heels into the rugs and grabbed at the walls with her free hand. Anything to try to free herself from Varian's grasp. He said nothing, just turned around and picked her up. Her arms and legs flailed uselessly against him as he strode into their chambers and slammed the door.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was when Odariah came and told me what you'd done, and that you'd disappeared?"
"I was just in Duskwood... " Braelyn began before Varian cut her off.
"Duskwood?" he shouted, and Braelyn flinched. "There was armed conflict there not long ago, or have you forgotten?"
"Of course not! But I've been there before, and to other places twice as dangerous. Back when I was an adventurer, and I protected myself just fine."
"Is that how you ended up in Silvermoon?" Varian demanded, and Braelyn reared from him. He stared at her in silence for a minute before continuing. "You're my wife, Braelyn; do you have any idea of what could happen if you were killed or captured? What that would do to me and Anduin? Or our people?"
Braelyn watched as Varian dragged a hand through his hair. "I set those conditions on you for a reason," he said. "Your safety is everything to me."
"I appreciate your concern, Varian," Braelyn said in an attempt to calm her irate husband down. "But I am not a helpless little girl. Why can you not accept that?"
Varian did not calm down. In fact, Braelyn thought he became even angrier. "You will not leave the Keep without your bodyguard again," he said firmly. "In fact, you will not leave the Keep at all, unless it's an emergency, or you are accompanying me. If I'm away, Genn must be with you. If you have visitors, they must be in a room where you can be adequately supervised."
Braelyn stared at Varian, appalled. He couldn't be serious. She wasn't in any danger at any stage of her trip, yet he was acting as if she had charged into Orgrimmar and challenged the Warchief to a duel.
"I am more than just your wife, Varian," she said, her own eyes glowing with anger. "I am a person, not some doll you can parade around town whenever you feel like it and then lock away in a cupboard. You have no right... "
"Oh, I have every right," Varian hissed. "I'm the king."
"And I'm the bloody Queen!" she spat back.
"Then act like it!" he challenged, eyes spitting fire. "And it's Queen Consort, if you want to get technical," he added, "which means you are very much subject to my rule."
"I can't believe you're doing this," Braelyn said. "I would have been better off married to Jack," she added in disgust.
"Do not compare me with him," Varian growled menacingly.
Braelyn just shook her head. Where had her husband gone? The one who held her so tenderly? Treated her with such respect?
"I told you that I feared marrying you because I didn't want to be locked in cage," she reminded him coldly, "and here you are, Mr Jailor."
Varian clenched his jaw, hands forming into fists at his side. "Prove to me that I can trust you, Braelyn, and I will give you your freedom back," he said coldly. "Show me that you can be a proper Queen for our people."
Braelyn turned her back on him, unable to believe how unreasonable he was being. She heard Varian opening their bedroom door, turning to say one last thing to her.
"Tiffin never would have acted like this."
Braelyn gasped in pain as he slammed the door shut, a shaft of white-hot pain shooting through her heart. So wretched was her misery, she didn't even register the sound of Varian locking the door behind him.
Tiffin.
Varian's beloved first wife and the woman whose memory Braelyn struggled to live up to every day since she'd married him and become the Queen of Stormwind. Anduin's revered mother. The woman whose presence lingered everywhere in the city, and invaded her dreams.
They'll never love me the way they loved her.
Braelyn sighed, moving to the door, thinking that a walk around the courtyard might help clear her head so she could find a way to escape her new cage.
The door wouldn't open.
She pulled on it, kicked at it, yelled for her guards. But her guards didn't come, and the door wouldn't open.
"I should have married Jack, Varian!" she yelled in anger. "I should have married Jack!"
Varian kept Braelyn locked in their chambers for two days, and chose to sleep elsewhere. Braelyn wept out of frustration, anger, and self-pity. One stupid mistake born out of desperation, and she did consider her trip to Duskwood a mistake, and she was now locked away like a prisoner.
On the third day, Dominic came to summon her to the king's study. She almost refused to go, but realised that if she did, Varian would just come and drag her down there. He'd more than proven he was willing to ignore her wishes to get what he wanted.
Braelyn was relieved to see she wouldn't be alone with Varian; Mathias Shaw was there, as was Learen. With them was a third SI: 7 agent, a woman known as Crimson Fox. Braelyn had only ever seen her three times before, so was curious to as why she was here now.
Varian got straight to the point. "From now on Braelyn," he said, not even looking at her, "Fox and Learen are joining your security detail. You won't ever see them, won't be able to tell where they are, but they will be there, watching over you."
"Spying on me, you mean," Braelyn muttered, glaring at the rogues. Learen responded in kind, a vindictive glimmer in his eye, but Fox seemed sympathetic, as if she felt bad for the queen's predicament.
"See it how you will," Varian said bluntly. "Now go join Genn in the throne room. He's been asking for you, and the people would like to see you, I'm sure."
"I don't want... "
"Just go, Braelyn. You're the queen. You have responsibilities, just as I have mine as King."
The abrupt dismissal stung, but Braelyn got up with as much dignity as she could muster, walking to the throne room with her head held high. She had tears in her eyes when she greeted Genn, who kissed her hand gently.
"Oh, Braelyn, what can I do?" he asked gently, shielding her from the few petitioners that were gathered there.
"I don't think there's anything you can do," she replied, squeezing his hand and gracing him with a small smile, "other than stand with me now, and help see me through this."
"His anger won't last forever, my dear," Genn said.
"I know," Braelyn agreed, but her relationship with Varian was already beginning to change.
From that moment on, she smiled at him no longer. She looked and spoke to him only when they were in public, and only when she had to. She ate her meals quickly, staying just long enough to make sure that Anduin and Genn were all right. Her stepson was worried about his parents, but whenever he spoke to them, they told him that it was something that could only be remedied by the other.
At night Braelyn would attempt to sleep in new chambers, only to wake back in her own bed, locked in the cage of her husband's embrace. She began to have weird dreams; dreams of her days as an adventurer, dreams of her own death at Varian's hand. She dreamt of Silvermoon City, and the nights she'd spent curled up with Rommath in his library.
She had never hated Rommath for his decision to send her away before, but she did now. If she'd been able to stay, would they have been married by now? Would she be a mother? Would she be happy?
Every time Braelyn woke up, she felt a little thinner, a little lighter, as if her dreams had stolen away some essential part of her soul. She would stare at the ceiling and wonder, just how long would Varian continue to punish her for one stupid mistake?
AN - This chapter may be a bit shorter than I'd like, but I wanted the whole of it to remain in stark contrast to the previous chapter. Braelyn had started to feel confident about being the queen, and to think she could be happy with Varian. In this chapter, Varian has absolutely annihilated all that.
Next chapter: A visit from Lucinda Bellweather forces Varian to see what his efforts to keep Braelyn safe are really doing to her. He tries to fix things, but will he be able to stop his little star from fading out?