|
|
| |
Rafail of Marikas Daniil of Marikas was struck dumb and not in a good way. She had thought that a visit to see her cousin Princess Emilia was a good idea and she had gone to the stables to oversee the care of the horses, just like she did any other time. Herr uncle was very particular about who laid hands on his prized steed, and Daniil was just as bad about her own award winning horse. Each of them was known for their skill with horses and both had won awards for that fact. There should have been at least four horses in the stables when Daniil strolled inside. What she found was a totally empty stable! Daniil frowned and then headed off back to the house at breakneck speed. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that her uncle would be about as angry as she was at the moment or worse. She kept running till she skidded to a near halt right outside his door. Daniil took a long breath to calm down and failed, before she knocked on his door. "Uncle? You are going to want to hear this." she said in that icy tone that announced to the world that the youngest Marikas was seriously on the warpath. She took more breaths in an attempt to still the killing rage that was beginning to make itself known. There were three things that one did not mess with that belonged to her. Gods help you if you touched a member of her family in a harmful way touched her man with intent to harm, or laid a finger on her horse. "I will use whomever did this for a pincushion or worse!" she spat out as she began pacing the space before the door. Silently she tried to come up with a list of anyone that would have done this and why and at this given moment the list was seriously short though they knew where to hit them both. The question was could those around them deal with them both being angry at the same time and not at each other? Only time would tell.
| | |
|
|
|
|
| |
Rafail had not been in a particularly excellent mood that morning, to begin with. After a certain incident had occurred at the boat race only recently, he had found himself the topic of more gossip than he cared for, and, although the man usually did not mind discovering that people were spreading rumours about his impressive sexual prowess, the current topic of these whispers was nothing short of humiliating and did not exactly paint the Marikas lord in the most honourable light. And, hailing from the house that he did, dishonour was not exactly high on his wishlist. Papa was more than a little disappointed. Hidden within the confines of the Marikas estate as he was, the man was somewhat capable of ignoring the gossip in the hopes that it would die down faster, and especially so if he had no female guests during that time that were capable of spreading chatter more quickly. The only activities with which he had entertained himself were the military training he had avoided for such a long while, the practice with a sword not only to better himself but a somewhat futile attempt to redeem himself of his embarrassment before both his father and brother. But, although he was not unskilled at the sport and had always found it somewhat entertaining, Rafail did not find it stimulating enough to fill the entirety of his time and, as a result, he was growing bored, and he was growing irritable. When the knock on his door had come, he had pulled it open with an impatience that his niece would have been all too used to seeing from him, and yet would likely not expect. What she would most certainly not have been accustomed to, however, was seeing her uncle in the condition that he currently was. With no lady to impress within his own home save for the mistress who had already seen him in his natural and far less decorated state, Rafail had allowed his blonde hair to hang loosely around his face rather than styled it as it was so typically slicked back, and his face was rough and unshaven. It darkened his features more noticeably than the way he had knitted together his eyebrows. He had not dressed to dazzle some unsuspecting noblewoman nor for his own comfort, instead, he wore still the tunic he had donned for his training, plain in design though still in that typically flattering shade of blue. He seemed harsher, and rightfully so. "What is it?" he demanded, already having gathered that something was the matter, if solely from the manner in which he had heard Daniil cursing at the door. He did not usually concern himself with the affairs of the rest of his family, but Rafail knew full well that his niece - and especially so the niece with which he was most often at odds - would not have contacted him with such anger in her tone had something not been the matter which so evidently affected the both of them, and he supposed he was willing to allow her the benefit of the doubt. Daniil of Marikas
| | |
|
|
|
|
| |
Rafail of Marikas Daniil had an idea what had put her uncle in a sour mood as of late, though she had wisely refused to speak on the manner and kept her own feelings on the matter to herself. She was not at all happy about the whispers that followed in the wake, but there was not much that she could do but ignore them, though anyone idiotic enough to bring it up where she could hear it, got told off by her and she was none to ladylike or polite about it. One did not mess with her family, end of the story. She knew as well that her father and grandfather were less then amused with things, so she did her best to behave and stay out of their way. She was likely to get a lecture today for her raging, but at this moment in time, she could care less. She had even heard that he himself had taken up practice with a weapon and there was more then one time where the notion entered her mind to spar with him, so that she could keep her skills sharp and kill the boredom that had started creeping into her world. She took a step back when the door was yanked open and she knew in that one action that her uncle was in a foul mood. Good. That makes two of us then and Gods help them all, she thought with some satisfaction. She took a breath and let it out slowly before addressing him. "Apologies Uncle if I was disturbing you but.... You are not going to like the news I bring she said with a small shrug. She took another breath as she took in his appearance and formulated the easiest way to break the news. He looked like she had roused him out of bed. He actually looked better to her all disheveled and tousled, than his normal slicked back look. She took another breath and then dropped the boulder right in between them. "Someone stole our horses. All of them. I was going to pay a family call on our Royal Cousins when I made the discovery. Even the accolades are gone." Her hazel eyes locked on his face, waiting or the next storm to hit as she felt her own anger begin to rise again. "I wanted you to know before word ripped through the house like a wildfire."She knew that it was likely that the mere mention of a visit to the palace was going to add to his annoyance, but Daniil was not going to let that stop her from her own designs. She kept her cousins at arms lengths, as they did her, but she had to give it to Persephone for achieving the one things she herself would have been attempting if the situation was reversed, and in light of that, she was going to do what she thought was needful to keep a woman on that throne, and the first part of that was having eyes and ears in the palace so that she could sniff out any little tidbits that could be later used in some form or another in the ultimate quest to put their own house right back where it belonged.
| | |
|
|
|
|
| |
His horses had been stolen. Of course. First, Rafail was forced to suffer in the knowledge that most all of Athenia had seen his bare arse and those who had not had at least heard the tale from another (at least he had gotten Papa to sell that idiot gladiator whom he deemed wholly responsible). Now, he was being told that, not only were his beloved horses missing, but the trophies he had been awarded to celebrate his equestrian prowess too had been taken. It was though the gods themselves sought to punish the man, and he had not been made privy as to why. "All of them?" he questioned, an eyebrow raised, his exterior surprisingly calm despite the anger that bubbled inside him. Perhaps he had lost his capacity for an outburst with so much misfortune befalling him lately. It would not have surprised the man. Maybe he was just so enraged by the negative news that he was unable to form any type of reaction outside of that slight twitch of his eyebrow. "Even Arion?" While it may well have been the case that the theft of any of the horses in the household was enough to upset him, it was the knowledge that his most prized steed might well have been stolen away alongside them that angered him the most. Rafail was far more willing to forgive the disappearance of the other horses. There was no need to await an answer, however, as Daniil had already made it more than abundantly clear that it was, in fact, all their steeds which had been taken. He stepped fully out of his chambers then, closing the door behind him and leaning against the wooden frame, brows furrowed as he attempted to figure precisely how they should deal with the situation. Papa would not have been pleased to hear that he was making such a fuss over something so easily replaceable, not to mention over something his niece was concerned, and Rafail doubted any outwardly extreme measures would be welcomed, despite the severity of the crime. "Who else is aware of this? As you said, I don't want word spreading that our stables are so simple to break into, lest every petty thief in Athenia decides to make away with our valuables." He started down the hallway, in the direction of the aforementioned stables, head turned slightly towards Daniil as an indication that she should follow. The wrath he had so far managed to keep buried within was beginning to shine through his otherwise worryingly calm demeanour, accentuating itself in his brisk steps and irritable expression. "Did none of the guards see anything? When did this happen? I want everything you know."Daniil of Marikas,
| | |
|
|