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TITLE: To Serve A Queen - Part Fifteen
SUMMARY: There was a Queen in Gennii Territory again.
PAIRING: Liz/Ronan
RATING: R
NOTES: I had a big long rambling preable for the notes on this, before I realised it's more suited to a post of its own. So, posting elsewhere. But I really do need to write more Liz/Ronan non-crackfic.
To Serve A Queen - Part Fifteen
"We know it was the Black Widow's web that did this," Prince Ladon said angrily. "We demand--" He paused as the ice-cold anger rushed through the room.
The wrong words to say to a Queen after what had happened the previous night. Or, possibly, anytime.
"You demand?" Elizabeth asked.
Around the room, the tension rose.
The audience chamber faced north, towards the path of the sun, but it was just dawn, and the morning rays had only begun to touch the east-facing walls of the house. Still, between the witchflames in the candelabras, and the witchlights that hung pale and white to either side of her chair, there was enough light to see the expressions of the Gennii escort.
Grim satisfaction, careful neutrality, and open fear on at least three faces. If they hadn't been party to Tyrus' actions, then they knew that their situation was precarious.
And Ladon, who only had room for the injured anger on behalf of his leader.
Ladon was the spokesperson now that Tyrus had been taken away to be seen to by Kate. Not that there was much the Healer could do - a brew for when he woke up, but nothing else. What could you do for a man who'd been broken?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Aiden would never wear Jewels again.
And now, neither would Tyrus of the Gennii.
Teyla had woven her spell with exquisite skill. A jewel chip, linking the tangled web with Aiden's inner web, giving back to the attacker what the victim had received. As Aiden had been broken, so Tyrus had been repaid for his work.
Be wary of the witches who weave tangled webs.
Elizabeth knew why the Hourglass Coven was feared - she'd seen the concerns about her mother long before she'd met Teyla. But she also knew understood why Teyla had done it.
A web for a web. The debt was repaid in full.
"She should pay for what was done!"
"The sun will rise in Hell before we hand Teyla over to you," Carson said. Usually a mild-mannered man, the night's events roused his fury to fever-point.
*Carson.* She touched him on the Green, felt his anger subside at little, and addressed Ladon. "Prince Ladon, this is still my court, whatever you think of it. Whatever happened to Lord Tyrus, he gained it fairly..."
"Fairl--!" One raised hand silenced them, although the males shifted.
"A tangled web is not fair, Lady," said one of the younger Gennii. "The witches of the Hourglass are known to be unstable--"
The growl that began in the throats of several of the Atlantis males stopped him.
"Atlantis has more Black Widows than just Lady Teyla," Elizabeth told him. "Think very carefully before you say anything against them."
The young warrior swallowed, but his eyes were still resentful. "We have fewer of them in Gennii Territory."
Rodney made a noise like a snort of derision. "Well, I don't know - what else can you expect when most of them are broken during their Virgin Night? It's no wonder Lady Sora wanted hers here in Atlantis."
*Rodney.* Elizabeth wondered if she'd have to go through her entire court, male by male, before she got them to shut up.
"And when she returns--"
On cue, the doors at the back of the audience chamber opened and Sora walked in. She looked tired and pleased, her hand clutched around the Jewel she'd received.
"Lady Elizabeth, I have made the Offering." She held up a Sapphire Jewel, and in spite of her anger at what the girl's father had done - and what the girl hadn't done - Elizabeth felt relief surge through her. Sora would be Queen for Gennii Territory. With the Sapphire as her Jewel of rank, even Kolya couldn't break her, and the Province Queens would follow Sora.
"Congratulations, Lady Sora," she said, smiling. "And welcome back."
"Thank you, Lady." The girl inclined her head, then looked around. "What has happened?" She looked around the room, seeking Tyrus. "Where's my father?"
"Broken!" Ladon snapped. "The Black Widow broke him - he will never wear Jewels again."
Of all the ways that the news could have been broken, Ladon chose the most direct - and the most brutal. Sora paled. "He--"
"My Lady, your father will never wear Jewels again." Ladon was almost triumphant in his anger, casting furious glances at Elizabeth while Sora looked at her in disbelief.
"And neither will Aiden," Elizabeth added into the girl's silence.
Sora's hands dropped to her sides. "My father? Aiden?" For a moment it looked as though she might faint. Then something seemed to steady her and she shook off Ladon's touch.
Elizabeth felt sorry for putting this on Sora so soon after the Offering, but it had gone too far already. "Your father broke Aiden in punishment for performing the duty of your Virgin Night," she said. "From what we can tell, Lady Teyla wove a tangled web against such a thing happening."
"She--" Anger flashed in Sora's eyes. "Whatever my father did was only in defence of my honour!"
"And breaking a male's inner web so he can no longer perform Craft is an acceptable defence of honour in Gennii Territory?" Rodney snapped.
"Even if the accusation of rape had held, there should still have been a judgement before the Province Queens - and if my memory serves me correctly, you negated the accusation this morning," said Carson.
*Princes.* She got them both on the Green as Stephen spoke, contemptuous anger oozing through his voice.
"And what of Ford's honour? Your father accused him of rape and you didn't say a word in his defence until you were directly asked!"
*Prince Caldwell!*
It was the only way to yank him up short - and even that was a risk. She'd never have tried it with John - John was too volatile. With Stephen, at least there was a chance that he'd listen. A small chance and a dangerous one - as it always was with a Warlord Prince - but necessary in this case.
He listened. Thank the Darkness, he listened.
This was going from bad to worse. If not for John's absence, it would have reached 'worse' mere moments after the Gennii arrived.
And Sora's anger wasn't doing anything to help the tempers of everyone in the chamber.
"She had no right to break him!"
"She didn't break him," Elizabeth said, using every trick she knew, psychic and presence, to gain their attention. "He did it to himself. The tangled web is Teyla's work. But in it simplest form, it visits back on the attacker what was given to the victim." At Sora's continued blank look she said, "Teyla could explain it better."
Sora frowned. "Then send for her now. She should answer for her work."
Carson snorted. "And she would come - if your escort hadn't tried to break her, too."
She stared at him, startled by the news, then turned to Elizabeth for confirmation.
"Lady Teyla is in a sickroom, regaining her strength after being attacked early this morning," said Elizabeth, allowing only a trace of anger to tint her voice.
On one hand, she regretted throwing the girl into this situation - conflict and anger was not an easy way to start exercising her power. On the other had, she had Teyla injured, Aiden broken and a court full of furious males. Her hands were full with her own people - she had little sympathy to spare for Sora and her escort - especially when that escort was responsible for much of the situation in her court.
"Will she recover?" At least the girl retained that much politeness.
"We think so."
She nodded, as though that was enough apology for the actions of her escort. But there was a note of childish anxiety in her voice as she said, "Then I want to see my father."
--
"There will be war," Tyrus said, harshly, shaking off his daughter's arm. "Do you think you can treat us like this and not suffer the consequences?"
Ronan had seen broken Blood males before. There'd been more than a few in Belka Territory, men who'd crossed more powerful witches and been broken for the trespass. When a member of the Blood lost the ability to use the Jewels, they lost something indefinable inside them. In Belka Territory, it meant they lived on the fringes of society, outcast as much for their punishment as for their crime.
Tyrus had lost his Jewels, but he had at least two things left to him. He had his people, and he had his hatred for Atlantis.
"Did you think you could break a member of my court and not suffer the consequences of that?" Elizabeth returned. Ronan didn't know how she was keeping her voice clear and even, although the edge in it cut like a well-honed blade.
"He seduced my daughter!"
"Father! It was my choice!" It was the first interruption Sora had made since Tyrus began his rant. "My choice to have my Virgin Night!"
Tyrus turned on her with anger in his eyes. "And your choice led to this!" He turned back to Elizabeth and her court. "You will hear about this from Prince Kolya, Lady!"
The surge of fear across the Red caught Ronan by surprise. Female terror, old and instinctive, and he reached out to her in an instinct of his own: the male need to protect.
He tangled in the web of her mind, his Jewels connecting him to her in an unexpected intimacy.
And casting up unexpected memories.
It was like being touched by something foul, a trace of psychic poison that infected everything he said, everything he did. And his eyes were so cold, but not like the cold anger of the witches and males she'd known to go cold.
Ambitious, ruthless, dark-Jewelled and powerful, Prince Kolya of Gennii Territory was not a man to cross.
The way he looked at her made her skin crawl.
And when she touched the edges of his mind...
Within the psychic plane, Ronan shuddered.
He was no Black Widow, to take meaning from visions and hints, but he'd been a slave in Belka Territory for seven years, and the resonances Elizabeth had received from Prince Kolya of the Gennii were only too familiar.
Cruelty and abuse, the stunting of gifts and the brutalising of instincts, spirit or strength battered and broken, and fear and hatred staining the relationship between distaff gender and the Blood males who should serve them...
Ronan had seen all that in Belka, attitudes carefully cultured by witches and males who only sought power. He'd watched the power plays between genders, dominating instead of cherishing - and the aftermath of such politics.
Elizabeth Weir had seen hints of the heart and soul of a Warlord Prince who held no allegiance to Protocol or Law, and been terrified for herself and the Territory she would someday rule.
What happened? He'd asked Rodney out on the balcony outside the library six days ago.
And all the Prince had been able to say was: I don't know. She wouldn't tell me.
Ronan knew now.
And Elizabeth knew he knew.
Her shock at his presence flooded them both: resonating along the Red with shock, alarm, and shame. Just as abruptly as he'd been taken in, he was thrown out again.
But now he knew Kolya of the Gennii, if only through Elizabeth's memories.
His mind spun, the worst of his fears relived in her memories. He drew on the strength of his Jewels to give him balance.
Elizabeth barely glanced at him as she answered the Gennii man with all the calm Ronan knew she didn't feel inside. "I expect to hear from Lady Sora, Lord Tyrus."
"And you will," the girl said, stepping forward, her young face determined. "It will not be war, Lady Elizabeth. I won't hold Atlantis responsible for what Lady Emmagen did to my father, but I won't forget what she did to him."
"Then don't forget what your father did to Aiden, either," Elizabeth said fiercely. "Aiden gave his service and his Jewels to see you gain your adult strength. That is no small sacrifice." Green eyes met brown across the floor of the audience chamber, Queen to Queen, and Sora was the one to look away.
In a way, Ronan pitied her. But a part of him was reminded of Ford standing quiet in the hall as Tyrus made his accusation and Sora never said a word in defence. She hadn't acted, and the lack had cost two men their Jewelled strength. Inaction cost, just as much as action - sometimes higher; and that was a difficult lesson to learn.
"Your stay here is complete, Lady Sora," Elizabeth said. "Take your father and your escort with you and return home."
She had the potential for all that she lacked the experience. Ronan gave her that. While her escort opened their mouths to argue, she silenced them with a glance. Even her father seemed taken aback by her sudden authority - taken aback, and a touch afraid.
There was a Queen for Gennii Territory again.
"Then I thank you for your hospitality, Lady Elizabeth," Sora said. "And ask for your witness now. Prince Dex?"
The world tilted and spun on an axis point he hadn't expected - not in the midst of all this.
He hesitated. "Lady Sora?"
"Will you serve?"
Ronan felt the shock of the Gennii escort, Tyrus' outrage and resentment, the flavours of regret, resignation, and anger from the males of Elizabeth's court. They echoed through the room, too strong to be hidden, too fast to be identified individually. But there was no response from the Red, no indication of her thoughts or feelings about this. After his last accidental foray into her memories, she'd set up her barriers, thick and impenetrable to the male who shared her Jewel strength.
It was her response he wanted - the one response he would never have.
Because there was a Queen in Gennii Territory again. A Queen who'd asked his service.
But Ronan could not serve her.
I will serve with honour or not at all.
He couldn't.
He'd lived in an uncertain Territory for too long, watching every action, guarding every thought. After seven years in Belka Territory, he wasn't willing to settle for anything less than a court where he knew the rules.
Gennii Territory was no Belka Territory. With Sora as Queen of the Territory, it would never be Belka; but with Kolya and the male council in Gennii Territory, it would never be safe, either.
Ronan didn't like court politics; that didn't mean he was ignorant of them. Sora might wear the Sapphire, but even the acceptance of the Province Queens wouldn't make her the true ruler in Gennii Territory.
She hadn't defended Ford when her father accused him. She hadn't reined in her father's ire. And Ronan didn't want to serve a Queen who wouldn't protect him when he stood within Protocol and Law.
Sora had made the request in public and with all the weighty formality of Protocol, his answer would have to be the same. "I cannot accept service, Lady," he said, keeping to basic words of the formal refusal. He regretted denying her that service, but for his own sanity's sake, he couldn't. He didn't dare.
Her shock was palpable before anger overrode it. He eyes narrowed and he read the bitterness in her gaze.
"You were willing yesterday."
"I was," he said. "Things have changed since then."
I am Ronan Dex, Red-Jewelled Warlord Prince of the Blood. And I will serve with honour or not at all.
He'd made his decision.
But he wished she hadn't asked him before Elizabeth's court.
The perfect young features were frozen, a scarlet flush tinting her cheeks as she opened her mouth and shut it on her words. "So be it, Prince." The look she gave him was stiff and angry as she stalked out of the room, followed by her escort, her father trailing behind.
Ronan waited until she and her escort were gone, ignoring the glowers of the Gennii, and the speculation of the Atlantis males.
Then he turned to Elizabeth. She was the Queen here, there was no question who ruled.
She met his gaze without flinching, leaking no emotion as they studied each other. Then he inclined his head. "With your permission, Lady?"
A nod was all the answer he waited for before he strode from the room.
--
to Chapter Sixteen
PS. Is there anyone here who would make me some more Liz/Ronan icons? Please?
SUMMARY: There was a Queen in Gennii Territory again.
PAIRING: Liz/Ronan
RATING: R
NOTES: I had a big long rambling preable for the notes on this, before I realised it's more suited to a post of its own. So, posting elsewhere. But I really do need to write more Liz/Ronan non-crackfic.
To Serve A Queen - Part Fifteen
"We know it was the Black Widow's web that did this," Prince Ladon said angrily. "We demand--" He paused as the ice-cold anger rushed through the room.
The wrong words to say to a Queen after what had happened the previous night. Or, possibly, anytime.
"You demand?" Elizabeth asked.
Around the room, the tension rose.
The audience chamber faced north, towards the path of the sun, but it was just dawn, and the morning rays had only begun to touch the east-facing walls of the house. Still, between the witchflames in the candelabras, and the witchlights that hung pale and white to either side of her chair, there was enough light to see the expressions of the Gennii escort.
Grim satisfaction, careful neutrality, and open fear on at least three faces. If they hadn't been party to Tyrus' actions, then they knew that their situation was precarious.
And Ladon, who only had room for the injured anger on behalf of his leader.
Ladon was the spokesperson now that Tyrus had been taken away to be seen to by Kate. Not that there was much the Healer could do - a brew for when he woke up, but nothing else. What could you do for a man who'd been broken?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Aiden would never wear Jewels again.
And now, neither would Tyrus of the Gennii.
Teyla had woven her spell with exquisite skill. A jewel chip, linking the tangled web with Aiden's inner web, giving back to the attacker what the victim had received. As Aiden had been broken, so Tyrus had been repaid for his work.
Be wary of the witches who weave tangled webs.
Elizabeth knew why the Hourglass Coven was feared - she'd seen the concerns about her mother long before she'd met Teyla. But she also knew understood why Teyla had done it.
A web for a web. The debt was repaid in full.
"She should pay for what was done!"
"The sun will rise in Hell before we hand Teyla over to you," Carson said. Usually a mild-mannered man, the night's events roused his fury to fever-point.
*Carson.* She touched him on the Green, felt his anger subside at little, and addressed Ladon. "Prince Ladon, this is still my court, whatever you think of it. Whatever happened to Lord Tyrus, he gained it fairly..."
"Fairl--!" One raised hand silenced them, although the males shifted.
"A tangled web is not fair, Lady," said one of the younger Gennii. "The witches of the Hourglass are known to be unstable--"
The growl that began in the throats of several of the Atlantis males stopped him.
"Atlantis has more Black Widows than just Lady Teyla," Elizabeth told him. "Think very carefully before you say anything against them."
The young warrior swallowed, but his eyes were still resentful. "We have fewer of them in Gennii Territory."
Rodney made a noise like a snort of derision. "Well, I don't know - what else can you expect when most of them are broken during their Virgin Night? It's no wonder Lady Sora wanted hers here in Atlantis."
*Rodney.* Elizabeth wondered if she'd have to go through her entire court, male by male, before she got them to shut up.
"And when she returns--"
On cue, the doors at the back of the audience chamber opened and Sora walked in. She looked tired and pleased, her hand clutched around the Jewel she'd received.
"Lady Elizabeth, I have made the Offering." She held up a Sapphire Jewel, and in spite of her anger at what the girl's father had done - and what the girl hadn't done - Elizabeth felt relief surge through her. Sora would be Queen for Gennii Territory. With the Sapphire as her Jewel of rank, even Kolya couldn't break her, and the Province Queens would follow Sora.
"Congratulations, Lady Sora," she said, smiling. "And welcome back."
"Thank you, Lady." The girl inclined her head, then looked around. "What has happened?" She looked around the room, seeking Tyrus. "Where's my father?"
"Broken!" Ladon snapped. "The Black Widow broke him - he will never wear Jewels again."
Of all the ways that the news could have been broken, Ladon chose the most direct - and the most brutal. Sora paled. "He--"
"My Lady, your father will never wear Jewels again." Ladon was almost triumphant in his anger, casting furious glances at Elizabeth while Sora looked at her in disbelief.
"And neither will Aiden," Elizabeth added into the girl's silence.
Sora's hands dropped to her sides. "My father? Aiden?" For a moment it looked as though she might faint. Then something seemed to steady her and she shook off Ladon's touch.
Elizabeth felt sorry for putting this on Sora so soon after the Offering, but it had gone too far already. "Your father broke Aiden in punishment for performing the duty of your Virgin Night," she said. "From what we can tell, Lady Teyla wove a tangled web against such a thing happening."
"She--" Anger flashed in Sora's eyes. "Whatever my father did was only in defence of my honour!"
"And breaking a male's inner web so he can no longer perform Craft is an acceptable defence of honour in Gennii Territory?" Rodney snapped.
"Even if the accusation of rape had held, there should still have been a judgement before the Province Queens - and if my memory serves me correctly, you negated the accusation this morning," said Carson.
*Princes.* She got them both on the Green as Stephen spoke, contemptuous anger oozing through his voice.
"And what of Ford's honour? Your father accused him of rape and you didn't say a word in his defence until you were directly asked!"
*Prince Caldwell!*
It was the only way to yank him up short - and even that was a risk. She'd never have tried it with John - John was too volatile. With Stephen, at least there was a chance that he'd listen. A small chance and a dangerous one - as it always was with a Warlord Prince - but necessary in this case.
He listened. Thank the Darkness, he listened.
This was going from bad to worse. If not for John's absence, it would have reached 'worse' mere moments after the Gennii arrived.
And Sora's anger wasn't doing anything to help the tempers of everyone in the chamber.
"She had no right to break him!"
"She didn't break him," Elizabeth said, using every trick she knew, psychic and presence, to gain their attention. "He did it to himself. The tangled web is Teyla's work. But in it simplest form, it visits back on the attacker what was given to the victim." At Sora's continued blank look she said, "Teyla could explain it better."
Sora frowned. "Then send for her now. She should answer for her work."
Carson snorted. "And she would come - if your escort hadn't tried to break her, too."
She stared at him, startled by the news, then turned to Elizabeth for confirmation.
"Lady Teyla is in a sickroom, regaining her strength after being attacked early this morning," said Elizabeth, allowing only a trace of anger to tint her voice.
On one hand, she regretted throwing the girl into this situation - conflict and anger was not an easy way to start exercising her power. On the other had, she had Teyla injured, Aiden broken and a court full of furious males. Her hands were full with her own people - she had little sympathy to spare for Sora and her escort - especially when that escort was responsible for much of the situation in her court.
"Will she recover?" At least the girl retained that much politeness.
"We think so."
She nodded, as though that was enough apology for the actions of her escort. But there was a note of childish anxiety in her voice as she said, "Then I want to see my father."
--
"There will be war," Tyrus said, harshly, shaking off his daughter's arm. "Do you think you can treat us like this and not suffer the consequences?"
Ronan had seen broken Blood males before. There'd been more than a few in Belka Territory, men who'd crossed more powerful witches and been broken for the trespass. When a member of the Blood lost the ability to use the Jewels, they lost something indefinable inside them. In Belka Territory, it meant they lived on the fringes of society, outcast as much for their punishment as for their crime.
Tyrus had lost his Jewels, but he had at least two things left to him. He had his people, and he had his hatred for Atlantis.
"Did you think you could break a member of my court and not suffer the consequences of that?" Elizabeth returned. Ronan didn't know how she was keeping her voice clear and even, although the edge in it cut like a well-honed blade.
"He seduced my daughter!"
"Father! It was my choice!" It was the first interruption Sora had made since Tyrus began his rant. "My choice to have my Virgin Night!"
Tyrus turned on her with anger in his eyes. "And your choice led to this!" He turned back to Elizabeth and her court. "You will hear about this from Prince Kolya, Lady!"
The surge of fear across the Red caught Ronan by surprise. Female terror, old and instinctive, and he reached out to her in an instinct of his own: the male need to protect.
He tangled in the web of her mind, his Jewels connecting him to her in an unexpected intimacy.
And casting up unexpected memories.
It was like being touched by something foul, a trace of psychic poison that infected everything he said, everything he did. And his eyes were so cold, but not like the cold anger of the witches and males she'd known to go cold.
Ambitious, ruthless, dark-Jewelled and powerful, Prince Kolya of Gennii Territory was not a man to cross.
The way he looked at her made her skin crawl.
And when she touched the edges of his mind...
Within the psychic plane, Ronan shuddered.
He was no Black Widow, to take meaning from visions and hints, but he'd been a slave in Belka Territory for seven years, and the resonances Elizabeth had received from Prince Kolya of the Gennii were only too familiar.
Cruelty and abuse, the stunting of gifts and the brutalising of instincts, spirit or strength battered and broken, and fear and hatred staining the relationship between distaff gender and the Blood males who should serve them...
Ronan had seen all that in Belka, attitudes carefully cultured by witches and males who only sought power. He'd watched the power plays between genders, dominating instead of cherishing - and the aftermath of such politics.
Elizabeth Weir had seen hints of the heart and soul of a Warlord Prince who held no allegiance to Protocol or Law, and been terrified for herself and the Territory she would someday rule.
What happened? He'd asked Rodney out on the balcony outside the library six days ago.
And all the Prince had been able to say was: I don't know. She wouldn't tell me.
Ronan knew now.
And Elizabeth knew he knew.
Her shock at his presence flooded them both: resonating along the Red with shock, alarm, and shame. Just as abruptly as he'd been taken in, he was thrown out again.
But now he knew Kolya of the Gennii, if only through Elizabeth's memories.
His mind spun, the worst of his fears relived in her memories. He drew on the strength of his Jewels to give him balance.
Elizabeth barely glanced at him as she answered the Gennii man with all the calm Ronan knew she didn't feel inside. "I expect to hear from Lady Sora, Lord Tyrus."
"And you will," the girl said, stepping forward, her young face determined. "It will not be war, Lady Elizabeth. I won't hold Atlantis responsible for what Lady Emmagen did to my father, but I won't forget what she did to him."
"Then don't forget what your father did to Aiden, either," Elizabeth said fiercely. "Aiden gave his service and his Jewels to see you gain your adult strength. That is no small sacrifice." Green eyes met brown across the floor of the audience chamber, Queen to Queen, and Sora was the one to look away.
In a way, Ronan pitied her. But a part of him was reminded of Ford standing quiet in the hall as Tyrus made his accusation and Sora never said a word in defence. She hadn't acted, and the lack had cost two men their Jewelled strength. Inaction cost, just as much as action - sometimes higher; and that was a difficult lesson to learn.
"Your stay here is complete, Lady Sora," Elizabeth said. "Take your father and your escort with you and return home."
She had the potential for all that she lacked the experience. Ronan gave her that. While her escort opened their mouths to argue, she silenced them with a glance. Even her father seemed taken aback by her sudden authority - taken aback, and a touch afraid.
There was a Queen for Gennii Territory again.
"Then I thank you for your hospitality, Lady Elizabeth," Sora said. "And ask for your witness now. Prince Dex?"
The world tilted and spun on an axis point he hadn't expected - not in the midst of all this.
He hesitated. "Lady Sora?"
"Will you serve?"
Ronan felt the shock of the Gennii escort, Tyrus' outrage and resentment, the flavours of regret, resignation, and anger from the males of Elizabeth's court. They echoed through the room, too strong to be hidden, too fast to be identified individually. But there was no response from the Red, no indication of her thoughts or feelings about this. After his last accidental foray into her memories, she'd set up her barriers, thick and impenetrable to the male who shared her Jewel strength.
It was her response he wanted - the one response he would never have.
Because there was a Queen in Gennii Territory again. A Queen who'd asked his service.
But Ronan could not serve her.
I will serve with honour or not at all.
He couldn't.
He'd lived in an uncertain Territory for too long, watching every action, guarding every thought. After seven years in Belka Territory, he wasn't willing to settle for anything less than a court where he knew the rules.
Gennii Territory was no Belka Territory. With Sora as Queen of the Territory, it would never be Belka; but with Kolya and the male council in Gennii Territory, it would never be safe, either.
Ronan didn't like court politics; that didn't mean he was ignorant of them. Sora might wear the Sapphire, but even the acceptance of the Province Queens wouldn't make her the true ruler in Gennii Territory.
She hadn't defended Ford when her father accused him. She hadn't reined in her father's ire. And Ronan didn't want to serve a Queen who wouldn't protect him when he stood within Protocol and Law.
Sora had made the request in public and with all the weighty formality of Protocol, his answer would have to be the same. "I cannot accept service, Lady," he said, keeping to basic words of the formal refusal. He regretted denying her that service, but for his own sanity's sake, he couldn't. He didn't dare.
Her shock was palpable before anger overrode it. He eyes narrowed and he read the bitterness in her gaze.
"You were willing yesterday."
"I was," he said. "Things have changed since then."
I am Ronan Dex, Red-Jewelled Warlord Prince of the Blood. And I will serve with honour or not at all.
He'd made his decision.
But he wished she hadn't asked him before Elizabeth's court.
The perfect young features were frozen, a scarlet flush tinting her cheeks as she opened her mouth and shut it on her words. "So be it, Prince." The look she gave him was stiff and angry as she stalked out of the room, followed by her escort, her father trailing behind.
Ronan waited until she and her escort were gone, ignoring the glowers of the Gennii, and the speculation of the Atlantis males.
Then he turned to Elizabeth. She was the Queen here, there was no question who ruled.
She met his gaze without flinching, leaking no emotion as they studied each other. Then he inclined his head. "With your permission, Lady?"
A nod was all the answer he waited for before he strode from the room.
--
to Chapter Sixteen
PS. Is there anyone here who would make me some more Liz/Ronan icons? Please?
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Now, all we need is for Liz and Ronan to get a clue...
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I could give it a try. Anything particular you want? Colors or wording or anything?
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Thanks for doing this!
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