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]

"You seem...different." The tone was grudging, and her eyes betrayed mild distrust of that appearance. A deep-seated wariness. "More willing to be pains in the ass."

Which meant fussing. But fussing males generally took no for an answer instead of forcing themselves on someone.

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

"It's not something that we are willing to be," he felt the need to correct. "It is what we are. Surely the boy you saved today taught you that? Blood, and Service."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She nodded slightly, in acknowledgment.

"It's been lost in Terreille. Males are a threat."

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

His eyes shadowed.

"That isn't entirely their fault."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She bit back the snarling comment that sprang to her lips.

"Not all of them."

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

He openly studied her.

"But some of them?"

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"What the witches of Terreille did to males for centures twisted a lot of them up where females were concerned," Surreal conceded, thinking of Lucivar and Daemon, eyes far away. "But something was already wrong with those that delighted in preying on children."

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

"And what was wrong with those there, can still be wrong here." His voice was deceptively calm. "But it is not something that is tolerated. Or allowed to continue."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"Whereas there, it was encouraged," she said quietly.

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

His voice was not dangerously low.

"We take care of our own."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"They're lucky then." Her hand wasn't trembling when she reached for her glass. At least not much.

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

He watched her, expression almost empty.

"It isn't luck."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"Isn't it? Luck that you haven't had a powerful Queen come along who's corrupted your society so that even those not actively participating have ceased to care."

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

"I won't deny that we have been blessed to know at least fairly competant leadership at word, and -- inspiring at best. But the work they do? The work I do? To ensure a more peaceful, balanced life when possible. The determination to eliminate any threats to that life as quickly and cleanly as possible? That is not luck."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She tilted her head, studying him, eyes still shuttered and unreadable. "Isn't it luck that you were born into a position where you could do that work? Where you had the freedom to act, to keep people safe?"

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

"There is who I am, and what I am, and those are two different things. My birth is what I am, my life is who I am. And the Jewels are my bridge."

Different things to different people. Different people to himself.

Rainier knew that game.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She nodded slightly, though. "That's not really what I meant, sugar. Nevermind."

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

He knew he openly bristled.

He didn't like being brushed off.

"Nevermind?"

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She sighed, finishing off her wine. "It doesn't matter anymore. Jaenelle fixed it."

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

Rainier watched her intently.

"It matters to you. Now."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"It shouldn't. It's over."

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

He managed to look casual.

"Sometimes that is not how things go."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes it is." She was sorry she'd ever started the conversation.

"Tell me about your family?"

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

He considered pushing her.

Then he remembered what the day had been to her.

"My parents were married, though perhaps they shouldn't have been." Rainier paused, momentarily surprised by his own honesty. "I'm their only child, though I do have a half sister."

He took a sip of his wine.

"Now. Something about you."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

Only years of training kept her from throwing the bare facts at him.

"My mother died when I was a child." She glanced at him. "It's possible you met her at the Hall? Her name was Titian."

A slight smile. "I'm an only child, as far as I know."

An even smaller smile, though somthing strange glittered in her eyes. "My father died last year."