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TITLE: To Serve A Queen (6)
SUMMARY: She was the Queen, but the people who served her belonged to themselves. It was all a balance of trust.
PAIRING: Elizabeth Weir/Ronan Dex
RATING: R
NOTES: Still no beta and there's a hint of the bigger plot now coming.
Part Five
To Serve A Queen - Part Six
Elizabeth sat back on her haunches by her garden bed, and listened to the males argue things out among themselves.
Her private court meetings were either held in the gardens or in the library, her trusted inner circle gathering to discuss, tease, joke, or report on the things that were happening through the Territory. Since it was a beautifully warm day, Elizabeth had chosen to hold this court meeting outside while she did some gardening.
"Four extra males is excessive," said the Master of the Guard. Stephen was sitting on a portable stool, sharpening blades with careful strokes against a whetstone. "Especially if they want us to believe they trust us."
John turned on his heel, pacing back across the grassed area. "They don't trust us any more than we trust them."
"Maybe they don't," Carson murmured from where he stood.
"Don't trust us?" Rodney asked. "Well that seems perfectly obvious from their inclusion of another four males. I mean, they've already got Kolya and her father accompanying her."
Elizabeth felt Carson's eyes on her as she lifted her head from contemplation of the seedlings she was planting out and gave the others the news of which her Steward was already aware. "Prince Kolya will not be accompanying them."
Four sets of eyes turned towards her.
"He won't?" Rodney asked, astonished.
Stephen had already looked past the news. "Four extra males to replace one?"
"But the one is Kolya," said John. He paused. "I don't like this."
"Like it or not, I gave them permission for the added guard," Elizabeth said. She held up one hand as both John and Stephen began their protests. "Even Prince Kolya and another four males, plus Lady Sora's regular guard, would be no match against the massed strength of the First Circle and the males presently on the estate."
"It's not a question of numbers or strength," John said. He sat down on the bench beside Rodney, leaning back and stretching out his legs in casual arrogance. "It's a question of trust."
Stephen shrugged. "The Gennii have never trusted us. That's not new."
"Well, I don't trust them either!"
"John," Elizabeth kept her voice light as she began pricking out her seedlings.
"You've never trusted them either," he said.
Rodney cleared his throat. "Might I remind you of the first time we visited Gennii Territory?"
She glared at him, ignoring John's sharp gaze upon her.
Yes, she remembered the first visit to the Gennii.
At eighteen, Elizabeth was the successor to the Queen of Atlantis Territory and everyone knew it. As part of her responsibilities, she was sent on a summer tour through the neighbouring Territories. Part of it was to speak with the Queens with whom she'd be dealing when she became the Territory Queen of Atlantis, and meet their chosen successors.
Her escort were thirteen males: eight experienced warriors, including her father, and five young males, including John and Rodney.
The tours through the Territories of Cheyanne, Korbal, Moiya and Serenitha went without trouble. Getting a full dressing-down at by two sets of fathers for starting a fight in the water fountain at Noradh town square wasn't trouble - that was expected after Elizabeth and Samantha had dunked each other's respective escorts, giggling madly before the boyos came after them.
In Gennii Territory, however, things were different. Subtly different in a way that Elizabeth had been hard-put to pinpoint at first.
The people were more reserved, more polite. The males were more arrogant, and the witches more subdued than Elizabeth expected. After a couple of young aristos tried to get their hands on her thighs, she understood why.
Lady Sora of the Gennii was very young, very poised, and more than a little disconcerting. Elizabeth found the young Queen disquieting, even as she approved her instincts. The girl had spirit, but was smart enough to keep it hidden from the males controlling the Territory that would someday become hers. In a place like Gennii Territory, there was no such thing as too careful.
And then there was Warlord Prince Kolya, of the male council of the Gennii.
He was brisk and polite where the head of the male council - Warlord Cowan - was urbane and charming; but Elizabeth felt his eyes on her as she was introduced to the others.
"A Queen for Atlantis," he'd said as he held out his hands, palms down in formal greeting. She'd returned the gesture, gently pressing upwards in firm reminder of her status as a Queen. "I hope you enjoy your stay in Gennii Territory, my Lady."
Elizabeth's Black Widow mother had taught her some small things through her childhood years. And the echoes she'd received back from even the faintest psychic brush across Kolya's mind had terrified her.
The rest of that visit had been a delicate balancing act; keeping her fears and concerns hidden from both the males in the court and the males of her escort. Rodney was the only male who knew just how trying those seven days in Gennii Territory had been for her.
He'd kept her secret all these years, why bring it up now?
"Rodney?" John hadn't yet looked away from her and his tone was conversational but his eyes were hard as diamond.
"John."
"Is there something that you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"
Rodney considered the question. "As a matter of fact, no, there isn't." His attitude said that he took great pleasure in blunting John's query.
Elizabeth shook her head, while Carson rolled his eyes and Stephen hid a smile. John and Rodney had grown up with her, playmates from an early age. The pair had fought, squabbled, argued and bickered like brothers from the time they were old enough to vocalise, so their daily interplay was nothing new to her.
With the seedlings pricked out of their seedling boxes, she began planting them out one by one in a row along the garden bed and returned to the original topic.
"The point isn't that we don't trust the Gennii, Prince Sheppard." The formality yanked him up, put him on notice that this wasn't Elizabeth talking but the Queen looking out for her Territory. "The point is that you will keep your opinions on a very short leash while the Gennii are in the court. As will we all." She looked around at the faces of her most trusted males. "If the Gennii don't trust us, then they don't trust us. Pointing this out will not win you any favours and certainly won't make them trust us any more."
"Keep in mind, also, that the request could have come from the Lady herself," Carson added.
"Lady Sora has nothing to fear from us," said John, his eyes narrowing.
"So you say," Rodney retorted. "What?" He asked plaintively when all the other males glared at him. "Look, I'm just pointing out that Lady Sora's grown up in Gennii Territory where she's probably gotten used to being rather nervous about her safety. She knows the rules in Gennii court - to her, Atlantis court is an entirely new thing."
"Rodney." Elizabeth cut through the diatribe and looked around at the males of her inner Circle. "This was not supposed to turn into a speculative discussion on why Lady Sora may or may not require the extra guards. This was just to let you know of the change in arrangements for tomorrow's court."
"As well as introduce the new addition to the court?" Stephen asked, jerking his head towards the entrance to the gardens.
The other males all turned as Teyla stepped through the wicket-gate, walking lightly across the grass. Ronan followed a mere pace behind her.
Elizabeth watched him approach and noticed the way he moved - with the grace of a predator. He was a tall man and well-built, but carried himself with the bearing of a wild creature - and now had the same hunted air about him. She hid her concern as she studied him. At the morning training, there'd been a wild delight and pleasure in him as he fought John, allowing his nature to rise to the surface without fear of retribution. Now, the handsome features were set into careful neutrality, but he carried with him a sense of ice - of cold rage forming deep beneath the surface.
Elizabeth waved John away when he stepped closer to her, and pinned Stephen with her gaze when he shifted on the bench. Rodney and Carson both paused, aware of the currents that flowed through the garden with Ronan's arrival, but while they felt Ronan's anger, they didn't rise to meet it as instinctively as the Warlord Princes did.
Among the Blood, like called to like, strength to strength - even honour to honour; and John, Stephen, and Ronan were all Warlord Princes of strength and honour.
Wasn't that why two of them served in Elizabeth's court and she'd bought the third from futile slavery?
"Lady, Princes, Lords," Teyla was courteous and brisk in addressing all parties in the garden.
"You sent for me, Lady?"
There were no introductions, no courtesies, just the direct question and the effect he had on her nerves.
It was her imagination that conjured up the memory of how he'd stood last night, naked and proud in Carson's study as she touched him. She'd felt the quiver of his shields and his skin as her fingers slid around the ring and her own desires had quivered in a response that she carefully locked away from him. He was used to the lust of women - and the satiation of that lust.
Elizabeth might desire him, but she would not use him that way and she wouldn't give him any reason to think she might.
So she kept planting the seedlings, as much to give her hands something to do and take her mind from the proximity of him. "Prince Dex," she said, "You've met everyone here."
"Not formally," he said. "But we've...encountered each other." She could feel the dry humour in him as he spoke, but the cold rage lurked beneath it, veiled by the pleasantries.
"Consider this your formal encounter, then," she said, choosing not to address his rage just yet. "Carson Beckett, Steward of the Court; John Sheppard, First Escort; Stephen Caldwell, Master of the Guard; Teyla Emmagen and Rodney McKay both serve in my First Circle."
He gave them each a brisk nod, leavened only by the slightest of smiles at Teyla.
Elizabeth temporarily ignored the male hackles that rose at his smile, and continued speaking. "You are welcome in Atlantis Territory."
"So the Steward said."
"Well, now I confirm it," she said. "You are a guest in this household for the next moon, or until you find service in a court of your choosing."
He nodded.
After a slight pause, during which she waited for him to say something, Elizabeth continued. "Another Territory Queen and her escort will be arriving at the court tomorrow, staying for six days. During that time, you are welcome to move through the court or go into the town as you please."
"It would be appreciated if you'd let us know when you're leaving the estate," Carson said. He met Ronan's gaze without flinching. "It helps the housekeeper to know the numbers for mealtimes."
And if Ronan Dex took that to mean that he would be watched, then he probably wasn't entirely wrong.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Elizabeth sensed that it was as much of an agreement as they'd get from him.
"Once the Gennii have left Atlantis, I'll be taking a tour of the Territory with handful of others from court. Travelling with us would provide you with a good overview of Atlantis and how things work here. It's quite different to Belka."
"So I see."
She looked up to meet his gaze and held it. "It would also be your chance to meet the Blood who rule the villages and cities of the Territory. A dark-jewelled Warlord Prince would be an asset to any court and I'm given to understand that you've been trained as a warrior. You should be able to find service to your satisfaction."
Elizabeth left out the matter of his other training; she doubted he'd want a reminder, and she knew she certainly didn't want to speculate on his talents in bed. Or, more correctly, he didn't need her or anyone else in the court speculating on his bedroom skills.
And she was the Queen. The others would follow her cue.
"I said that a court can always do with more warriors," Stephen said, taking up the thread. "That's as true in a village Queen's court as it is in a Territory Queen's court."
"He'd be wasted in the court of a village Queen," Teyla said, sitting back on thin air and folding her legs up beneath her.
John glared at her. "He's standing right there, Teyla."
"And he knows that what I am saying is true," said the other witch without a trace of repentance. "As do you. Prince Dex has skills in which the Province Queens would take great interest."
The psychic temperature of the garden dropped, sending a shudder through them all as Ronan turned on Teyla, his eyes black and deadly.
"She meant as a guard," Rodney said with careful enunciation, breaking the silence and the cold with his words. "As I'm sure Carson would have told you last night, we don't have pleasure slaves in Atlantis."
Elizabeth had never been so glad of Rodney's inability to recognise a dangerous situation. Years of friendship had attuned him to John, but he still failed to notice some of the things that others did. Still, that didn't mean he was going to get out of a reprimand. "Rodney..."
"What? It's not as though it's a secret that he was a slave in Belka Territory," Rodney retorted. "And the good-looking ones are used as pleasure slaves."
Ronan snorted, the anger gone, a faint amusement taking its place. "You're saying I'm good looking?"
The Green-jewelled Prince looked uncomfortable. "Well, in an overdone, over-muscled way, I suppose that, yes, the women of the court would consider you good-looking, and Sheppard, if you don't stop smirking I still have the spell I cast on your bed when we were thirteen and it still works very effectively!"
Elizabeth bit back a smile as John mumbled something about arrogant pricks of Princes and glared at Teyla who was laughing on her invisible lounge.
"Arrogant? I've got nothing on you, and you know it," Rodney harrumphed. "Anyway," he said, turning back to Ronan. "What I was saying before you turned it into a complete misdirection was that it's general knowledge that you were a pleasure-slave in Belka. There's no point in hiding it or being ashamed of it. And, why yes, oddly enough, it will make you popular among the women of the courts."
"And some of the men," Teyla added archly, controlling her laughter.
"But not me," Rodney said with a glare in her direction.
"I never said that."
"No, but you were implying it."
"The way I was implying that the skills in which the Province Queens would take an interest were sexual?" Teyla pulled herself up and tossed her loose plait over her shoulder. "I am willing to admit that Prince Dex is good-looking and can no doubt exert himself to be charming when the circumstances require it." She looked directly at Ronan. "However, I truly did not mean to reference any skills other than your fighting ability. Your abilities as a pleasure slave are between you and the women who invite you to their beds."
Ronan looked at Teyla for a long moment, his face expressionless, then turned to Elizabeth. "Do I have the right to refuse invitations?"
"According to the Protocols and Laws of the Blood, yes." Elizabeth fought back the blush that threatened to stain her cheeks. In moments like these, she envied Teyla. With her dusky skin, it was easier for the Black Widow to hide the more obvious physical evidence of embarrassment, while Elizabeth struggled with it. "You are free to refuse any offer that is made to you - whether for service or sexual intimacy - and not be punished for it. However," she added, "according to the Protocols and Laws of the Blood, a woman is just as free to refuse your interest or claim and not suffer for her decision."
The dark eyes studied her for what seemed like a long time before he nodded. "Okay."
"In the meantime, if you have any queries about the court, any of these people will be willing to answer your questions," Elizabeth indicated the circle. "During the Gennii visit, they may ask for your assistance--"
"If I can render it, they'll have it."
She was surprised at the sudden acquiescence, however flatly voiced, but kept it hidden. "Thank you." Turning to Stephen, she asked, "Do you have any issues with the extra four males arriving in the Gennii party?"
Stephen considered the question, running a hand over his bare scalp. "Other than the fact that they were included at all, no. I'm guessing that most of her escort will be housed in the warrior barracks?"
"They didn't say," Carson told him. "Only that the party would be seventeen instead of the usual thirteen."
"I don't like that they're changing the numbers on us now," said John. "Kolya's a tricky bastard--"
"Kolya isn't the problem, John," Rodney said. "Or weren't you listening before?"
"Kolya is always the problem," John retorted. "Even when he's not."
Elizabeth caught Stephen's eye. A moment later, his voice rang out, "Sheppard! McKay!" They stopped, giving him identical abashed looks. Stephen opened his mouth to bring them back into line and was interrupted.
"Am I needed here?" Ronan looked at Elizabeth.
Stephen answered. "Your experience would be--"
"I was asking the Lady."
Taken aback by both his abruptness and trying to rein in the rising hackes of Stephen and John, it took her a moment to formulate an answer. "Not strictly, no. However, Prince Caldwell thinks you might be able to help--"
"He seems to have everything under control." The dark head tilted, "May I leave?"
There was something very formal about his withdrawl, a tension that disturbed her. Elizabeth answered in kind. "You may."
His bow had all the careful politeness of mockery, and she felt the tempers of the other males rise. A single glance quelled them, but he was already walking away across the grass.
A moment later, she stood, brushing the dirt off her trousers. "Continue without me," she instructed Stephen. "I'll return in a minute."
Then she followed after Ronan.
She caught up to him at the entrance to the next garden. "Prince Dex."
He turned. "Lady Elizabeth. How may I serve?" Once again, there was the careful edge of mockery in his voice and attitude, in the quirk of his mouth as he regarded her.
And now that she was here, she was struggling for the words to form the questions she wanted to ask. She could sense the anger in him, quiescent, but not extinguished. "I... Has someone offered you insult?"
Something predatory entered his eyes. "You'd have heard about it if they had."
Elizabeth had grown up with Warlord Princes, aware of not only their capabilities, but their weaknesses and dangers. She was accustomed to the breed, from their violence to their loyalty, there were no half-measures in a Warlord Prince. They gave their all and when they did it could be a beautiful or a terrible thing.
As a young girl, before she took the position as Territory Queen, Elizabeth had heard the stories of Warlord Princes gone rogue - or worse than rogue. All that power, loyalty and devotion had to go somewhere. The need to serve was more than a personality characteristic, it was a driving imperative in Blood males, and brutally unforgiving when twisted.
She'd never seen a man in whom that need for service had been twisted. She hoped she wasn't seeing one now.
"You're in Atlantis Territory," she said.
He looked around, then back at her. "I can see that."
Annoyance rose in her, a bubbling anger at his mocking amusement. "We're not Belka Territory."
"I can see that, too."
"So you don't have to be who you were in Belka," she said, trying to make him see. "You're not a slave anymore."
"Nobody gives me orders, perhaps," Ronan said. "But to them," one hand waved back at the group by the garden, "I'm still a slave."
Elizabeth glanced at the figures beneath the orange tree. Watching her conversation with Ronan, and waiting for her to finish. She turned back to him. "You're wrong about them. And let's say you're right - does it even matter? To you?"
He shrugged. "A man goes by the reputation he earns."
"And you've already earned a reputation for your skills as a warrior," she said. "I've heard Prince Caldwell's appraisal of you and if he says you're good, you are. Anything else you learned in Belka Territory - that doesn't have to follow you if you don't want it to."
The full mouth twisted, oddly bitter. "You're wrong about that."
"Am I?" Elizabeth watched him.
Hands touched her shoulders, circled her throat with exquisite gentleness.
She started and turned around, but found no-one there. Ronan stood out of arm's reach, and he hadn't moved an inch, but the expression on his face...
"What was that?"
Once again the invisble hand slipped from her shoulder to her neck, sliding around to her nape and brushing lightly down her spine in sensuous teasing. Ripples coiled within her senses, expanded, exploded; her heartbeat sped up and her breathing hitched.
He was smiling. A gentle, dangerous smile lurked behind the short beard that didn't conceal the full sweep of his mouth. "Do you like it?"
"I..." Her throat choked up as the 'hands' slipped back around her throat, slid down her front, curved lightly over her breasts and down to her waist. It wasn't a case of liking or disliking: her body was responding to the ghostly teasing with a piercing ache, her flesh yearning for the completion it whispered that only he could give. "Stop it."
Fingers caressed the curve of her breast, stroking the flesh, molding the nipple lightly. Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath and let it out with shaky control.
"Do you want me to stop it?" Whatever hold he'd been keeping on his psychic nature before this was gone. Elizabeth could feel the heat pouring off him, intense as a fire, sensuous as a lover, viciously, dangerously male as only a Warlord Prince could be.
The 'hands' were stroking her everywhere, teasing her, soft and warm touches against her skin, against her thighs, against her throat. Fingers curved over her skin as delicately as a butterfly's wings, and she felt the trace of long fingers up the inside of her thighs - felt the ache between her thighs as he stopped just short of her core.
Her soft whimper was gutteral.
She couldn't breathe for wanting.
She couldn't see for disgust.
Yes, she wanted Ronan Dex, but not like this. Not with him standing there, mocking her with his eyes and expression, watching her struggle against the tidal current of desire.
Elizabeth had never yet had a man unwilling; she wasn't about to begin with Ronan Dex.
She reached out with Craft, an extension of her hand and concentrated. Her slap sent him sprawling into the garden bed. The hands vanished, and with it all the hot desire, leaving her cold and shaking with fury.
"You will never touch me like that again," she whispered and saw him flinch.
But he had his own anger to burn and no loyalty to hold him silent. "I am what I am, Lady." The words were low and bitter and touched something in her soul.
She was still angry. He'd touched her as he had no right to do - and worse, she'd responded as she shouldn't have - but the icy chill was gone, leaving only fire. It would simmer down to ashes.
Already she could sense the others coming, alerted by her wave of anger, and she cursed her carelessness in letting her anger flare for that one moment. "Perhaps. But the only person in Atlantis who will decide who you will be is you, Prince," she said. "I promise you that."
He met her eyes and she felt the pull of her own personal attraction to him. In spite of what he'd done - of what he'd tried to force her to - it was still there, undimmed.
A single nod indicated his acceptance of her words - belief would come later.
Elizabeth drew her self-possession about her, gave him one last, brief look and walked to intercept her approaching inner circle before they realised what had transpired. If John or Stephen got any hint of what Ronan had done, they would show him no mercy.
He was not of her court, she had no responsibility to protect him. Still, something in her demanded that she extend him her faith for a little while longer - until he'd learned what the others in Atlantis already knew.
She was the Queen, but the people who served her belonged to themselves.
It was all a balance of trust.
--
To Part Seven
NOTES I am so mean to these characters! *g* If you squinted slightly while reading the text, you'd have spotted a few familiar universes in the background. I'd be interested in seeing what other people came up with for the Queens Courts in those universes! ;)
SUMMARY: She was the Queen, but the people who served her belonged to themselves. It was all a balance of trust.
PAIRING: Elizabeth Weir/Ronan Dex
RATING: R
NOTES: Still no beta and there's a hint of the bigger plot now coming.
Part Five
To Serve A Queen - Part Six
Elizabeth sat back on her haunches by her garden bed, and listened to the males argue things out among themselves.
Her private court meetings were either held in the gardens or in the library, her trusted inner circle gathering to discuss, tease, joke, or report on the things that were happening through the Territory. Since it was a beautifully warm day, Elizabeth had chosen to hold this court meeting outside while she did some gardening.
"Four extra males is excessive," said the Master of the Guard. Stephen was sitting on a portable stool, sharpening blades with careful strokes against a whetstone. "Especially if they want us to believe they trust us."
John turned on his heel, pacing back across the grassed area. "They don't trust us any more than we trust them."
"Maybe they don't," Carson murmured from where he stood.
"Don't trust us?" Rodney asked. "Well that seems perfectly obvious from their inclusion of another four males. I mean, they've already got Kolya and her father accompanying her."
Elizabeth felt Carson's eyes on her as she lifted her head from contemplation of the seedlings she was planting out and gave the others the news of which her Steward was already aware. "Prince Kolya will not be accompanying them."
Four sets of eyes turned towards her.
"He won't?" Rodney asked, astonished.
Stephen had already looked past the news. "Four extra males to replace one?"
"But the one is Kolya," said John. He paused. "I don't like this."
"Like it or not, I gave them permission for the added guard," Elizabeth said. She held up one hand as both John and Stephen began their protests. "Even Prince Kolya and another four males, plus Lady Sora's regular guard, would be no match against the massed strength of the First Circle and the males presently on the estate."
"It's not a question of numbers or strength," John said. He sat down on the bench beside Rodney, leaning back and stretching out his legs in casual arrogance. "It's a question of trust."
Stephen shrugged. "The Gennii have never trusted us. That's not new."
"Well, I don't trust them either!"
"John," Elizabeth kept her voice light as she began pricking out her seedlings.
"You've never trusted them either," he said.
Rodney cleared his throat. "Might I remind you of the first time we visited Gennii Territory?"
She glared at him, ignoring John's sharp gaze upon her.
Yes, she remembered the first visit to the Gennii.
At eighteen, Elizabeth was the successor to the Queen of Atlantis Territory and everyone knew it. As part of her responsibilities, she was sent on a summer tour through the neighbouring Territories. Part of it was to speak with the Queens with whom she'd be dealing when she became the Territory Queen of Atlantis, and meet their chosen successors.
Her escort were thirteen males: eight experienced warriors, including her father, and five young males, including John and Rodney.
The tours through the Territories of Cheyanne, Korbal, Moiya and Serenitha went without trouble. Getting a full dressing-down at by two sets of fathers for starting a fight in the water fountain at Noradh town square wasn't trouble - that was expected after Elizabeth and Samantha had dunked each other's respective escorts, giggling madly before the boyos came after them.
In Gennii Territory, however, things were different. Subtly different in a way that Elizabeth had been hard-put to pinpoint at first.
The people were more reserved, more polite. The males were more arrogant, and the witches more subdued than Elizabeth expected. After a couple of young aristos tried to get their hands on her thighs, she understood why.
Lady Sora of the Gennii was very young, very poised, and more than a little disconcerting. Elizabeth found the young Queen disquieting, even as she approved her instincts. The girl had spirit, but was smart enough to keep it hidden from the males controlling the Territory that would someday become hers. In a place like Gennii Territory, there was no such thing as too careful.
And then there was Warlord Prince Kolya, of the male council of the Gennii.
He was brisk and polite where the head of the male council - Warlord Cowan - was urbane and charming; but Elizabeth felt his eyes on her as she was introduced to the others.
"A Queen for Atlantis," he'd said as he held out his hands, palms down in formal greeting. She'd returned the gesture, gently pressing upwards in firm reminder of her status as a Queen. "I hope you enjoy your stay in Gennii Territory, my Lady."
Elizabeth's Black Widow mother had taught her some small things through her childhood years. And the echoes she'd received back from even the faintest psychic brush across Kolya's mind had terrified her.
The rest of that visit had been a delicate balancing act; keeping her fears and concerns hidden from both the males in the court and the males of her escort. Rodney was the only male who knew just how trying those seven days in Gennii Territory had been for her.
He'd kept her secret all these years, why bring it up now?
"Rodney?" John hadn't yet looked away from her and his tone was conversational but his eyes were hard as diamond.
"John."
"Is there something that you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"
Rodney considered the question. "As a matter of fact, no, there isn't." His attitude said that he took great pleasure in blunting John's query.
Elizabeth shook her head, while Carson rolled his eyes and Stephen hid a smile. John and Rodney had grown up with her, playmates from an early age. The pair had fought, squabbled, argued and bickered like brothers from the time they were old enough to vocalise, so their daily interplay was nothing new to her.
With the seedlings pricked out of their seedling boxes, she began planting them out one by one in a row along the garden bed and returned to the original topic.
"The point isn't that we don't trust the Gennii, Prince Sheppard." The formality yanked him up, put him on notice that this wasn't Elizabeth talking but the Queen looking out for her Territory. "The point is that you will keep your opinions on a very short leash while the Gennii are in the court. As will we all." She looked around at the faces of her most trusted males. "If the Gennii don't trust us, then they don't trust us. Pointing this out will not win you any favours and certainly won't make them trust us any more."
"Keep in mind, also, that the request could have come from the Lady herself," Carson added.
"Lady Sora has nothing to fear from us," said John, his eyes narrowing.
"So you say," Rodney retorted. "What?" He asked plaintively when all the other males glared at him. "Look, I'm just pointing out that Lady Sora's grown up in Gennii Territory where she's probably gotten used to being rather nervous about her safety. She knows the rules in Gennii court - to her, Atlantis court is an entirely new thing."
"Rodney." Elizabeth cut through the diatribe and looked around at the males of her inner Circle. "This was not supposed to turn into a speculative discussion on why Lady Sora may or may not require the extra guards. This was just to let you know of the change in arrangements for tomorrow's court."
"As well as introduce the new addition to the court?" Stephen asked, jerking his head towards the entrance to the gardens.
The other males all turned as Teyla stepped through the wicket-gate, walking lightly across the grass. Ronan followed a mere pace behind her.
Elizabeth watched him approach and noticed the way he moved - with the grace of a predator. He was a tall man and well-built, but carried himself with the bearing of a wild creature - and now had the same hunted air about him. She hid her concern as she studied him. At the morning training, there'd been a wild delight and pleasure in him as he fought John, allowing his nature to rise to the surface without fear of retribution. Now, the handsome features were set into careful neutrality, but he carried with him a sense of ice - of cold rage forming deep beneath the surface.
Elizabeth waved John away when he stepped closer to her, and pinned Stephen with her gaze when he shifted on the bench. Rodney and Carson both paused, aware of the currents that flowed through the garden with Ronan's arrival, but while they felt Ronan's anger, they didn't rise to meet it as instinctively as the Warlord Princes did.
Among the Blood, like called to like, strength to strength - even honour to honour; and John, Stephen, and Ronan were all Warlord Princes of strength and honour.
Wasn't that why two of them served in Elizabeth's court and she'd bought the third from futile slavery?
"Lady, Princes, Lords," Teyla was courteous and brisk in addressing all parties in the garden.
"You sent for me, Lady?"
There were no introductions, no courtesies, just the direct question and the effect he had on her nerves.
It was her imagination that conjured up the memory of how he'd stood last night, naked and proud in Carson's study as she touched him. She'd felt the quiver of his shields and his skin as her fingers slid around the ring and her own desires had quivered in a response that she carefully locked away from him. He was used to the lust of women - and the satiation of that lust.
Elizabeth might desire him, but she would not use him that way and she wouldn't give him any reason to think she might.
So she kept planting the seedlings, as much to give her hands something to do and take her mind from the proximity of him. "Prince Dex," she said, "You've met everyone here."
"Not formally," he said. "But we've...encountered each other." She could feel the dry humour in him as he spoke, but the cold rage lurked beneath it, veiled by the pleasantries.
"Consider this your formal encounter, then," she said, choosing not to address his rage just yet. "Carson Beckett, Steward of the Court; John Sheppard, First Escort; Stephen Caldwell, Master of the Guard; Teyla Emmagen and Rodney McKay both serve in my First Circle."
He gave them each a brisk nod, leavened only by the slightest of smiles at Teyla.
Elizabeth temporarily ignored the male hackles that rose at his smile, and continued speaking. "You are welcome in Atlantis Territory."
"So the Steward said."
"Well, now I confirm it," she said. "You are a guest in this household for the next moon, or until you find service in a court of your choosing."
He nodded.
After a slight pause, during which she waited for him to say something, Elizabeth continued. "Another Territory Queen and her escort will be arriving at the court tomorrow, staying for six days. During that time, you are welcome to move through the court or go into the town as you please."
"It would be appreciated if you'd let us know when you're leaving the estate," Carson said. He met Ronan's gaze without flinching. "It helps the housekeeper to know the numbers for mealtimes."
And if Ronan Dex took that to mean that he would be watched, then he probably wasn't entirely wrong.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Elizabeth sensed that it was as much of an agreement as they'd get from him.
"Once the Gennii have left Atlantis, I'll be taking a tour of the Territory with handful of others from court. Travelling with us would provide you with a good overview of Atlantis and how things work here. It's quite different to Belka."
"So I see."
She looked up to meet his gaze and held it. "It would also be your chance to meet the Blood who rule the villages and cities of the Territory. A dark-jewelled Warlord Prince would be an asset to any court and I'm given to understand that you've been trained as a warrior. You should be able to find service to your satisfaction."
Elizabeth left out the matter of his other training; she doubted he'd want a reminder, and she knew she certainly didn't want to speculate on his talents in bed. Or, more correctly, he didn't need her or anyone else in the court speculating on his bedroom skills.
And she was the Queen. The others would follow her cue.
"I said that a court can always do with more warriors," Stephen said, taking up the thread. "That's as true in a village Queen's court as it is in a Territory Queen's court."
"He'd be wasted in the court of a village Queen," Teyla said, sitting back on thin air and folding her legs up beneath her.
John glared at her. "He's standing right there, Teyla."
"And he knows that what I am saying is true," said the other witch without a trace of repentance. "As do you. Prince Dex has skills in which the Province Queens would take great interest."
The psychic temperature of the garden dropped, sending a shudder through them all as Ronan turned on Teyla, his eyes black and deadly.
"She meant as a guard," Rodney said with careful enunciation, breaking the silence and the cold with his words. "As I'm sure Carson would have told you last night, we don't have pleasure slaves in Atlantis."
Elizabeth had never been so glad of Rodney's inability to recognise a dangerous situation. Years of friendship had attuned him to John, but he still failed to notice some of the things that others did. Still, that didn't mean he was going to get out of a reprimand. "Rodney..."
"What? It's not as though it's a secret that he was a slave in Belka Territory," Rodney retorted. "And the good-looking ones are used as pleasure slaves."
Ronan snorted, the anger gone, a faint amusement taking its place. "You're saying I'm good looking?"
The Green-jewelled Prince looked uncomfortable. "Well, in an overdone, over-muscled way, I suppose that, yes, the women of the court would consider you good-looking, and Sheppard, if you don't stop smirking I still have the spell I cast on your bed when we were thirteen and it still works very effectively!"
Elizabeth bit back a smile as John mumbled something about arrogant pricks of Princes and glared at Teyla who was laughing on her invisible lounge.
"Arrogant? I've got nothing on you, and you know it," Rodney harrumphed. "Anyway," he said, turning back to Ronan. "What I was saying before you turned it into a complete misdirection was that it's general knowledge that you were a pleasure-slave in Belka. There's no point in hiding it or being ashamed of it. And, why yes, oddly enough, it will make you popular among the women of the courts."
"And some of the men," Teyla added archly, controlling her laughter.
"But not me," Rodney said with a glare in her direction.
"I never said that."
"No, but you were implying it."
"The way I was implying that the skills in which the Province Queens would take an interest were sexual?" Teyla pulled herself up and tossed her loose plait over her shoulder. "I am willing to admit that Prince Dex is good-looking and can no doubt exert himself to be charming when the circumstances require it." She looked directly at Ronan. "However, I truly did not mean to reference any skills other than your fighting ability. Your abilities as a pleasure slave are between you and the women who invite you to their beds."
Ronan looked at Teyla for a long moment, his face expressionless, then turned to Elizabeth. "Do I have the right to refuse invitations?"
"According to the Protocols and Laws of the Blood, yes." Elizabeth fought back the blush that threatened to stain her cheeks. In moments like these, she envied Teyla. With her dusky skin, it was easier for the Black Widow to hide the more obvious physical evidence of embarrassment, while Elizabeth struggled with it. "You are free to refuse any offer that is made to you - whether for service or sexual intimacy - and not be punished for it. However," she added, "according to the Protocols and Laws of the Blood, a woman is just as free to refuse your interest or claim and not suffer for her decision."
The dark eyes studied her for what seemed like a long time before he nodded. "Okay."
"In the meantime, if you have any queries about the court, any of these people will be willing to answer your questions," Elizabeth indicated the circle. "During the Gennii visit, they may ask for your assistance--"
"If I can render it, they'll have it."
She was surprised at the sudden acquiescence, however flatly voiced, but kept it hidden. "Thank you." Turning to Stephen, she asked, "Do you have any issues with the extra four males arriving in the Gennii party?"
Stephen considered the question, running a hand over his bare scalp. "Other than the fact that they were included at all, no. I'm guessing that most of her escort will be housed in the warrior barracks?"
"They didn't say," Carson told him. "Only that the party would be seventeen instead of the usual thirteen."
"I don't like that they're changing the numbers on us now," said John. "Kolya's a tricky bastard--"
"Kolya isn't the problem, John," Rodney said. "Or weren't you listening before?"
"Kolya is always the problem," John retorted. "Even when he's not."
Elizabeth caught Stephen's eye. A moment later, his voice rang out, "Sheppard! McKay!" They stopped, giving him identical abashed looks. Stephen opened his mouth to bring them back into line and was interrupted.
"Am I needed here?" Ronan looked at Elizabeth.
Stephen answered. "Your experience would be--"
"I was asking the Lady."
Taken aback by both his abruptness and trying to rein in the rising hackes of Stephen and John, it took her a moment to formulate an answer. "Not strictly, no. However, Prince Caldwell thinks you might be able to help--"
"He seems to have everything under control." The dark head tilted, "May I leave?"
There was something very formal about his withdrawl, a tension that disturbed her. Elizabeth answered in kind. "You may."
His bow had all the careful politeness of mockery, and she felt the tempers of the other males rise. A single glance quelled them, but he was already walking away across the grass.
A moment later, she stood, brushing the dirt off her trousers. "Continue without me," she instructed Stephen. "I'll return in a minute."
Then she followed after Ronan.
She caught up to him at the entrance to the next garden. "Prince Dex."
He turned. "Lady Elizabeth. How may I serve?" Once again, there was the careful edge of mockery in his voice and attitude, in the quirk of his mouth as he regarded her.
And now that she was here, she was struggling for the words to form the questions she wanted to ask. She could sense the anger in him, quiescent, but not extinguished. "I... Has someone offered you insult?"
Something predatory entered his eyes. "You'd have heard about it if they had."
Elizabeth had grown up with Warlord Princes, aware of not only their capabilities, but their weaknesses and dangers. She was accustomed to the breed, from their violence to their loyalty, there were no half-measures in a Warlord Prince. They gave their all and when they did it could be a beautiful or a terrible thing.
As a young girl, before she took the position as Territory Queen, Elizabeth had heard the stories of Warlord Princes gone rogue - or worse than rogue. All that power, loyalty and devotion had to go somewhere. The need to serve was more than a personality characteristic, it was a driving imperative in Blood males, and brutally unforgiving when twisted.
She'd never seen a man in whom that need for service had been twisted. She hoped she wasn't seeing one now.
"You're in Atlantis Territory," she said.
He looked around, then back at her. "I can see that."
Annoyance rose in her, a bubbling anger at his mocking amusement. "We're not Belka Territory."
"I can see that, too."
"So you don't have to be who you were in Belka," she said, trying to make him see. "You're not a slave anymore."
"Nobody gives me orders, perhaps," Ronan said. "But to them," one hand waved back at the group by the garden, "I'm still a slave."
Elizabeth glanced at the figures beneath the orange tree. Watching her conversation with Ronan, and waiting for her to finish. She turned back to him. "You're wrong about them. And let's say you're right - does it even matter? To you?"
He shrugged. "A man goes by the reputation he earns."
"And you've already earned a reputation for your skills as a warrior," she said. "I've heard Prince Caldwell's appraisal of you and if he says you're good, you are. Anything else you learned in Belka Territory - that doesn't have to follow you if you don't want it to."
The full mouth twisted, oddly bitter. "You're wrong about that."
"Am I?" Elizabeth watched him.
Hands touched her shoulders, circled her throat with exquisite gentleness.
She started and turned around, but found no-one there. Ronan stood out of arm's reach, and he hadn't moved an inch, but the expression on his face...
"What was that?"
Once again the invisble hand slipped from her shoulder to her neck, sliding around to her nape and brushing lightly down her spine in sensuous teasing. Ripples coiled within her senses, expanded, exploded; her heartbeat sped up and her breathing hitched.
He was smiling. A gentle, dangerous smile lurked behind the short beard that didn't conceal the full sweep of his mouth. "Do you like it?"
"I..." Her throat choked up as the 'hands' slipped back around her throat, slid down her front, curved lightly over her breasts and down to her waist. It wasn't a case of liking or disliking: her body was responding to the ghostly teasing with a piercing ache, her flesh yearning for the completion it whispered that only he could give. "Stop it."
Fingers caressed the curve of her breast, stroking the flesh, molding the nipple lightly. Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath and let it out with shaky control.
"Do you want me to stop it?" Whatever hold he'd been keeping on his psychic nature before this was gone. Elizabeth could feel the heat pouring off him, intense as a fire, sensuous as a lover, viciously, dangerously male as only a Warlord Prince could be.
The 'hands' were stroking her everywhere, teasing her, soft and warm touches against her skin, against her thighs, against her throat. Fingers curved over her skin as delicately as a butterfly's wings, and she felt the trace of long fingers up the inside of her thighs - felt the ache between her thighs as he stopped just short of her core.
Her soft whimper was gutteral.
She couldn't breathe for wanting.
She couldn't see for disgust.
Yes, she wanted Ronan Dex, but not like this. Not with him standing there, mocking her with his eyes and expression, watching her struggle against the tidal current of desire.
Elizabeth had never yet had a man unwilling; she wasn't about to begin with Ronan Dex.
She reached out with Craft, an extension of her hand and concentrated. Her slap sent him sprawling into the garden bed. The hands vanished, and with it all the hot desire, leaving her cold and shaking with fury.
"You will never touch me like that again," she whispered and saw him flinch.
But he had his own anger to burn and no loyalty to hold him silent. "I am what I am, Lady." The words were low and bitter and touched something in her soul.
She was still angry. He'd touched her as he had no right to do - and worse, she'd responded as she shouldn't have - but the icy chill was gone, leaving only fire. It would simmer down to ashes.
Already she could sense the others coming, alerted by her wave of anger, and she cursed her carelessness in letting her anger flare for that one moment. "Perhaps. But the only person in Atlantis who will decide who you will be is you, Prince," she said. "I promise you that."
He met her eyes and she felt the pull of her own personal attraction to him. In spite of what he'd done - of what he'd tried to force her to - it was still there, undimmed.
A single nod indicated his acceptance of her words - belief would come later.
Elizabeth drew her self-possession about her, gave him one last, brief look and walked to intercept her approaching inner circle before they realised what had transpired. If John or Stephen got any hint of what Ronan had done, they would show him no mercy.
He was not of her court, she had no responsibility to protect him. Still, something in her demanded that she extend him her faith for a little while longer - until he'd learned what the others in Atlantis already knew.
She was the Queen, but the people who served her belonged to themselves.
It was all a balance of trust.
--
To Part Seven
NOTES I am so mean to these characters! *g* If you squinted slightly while reading the text, you'd have spotted a few familiar universes in the background. I'd be interested in seeing what other people came up with for the Queens Courts in those universes! ;)
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I'd be happy to beta for you, but I'm afraid I don't remember the books well enough to really be a big help on that count.
I'm looking forward to reading more. I have a bad feeling about the Gennii visit. I can't imagine why. :)
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Anyway, thanks for the feedback!
Actually, even if you were just willing to read it through and make sure I haven't contradicted myself, that would be a blessing!
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That I can do. Send it on when you've got it. :)
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OMFG. I am this fic's biggest, No. 1 fan eva!!1! I'm it's b!tch. Quick, get a restraining order, I am stalking this fic!!
Seriously, it's just sooo much fun, great job!
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Any chance of a spin-off fic here? Or even a little crossover? ;P
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Great story. Can't wait to see what happens next.
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Noradh! Sam! EEEEEEE!!! Now I want to see Sam's court!!!
OMG, the invisible hands. The invisible hands!!! Such a yummy thing.
I'm really glad that Teyla, Liz and Ronon are the three center-stage characters in this. I feel they get short shrift in the TV show, and you're showing just how awesome they can be.
Okay, so:
Cheyanne is where we'd find Queen Samantha and her court of Warlord Prince Jack, Warlord Prince Teal'c, and Prince Daniel. Also her Warlord Prince father Jacob. Would Warlord Prince Bra'tac be the Master of the Guard?
Korbal I'm stumped on, but I think it would have Queen Laura Rosslyn.
Moiya has the Black Widow Queen Aeryn (who must have a VERY dark jewel), her Warlord Prince and Consort John, Warlord Prince D'argo (obviously, Master of the Guard), Steward Pilot, Queen Zhaan, Queen Chiana, Queen...hoo, boy, lot of queens here. (And, might I add, I'd read this fic in a hot minute.)
Serenitha would obviously have Queen Inara, her Warlord Prince Mal, and - can you have a Warlord Queen? Because that's what Zoe would be.
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Noradh! Sam! EEEEEEE!!! Now I want to see Sam's court!!!
OMG, the invisible hands. The invisible hands!!! Such a yummy thing.
I'm really glad that Teyla, Liz and Ronon are the three center-stage characters in this. I feel they get short shrift in the TV show, and you're showing just how awesome they can be.
Okay, so:
Cheyanne is where we'd find Queen Samantha and her court of Warlord Prince Jack, Warlord Prince Teal'c, and Prince Daniel. Also her Warlord Prince father Jacob. Would Warlord Prince Bra'tac be the Master of the Guard?
Korbal I'm stumped on, but I think it would have Queen Laura Rosslyn.
Moiya has the Black Widow Queen Aeryn (who must have a VERY dark jewel), her Warlord Prince and Consort John, Warlord Prince D'argo (obviously, Master of the Guard), Steward Pilot, Queen Zhaan, Queen Chiana, Queen...hoo, boy, lot of queens here. (And, might I add, I'd read this fic in a hot minute.)
Serenitha would obviously have Queen Inara, her Warlord Prince Mal, and - can you have a Warlord Queen? Because that's what Zoe would be.