Private Tales Of Sisters & Best Friends

[Rhaener Nadir]

Rhaener Nadir had spent the last two days debating on how he wanted to approach this very sensitive subject with his best friend. Rhaener wanted to be with Sadie Lusce and she had made it exceedingly clear that he needed to ask Saang first. Honestly, Rhaener was not sure why he felt like he was going to shit his pants. Saang and him were best friends. Saang knew he was a good guy. Of course he would allow this courtship.

Courtship. That word. Maybe it was that word that made him a little queasy. He had never been in a relationship before. He was just with women for a little bit and then he wasn't. Sadie wanted more...she deserved more.

So now Rhaener paced one of the sitting rooms at the Lusce Manor as he waited for his best friend. The very expensive bottle of wine that Rhaener had brought was opened and poured. He just needed Saang now.

 

[Saang Lusce]

Lo and behold, the Commander of the Kelpies arrived shortly past lunch looking like a wildfire that had run amok across the plains of the Taagi. Bedecked in his black armor and covered in all manner of blood, dirt, and various stains of questionable origin, he tromped into his home with firelit eyes blazing. Could have been with excitement, could have been with boiling need for violence. Truly it was difficult to say at times.

"My Lord," one of the servants approached him as he pulled off his helmet, "Lord Nadir is awaiting you in the eastern drawing room."

Saang blinked, confusion and surprise shifting to delight. He'd not had a chance to visit with Rhaener recently given his previous mission to recruit more kelpie. Now wasn't exactly a great time considering his present state of dress, but Rhaen had seen him in much, much worse states than this.

Without any further ado, he nodded to the servant and followed after them.

"Lord Commander Lusce," the servant announced his arrival and bowed the armored fae into the room, "will you be needing refreshments my Lord?"

"Just the usual, Vikker," Saang strode in, red hair set into a wildly fraying braid at his back, and worked at removing his right gauntlet, "Rhaen, I wasn't expecting you here. Did I forget something?"

 

[Rhaener Nadir]

"Saang, I like your Sadie. Saang, I like Sadie. I want to...throw up. Fuck!" Rhaener drank from his glass and paced around the sitting room. Saang was going to laugh in his face. This was a terrible idea. He would just leave now and never speak to the Lusce family again. Yes, that would work.

Rhaener turned around when Saang entered and raised a brow at his best friend. "You did not forget anything, my friend. I need to talk to you and I am afraid I would be slowly bled to death if I waited..."

He took another drink and offered a glass to Saang.

Small words. Simple words. You are a gods damned adult, Rhaener Nadir!

Just going for it was best. Otherwise he would lose his nerve.

"Saang, I like Sadie and I want to be with her," Rhaener practically word vomited. It was so fast that he wasn't even sure if the words made sense.

 

[Saang Lusce]

"I've taken a few too many hits to the head lately with the Kelpies so I wouldn't be surprised if I had..." he rubbed gingerly at what had been a bruise hours ago but had already healed.

"Sorry, bled to death?" Rhaen was acting curious. Wasn't like him to be so strange with his word choice. Saang eyed him wonderingly and took the proffered drink, lifting the glass to take a sip and splurting it right back into the glass and all over his face at his friend's next words.

Coughing, sputtering, blinking, the Lusce Master of the Manor wiped a hand over his face before looking back at the other man, "Excuse me?"

 

[Rhaener Nadir]

Rhaener flinched at Saang's reaction.

He finished the rest of his wine in another gulp. He wanted to run away now. Sorry, just kidding. Bye.

"I have feelings for Sadie and I want to..."

He paused. Breath in, breath out. Say the word.

"I want to...court her..."

Saang knew Rhaener's history. If anyone in the world would be apprehensive about letting this man near a younger sister, it would be Saang.

Saang also knew that Rhaener had never used the word court in his life. He had never dated anyone. He had never been in a relationship. He was not a relationship person.

 

[Saang Lusce]

All manner of expression faded from the Commander's face as he looked upon his friend and felt the gears suddenly catch. For a fleeting moment, Saang offered Rhaen an amused smirk, "You're joking...?"

Perhaps he had been spending too much time with Paetr - a man who turned the most insidious of things into a gaffe. But no, his read on his friend's emotions revealed enough of the truth to tell him he was wrong. A disharmonious ah peeped from between his lips just before he took a drink of wine. After a moment to collect his thoughts and herd his own emotions back into some semblance of control, he motioned toward a nearby chair.

"Sit down, Rhaener."

He waited until the man had done so, delicately brushed a wild curl of scarlet from his face, took a turn across the room, then slowly strode back. Saang came to a stop at the opposite side of the room from his friend and verily did he claim the overstuffed armchair awaiting him - an act that would no doubt garner the utter flaming ire from his mother once she saw the mess his soiled armor was about to leave on the ornate embroidery.

"You mustn't speak a word of this to anyone, but my father intends to offer Sadie to the Prince."

 

[Rhaener Nadir]

Rhaener knew as soon as Saang told him to sit down that there was no good news.

Unfortunately, his sitting lasted a whole minute before he jumped to his feet at the next sentence that slipped through his best friends lips.

"The fuck he is!" Rhaener practically yelled. At this point, he did not even care that he couldn't have Sadie - he did care but that was less important at this moment. What was important was their jackass of a father was going to offer Sadie to the Prince.

Rhaener felt sick. It was not nerves either. It was the genuine need to throw up at the thought of Sadie marrying either of the Princes.

"What do I need to offer him to change his mind?" What do I need to offer so I do not need to whisk her away to the Winter Court in the middle of the night. "She will not marry him. She cannot marry him. Do you know what happened two nights ago?" No, of course he didn't. He was out doing whatever he did that resulted in him returning covered in blood.

"I had to save her from three men, Saang! Three men who wanted to touch her, hurt her...She had bruises..." He stopped. His voice was getting louder with every word.

 

[Saang Lusce]

Saang's brows slowly disappeared into his hairline as he sat, in a state of mildly affronted shock at his friend's outburst. That was a lot to unpack. There were a lot of feelings flying around and he was beginning to feel saturated by them.

He raised an armored hand toward the other man, leveling a tone and sensation of calm upon the room, "Keep your voice down, Raen. I don't want this getting out just yet. And bite your tongue - those are treasonous words in the wrong ears."

The girls had a history of ... well, making stupid decisions when given the opportunity. Siobhan had already shown that. He couldn't afford another debacle of that caliber, especially not where the Prince was concerned. He sighed and looked to Rhaener with a frown, "I was not aware of that incident. Thank you for helping her - if only I could be a hundred places at once..."

If only things were different. As a High Lady in any other Court such things would likely never have happened. But here it was all his sisters could do to go out without him or Rhaener as a Chaperone to ensure their safety. It shouldn't be this way. It wouldn't be, if it were up to him.

"Is she alright? Is there anything I can do?"

 

[Rhaener Nadir]

Saang's raised hand and words seemed to calm Rhaener slightly. He knew it was Saang's affinity but the stupid shit worked every time. It was also irritated Rhaener every time. Every. Single. Time. There was nothing Rhaener could do against it either.

"You are okay with this? You are okay with her being used as a tool for breeding? She will never be loved, Saang, and she deserves loved." His voice had come down to a more even tone but the edge and anger was still there. He was mad.

"Yes, she is alright, because I happened to be there. I almost wasn't there." I was almost dead, he thought with a small grimace. "Saang, what am I supposed to do? She wants to be with me as well. She is the one that told me I had to talk to you before we could move forward..."

Rhaener was so frustrated. Frustrated and angry.

 

[Saang Lusce]

Saang's frown deepened as Rhaener's anger threatened to incense him as well. His armor creaked and clattered as he leaned an elbow onto a knee where he sat, planting his face in his hand while the words continued to fill his ears.

For a few moments he let the silence linger. The heavy weight of duty to the crown competed against that of duty to his family. He couldn't always win at both, sometimes sacrifices had to be made ... and he hated thinking of it in that way. Sacrificing a sister. In the end he didn't know how else to define it.

"Well I am grateful that she did, or this could have gone very, very badly. There's nothing to be done. You know as well as I do that marriage of High Nobles is a matter of the Royal Court. If you do anything to interfere, you put our entire family at risk. You remember what happened to the Sekova family, don't you?"

Imprisoned. Beheaded. Tortured. Of course that had been in the day of the Mad King and Kana'ti wasn't quite as bad ... yet even despite his long-standing friendship with the Prince, Saang wasn't about to step out of line. He knew better. They all knew better.

"We can only hope Kana'ti will dismiss her. She will be presented alongside five other Courtiers, so there is a chance he may choose someone else."

The pressure for the Prince to take a legitimate wife had grown strong, especially now after the last major battle against Tulok. The Prince needed an heir to carry on his bloodline should the worst come to pass, and he needed one soon.

 

[Rhaener Nadir]

Of course he remembered the Sekova family. They had been made an example of what not to do. The Lusce's may not be his blood but they were his family. His only family. He would never do anything to hurt them. Ever.

"How long do I have to wait, Saang? How long until she knows?" He took his seat again and he could feel himself truly starting to calm down. There were five other women. There was a chance that she wouldn't be chosen. He could work with those odds.

Rhaener picked up his glass and took a long drink before asking his next question. "Let us start this conversation over since I have you here and you grow harder to pin down everyday. Let us just say that the Prince picks someone else..." One more drink. "Do I have your blessing to court your sister?"

 

[Saang Lusce]

"A month, I think. I will know more in a few days time when I return to the palace and meet with my father."

He ran his hand over his face, wiping away the detritus of emotion he felt lingering in his eyes and noted that he needed to shave. A week out tracking down wyld kelpie schools with Ianthe had left him tired and in need of a good grooming.

At Rhaener's next question his lips pressed together in a thin line and he pushed himself back to his feet, "Until this is all settled and she is free of this claim, I cannot give you my blessing, but please know that I wish I could."

She did deserve to be loved and cared for. Saang had no doubt she would be very happy with Rhaener - not to mention safe. If only it could be so simple as giving his blessing and letting them live their dream together. Not in the Night Court. Nothing was ever easy or simple.

 

[Rhaener Nadir]

"Fine," Rhaener said grudgingly. The hardest part was going to be not being about to tell Sadie any of this. He may ruin whatever they may have had just because of that simple fact. If he saw her, he would tell her. He couldn't see her.

"I will see you when I come to ask again, Saang." Rhaener clasped his best friends armored shoulder then disappeared from the room.

All he had was hope that the Prince would not choose Sadie.

 

[Sadie Lusce]

Sadie was upstairs in her room. A room with a set of floor to ceiling windows overlooking the cliff their manor perched upon. And while those panes took the brunt of the storm giant assaults, the inside was warm, organized, and smelled of old parchment and fresh flowers. Over-filled book cases lined most walls with spines of varying sizes and colors. An antique desk sat pushed against a corner. Two chairs framed a fireplace and mantle. A small table perched by one of the chairs Sadie sat in. Index finger pressing against the pawn on a fae-chess set.

A set gifted to her by her mother long ago. When Shyreen saw her daughter had a sharp and clever mind and a thirst for learning not easily quenched. Sadie knew Rhaener was downstairs talking to her brother. Asking THE question. And she couldn't quite unwind the bundle of nerves growing in her stomach.

Attention drifted away from the board piece and went to the book opened on her lap. Of War and Peace: Summer and Winter Courts Volume I. Fingers lifted and brushed across her chin. A frown drew on her lips. How often had she and Saang sat in this room together as she grew up? Reading together. Brushing each other’s hair. Playing chess. Painting each other’s nails.

If things moved forward with Rhaener how she hoped they would, those times might be ending sooner than later. And if Saang didn’t knock on her door shortly, she’d leave her sanctuary and go find him.

 

[Saang Lusce]

Was Saang glad that Rhaener was there to save his sister from danger? Of course.

Was he also glad that his best friend and his eldest sister had grown a affection for one another that could lead to wonderful things for them both? Absolutely.

Was he about to go ruin Sadie's newly budding dream with the news after shoving a dull blade into his best friend's heart?

No. Oh fuck no. Especially not covered in dirt, grime, blood, and Gods knew what else from his jaunt in the frozen seas with Ianthe. Saang exited the study and hung a right, heading off to his wing of the manor where a large gilded tub full of steaming hot water and a bottle of very good vintage wine awaited him.

 

[Sadie Lusce]

She was perhaps one of the more patient sisters of the family. And so, Sadie Lusce managed to finish a few chapters of the Summer and Winter volume. Finger trailed along the text.

...and then the greatly benevolent Queen Mab fell into her lover's bed to...

Sadie blinked. No, no that couldn't be right. She snapped the romance novel closed that had been on top of the war histories volume. Hiding it away back on her shelf. Long legs stretched as she went to leave her room.

Why hadn't Rhaener come to find her to give her the news?

Where was her dearest brother?

The smallest of frowns ticked on her lips as her feet wandered toward her brother's wing. If he'd just been with Ianthe, in the field, she knew exactly where he would be and what he might be enjoying. Well, hopefully not what Queen Mab was about to enjoy.

Knuckles curled outside his closed bathroom door and she hesitated. She took a breath, bracing herself to be strong. Not because of the conversation she assumed he'd just had with Rhaener but because of what happened to her a few nights ago. She didn't want him to feel how she'd felt when those men had...

Another small breath then a knock.

"Brother? Can we talk?"

 

[Saang Lusce]

The Warden of the Kelpies and Commander of the Prince's Cavalry had just slipped into the most wonderful hot bath he could have ever hoped for when the knock came at his door. Unlike the erstwhile Erlking, Saang was not one to begrudge an audience with his dear siblings, even if he was up to his neck in perfumed bubbles.

Seascape Dreams - a bathbomb scent he'd picked up in the Royal Market on his last trip to Kana'ti's palace. Honestly, they had all the best stuff there. It was such a shame he couldn't convince Ianthe into a bath with him. He really thought she'd enjoy it. Ah well.

"Sadie?" he called back over an indulgent sigh as he eased into a comfortable position in his tub, "Of course, come in. I'm in the bath."

 

[Sadie Lusce]

With all of her siblings, Sadie would claim she was probably closest with her brother. They’d had a hundred or so years together before the others came along. So she didn’t hesitate when he said to come in.

Nose twitched at the smell as the warm, steamy air enveloped her.

“Is that new soap?” Then she saw the state of his hair. A quiet tut-tut left her throat. “Oh Saang your hair. This will not do.” With practice of having done this before, she was by his bath in a chair with a brush in her lap. Fingers beginning to gently work out his braid and all the knots.


It was…filthy. A venerable bird’s nest.

“You know I worry about you, right?” He was far older in years but that never stopped her from sliding into the role of caregiver and doting sister.

 

[Saang Lusce]

"It is," he smiled dolefully, gently lifting a large bubble from the foam on a fingertip, "Seascape Dreams."

It was aromatic in the way the sea was on a bright, sunny afternoon. He could almost smell the sand beneath his feet and the salt on the air - sorely interrupted by the state of his hair. Saang's smile wilted into a lamenting pout, leaning against the rim of the tub where his head rested to look back at her, "Is it that bad?" Judging by the need for a chair ... it was pretty bad.

If only he could take a sister with him on his missions. A terrible idea on the whole in so many ways, but it briefly amused him to think his hair would never see a bad day again. Honestly, he kept it long for his sisters because they enjoyed preening him so, and he so enjoyed to be preened. What better way to bond?

"Worry? About me? Noh," he reached a hand back to gently paw at his sister's chin, "It's my job to worry about you and everyone else."

And boy did he have a lot of reasons to worry.

"Seems I have even more reasons than I thought. Rhaener told me what happened ... Sadie, you know it's not safe to go out unattended..."

 

[Sadie Lusce]

Fingers worked the red tangles free gently and deftly. He really had the best hair. She would readily admit it.
A flinch as his fingers made contact with her chin. For a moment she heard the pounding of a bass, flashing lights and a drunken, possessive voice as rough fingers gripped her chin to pull it closer...

Digits paused along his hair even as sudsy Seascape Dreams bubbles stuck to her skin, giving her a small bubbly beard. She blinked, reigning in her emotions or trying to. It seemed emotional scars always took longer to heal than physical ones.

"So you did speak with him," she found her voice, the back of one hand lifting to rub her bubble-beard away. Saang would know the club would be the last place Sadie would want to venture. "I know," Sadie admitted finally. Quietly.

"Priscilla and Page wanted to go and thought it might be safer if a third went." She'd wanted to be there for her friends. "A momentary lapse of judgement separated me from them."

Fingers paused in his hair. "It happened so fast," she frowned, thinking about how the males had just slid into the booth. Claimed what they'd thought as an easy target. Fingers lifted to massage gently at his scalp. "Brother dear, I need you to dunk."

Then she could begin brushing his untangled locks.

Once he resurfaced, if he did indeed slip under the soapy-waters, he'd hear her ask. "What did you say to Rhaener?"

 

[Saang Lusce]

There would be no hiding that momentary lapse of comfort and the sudden spike of anxiety. The brief interaction was so naked and open, Saang nearly flinched himself in response. A deep frown settled over his face as he offered his sister an apologetic look. He would have to be more mindful and aware, but damn if it wasn't all kinds of confusing keeping each sister's quirks and fears and defenses straight. Perhaps he was spending too much time away from home... not that it could really be helped.

"Are Priscilla and Page alright?" he asked gently, knowing that his family's friends were just as important as family itself. The girls needed those friendships when so much else was restricted from them.

Ah, but the dunk. Saang smirked, smoothly slipped beneath the suds and reappeared moments later with water streaming down his face and a crown of bubbles on his head.

"I thought, 'Rhaener, you're a beautiful man and I must profess my undying love to you.'" A slender finger lifted to scoop the bubbles from his brow that had begun to descend down the bridge of his nose, "I thanked him, of course. I would expect nothing less from a man who is brother to us both in heart even if not in blood."

There was a sly sort of look on his expression, the sort he kept when he was being purposefully coy. He was being baited, didn't mean he had to bite.

 

[Sadie Lusce]

"They're fine. They mostly wanted to know more about Rhaener than if I was okay," a half roll of her eyes and slight shake of her head. She couldn't blame them though. Rhaener was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak place.

Golden eyes widened at Saang's words. A tsk of her lips. "Brother, that is NOT funny." Her hands gently pulled his wet and rinsed locks free from the back of the tub and across one of her forearms. Then she began brushing his silky ribbons as if she could work out all his worries and fears even while her own were bubbling to the surface.

Brush. Smooth.

Brush

Brush-brush.

"You are incorrigible, you know that? You know what I'm asking."

 

[Saang Lusce]

Saang chuckled as he wiped his face free of water and eased himself back into a comfortable position, "Can you blame them? He's such a handsome fellow..."

Plus he had that dark and mysterious air about him. That shifty, suspicious gaze. That keen sort of self-assurance. The ladies really ate it up. Saang didn't blame them at all, personally.

He offered his sister a wane smirk while she brought the luster back to his crimson locks, "Yes, yes. I know what you're asking." But his smile faded as his thoughts drifted back to everything that had filled his week. His journey with Ianthe. The Kelpies. Thinking about it all made the ache in his heart return and he wasn't certain it was something he'd be able to escape for very long.

"You know I can't speak on such things," he told her quietly, "the decision lies with father."

 

[Sadie Lusce]

He was handsome.

She felt color flare up her pale skin at the thought of Rhaener gaze. His eyes as he asked if she was alright. That dark hair her hands had brushed out of his face. The dopey little smile he got when he saw her wearing one of his shirts the other morning...

The brush fumbled in her hands at Saang's last words. "That's what you told him?" Voice strained. Sadie didn't hate easily but if there was one male she did it was him. Elegant fingers tightened around the brush handle. It wasn't entirely hatred. Perhaps a mixture of foreboding and defeat. Frustration folded in.

"There's nothing you can do?" There was no question to the pleading tone in her voice. Their father didn't love them like he loved Saang. He barely showed his face to her. Her sisters. And when he did it was nothing more than looking at them like prized beasts to bring in coin.

As her emotioned churned within her, her desperation and tiny flame of hope there was a sudden, preternatural breeze in the bathroom.

 

[Saang Lusce]

"Yes, that is what I told him," Saang replied, "he already knew this..." That was just how these things worked. The Patriarch made the decisions and arrangements for marriage in the family and their father had decided that while he would have much rather had 7 sons, he would make the best use of his daughters through strategically arranged marriages.

Saang had been spared any such fate for the fact that he was his father's only son. As High Nobility of the Night Court, this meant Saang had his pick of the poppies, so to say. He'd thought, years ago, that he'd found a suitable woman to be his wife ... but she turned out to be a heinous bitch who mistreated his sisters and offended his mother.

She'd been summarily dismissed.

"I'm leaving tomorrow for the capital to meet with him. I will speak to him on Rhaener's behalf, but Sadie-" Saang gently reached for her hand that so tightly held the hairbrush, "I cannot make any promises."