Private Tales Honour Is Dead

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachlan found it easy to smile hearing her say that. He grinned, widely at that, and it perhaps looked like it belonged on his handsome face. "Vel Odren is popular with nobles for a holiday or others looking for some time away from the mainland. But the locals know all the good spots. It's a good place to get away and not be surrounded by everyone else."

You could be truly secluded if you wish it. But he did not share that. He wanted her to have freedoms and know that he encouraged her to have them. If she were to be stuck to him for a future, then he was going to ensure she enjoyed a life. And perhaps, then when he had the courage to tell her of the girl he loved above all else, perhaps she would not mind their arrangement.

 

[Odessa Urahil]

She saw the way speaking of his home made his face light up in a way she'd never seen before. Odessa glanced away, back at the plants surrounding the pair. "I beg you, do not tell my sister or my cousins. And do not offer them a place to stay." She spoke, humor in her voice once more, as if their presence was some overbearing nuisance. Oraya, maybe, with how much she criticized Odessa, doting over her every time she returned home and attempting to fill her pockets and bags with food for the Academy.

Her concerns were more on the gossip they'd spread amongst themselves about their little Odessa's peculiar living arrangements with her husband.

"May I travel on my own?" Her eyes remained ahead, focused on something far off in the distance, if they were focused on anything at all. "Alone? I'd like a horse to ride, but I think I might enjoy traveling by sea to somewhere I'd never been."

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachlan laughed.

"Definitely not telling Leander. Might tell Proctor Perri, because I think my cousins would fancy her. As for the rest of your family, it is at your discretion who you allow to visit on the island."

This was good. They were talking somewhat normal now, for the first time since meeting, and he had only wished it had been like this from the start. But they were both Dreadlords now. Not Initiates. Things were different now despite his mistakes, all of which he now wished to atone for. He was doing it for Heidi, but Odessa deserved it too.

His face fell a little, but the joy shone through once again as she asked about riding.

"My Nana has a stable full of excellent horses. She'd love that you would like to ride. And if you wish to sail, then it is best I teach you how... but you are a Urahil." He would like nothing more than to give her all the freedoms, but there was the matter of fact of her birthright that needed to be accounted for. "If you are going to leave Vel Odren on a trip, myself or someone in the family will have to escort you."

To keep her safe. To keep this alliance safe.

 

[Odessa Urahil]

She could not stop her eyes from rolling. "Especially not Perrine. If you value your sanity, you will send your cousins to her. Though if you value your cousin's sanity...perhaps you keep them apart." Her laughter was short, but it seemed a miracle that she managed to make that sound at all. Genuinely, at least. She loved Perri dearly but, like Oraya, she too could be quite overbearing with the twins. Mother figures, she'd realized, to the youngest Urahils who'd only had their father and siblings.

Perhaps it was best that Odessa did not need their guidance for most of the awkward conversations they tried to hold with her for it seemed Odessa's body was not capable of some of those strangest of changes.

She seemed satisfied when he agreed to let her ride, but the other half reminded her of who she was. "I have coin, I don't need to learn to sail." She addressed the first of two problems. "And I am unsure of why I need an escort. I am a Dreadlord. Same as you. I can protect myself." Her face paled slightly at the sound of her lie. Perhaps it had been a truth years ago, but she had been making poor decisions for a while and was still suffering the consequences of them. One such consequence was the faint scar across her throat. The other was standing beside her. "If you still insist, please send your most introverted family member so that I may enjoy travel without unnecessary conversation."

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachlan raised a brow at her, walking ahead just to turn and face her as he walked slowly backwards. "Protect yourself? I never doubted you Odessa. If you are to be my wife it is my duty to ensure you are well. But what you don't know yet is what my family do for a living. The sea is treacherous, and if anyone that wishes to see the Irwins fail, they would harm those in my life." They did it not too long ago, but his feelings about his father kept his tongue from spilling the truths of it all.

His father's death was not one to rattle him, but if Odessa was to come to any harm he would have her family and his own breathing down his neck.

"If you want to sail, then I will accompany you." His magic was potent when in the water.

 

[Odessa Urahil]

Odessa felt his eyes linger on her as he turned to face her. She did not meet his gaze with her eyes, looking icier than ever with her bloodshot sclera. "Then tell me what your family does for a living," she let him speak. "And I'll remind you that my family thrives on the Dreadlords they produce. And those that were not sent to the Academy, for whatever reason, are still very skilled mages. Healers, mostly. Runs in the family except for me...unless you'd consider whatever's wrong with me to be some messed up way to interpret 'healing'."

She looked down at her scabbed hands, opening and closing them to watch the blood flake off. I should take the ring off. She had told herself. Over and over since this engagement was announced. Even now, she could not or would not bring herself to remove it from the ring finger on her left hand.

"I cannot expect you to forgo your daily duties to accompany me any time I wish to travel, but I will allow it. Not that I have much of a choice." She looked up and offered a small smile. A smile she tried to cover her pain with. "Can I trouble you for separate rooms on a ship as well? I presume you'd like time alone for whatever hobbies you have." Take them with us, she failed to say aloud, so that I may enjoy being alone the entire time.

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Kress, she was so up her own arse sometimes.

Lachlan sighed. "Gambling. My family run the best games in every casino. Forgive me for being vigilant. My father was capable a fighter, taught me when I was a boy, and still they slit his throat." He cut her a glance, humour all gone now. She couldn't take this seriously, thinking of only herself instead of the greater picture.

"Fine. Go alone. Prove me wrong if that's what you want." Irritable. He was giving up so much to make his Nana happy with this union, sacrificing his own future and love for this girl that seemed to think she was getting the worse end of this arrangement. "I'm going back inside."

And leave her here.

He stopped walking backwards and breezed past her, his tall frame not growing smaller until he was near the doors leading back inside. He caught sight of the short haired Urahil, throwing him an innocent smile that masked a glint of knowing.

Maybe he ought to talk to this Felix person and straighten things out than be tied down to a young, snooty woman.

 

[Odessa Urahil]

"Oh..." Odessa wasn't sure how to respond to that news. Casinos. Felix really, truly must have hated her if he decided to marry her off to a family who endorsed irresponsibility. A family that preyed on the feeble-minded. The same people to resort to violence when there was nothing else left in their lives. Now she, too, would be a target for those people.

His tone shifted from their friendly conversation back into the Lachlan she'd known. Cold and angry. Part of her was glad he chose to leave. She did not want a repeat of the night they spent together. But the other part felt...something she couldn't place. It was not a good feeling. That much she knew. "Wait." She started after him, but he ignored her.

She followed far behind, but it was not Lachlan she aimed for in her return to the ball.

"You knew." She hissed, gripping Catherine by the shoulders. Her nails dug into her cousin's skin as she forced Cat to look into her eyes. "You all knew. Was marrying me off to a man who lied about sullying me not punishment enough? You knew his family would put my life in danger."