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TITLE: To Serve A Queen - Part Nine
SUMMARY: Arrogant, overprotective, endearing - the males of her court caused her no end of frustration - but no end of joy. Which was, after all, the way it was supposed to be.
PAIRING: Liz/Ronan
RATING: R
NOTES: You know, when I started this story, it was mentally labelled 'crackfic' in my mind. ie. 'crazy AU fic that maybe a half-dozen people will read, let alone get through'. It's a bit of a surprise to realise that there are probably quite a few more than a half-dozen people reading this. (...) Yeesh, I really hope you end up liking what I do with the story! Like I said, it started off all UST-like and then got plotty. With UST. And I'm shocked to hear that people are buying the Anne Bishop books, because...well, what if you don't like them? They're not to everyone's taste. Meep.
Okay, enough rambling. On to the story...
To Serve A Queen - Part Nine
Sora was no mean fighter - warrior material if Ronan had ever seen it.
She had the balance and judgement; the cool head and the sharp eye, as well as the training and build for it. Whatever her tendencies as a young Queen of the Gennii, she was more than capable as a fighter.
Of course, 'capable' didn't necessarily translate to 'victorious' in any circumstances.
Ronan didn't pull his blows. She wouldn't have thanked him if he had - he sensed that much about her. She was young and proud and wanted to be recognised in her strength as a Queen. And not just as Queen but as a warrior in her own right.
He had to admit, whoever had trained her had done well. She was a warrior of which to be proud.
The young males of her escort had been less than happy when she arrived at the fighting yards and expressed a desire to pit herself against Ronan. They would have preferred her sparring against Teyla, who was again at training.
When he landed the young Queen in the dust, she glared up at him for a moment. The tension about the yards rose, then a tight smile touched her expression and she held up a hand. "They say you were a warrior in your last court."
"What do you think?"
Her mouth twitched as she dusted herself off. "I think the Queen you served was lucky to have you in her court."
It was an acknowledgement of his value, if not quite the request for his service in her court. Not the service he wanted, but close enough.
Ronan smiled, pleased by the approval. "Thanks, Lady."
Curling red strands of hair were pushed out of very clear, dark eyes that watched him, no longer smiling. "They also say you were a slave in Belka."
He didn't allow himself to react. "I was."
"And were the women you served lucky to have you in their beds?" Her eyes were watchful, and he answered as directly as possible.
"Some might have thought so."
"And afterwards?"
This was the oddest conversation he would have expected to hold with Sora of the Gennii. She was most definitely a virgin - there was no mistaking the purity of her psychic scent - but her eyes were far from innocent.
Ronan wondered if she'd seen broken witches in Gennii Territory. He wondered if she'd contemplated being one of the empty-eyed women who lived and breathed but had no heart, no fire. The soul of them was gone - broken beyond repair or regaining - and they shambled through life with only a hint of bitterness when they looked at males.
He bared his teeth slightly at Sora. "This isn't a discussion for a virgin Queen, Lady."
"Isn't that for the Queen to decide?" Sora asked with a hint of malice.
Ronan returned her gaze. "Maybe. I'm still not going to discuss it with you."
Piqued, she tossed her head and stalked off back towards her escorts. Ronan ceded his weapons to another warrior and went over to a table that held jugs and cups of water.
Sora of the Gennii was at once a young girl and a very wary woman. In some ways she was emotionally mature, in others, she was adolescent. Ronan suspected it had nothing to do with her being a virgin and everything to do with her being sheltered from some things while being exposed to others during her life in Gennii Territory.
And he still had Elizabeth's warning about Gennii Territory on his mind.
"She's not looking for any males to serve her."
Ronan gave Lord Tyrus of the Gennii a sideways glance. "Isn't that up to her?"
"She's not of age until she's twenty!" Tyrus snapped. "Her court can't be formed until then." Ronan caught the contemptuous up-and-down look that the Warlord gave him. "And she wouldn't want the likes of you anyway."
The cold hit Tyrus a split-second later and Ronan reined in his automatic psychic response as the man paled and men looked up and muttered at the momentary chill.
"If Sora wants me in her court," Ronan told the older male with leisurely menace, "then neither you, nor any other male in Gennii Territory will stop me."
Tyrus' eyes were full of hatred as he stalked away.
Ronan drank his water. Then he stalked to the weapons table, took up a bladed stick and spun it through the air with whistling viciousness. Properly cared for, the blades could slice through skin, muscle, and bone with nothing more than the force of gravity. It shouldn't have surprised him how much he wanted to see it slide into someone now.
"Prince."
Just not her.
The blade whistled again as he moved it through the air, before resting it neutrally in his hands as he bowed to Elizabeth. "Lady."
If his waking thoughts were of service, his dreams were more earthy. He'd woken in the night, heated and hungry, but without the hope of satisfaction - not in Elizabeth's body. In the morning sun, the hunger was no less fierce than it had been in night's darkness - Ronan simply masked it better.
Of course, if he didn't, the males of her court would spare him nothing.
He glanced around the sparring yards, noting that Sora was now sparring with Teyla under the watchful eye of Sheppard. Sheppard also directed a narrow glance back at Ronan and Elizabeth before he quite deliberately turned his back on them. Ronan didn't know whether to be amused or insulted by the other man's cavalier attitude towards him. Certainly, Elizabeth seemed amused by Sheppard's behaviour.
"I see John has decided to trust you after all."
"There was doubt?"
She tilted her head, smiling. "A little." Leaning her hip against the table edge, she turned to look at the yards, at the males training against each other. "John is protective."
Ronan would have liked to ask what Sheppard was to her. While it was obvious enough that Sheppard was sexually interested in Teyla, there was a history between him and Elizabeth that went back a long way.
He didn't ask. It wasn't his place. That didn't mean he could stop the surge of jealousy that seeped through him - or the understanding of the other man's place in Elizabeth's court and her life. "He's a Warlord Prince." With all that the caste entailed.
"So are you."
"But you're not my Queen." He kept the words light, but out of the corner of his eye he saw her frown and regretted the words. Salt in his own wounds. His hands clenched around the handle of his weapon and he laid it gently on the table behind them. "And Sheppard has bigger concerns than another Warlord Prince."
Like the Gennii.
He didn't know if it was just this visit, or if previous visits had been this tense. But there was definitely something in the air - something that went beyond their dislike of the idea of Ronan in service to Sora. He remembered Teyla's words the afternoon the Gennii had arrived.
She'll be nineteen before Winsol, and hasn't yet made the Offering.
It might just be the wariness of males protecting a vulnerable Queen against other males. Relations between the males of Atlantis and Gennii weren't cordial, although he'd only had hints as to the reasons for the dislike.
"So she's accepted your service?" There was an odd note in her voice, something like relief or tears.
It stung to hear the anxious note in her voice. Almost as much as it had stung to realise that she'd been going to refuse him the dance last night.
What did you expect?
He kept his voice even. "Not yet."
"She will," she said after a moment. "If she has any sense, she will."
It should have been reassurance. Instead it was as bitter as a slap in the face. She seemed determined to get him out of her court as soon as possible. Into Gennii Territory, into the court of a Province Queen; anywhere that wasn't near her.
But he managed a nod in response to her statement. She might even have taken it as thanks for her platitude, because when he said nothing else, she went away.
Ronan tried not to watch her as she crossed the training yards to the enclosure where Sora and Teyla still fought back and forth.
He failed.
Elizabeth dragged too hard at him, unaware of his attraction to her.
Sora might be a Queen worth serving, but she hadn't yet made the Offering and both her adult strength and her ability to rule well and wisely was in question. If she accepted him in service, Ronan would serve her as Protocol required.
If Elizabeth could have accepted him into her service, Ronan would have served her with everything he was.
--
You're not my Queen.
The truth hurt.
She told herself that it was just sexual pique. She told herself that she had enough dark-jewelled males in her court already. She told herself that Sora would need a male she could trust.
The truth still hurt.
Elizabeth didn't dare nurse it.
All that morning, she was aware of the prick of resentment towards Sora, carefully hidden from view. At least, she hoped it was hidden.
She feared she'd failed when, at midday, the young Queen requested a private audience with Elizabeth. However, the young Queen came directly to the point - and it had nothing to do with Ronan Dex. "I require a favour of you, Lady Elizabeth." Sora paced the floor in her solidly-woven trousers and thigh-length tunic. "And I ask that you keep this from my father and escort as long as possible."
"I..." She hesitated. It went against her nature to offer a blanket assurance; she couldn't bring herself to give the promise - not as the Queen of Atlantis. "If it is within my power to do so, then yes."
The young woman nodded, seemingly accepting that her counterpart would only come so far and turning to face her, her hands resting by her sides with quiet tension. "I want my Virgin Night. Tonight."
Elizabeth stared, unable to help herself. After her conversations with both John and Ronan last night, she was stunned to hear the words coming from the Gennii Queen. Finally, she managed to ask, "Did...someone suggest this to you?"
Sora shook her head. "No. I... I have been thinking this for a while. That...that I would like my Virgin Night to be in Atlantis. By a male of your court, if one is willing and if you permit."
The dark eyes looked to her anxiously, but Elizabeth was slow to respond and Sora continued. "It is in my mind that this will prevent there being any...confusion when I later choose a Consort," she said. "I...the males who came with me to Atlantis are my most trusted guard, but I'm afraid that if I show any kind of favouritism..."
Elizabeth nodded, although she ached for Sora and her unconscious innocence.
Traditionally, a Virgin Night was looked after by an older male from the village or the court. The relationship was not supposed to be romantic or erotic, but inductory - a task to be done with as much care as possible to ensure that the witch came out with her hymen broken but still capable of using her Jewels.
Elizabeth's own Virgin Night had been with one of the older males of Lady Melia's court. Janus had been gentle and tender with her, and had made her laugh afterwards. When Lady Melia stepped down, he'd accepted a position in Elizabeth's Fourth Circle, and lived in one of the towns further out from both the Weir Estate and Atlantis city.
Affection might play a part in the choice of male to perform the duty of seeing a witch through her Virgin Night, but it was, in the end, a duty.
"I give my permission," she said to Sora. No need to let the girl know that other people had already been speculating on the possibility. "I don't think you'll have a problem with willingness of any of the males..." She paused delicately.
A slight flush spread across Sora's translucent skin. "I was hoping that...one specific..." The girl looked down at her hands.
With Sora's eyes fixed firmly on the carpet, Elizabeth grimaced and tried to keep her misgivings out of her voice. "It would depend on which male."
Dark eyes looked up, startled. "I would not ask for Prince Sheppard or Prince Caldwell."
Ironic. John or Stephen would have been her first choices to take Sora through her Virgin Night. If not them...
Somehow, she couldn't see the warrior-trained Sora considering Carson or Rodney - the male the young witch chose would be a full-trained warrior, nothing less.
Which left Ronan Dex.
Elizabeth wished she could say no, but the choice was out of her hands. Jealousy squirmed within her; she kept it carefully confined. "Prince Dex is not in my service," she said, a little more shortly than politeness required. "I cannot promise you his service or approach him regarding this--"
The girl shook her head. "Not Prince Dex."
"Then who?"
--
"She wants Ford?" Carson asked in blinking disbelief. "Aiden Ford?"
"What's the difficulty?" John demanded. "The girl asked for him, let him have the honour."
Elizabeth, Carson, John, and Stephen were assembled in her workroom to discuss Sora's request. She'd called them the instant the Sora had left her presence, assuring the Gennii Queen that she would have a definite answer from Aiden within the next hour.
Her personal concerns had necessitated this swift meeting.
They stood around the room, leaning against her worktable, standing by the window, pacing the floor - her Blood triangle: the three most trusted males in a Queen's court, each in charge of a different aspect of her life.
The Steward ran her court, both organiser and financial adviser. Carson was the cool head that weighed in when the other two ran fierce with anger.
Stephen, as the Master of the Guard, was in charge of her personal safety. His duties were to see to her protection, to use his knowledge, his influence and his Jewels to keep her from harm.
And then there was John, who'd been First Escort before Simon came to her service and after he'd left it. The duties of the First Escort were to provide counsel, advice, and companionship when a Queen required company.
She'd had no Consort since Simon.
It wasn't for lack of candidates - Darkness knew any of the males in her First and Second Circles would have been willing to share her bed.
Elizabeth didn't just want a bedmate, she wanted a lover, someone she desired and wanted to share her bed. In two years, she hadn't looked at a man with anything more than affectionate friendship - even the two men who'd warmed her bed - once each - had been nothing more than trusted friends. There were times when she wondered if Simon had taken all her desire with him when he left.
And then she'd looked into the eyes of a Red-Jewelled Warlord Prince hanging between two whipping posts and felt hunger's hot fingers stroke down her spine. No, desire wasn't gone, merely dormant.
The irony wasn't lost on her.
The first man she'd desired in two years and he'd spent seven years in Belka Territory as a pleasure-slave. The last thing he would stand was a Queen who wanted him in her bed. He'd made that clear out in the gardens the other day.
He was looking for service, and it seemed he'd settled on Sora.
Elizabeth couldn't fault him. The young woman had her own strength.
But first, Sora had to survive her Virgin Night.
"The difficulty is that Aiden has never been called upon to do this before," Stephen said, staring out the window to the view of the estate beyond. A frown creased his brow. "And the Gennii are in delicate balance right now with Sora on the verge of setting up her court."
"So make sure he knows what he's supposed to do!"
It was so simple from John's perspective. It was one of his most attractive traits, and yet also one of his most frustrating ones. He drew a straight line from his current position to his goal and rarely veered from it.
"I'm more interested in exactly why she chose to bring this up now," Elizabeth said pointedly to John. "Especially after our conversation last night."
"I didn't suggest it to her," John protested. He raked his hands through his hair, further messing it up as he paced across the floorboards. "Look, it's possible it's just something she brought up. She is getting to an age when these things start to prey on a witch's mind."
"And you would know what preys on a young witch's mind, then?" Carson asked John dryly. He turned towards Elizabeth, shifting in the one couch that wasn't piled high with spell books. "Elizabeth, we all know that things can go bad, even with a man who's experienced in taking a witch through her Virgin Night. That's no reason not to grant the request."
She knew that. It didn't make her any more comfortable about what was going to happen.
John took up the thread, "Sora has asked for a man she's attracted to - one she can trust in a situation she can trust. That's important to her." When she hesitated again, he added, "Ford's mature enough to be instructed in the process, and if she trusts him, she won't have any reason to run from him and her inner web stays intact."
Her First Escort knew Aiden Ford the best, having trained the young man for the last six years. If he said Aiden could do it, Elizabeth trusted his word. That didn't stop her from having misgivings.
"Stephen?" The Master of the Guard was older, more experienced than John. At this point in time, she needed to hear a verdict from someone who had similar misgivings to her own.
"She's asked to have Aiden, and Sheppard's right. Ford can be given the instruction if he's willing to do the honours. And it would give us the hope of a stable Queen in Gennii Territory."
The stability of the neighbouring territories was Stephen's concern as Master of the Guard. He'd be for anything that gave them a Territory Queen who could challenge Kolya in Gennii.
Odd how they all considered Kolya the power in Gennii Territory. Lord Cowen led the council, but everyone considered Kolya the dangerous one. Or maybe that was just shaded by Elizabeth's memories and John's animosity.
"Carson?"
Her steward shrugged. "I understand your concern, Elizabeth, but they're right. From a practical perspective, Sora having her Virgin Night here in Atlantis ensures that she's not intentionally broken. Her choice of Ford gives her a measure of control - something she probably doesn't have often at home. And he might be a cocky bastard, but Aiden is capable of doing this - for Sora, for Gennii Territory, and for Atlantis."
Elizabeth began grinding up several ingredients into a paste and considered their points.
She'd never really considered not permitting Sora to have her Virgin Night here once the young Queen had made the request. Her chiefest issue was that something about this whole situation was troubling her and she didn't know what.
The men waited as she moved about her worktable, sensing that she was thinking, balancing, judging the situation. There were times when she'd made a swift, snap decision, and other times when she wanted to think things through. They'd been in service to her long enough to know when to wait.
On a snap decision, she reached out on a Red distaff thread. *Teyla?*
*Elizabeth?*
*What do you feel?*
There was a pause, then something like a shudder. *An ending and a beginning. A barren land. Men's cries in battle or rage. Bloodshed.* There was another pause. *A broken web.* Then Teyla's spoke again, and this time her psychic voice was slightly shaky. *That is all. Do you need more?*
Not when it had clearly taken so much from Teyla already. *No. Thank you, Sister.*
The formality seemed to help the Black Widow ground herself. When the answer came back, she seemed calmer. *You are welcome, Lady.*
So even Teyla, trained and naturally gifted as a Black Widow, had the same sense of it.
Still, there was no way to go back. Elizabeth could not refuse the young Queen that small amount of surety against being broken, in a household she could trust with a male she'd picked herself.
Elizabeth had been brought up in Atlantis Territory, trusting the males around her.
Sora of the Gennii hadn't been as fortunate.
Elizabeth would give her this much.
She looked back at the males, blue, hazel and blue eyes watching her. "John, bring Aiden to me so I can ask if he's willing to submit to this."
Something like a sigh ran through the three men, and she realised that, until she'd spoken, they truly hadn't known whether or not she would allow it to happen. If she'd chosen other to their advice, they would protest and argue, but ultimately submit - at least in this.
"Carson, sort out the logistics of it. Stephen..." Elizabeth paused, trying to consider the possible ramifications among the Gennii males when they discovered their Queen had chosen to have her Virgin Night with an Atlantis male. "Keep an eye on Lord Tyrus and the other Gennii escorts. And try to keep all this quiet."
Up went Stephen's brows. "Lady Sora didn't want her people to know?"
"It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission," John said.
"And you'd know that," said Carson with gentle malice.
"Hey, the only times I disobeyed was when I thought the action was necessary to protect my Queen."
"Thereby getting yourself in even more trouble--"
John frowned. He was a few years younger than Carson and the Steward used those years as ruthless leverage. One usually needed leverage when dealing with John. "I always got myself out."
"Usually with Rodney or Teyla's help," Carson noted.
"But not that often."
It wasn't as bad as Rodney and John's arguments - those could go on for hours, with both males picking at each other - familiarity indeed bred contempt of a sort. But Carson had his own brand of stubbornness - and it ran up against John's pig-headedness often enough in their roles as Steward and First Escort.
"Gentlemen." Both males and Elizabeth looked up at Stephen as he broke into their argument. "Take it out of Elizabeth's workroom."
She looked up from the mortar and pestle, not sure whether to be pleased or offended by the Master of the Guard's implication. She was more than capable of silencing both men. "Are you cozening me, Prince?"
Stephen's mouth twitched slightly as he said, "Just giving you some peace, Lady." Beyond him, John assumed an expression of innocence, while Carson put on his most polite 'may I help you' face.
And Elizabeth laughed in spite of herself.
All three males had known her since her adolescent years, were familiar with her foibles and sense of humour. They knew her and she knew them and loved them.
Arrogant, overprotective, endearing - the males of her court caused her no end of frustration - but no end of joy.
Which was, after all, the way it was supposed to be.
--
to Part Ten
SUMMARY: Arrogant, overprotective, endearing - the males of her court caused her no end of frustration - but no end of joy. Which was, after all, the way it was supposed to be.
PAIRING: Liz/Ronan
RATING: R
NOTES: You know, when I started this story, it was mentally labelled 'crackfic' in my mind. ie. 'crazy AU fic that maybe a half-dozen people will read, let alone get through'. It's a bit of a surprise to realise that there are probably quite a few more than a half-dozen people reading this. (...) Yeesh, I really hope you end up liking what I do with the story! Like I said, it started off all UST-like and then got plotty. With UST. And I'm shocked to hear that people are buying the Anne Bishop books, because...well, what if you don't like them? They're not to everyone's taste. Meep.
Okay, enough rambling. On to the story...
To Serve A Queen - Part Nine
Sora was no mean fighter - warrior material if Ronan had ever seen it.
She had the balance and judgement; the cool head and the sharp eye, as well as the training and build for it. Whatever her tendencies as a young Queen of the Gennii, she was more than capable as a fighter.
Of course, 'capable' didn't necessarily translate to 'victorious' in any circumstances.
Ronan didn't pull his blows. She wouldn't have thanked him if he had - he sensed that much about her. She was young and proud and wanted to be recognised in her strength as a Queen. And not just as Queen but as a warrior in her own right.
He had to admit, whoever had trained her had done well. She was a warrior of which to be proud.
The young males of her escort had been less than happy when she arrived at the fighting yards and expressed a desire to pit herself against Ronan. They would have preferred her sparring against Teyla, who was again at training.
When he landed the young Queen in the dust, she glared up at him for a moment. The tension about the yards rose, then a tight smile touched her expression and she held up a hand. "They say you were a warrior in your last court."
"What do you think?"
Her mouth twitched as she dusted herself off. "I think the Queen you served was lucky to have you in her court."
It was an acknowledgement of his value, if not quite the request for his service in her court. Not the service he wanted, but close enough.
Ronan smiled, pleased by the approval. "Thanks, Lady."
Curling red strands of hair were pushed out of very clear, dark eyes that watched him, no longer smiling. "They also say you were a slave in Belka."
He didn't allow himself to react. "I was."
"And were the women you served lucky to have you in their beds?" Her eyes were watchful, and he answered as directly as possible.
"Some might have thought so."
"And afterwards?"
This was the oddest conversation he would have expected to hold with Sora of the Gennii. She was most definitely a virgin - there was no mistaking the purity of her psychic scent - but her eyes were far from innocent.
Ronan wondered if she'd seen broken witches in Gennii Territory. He wondered if she'd contemplated being one of the empty-eyed women who lived and breathed but had no heart, no fire. The soul of them was gone - broken beyond repair or regaining - and they shambled through life with only a hint of bitterness when they looked at males.
He bared his teeth slightly at Sora. "This isn't a discussion for a virgin Queen, Lady."
"Isn't that for the Queen to decide?" Sora asked with a hint of malice.
Ronan returned her gaze. "Maybe. I'm still not going to discuss it with you."
Piqued, she tossed her head and stalked off back towards her escorts. Ronan ceded his weapons to another warrior and went over to a table that held jugs and cups of water.
Sora of the Gennii was at once a young girl and a very wary woman. In some ways she was emotionally mature, in others, she was adolescent. Ronan suspected it had nothing to do with her being a virgin and everything to do with her being sheltered from some things while being exposed to others during her life in Gennii Territory.
And he still had Elizabeth's warning about Gennii Territory on his mind.
"She's not looking for any males to serve her."
Ronan gave Lord Tyrus of the Gennii a sideways glance. "Isn't that up to her?"
"She's not of age until she's twenty!" Tyrus snapped. "Her court can't be formed until then." Ronan caught the contemptuous up-and-down look that the Warlord gave him. "And she wouldn't want the likes of you anyway."
The cold hit Tyrus a split-second later and Ronan reined in his automatic psychic response as the man paled and men looked up and muttered at the momentary chill.
"If Sora wants me in her court," Ronan told the older male with leisurely menace, "then neither you, nor any other male in Gennii Territory will stop me."
Tyrus' eyes were full of hatred as he stalked away.
Ronan drank his water. Then he stalked to the weapons table, took up a bladed stick and spun it through the air with whistling viciousness. Properly cared for, the blades could slice through skin, muscle, and bone with nothing more than the force of gravity. It shouldn't have surprised him how much he wanted to see it slide into someone now.
"Prince."
Just not her.
The blade whistled again as he moved it through the air, before resting it neutrally in his hands as he bowed to Elizabeth. "Lady."
If his waking thoughts were of service, his dreams were more earthy. He'd woken in the night, heated and hungry, but without the hope of satisfaction - not in Elizabeth's body. In the morning sun, the hunger was no less fierce than it had been in night's darkness - Ronan simply masked it better.
Of course, if he didn't, the males of her court would spare him nothing.
He glanced around the sparring yards, noting that Sora was now sparring with Teyla under the watchful eye of Sheppard. Sheppard also directed a narrow glance back at Ronan and Elizabeth before he quite deliberately turned his back on them. Ronan didn't know whether to be amused or insulted by the other man's cavalier attitude towards him. Certainly, Elizabeth seemed amused by Sheppard's behaviour.
"I see John has decided to trust you after all."
"There was doubt?"
She tilted her head, smiling. "A little." Leaning her hip against the table edge, she turned to look at the yards, at the males training against each other. "John is protective."
Ronan would have liked to ask what Sheppard was to her. While it was obvious enough that Sheppard was sexually interested in Teyla, there was a history between him and Elizabeth that went back a long way.
He didn't ask. It wasn't his place. That didn't mean he could stop the surge of jealousy that seeped through him - or the understanding of the other man's place in Elizabeth's court and her life. "He's a Warlord Prince." With all that the caste entailed.
"So are you."
"But you're not my Queen." He kept the words light, but out of the corner of his eye he saw her frown and regretted the words. Salt in his own wounds. His hands clenched around the handle of his weapon and he laid it gently on the table behind them. "And Sheppard has bigger concerns than another Warlord Prince."
Like the Gennii.
He didn't know if it was just this visit, or if previous visits had been this tense. But there was definitely something in the air - something that went beyond their dislike of the idea of Ronan in service to Sora. He remembered Teyla's words the afternoon the Gennii had arrived.
She'll be nineteen before Winsol, and hasn't yet made the Offering.
It might just be the wariness of males protecting a vulnerable Queen against other males. Relations between the males of Atlantis and Gennii weren't cordial, although he'd only had hints as to the reasons for the dislike.
"So she's accepted your service?" There was an odd note in her voice, something like relief or tears.
It stung to hear the anxious note in her voice. Almost as much as it had stung to realise that she'd been going to refuse him the dance last night.
What did you expect?
He kept his voice even. "Not yet."
"She will," she said after a moment. "If she has any sense, she will."
It should have been reassurance. Instead it was as bitter as a slap in the face. She seemed determined to get him out of her court as soon as possible. Into Gennii Territory, into the court of a Province Queen; anywhere that wasn't near her.
But he managed a nod in response to her statement. She might even have taken it as thanks for her platitude, because when he said nothing else, she went away.
Ronan tried not to watch her as she crossed the training yards to the enclosure where Sora and Teyla still fought back and forth.
He failed.
Elizabeth dragged too hard at him, unaware of his attraction to her.
Sora might be a Queen worth serving, but she hadn't yet made the Offering and both her adult strength and her ability to rule well and wisely was in question. If she accepted him in service, Ronan would serve her as Protocol required.
If Elizabeth could have accepted him into her service, Ronan would have served her with everything he was.
--
You're not my Queen.
The truth hurt.
She told herself that it was just sexual pique. She told herself that she had enough dark-jewelled males in her court already. She told herself that Sora would need a male she could trust.
The truth still hurt.
Elizabeth didn't dare nurse it.
All that morning, she was aware of the prick of resentment towards Sora, carefully hidden from view. At least, she hoped it was hidden.
She feared she'd failed when, at midday, the young Queen requested a private audience with Elizabeth. However, the young Queen came directly to the point - and it had nothing to do with Ronan Dex. "I require a favour of you, Lady Elizabeth." Sora paced the floor in her solidly-woven trousers and thigh-length tunic. "And I ask that you keep this from my father and escort as long as possible."
"I..." She hesitated. It went against her nature to offer a blanket assurance; she couldn't bring herself to give the promise - not as the Queen of Atlantis. "If it is within my power to do so, then yes."
The young woman nodded, seemingly accepting that her counterpart would only come so far and turning to face her, her hands resting by her sides with quiet tension. "I want my Virgin Night. Tonight."
Elizabeth stared, unable to help herself. After her conversations with both John and Ronan last night, she was stunned to hear the words coming from the Gennii Queen. Finally, she managed to ask, "Did...someone suggest this to you?"
Sora shook her head. "No. I... I have been thinking this for a while. That...that I would like my Virgin Night to be in Atlantis. By a male of your court, if one is willing and if you permit."
The dark eyes looked to her anxiously, but Elizabeth was slow to respond and Sora continued. "It is in my mind that this will prevent there being any...confusion when I later choose a Consort," she said. "I...the males who came with me to Atlantis are my most trusted guard, but I'm afraid that if I show any kind of favouritism..."
Elizabeth nodded, although she ached for Sora and her unconscious innocence.
Traditionally, a Virgin Night was looked after by an older male from the village or the court. The relationship was not supposed to be romantic or erotic, but inductory - a task to be done with as much care as possible to ensure that the witch came out with her hymen broken but still capable of using her Jewels.
Elizabeth's own Virgin Night had been with one of the older males of Lady Melia's court. Janus had been gentle and tender with her, and had made her laugh afterwards. When Lady Melia stepped down, he'd accepted a position in Elizabeth's Fourth Circle, and lived in one of the towns further out from both the Weir Estate and Atlantis city.
Affection might play a part in the choice of male to perform the duty of seeing a witch through her Virgin Night, but it was, in the end, a duty.
"I give my permission," she said to Sora. No need to let the girl know that other people had already been speculating on the possibility. "I don't think you'll have a problem with willingness of any of the males..." She paused delicately.
A slight flush spread across Sora's translucent skin. "I was hoping that...one specific..." The girl looked down at her hands.
With Sora's eyes fixed firmly on the carpet, Elizabeth grimaced and tried to keep her misgivings out of her voice. "It would depend on which male."
Dark eyes looked up, startled. "I would not ask for Prince Sheppard or Prince Caldwell."
Ironic. John or Stephen would have been her first choices to take Sora through her Virgin Night. If not them...
Somehow, she couldn't see the warrior-trained Sora considering Carson or Rodney - the male the young witch chose would be a full-trained warrior, nothing less.
Which left Ronan Dex.
Elizabeth wished she could say no, but the choice was out of her hands. Jealousy squirmed within her; she kept it carefully confined. "Prince Dex is not in my service," she said, a little more shortly than politeness required. "I cannot promise you his service or approach him regarding this--"
The girl shook her head. "Not Prince Dex."
"Then who?"
--
"She wants Ford?" Carson asked in blinking disbelief. "Aiden Ford?"
"What's the difficulty?" John demanded. "The girl asked for him, let him have the honour."
Elizabeth, Carson, John, and Stephen were assembled in her workroom to discuss Sora's request. She'd called them the instant the Sora had left her presence, assuring the Gennii Queen that she would have a definite answer from Aiden within the next hour.
Her personal concerns had necessitated this swift meeting.
They stood around the room, leaning against her worktable, standing by the window, pacing the floor - her Blood triangle: the three most trusted males in a Queen's court, each in charge of a different aspect of her life.
The Steward ran her court, both organiser and financial adviser. Carson was the cool head that weighed in when the other two ran fierce with anger.
Stephen, as the Master of the Guard, was in charge of her personal safety. His duties were to see to her protection, to use his knowledge, his influence and his Jewels to keep her from harm.
And then there was John, who'd been First Escort before Simon came to her service and after he'd left it. The duties of the First Escort were to provide counsel, advice, and companionship when a Queen required company.
She'd had no Consort since Simon.
It wasn't for lack of candidates - Darkness knew any of the males in her First and Second Circles would have been willing to share her bed.
Elizabeth didn't just want a bedmate, she wanted a lover, someone she desired and wanted to share her bed. In two years, she hadn't looked at a man with anything more than affectionate friendship - even the two men who'd warmed her bed - once each - had been nothing more than trusted friends. There were times when she wondered if Simon had taken all her desire with him when he left.
And then she'd looked into the eyes of a Red-Jewelled Warlord Prince hanging between two whipping posts and felt hunger's hot fingers stroke down her spine. No, desire wasn't gone, merely dormant.
The irony wasn't lost on her.
The first man she'd desired in two years and he'd spent seven years in Belka Territory as a pleasure-slave. The last thing he would stand was a Queen who wanted him in her bed. He'd made that clear out in the gardens the other day.
He was looking for service, and it seemed he'd settled on Sora.
Elizabeth couldn't fault him. The young woman had her own strength.
But first, Sora had to survive her Virgin Night.
"The difficulty is that Aiden has never been called upon to do this before," Stephen said, staring out the window to the view of the estate beyond. A frown creased his brow. "And the Gennii are in delicate balance right now with Sora on the verge of setting up her court."
"So make sure he knows what he's supposed to do!"
It was so simple from John's perspective. It was one of his most attractive traits, and yet also one of his most frustrating ones. He drew a straight line from his current position to his goal and rarely veered from it.
"I'm more interested in exactly why she chose to bring this up now," Elizabeth said pointedly to John. "Especially after our conversation last night."
"I didn't suggest it to her," John protested. He raked his hands through his hair, further messing it up as he paced across the floorboards. "Look, it's possible it's just something she brought up. She is getting to an age when these things start to prey on a witch's mind."
"And you would know what preys on a young witch's mind, then?" Carson asked John dryly. He turned towards Elizabeth, shifting in the one couch that wasn't piled high with spell books. "Elizabeth, we all know that things can go bad, even with a man who's experienced in taking a witch through her Virgin Night. That's no reason not to grant the request."
She knew that. It didn't make her any more comfortable about what was going to happen.
John took up the thread, "Sora has asked for a man she's attracted to - one she can trust in a situation she can trust. That's important to her." When she hesitated again, he added, "Ford's mature enough to be instructed in the process, and if she trusts him, she won't have any reason to run from him and her inner web stays intact."
Her First Escort knew Aiden Ford the best, having trained the young man for the last six years. If he said Aiden could do it, Elizabeth trusted his word. That didn't stop her from having misgivings.
"Stephen?" The Master of the Guard was older, more experienced than John. At this point in time, she needed to hear a verdict from someone who had similar misgivings to her own.
"She's asked to have Aiden, and Sheppard's right. Ford can be given the instruction if he's willing to do the honours. And it would give us the hope of a stable Queen in Gennii Territory."
The stability of the neighbouring territories was Stephen's concern as Master of the Guard. He'd be for anything that gave them a Territory Queen who could challenge Kolya in Gennii.
Odd how they all considered Kolya the power in Gennii Territory. Lord Cowen led the council, but everyone considered Kolya the dangerous one. Or maybe that was just shaded by Elizabeth's memories and John's animosity.
"Carson?"
Her steward shrugged. "I understand your concern, Elizabeth, but they're right. From a practical perspective, Sora having her Virgin Night here in Atlantis ensures that she's not intentionally broken. Her choice of Ford gives her a measure of control - something she probably doesn't have often at home. And he might be a cocky bastard, but Aiden is capable of doing this - for Sora, for Gennii Territory, and for Atlantis."
Elizabeth began grinding up several ingredients into a paste and considered their points.
She'd never really considered not permitting Sora to have her Virgin Night here once the young Queen had made the request. Her chiefest issue was that something about this whole situation was troubling her and she didn't know what.
The men waited as she moved about her worktable, sensing that she was thinking, balancing, judging the situation. There were times when she'd made a swift, snap decision, and other times when she wanted to think things through. They'd been in service to her long enough to know when to wait.
On a snap decision, she reached out on a Red distaff thread. *Teyla?*
*Elizabeth?*
*What do you feel?*
There was a pause, then something like a shudder. *An ending and a beginning. A barren land. Men's cries in battle or rage. Bloodshed.* There was another pause. *A broken web.* Then Teyla's spoke again, and this time her psychic voice was slightly shaky. *That is all. Do you need more?*
Not when it had clearly taken so much from Teyla already. *No. Thank you, Sister.*
The formality seemed to help the Black Widow ground herself. When the answer came back, she seemed calmer. *You are welcome, Lady.*
So even Teyla, trained and naturally gifted as a Black Widow, had the same sense of it.
Still, there was no way to go back. Elizabeth could not refuse the young Queen that small amount of surety against being broken, in a household she could trust with a male she'd picked herself.
Elizabeth had been brought up in Atlantis Territory, trusting the males around her.
Sora of the Gennii hadn't been as fortunate.
Elizabeth would give her this much.
She looked back at the males, blue, hazel and blue eyes watching her. "John, bring Aiden to me so I can ask if he's willing to submit to this."
Something like a sigh ran through the three men, and she realised that, until she'd spoken, they truly hadn't known whether or not she would allow it to happen. If she'd chosen other to their advice, they would protest and argue, but ultimately submit - at least in this.
"Carson, sort out the logistics of it. Stephen..." Elizabeth paused, trying to consider the possible ramifications among the Gennii males when they discovered their Queen had chosen to have her Virgin Night with an Atlantis male. "Keep an eye on Lord Tyrus and the other Gennii escorts. And try to keep all this quiet."
Up went Stephen's brows. "Lady Sora didn't want her people to know?"
"It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission," John said.
"And you'd know that," said Carson with gentle malice.
"Hey, the only times I disobeyed was when I thought the action was necessary to protect my Queen."
"Thereby getting yourself in even more trouble--"
John frowned. He was a few years younger than Carson and the Steward used those years as ruthless leverage. One usually needed leverage when dealing with John. "I always got myself out."
"Usually with Rodney or Teyla's help," Carson noted.
"But not that often."
It wasn't as bad as Rodney and John's arguments - those could go on for hours, with both males picking at each other - familiarity indeed bred contempt of a sort. But Carson had his own brand of stubbornness - and it ran up against John's pig-headedness often enough in their roles as Steward and First Escort.
"Gentlemen." Both males and Elizabeth looked up at Stephen as he broke into their argument. "Take it out of Elizabeth's workroom."
She looked up from the mortar and pestle, not sure whether to be pleased or offended by the Master of the Guard's implication. She was more than capable of silencing both men. "Are you cozening me, Prince?"
Stephen's mouth twitched slightly as he said, "Just giving you some peace, Lady." Beyond him, John assumed an expression of innocence, while Carson put on his most polite 'may I help you' face.
And Elizabeth laughed in spite of herself.
All three males had known her since her adolescent years, were familiar with her foibles and sense of humour. They knew her and she knew them and loved them.
Arrogant, overprotective, endearing - the males of her court caused her no end of frustration - but no end of joy.
Which was, after all, the way it was supposed to be.
--
to Part Ten
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*loves on your fic*
i just love this more and more!
lizzy is of teh awesome!
here's hoping she get her man!
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