Private Tales The Past Returns

[Calliope]

Her eyes followed him as he rose, and the frown that marred her brow loosened slightly as he appeared to agree to giving her the blood that she needed. The moment he mentioned he was leaving however, she was surprised that her first reaction was not joy, but panic.

"Leaving?!... And you're going where exactly? For how long?" she demanded as she stood too.

 

[Tal]

"Ah, it gladdens me so to hear you panicked at my absence." Talmanes jested, taking the cigar from his lips and frowning at it for a moment.

His head shook, dismissing a thought.

"Don't worry too much." He told her. "I"ll be back within a month or two."

Since the first minute they'd been back Talmanes had been planning. There was only one path to get what he wanted, and it did not begin within this city. There were too many snakes in the grass in Tyr, too many alleyways and dark corners to watch.

No, there was something he had to do first.

Placing the cigar back between his lips Tal turned. "If I'm honest, I thought you'd be glad."

 

[Calliope]

Calliope's gaze hardened as Talmanes jested about her panic and his forthcoming absence. She despised the hold he had over her, the power he wielded as the source of her life. Every moment spent in his presence was a reminder of her entrapment, her reliance on his blood for survival. Deep down, she yearned for his departure, for a chance to break free from his suffocating grip.

Her voice carried a touch of bitterness as she responded, her words laced with a mix of resentment and apprehension. "You know very well why I'm panicked, and it has nothing to do with how much I'll miss your presence." she sneered. "Do you plan on leaving me enough for two months? Where are you going? What if you don't return in that time. Or at all?!" her voice raised, and she could have sworn she felt the slightest of trembles under her feet.

Her arms folded and her fingers dug into her flesh. The thought of being at the mercy of his whims, of relying on his blood to sustain her existence, filled her with both rage and a gnawing sense of helplessness. At least with him gone she'd have more time to find a way out of this, but she needed enough.

 

[Tal]

He smiled, turning away from Calliope and regarding the nearby window. Acting as though the sight of their home was something he suddenly found himself very interested. It was a full minute before he finally answered her, infuriating silence filling the room as he stayed quiet just to aggravate her.

A game. A childish one. "As touched as I am for you to worry about my safety."

Talmanes said as he turned back towards Calliope.

"I survived the Wylds, a collar around my throat, and everything after." He mused, almost as though he were trying to tell himself he would not be dying. "I'll be back."

The Prince assured his wife. "You'll have enough until then."

Though not too much. Bleeding himself would weaken him, and he also didn't want Calliope to be buzzing with energy while he was gone. She had just openly declared her intent to work against him, not that he could blame her, but he also certainly wouldn't be helping her.

 

[Calliope]

Calliope huffed as Talmanes continued his infuriating game, revelling in the silence and dragging out his response. She clenched her fists, her frustration mounting with each passing second. The condescending tone in his voice only fueled her anger, and she met his gaze, her eyes blazing with a mixture of defiance and resentment.

"Surviving past ordeals doesn't grant you invincibility, Talmanes," she retorted, her voice laced with a cold determination. "I've witnessed your arrogance and recklessness firsthand. Don't assume that your return is guaranteed. Fate has a way of humbling even the most conceited."

A surge of anger coursed through her veins as she listened to his dismissive assurance. He would provide her with enough blood to sustain her, but never too much, always seeking to keep her on a short leash. It was another display of his control, his manipulation over her very existence.

 

[Tal]

Tal stopped, his teeth clicking together. "I assume nothing."

He bit back at Calliope.

"I know." The words broke the mask. The calm confidence that he had been playing with shattering as he replied to her with genuine ire. "Everything I've done. Everything I've been through. Everything that was done to me."

His exile, the sealing of his magics.

Before he left this city he had been a fool, a troublemaker and a disgrace. There wasn't any denying that, but he hadn't been what he was now. No. His time away had forged him into that. The streak of cruelty that he now wore as a point of pride having been carved into him by his fathers actions.

"It doesn't make me invincible." Tal said, stalking towards Calliope. "I'm not a fool, I'm not reckless, I'm a survivor."

He told his wife as he closed in on her. "I know what I'm doing."

Talmanes insisted, and not for the first time. He'd had this same argument with Volstus, except the Ogre's anger had come from an entirely different place than Calliope's.