Post by indifferentred on May 14, 2012 3:16:11 GMT 10
Series: Quiet Affections
Title: A Fine Line
Rating: PG-13
Event: 4x100 word relay
Words: 400
Summary: There's a fine line between possibilities. Implied sex in II and III, and a bit of violence in IV.
I. The Cost of Duty
The world is a sickening kaleidoscope of chaos. Women screaming, children crying, men shouting orders… The calm efficiency of Duke Baird’s infirmary has been replaced by the stench of blood and vomit; the lady of Cavall sweeps past it all, senseless.
Baird blocks her way, shaking his head.
“Where? How?” The words fall unbidden from her numb lips, and Baird answers, but Vivenne still cannot hear. He takes her hand - Be brave - and tugs her forwards. Bloodied bandages, familiar brown hair, stark lifeless eyes - and then the chill of her shock splinters and Wyldon of Cavall’s widow begins to weep.
II. Sacrifice
They eat breakfast together every morning, yet another elegant sacrifice to convention. She does not love him, and he had wanted her sister. Instead, he had found himself being passed on, like an unwanted tunic, to the girl who would not protest.
His brother had described Vivenne in cynical terms. Too stiff to fornicate with the stablelads, too polite to interfere with your private life, and too dutiful to shirk her responsibilities. She won’t trouble you.
But she does trouble him. After four months of marriage, they are still strangers. Wyldon finishes his meal and leaves.
Distantly, life goes on.
III. Lunacy
The first time he kisses her, there is a full moon, and common sense and her wedding band demand that she push him away. But then he presses clumsy lips to her collarbone and breathes devotion against her skin and her sense flutters to the floor with her gown. They fall - lost - across his desk.
Afterwards, he kisses her again, slower and sweeter. “Vi - “
She breaks away. “Please…” she begs. “Say nothing.”
Wyldon cannot help himself. “I love you.”
He watches from a distance when her daughter is named, and wonders…
Vivenne’s troubled eyes meet his own and he knows.
IV. Age and Treachery
He watches, heart beating fast, as the procession inches ever closer. The knife weighs heavy in the sleeve of his silken shirt.
Jonathan is his King, and yet, he is a king destroying his kingdom from the inside. Women in armour, ancient laws overturned, a foreign Queen…
The king draws level with him. Wyldon lunges, dagger drawn. Metal scrapes bone, an inch from its target. Jonathan lets out a cry and falls back, crimson blossoming against his blue tunic. Stunned silence for a moment and then - “Treason! Protect the King!”
Never has Vivenne’s voice been more unwelcome to his ears.
Title: A Fine Line
Rating: PG-13
Event: 4x100 word relay
Words: 400
Summary: There's a fine line between possibilities. Implied sex in II and III, and a bit of violence in IV.
I. The Cost of Duty
The world is a sickening kaleidoscope of chaos. Women screaming, children crying, men shouting orders… The calm efficiency of Duke Baird’s infirmary has been replaced by the stench of blood and vomit; the lady of Cavall sweeps past it all, senseless.
Baird blocks her way, shaking his head.
“Where? How?” The words fall unbidden from her numb lips, and Baird answers, but Vivenne still cannot hear. He takes her hand - Be brave - and tugs her forwards. Bloodied bandages, familiar brown hair, stark lifeless eyes - and then the chill of her shock splinters and Wyldon of Cavall’s widow begins to weep.
II. Sacrifice
They eat breakfast together every morning, yet another elegant sacrifice to convention. She does not love him, and he had wanted her sister. Instead, he had found himself being passed on, like an unwanted tunic, to the girl who would not protest.
His brother had described Vivenne in cynical terms. Too stiff to fornicate with the stablelads, too polite to interfere with your private life, and too dutiful to shirk her responsibilities. She won’t trouble you.
But she does trouble him. After four months of marriage, they are still strangers. Wyldon finishes his meal and leaves.
Distantly, life goes on.
III. Lunacy
The first time he kisses her, there is a full moon, and common sense and her wedding band demand that she push him away. But then he presses clumsy lips to her collarbone and breathes devotion against her skin and her sense flutters to the floor with her gown. They fall - lost - across his desk.
Afterwards, he kisses her again, slower and sweeter. “Vi - “
She breaks away. “Please…” she begs. “Say nothing.”
Wyldon cannot help himself. “I love you.”
He watches from a distance when her daughter is named, and wonders…
Vivenne’s troubled eyes meet his own and he knows.
IV. Age and Treachery
He watches, heart beating fast, as the procession inches ever closer. The knife weighs heavy in the sleeve of his silken shirt.
Jonathan is his King, and yet, he is a king destroying his kingdom from the inside. Women in armour, ancient laws overturned, a foreign Queen…
The king draws level with him. Wyldon lunges, dagger drawn. Metal scrapes bone, an inch from its target. Jonathan lets out a cry and falls back, crimson blossoming against his blue tunic. Stunned silence for a moment and then - “Treason! Protect the King!”
Never has Vivenne’s voice been more unwelcome to his ears.