Love, Tea & Scones

A Midnight Visit

General Alexander finally removed the cat from Terra but not without a few people watching their interaction. Terra decided that she had enough of standing about with people watching her every move so she decided to find Sir Darryl, who was trying to diffuse an argument between King Gael and General Alexander. Terra knew it was wrong but she wanted to know what they were arguing about so she hid behind an apple tree and listened. "You just can't help yourself can you Silverharrow!" King Gael hissed venomously "Any time you see some attractive woman you just can't help but try to get into bed with her can you!". "At least I can keep my hands to myself, unlike you!" General Alexander spat back. Terra peeked her head around the tree a tiny bit and  watched as the King shoved Sor Darryl aside and grabbed the general by the collar of his shirt. "What did you just say to me you!" He hissed threateningly. General Alexander lowered his head so that his eyes were at the same level as King Gael's. "At least I don't grab women like you did when your angry your majesty, did you really think that the way you handled Miss Riverglade when you were looking for answers about that man who was running a drug empire would not be spread about the place like everything else you've done!" He sneered victoriously as he thought he had won the argument. A cruel smile grew on the King's face as he laughed long and hard. "At least I am not so desperate that I go to a woman's balcony at night, bed her and then sneakily off before she woke up!" He whispered dangerously.

General Alexander's went pale and so did Terra's who was still hiding behind the tree. "Did you think I wouldn't know that you were sneaking around my home?, looking for something you had no business seeing!". The General tried to recover quickly from that unexpected reveal, "Then why have you kept her around?" He questioned quickly as he tried to get his bearings again. Wickedness and cruelty shone in the king's eyes and his smile was like some predator was about to devour his prey. "She's easily lead, tell her to do something and she'll do it without asking questions, or maybe it's the fact that out of all the women I am currently seeing she is the only one to openly admit to me that she is more than willing to bear multiple heirs for me, your sister seems to think that having one heir is 'suitable enough" . Terra felt like she was going to be sick, 'easily lead' was she really that easy to push around. Her pride didn't want to admit it but she hasn't really been pushing back on the things she didn't want to do like the others had. For example the king made up a challenge a couple of weeks ago that involved identifying flowers, Lady Aylin had been the one to question the need to have a challenge that and what was the point of it. Terra half expected the king to reprimand her but he actually explained his reasoning behind it and there wasn't a hint of coldness or anger in his voice when he did it. Terra had spent the rest of that day in disbelief over what happened, if it had been her who had asked the question she was certain she would have been reprimand for 'being difficult'.

Sir Darryl looked...a bit disappointed that the King knew that Terra and General Alexander had slept together. Terra would worry about that later since she had to worry about sneaking away from them without getting caught. Terra waited for them to move away from where they were. Once Terra was sure they were out of sight, she walked as quickly as she could in the other direction. Terra was about to rejoin Lady Willow and Lady Aylin when someone grabbed her by the elbow, Terra's heart nearly stopped. She turned her head and breathed a sigh of relief that it was only Sir Darryl. "Are you alright?" He asked in a concerned tone "You look like you've seen a ghost". "Oh I'm fine" Terra said quickly as she tried to calm her heart rate. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asked with a smile. Terra nodded her head quickly and the pair wandered away from the party.

They walked through the quiet halls as they made their way to Terra's room. Terra was waiting anxiously to tall about what she had heard a few minutes ago. Once they got to the heard Sir Darryl looked as if he was about to walk off somewhere else so Terra grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. "Woah what's all this about?" He said with a wink, obviously thinking where this night might go. Terra went and sat on the sofa and hugged herself with her arms tightly before taking a deep breath. "I heard the argument between King Gael and the General!" She stated quickly. Sir Darryl's eyes went wide and he pursed his lips in thought of what to say. "What are we going to do?" Terra asked Sir Darryl in a worried tone "Oh by the gods how did he find out?" Terra whispered as she brought her feet up onto the sofa and hugged her knees and pressed her faces into her knees as well. Sir Darryl hastily crossed the room and sat down beside her and put his arm around her. "Hey hey it's going to be alright!" He said to try to comfort Terra. "How?" She whispered "The King let me off with breaking the rules once, I don't think he would be kind enough to do it again!". Sir Darryl didn't quite know what to say to that and in hid silence Terra prepared herself to ask the dreaded question. "Is he going to pick me?, is he going to marry me because I don't try to contradict his decisions or that I'll be easy for him to manage?". Sir Darryl turned away from her and seemed to stare off into the distance. "I don't know" He stated quietly "I just don't know" He repeated sadly. They stayed silent for a while which left Terra to her own thoughts which tortured her with images of what could happen if the king found out about Terra and Sir Darryl. Each one more horrendous than the last. Each thought more viscous than the previous. She came to a breaking point and the first thing out of her mouth was, "I don't think we should be together anymore".

Sir Darryl got off of the sofa and his face was contorted in such a way you would have thought Terra had just stabbed him in the heart. "What?" He managed to get out in a gasp "Why?". Terra sighed and refused to meet his eye, "I just think we both would be better off for now if we put whatever we are on hold until I am out of this competition!" . Terra glanced briefly at Sir Darryl, he looked distraught. He opened and closed his mouth several times but no words came out, he couldn't find the words he wanted to say, the words he needed to say. He looked away from Terra and breathed deeply for a few minutes, "if that's what you want then fine, so be it!" He said at last and then stormed out of the room before Terra could stop him. Terra knew that she had messed up but she believed it was for the best that they didn't get involved with one another until Terra was out of the competition. Still, Terra's heart hurt at the thought of Sir Darryl being upset with her.

Terra lay in bed that night staring up at the ceiling miserably.  She kept replaying how she talked with Sir Darryl earlier, she kept rethinking of better ways to tell him. Terra put her hands over her face and tried to sniff back the tears that were threatening to spill out of her eyes. She got out of bed and went to go stand out on the balcony for a while. The night sky was full of stars that shine brightly. Terra wasn't quite sure if she liked Starmindan. The place was beautiful, there was no doubt about it but it was so different from home in some ways. There just wasn't enough nature around the place. It was January so there was a cold chill in the air, Terra was debating on whether or not to go back to bed or not when someone entered her room.

Terra spun around quickly, she was so sure she had locked the door earlier before she got into bed, she couldn't see who it was at first since the curtains covering the glass doors to the balcony blocked her view of the intruder. Terra would had snuck to the door anyway to see who it was but she was beaten to it. A hand reached for the curtain and pulled it back from the door, Terra subtly braced herself against the stone railing of the balcony when she recognised the man in front of her. King Gael stood in the doorway, his long dark brown hair wasn't tied back like it usually was, it was loose and was hanging down his back with a bit of it sailing over his shoulders. He had discarded his formal vest and overcoat hours ago so he was wearing a white half buttoned long sleeved shirt and tight black trousers with the knee high boots he had been wearing. Terra remembered how he looked without the clothes on, and a slight blush entered her cheeks. Terra still couldn't remember the night that they had spent together but she did remember the morning after and she didn't want a repeat of that.

King Gael leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. He chuckled quietly before saying with a smile that Terra couldn't help but interpret as sadistic. "Well Miss Riverglade whatever you said to Sir Darryl has made him more angry than I have ever seen him before, believe me when I say that I've seen that man lose his temper after someone insulted his dear mother and well what he is like right now is far worse than he was then!". Terra gulped hard didn't respond, what was she meant to say in response to that?

King Gael looked her up and down and stopped leaning on the doorframe and uncrossed his arms. He slowly walked his way over to Terra with this look in his eyes, Terra had seen it before, it was lust mixed with the need for control. Terra's brain suggested that she could always jump off the side of the balcony to get away from him, it wasn't that far from the ground. King Gael blocked any means of escape as he caged Terra by placing his hands on the balcony on either side of Terra. Terra didn't know were to place her arms, if she placed them behind her then there would be nothing blocking the rest of her body from the King. If she kept them in front of her then it would mean her hands would be touching his bare chest. Terra couldn't decide which option would be worse.

King Gael lowered his mouth down beside Terra's ear. "That night we spent together, the only thing I regret about it was I was too drunk to remember it" He claimed in a seductive tone. Terra felt a hand being placed behind the back of her neck. "So I've come to rectify that" He whispered in her ear before pressing his mouth to her's. Instinctively Terra had put her hands out in front of her but she didn't push him away. It would look suspicious if she did, since she was in a competition to win his heart. Although Terra wanted out of the competition, she didn't want her family name ruined because of her previous actions and Terra couldn't be sure that a rejected King wouldn't do something petty to get back at her. Terra was certain that I wouldn't be something completely terrible but since the visit to Anviltrue was next she wanted to avoid the King saying anything to her grandmother that would completely embarrass Terra.