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So, if Edarial wasn't sure that his wife hated him before, he's really, really sure of it now. It's pretty usual that if they're in the same room, he feels nothing but silent, seething hostility from her. Usually, his reaction to this is a poker face followed by running. He doesn't like having someone hostile just - there at the dinner table, glaring at him with her hissing familiar.
Zevros doesn't hate him, Edarial's certain of it, but he's not helping. He's literally never seen his twin this angry before. This is coming from someone who has seen his twin be angry loads of times. At meals, he just - sits there. Stabbing his food and glaring at Edarial while he does it. He gets why, he knows that Zevros is furious with him for the whole 'cold political marriage' thing. It still hurts, though, to have his immediate family just be so openly hostile.
He gets more withdrawn. Meals get delivered to his room rather than him eating with Iobel and Zevros right there, being near-openly hostile. He stops sparring with Zevros nearly entirely, spends an unhealthy amount of time in either his office or his room, and Berathyme spends all her time coiled around his shoulders, offering what little comfort she can.
She's pretty terrible at advice, but at least he has someone that doesn't actively hate him nearby.
He throws himself into being a king, gets lots of things done, and is generally considered by the public to be good at it. A good king. It's sort of tainted by bitterness, now. But the country does not fall apart, it does not break down into civil war - he handles it. The education system gets a shove in the right direction, the canals get cleaned up, various unemployed people get jobs. He wonders what on earth he's done wrong when he's doing good in the world, but he supposes it doesn't matter.
He knew what he was getting himself into, when he made this choice. He knew that Zevros would be upset with him. Maybe to the point where their camaraderie will just never recover. He doesn't know. From the beginning, he knew that he'd be shackled to someone he doesn't love. Edarial hadn't been expecting the random hatred from his new wife, but he certainly wasn't expecting to be happy.
Just, well. He wasn't expecting to be so miserable, either.
It shows, the misery. Dark circles under his eyes, the withdrawn, blank expression, unkempt hair. He loses some weight due to skipping meals just to avoid his close family. Or, other times, he just forgets, burying himself in work so he doesn't have to think 'What did I do?' over and over again.
But he's a good king. So that's something.
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royal_obligation
come_midnight
Iobel circles the house, guessing layout based on how people are clustered and plotting a course in so she can sneak up the stairs. If she's lucky there will be a ladder or a climbable trellis or something.
There are neither of those things, unfortunately - but she can find at least one set of stairs through the walls by looking at how people move. While there are what look to be servant passages for out of the way deliveries, they might be too cramped for comfort if someone else is in them. The main hallways have guards in them, but at least Iobel would have the ability to go around them if they are walking towards her.
come_midnight
Iobel's wall-walking spell goes off. She steps in, walking carefully, breathing shallowly. She takes the main hallway and starts charging the knockout, abandoning it unused during calm moments and starting up again to have it ready in case she does bump into someone.
Up the stairs she goes.
Up the stairs she goes.
Figuring out the layout's a bit of a problem, but Iobel can avoid running into people well enough. She makes it to the second floor, then the third - then she just has to make it to Nataliem and use the knockout.
There he is. In his office. She now has line of sight, and he's completely unaware.
There he is. In his office. She now has line of sight, and he's completely unaware.
come_midnight
And she's got thirty seconds of charge on the knockout.
She charges it the rest of the way and nabs him.
She charges it the rest of the way and nabs him.
Down he goes. His raven squawks with alarm, nudging him with her beak. Then, she starts crying out, for guards or other help to show up.
It might be a good idea for Iobel to not be in the room when they arrive.
It might be a good idea for Iobel to not be in the room when they arrive.
come_midnight
She sidesteps into another room on the same floor, looking through the wall in case anyone approaches who might be another spellbinder. She charges another knockout.
It doesn't seem like there's another spellbinder arriving, but Iobel can tell that the assault downstairs has begun. She can hear yelling, and several of the guards leave Nataliem to go defend the place. But the others move to pick him up and carry him off while everyone downstairs is busy.
come_midnight
There's three of them; Iobel could get them all, but it's probably safer for her to quietly stalk them while they try to drag Nataliem through a combat zone and only knock one out if they get farther than the front door. If she sees the raven she wants to get her, too.
The raven is still in the room with Nataliem. She pecks at a window for someone to open it so she can fly away to safety, but the guards are currently busy trying to drag her master out. Fortunate for Iobel, not so much for the raven. She gets to trying to open it herself, struggling a little with a device not built for use with a beak. If Iobel's fast enough, she can manage to knock her out.
Down she goes. The guards dragging Nataliem out don't even notice the bird flopping to the floor in a heap. They're too busy trying to coordinate to get their employer out.
Now it's just waiting to see if the fight's going in her side's favor downstairs, and making sure Nataliem isn't dragged completely out of the house.
Now it's just waiting to see if the fight's going in her side's favor downstairs, and making sure Nataliem isn't dragged completely out of the house.
royal_pain
It's really not a long wait.
If Iobel's watching the proceedings through the floor, she can see that Zevros is utterly terrifying in one on one combat. Especially when combined with his brother's spell - it's hard, if perhaps impossible for someone to sneak up on him. Once he knows they're there, he handles them well enough, and leaves several crumpled bodies in his wake. A few of their silhouettes flicker out entirely.
Apparently he doesn't mind leaving some casualties.
If Iobel's watching the proceedings through the floor, she can see that Zevros is utterly terrifying in one on one combat. Especially when combined with his brother's spell - it's hard, if perhaps impossible for someone to sneak up on him. Once he knows they're there, he handles them well enough, and leaves several crumpled bodies in his wake. A few of their silhouettes flicker out entirely.
Apparently he doesn't mind leaving some casualties.
come_midnight
Iobel tentatively suspects that she will get to hang on to her last two spells.
royal_pain
That's a pretty good suspicion.
The guards with Nataliem are handled. And then, they've won.
Zevros is absurdly pleased with himself.
The guards with Nataliem are handled. And then, they've won.
Zevros is absurdly pleased with himself.
come_midnight
Iobel picks up a doily, does not incorporate it into her invisibility, and waves it around in the air. "I got the raven, too," she says, "she's upstairs. Does anyone need healing, I have two spells left?"
royal_pain
"Hey, Iobel. Thanks for grabbing the raven - there's a guy downstairs that got some shallow cuts, another who's going to have a massive headache in the morning and will need to be dragged out, and Ari got punched in the face, but other than that - we're all fine."
come_midnight
"Except for the dead, I suppose. Do you want to tie people up before I patch them?"
royal_pain
"... Wha? Oh, no, I was talking about the guys on our side. Loads of the other guys are hurt, fix em if you want, I guess. Tie them up first."
come_midnight
"I'd rather not leave excess corpses if anyone's bleeding out and I could save them, but I don't know how to safely tie up people likely to be hostile."
royal_obligation
Edarial has found bandages and is currently using them for a mission called 'let's not have more people die.'
come_midnight
Iobel triages, identifies the two people at the worst risk of death, has Zevros tie them up, and applies healing magic.