Llyr's Court

[.David Talbot.]

Nicolae just stared sullenly. He didn't like any of this talk. He didn't like the thought. Could she really marry that useless boy he had seen? Could that boy be the father of the next Designee of the Legacy?
The thought made him feel sick. "I know." He didn't look at her. Of course he knew he couldn't. He wasn't even part of the family any more.

 

[Rynn Calais]

A light smile touched the edge of his lips. "They are shadows, nothing more. No reason for you to waste your talents chasing butterflies, Mayfair." He considered them hardly worth interest--but then again, he was used to being haunted by the ghosts of his ancestors. In more ways than one. Rynn padded across the soft grass, his sister reluctantly following, to the stairs in the earth. "Watch your step," he warned, softly, as he stepped aside to let Liesse pass before them. She let her hand graze the damp stones of the wall; moss dripping from the cracks like antique lace.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Antha's eyes flickered, giving Rynn a split second of her attention, before she decided he was of no interest for the moment. "Have you ever looked closely into the shadows or at a butterfly, mon ami?" she asked softly, her eyes following the traces of movement around her, "They are nothing to scoff at." Again her gaze flickered to him, a hint of a grin upon her lips.
It was when he began the descent down the stairs that Antha kept her attention on him, glancing at her brother once or twice from the corner of her eye. Are you nervous?

 

[Rynn Calais]

+Rotting Lunacy+

Antha's eyes flickered, giving Rynn a split second of her attention, before she decided he was of no interest for the moment. "Have you ever looked closely into the shadows or at a butterfly, mon ami?" she asked softly, her eyes following the traces of movement around her, "They are nothing to scoff at." Again her gaze flickered to him, a hint of a grin upon her lips.
It was when he began the descent down the stairs that Antha kept her attention on him, glancing at her brother once or twice from the corner of her eye. Are you nervous?

Rynn took up at the end of the line, behind Nicolae. He was unsure how the Mayfair girl would react below, and he wished to be on the safe side. Only one other person outside their family had ever gone below--a maid, when they were younger, chasing after Cian. Even then, he'd been a handful. Her name had been Jenny. She was dragged out two days later, a shaking wreck of a person, her voice broken from screaming, consigned for life to a mental hospital. Jenny didn't last nearly that long, though. Less than a week later, she took her own life.
It was on the seventeenth step from the bottom--seventeen out of sixty-nine, Rynn had counted them once--that one began to hear the ghosts. Their voices drifted through the tunnels, a distant murmur, a hiss of breath that belonged to nothing needful of air. The words were indistinct, as the conversations of a crowded subway grew indistinct if one did not listen in particular. But no matter how hard one listened here, the voices would never grow clearer, would never reveal the purpose of their speech.
"The crypts are a mirror image of the labyrinth above," said Rynn. His witchlights expanded, multiplied, settled upon his sister's head in a crown of emerald. He smiled at her, a little coldly. "Liesse? You know the way, I think."
For a moment, blood burned in his twin's pale cheeks, high and angry, before it faded abruptly. "It's only a little farther," she said to Antha, softly, wearily. "I'm sorry. He wants you to see for yourself, I think."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

An unusually gentle smile flashed briefly across the witch girl's face as she looked at Liesse. "Je n'ai aucune crainte," she murmured, her gaze drifting, observing their surroundings, "Though I fear for my brother. He's never been fond of small places, crypts in particular." There came a small laugh, a teasing glance spared at Nicolae. "He cannot even sleep in the catacombs with his coven for that fear."
Though it had been brief, Antha wondered if Rynn had noticed her gaze settle on him for a fraction of a second when she had looked at her brother. Had he blinked, he surely would have missed it, but had he noticed, she was sure the emotion was very clear. Distrust. It was a paranoia that had been born in her as a small child and had been building for years, protecting her from the many strangers that she knew wished to do her harm. Nicolae, stay alert, she commanded, afraid that his fear would make him lose focus, I'm counting on you, after all.

 

[.David Talbot.]

"I'm not scared!" he snapped. "I'm not a little kid anymore Evie." But even he knew he was acting like one. Because he was terrified. "What the hell's with these ghosts anyways? They're loud and annoying. And it's cold here. Why are you making us walk all the way through this stupid labyrinth anyway? You could've just told us."
He felt his cheeks go red. He didn't have enough blood for much but if someone looked really closely they could see the faint pink. It was his cheeks trying to go red that he felt. Because he knew Antha knew that he only whined like that when he was afraid and he really hated being afraid and he hated other people knowing it more.

 

[Vikteren]

Vikteren waited outside the gates. The night was chilly, mist rising off the ground like smoke, but not chilly enough to dissuade a vampire from his sentinel.
Antha ought have been back by now.
The silver of her locket was frosted over, the shine of the metal dulled with cold. Since he'd left the grounds of the Calais ancestral home, it had been clenched in his hands. Now he put it back where it had originally resided--close to his heart, separated by nothing more than thin white fabric. He was going inside, and damn the Calais girl's spectre. He didn't trust this family, and if he had any accurate reckoning of Antha's talent, a dispersion would've taken her less than a half-hour. He'd been waiting too long. Even if it meant he had to paint the walls with Rynn Calais's blood, she'd leave safely.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Antha paused on the stairs, putting a hand out flat against the wall to steady herself. I'm fine. It was strange to her how easy it had become to find Vikteren's mind amid the chaos of other thoughts clouding the distance between them. It was natural in its own way, like breathing.
She thought that perhaps she shouldn't tell him they were leading her underground, into crypts that were rendering Nicolae useless. But then, she had already done it, hadn't she? I can handle myself, no matter what happens down here. Have a little faith in me. She took great care not to mention that Rynn's behavior was putting her on edge. No need to worry him more than she was sure he already was.