WROTE IN RED ;;

[Filter: Private, in Atsirian]

She looks at me with those eyes, that curl of her lip, and she dares to ask me if I'm still feeling tweaked.

I am not tweaked. I have risen as high as a man can in this forsaken hell of a country. I am King of Atsiria. I sit on your Council as Joseph Eshene. I'm at the right hand of two Houses at once -- the two most powerful Houses in Atsiria! And I can slit the throat of the Jewel of the Desert fifty times a day if I chose to. I killed your first husband so that I would have this position, Your Majesty.

I am not tweaked. I am angry.

... it's Reiz. He's the source of so much --

Something has to be done. I won't bear it. I won't.

[Filter: Private, in Atsirian]

Westa was right, my little love. You are a whore in the bedroom, aren't you? I suppose it was worth the wait, in the end. I've never seen a woman who smiles quite so wide whilst being impaled...

Lovely.

Now here's to securing my position quickly. An Atsir blooded Princess to become Jewel of the Desert after my love passes on.

[Filter: Karlesta, in Atsirian]

I'm glad that, in the end, we both became so very happy.

[Atsirian]

Ah, well, I'm a bundle of nerves!

But I'm eager, of course. Ahah, how could I not be? I'm about to marry the most beautiful woman in Eire and become her consort! For all the butterflies in my stomach, this will surely be the best day of my life.

I only wish my mother could be here for this. Ah, and my father, of course... and my sisters. It's been a difficult time, thinking about them. But I like to think they're here in spirit... watching the Phoenix and the Hyena join at last.

[Filter: Westa, in Atsirian]

She's been acting strangely all day. I don't like it.

[Filter: Private, in Atsirian]

This wasn't what I signed up for.

[Filter: Private, in Atsirian]

Sands alive, I doubt politics have ever been so juvenile before this.

[Filter: Edalene, in Atsirian]

My dear Edalene ... are you ever going to free your poor brother? I know that you missed him, tonight. Badly, in fact. Hearing that story, I could see you looking out past the curtains, out to the moons, and I know it was him you were thinking of ...

Surely you can make this easier on everyone if you just have mercy.

[Filter: Private, in Atsirian]

Dragons, what a long day. And with the Queen so exhausted and drained and in need of support, I can't chance going home. I should be here, in case she decides that tonight, perhaps, she'll let her guard down and finally allow me into her damned bed ...

[Filter: Westa, in Atsirian]

I won't be coming home tonight, sister, but you wouldn't forgive me if I didn't get today's information to you as soon as possible.

Write when you see this, and I'll attempt to disentangle myself from the Queen's loving embrace. Unless, of course, she finally deigns me with an actual loving embrace, in which case I am afraid that you'll have to wait. But please, do. This will be worth your time.

[Filter: Westa and Altair, in Atsirian]

Ah, while I can see that the two of you are quite engaged in ... one another, in one way or another, as you have been for most of the day, it is getting quite late, and I don't believe that either of you are quite ready, yet. Her Majesty the Queen will surely find a way to make a scene if we're late ...

If I may pull you away from your ... interactions?

[Filter: Private, in Atsirian]

Well, she's thinking about it now, at least.

I am not good at this. I'm much better at being seduced than doing the chasing, myself. I don't enjoy it and I don't have a feel for it. But ... that didn't go so badly. And if I can put the onus into her ...

Well, I can hope for the best.

[Filter: Westa, in Atsirian]

Ah, sister, really, I must know. Why is your pet moping about like someone told him the Festival was cancelled? I swear, he gets worse every day. Did you forget to feed him, again?

[Atsirian]

My, it seems as if everyone I've spoken to today is going to Dame Jevaeya's party at the Karnach estate tonight. I don't know why I had assumed it was a smaller event, but clearly, I was quite wrong! I suppose Edalene and I being invited was an indicator to the truth, but I confess, I'm still having a difficult time adjusting to being quite so center to Razen's whirlwind, ah haha ...

In any case, it's a good thing that my queen clarified the situation to me, or I might have embarrassed her quite horribly, this evening!

[Filter: Private, in Atsirian]

Is she trying to send me a statement?

I know that she was interested in me. None of it was feigned. She found me unbearably attractive, and my smile melted her heart. Every little girlish part of her fluttered when I looked at her. I am completely certain of that.

What is it that she's playing at like this, with Shadda?

It's not that she's claiming varying preferences, like me, like so many of us. It's an Atsirian thing, isn't it? We're flexible and we're discrete, but that's not what she's doing. After all this time she's spend being actively and publically repulsed by every man who's shown her interest, this is a statement. For her followers? ... or for someone else.

I know her, the spiteful little bitch. She is trying to say something to me, say that she never really cared. She only cares for the feminine touch and never had any need for men. She was toying with me in the way that women do for their amusement. She was never really taken in. It was all a game.

I know she's lying. I felt her shudder against me when I kissed her.

But what will others think? How many know that she courted me, in Cleraine? Is this a statement about my suitability? Will she attempt to damage my chances at the throne?

Or is she just flaunting? The way she's showboating around with the girl on her arm every time she's seen in public now, it's --

-- I won't let her get to me. That's for weaker men, men who let themselves be strung along by these games. We're ruled by our tempers and our passions, that's what they say about us, and I refuse to be that.

I'm going to be a King, I'll be more than her and I'll be better. It doesn't matter. None of it matters.