AU for _deadlydance_, set immediately after "The Price"

[birthrightgreen]

She wasn't nervous. She had nothing to be nervous about. It wasn't like it was a romantic evening. They'd just worked so hard on the case, working to catch the rabid witch who'd been slaughtering innocent males. And they had, with Jaenelle's help. Now Jaenelle and Daemon were back on their honeymoon and she...

She was here in Amdarh, back how she had been, nursing the bruises Falonar had left. So, why, exactly was she changing her dress? The one she had on was perfectly acceptable. She was going out dancing with a friend. She could use a friend right now. What she couldn't use was a male thinking he was just going to sweep in and carry her off.

Not that he was probably thinking that, but she was suspicious.

He was a male, and years of seeing them abused by her own sex still hadn't made her trust them as a gender. Then again, she didn't trust most people.

With a growl at herself, she finally settled on a black dress with enough slink to impress and a enough swirl to make a statement on the dance floor, no matter how elegant and formal. Hair pinned half up, the rest left down. If people stared at her ears, so be it.

She was ready. It was going to be fun. She kept repeating that. Fun. With a friend.

Just a friend. He wasn't expecting anything. He wouldn't be that foolish.

She just wished she knew what he wanted.

Comments

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She called her wrap in, sliding it around her shoulders when they stepped outside. "Thank you." She sipped at the wine, taking his arm again, looking out over the city below.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

Rainier almost pointed out that he would have gotten it for her, and happily. But a woman who tilts her chin like that didn't need his assistance with such things. All the time.

Perhaps just every other one?

He could wait until he was needed, he decided. Perhaps as soon as for a second glass of wine.

"You are welcome."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"I'm having a good time," she told him with a smile, glancing up at him. "Far better than the quiet evening I'd envisione."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

Rainier took a small sip of his own wine, thoughtful.

"I thought I was not interupting any plans?"

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She chuckled. "No plans, sugar. Just me and a hot bath and bed for a week. This is better."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

"An entire week?" There was a sliver of concern in his voice. "Are you that drained?

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She started to snarl, checked the urge. She hadn't meant to exhibit a weakness.

"Just a thought, sugar." She sipped her wine, eyeing him over the rim. "I don't think I'd be keeping up with you on that dancfloor if I was drained."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

Rainier made a decided effort to let the moment pass, and accepted her compliment of sorts.

"I haven't danced like that in a long while."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

Surreal smiled. "I'm not sure I've ever danced quite like that."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

Some line, some part of his form pulled straighter.

Pleased.

And he felt the need to share, a least some things, with the woman next to him.

"The pleasures and play of most Courts have even made dancing a complicated thing. "Dangerous. We aren't allowed to enjoy it for what it is."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"They make it just another game," she said quietly. She looked up at him with a slight frown. "I would have thought it was different here..."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

"It is, mostly," Rainier conceeded. "But I am not always here. And even then those ways have a way of creeping in. You saw my dance with Daemon."

His tone left it open for Surreal's opinion.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She flushed slightly, warmth creeping through her at the memory, covering it with a sip of wine.

"I did. Very...dangerous in its own way."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

Rainier took a sip of his own wine.

"But very different from tonight."

She had to know which one he prefered.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

Her look was more guarded, uncertainty flickering in her eyes.

"You don't think this is dangerous?" Slightest hint of a challenge, even as she reminded herself that it wasn't supposed to be. Dancing. Fun. Friends.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

Rainier's silenece was carefully measured. Even as he look one last sip from his glass, and finished the wine.

"I think it can be." He was direct and controled, understanding that the tango might not be over after all. "But I also think we have control -- I enjoy dancing with you Surreal."

If his last words seemed especially pale, there was at the the beginning of the truth to them.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She nodded slightly, watching him carefully.

"Having control is always crucial." Keeping it more so.

Then she smiled. "I enjoy dancing with you Rainier."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

He summoned a second glass of wine for them both.

"Then for control," Rainier agreed, handing Surreal her glass. "And for dancing." He collected his own.

He was pleased.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She took the glass with a smile, raising it in acknowledgement of the toast.

A change of subject, only slightly less dangerous. Casual small talk, except the annoying niggling that said she really wanted to know and ought not.

"Is Amdarh your home?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

"Is was." Rainier played with them stem of his glass. "Then he wasn't. And now it is again."

He looked to Surreal again.

"And where do you call home these days?"

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

And that told her nothing. She studied him more sharply.

"I've rarely called anywhere home. I suppose the Hall comes close enough."

Rarely. Never. There was an apartment once that had been home, but that was spoiled.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

He nodded.

"Do you go there often?"

There were days that he missed it. But then, what he had known didn't really exhist anymore, before Coven was Circle.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She shrugged slightly. "I lived there for a while, then was with the Eryiens in Askavi. After I left there, Daemon told me I could use the townhouse whenever I wished. I've only been back to the Hall a couple of times since."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

The surprise passed over Rainier's face before he could think to hide it.

"You lived in Askavi?" He hadn't known that. He did know she was close to Lucivar, but that was all. And it suddenly occured to Rainier that he had been cataloging information about the woman across from him for some time now.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"For almost the full year after Jaenelle...did what she did." Surreal's voice was casual, mostly non-committal. "I'd signed my contract with Lucivar after all."

Not that that was why she'd gone.