crocodiles cry for the love of the crowd

Sirius Revlis · 04-01-2012, 12:28 PM

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Word Count » +3 :: Slooooowwwwww.

He would not be seen, nor waited upon, for the entirety of the morning. Preparation was going on beyond his field of attention - Food being gathered, prey being hunted. Another feast was taking shape, and there was much information to be shared between the King and his people. Many things had happened, and the wind whispered that many more things had yet to occur.

It was for these reasons that the monarch's tardiness was unusual, for it was common for him to be actively involved in the preparation for such an event. Hunting was his therapy, and any excuse to elope into the embrace of the woodland, and the primal surges of predator versus prey, were relished and taken with abandon. However, this day, his vessel was filled with bitterness, encapsulated within the dark cold quiet of his chamber.

His wounds were mainly of the flesh kind, shallow and treatable by the King's own hand. He was no healer, and knew precious little other than what common sense and instinct decreed were correct for the wounds. They had been bathed by his own tongue, wrapped in his own shredded cloth; The stinging pain had kept him awake long into the night, and when he did sleep, it was in wary patches, with half his mind still attentive to the ache and the dull pounding of slow-healing wounds.

His body was stiff and smarting, but visually, rather unhindered. Save for the scrapes around his wrists, all the other wounds were easily passable as trophies from having fought off the intruders. But he, unlike the girl, had little to worry about so far as inquisition and shame - After all, who would dare question a King? And yet, as though so heavily steeped in pride and conflicting emotion that he could not allow himself even this one weakness, Sirius sought no healing herbs to sooth his pain, and instead, suffered the minor and more brutal irritations in cold, reptilian silence.

By afternoon, his body had warmed enough that all pains were reduced to an ache that could, by the large, be ignored. The laceration in his right arm, re-opened from the fight with Salvia, was the worst of his wounds; But an hour's effort had led to it being relatively clean, and well-bandaged. His mind had continually been replaying the betrayal of the night prior; Over and over, Sirius watched the girl's face snarl at him. Over and over, he considered her actions, her motives.

Finally, he settled with the acceptance that she had not been attempting to usurp him. In spite of her obvious hunger for power, Salvia had never before hinted at any desire to take his thrown. Sirius had been far too canny to allow such a thing as that to happen - He had planted the seeds of his superiority deep within her mind, early on, and by now the tangled roots of his power and earthly right to rule were twisted and gnarled throughout the Tiger's mind. Of this, Sirius was certain, for she was his most successful weapon yet. It was a relief to come to this conclusion - A weight lifted from his chest. He would not have to kill her after all. How fortuitous.

It would have been such a shame to have wasted her like that, after all.

With that knowledge in mind, Sirius finally left his chamber. The bright light stung at his eyes, and his expression drew into a cold snarl which did well to ward off any would-be interrupters. The monarch would not be delayed - Although the lesson had been taught to her clearly enough last night, now was the time to cement it most firmly into her mind, most permanently. Salvia's dwelling was on the outer ring of the ruins, but his stride was long and purposeful, and in little time at all the monarch had come to its entrance.

"Salvia," His voice, once more the calm, sinuous venom of the serpent, the succulent caramel tones that had sculpted her from the very beginning, curled its way into the silence. He needed no permission to enter her home, and did not ask for it - The greeting was merely a courtesy, to allow her a brief moment to adjust to his presence as he entered the room.

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