This Game We Play~ Act I:3 -- Giuoco Piano
A/N: A House of M AU …
This Game We Play
Act I ~ The Opening
~+~
Previous Parts …
:~: A Silician Defense:~: The Sacrificial Pawn:~:
~+~
Part III
Giuoco Piano . . .
“Is he suitable to your liking?” Empress R’Klll sipped calmly at the Earth’s pathetic excuse for tea, features pinching in distaste as she set her cup down on its saucer.
Dorrek peered out the window, eyes trained on a pair of birds meticulously building a nest in the tree outside. The sunlight filtered into the breakfast nook of their suite, softly painting the white china set on their table with the golden hues of morning. Gentle breezes played with the chimes hung above the windowsill, carrying their sweet melody inside.
“Hmph, if churlish and juvenile is what you consider suitable …” He mumbled under his breath; his food lay nearly untouched on his plate as he idly stirred his tea.
“Speak up, hatchling. You know how I detest to hear you mumble!”
Dorrek faced her, stoic in his enunciation, “If I say he isn’t- would I have the choice to refuse him?”
The Empress’ eyes narrowed, dark and dangerous.
“No.”
“Then why bother asking?”
“You forget your place, hatchling.”
His lips thinned, eyes averting to his still full breakfast plate before he stood gracefully, “May I be excused? I would like to explore the garden. I really should get to know my new surroundings if I am to be exiled here for the unforeseen future-”
“Dorrek, it is only until we can put down the rebel contingent posing a threat to your ascension. You will be safer here in the meantime while we-”
“There have always been factions after my life, Grandmother-” Dorrek paused to kneel before her, kissing her hand with a smile, warped and insincere, “I wonder … exactly what is so differentnow?”
R’Klll stared down her long nose with cold critical eyes, “You are excused. Return for supper and do not tarry. We dine at the King’s table tonight.”
“Yes, your highness,” with one final bow, Dorrek took his leave.
~+~
“Are you going to eat that?” Thomas’ fork hovered over his untouched sausages. Before he could answer, two had already migrated to his brother’s plate.
“Thomas, manners please,” Lorna chided, shifting concerned eyes to her dark haired nephew, “Will, aren’t you hungry?”
“Forgive me, I’m …” His gaze flickered to his grandfather momentarily before sinking back to his lap, “A little out of sorts this morning.”
“Bring some tea, please,” Lorna signaled a maid, “At least try some toast, the tea should settle your stomach.”
“Do you need to see the healer?” Magnus inquired, sipping at his coffee as he folded the morning paper.
William wrung the napkin in his lap.
“No.”
“You shouldn’t waste food. We are fortunate to have such a bounty when some in our kingdom struggle to survive.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It won’t go to waste if I eat it-” Thomas didn’t wait for his brother’s permission to steal his plate as the maid settled a cup of ginger tea in its place, “This is why you’re a twig, Will.”
“And you aren’t?” William hissed at him.
“Everyone knows I’m the better looking twin.”
William rolled his eyes, lifting his cup to his lips. After a quiet moment of silverware chinking against china, he ventured quietly, “May I see Mother today?”
“She is ill, William. You know you cannot visit her during her fits.”
“Where is Uncle Pietro?” It was a challenge- one that made him swallow dryly when his Grandfather fixed a pair of critical eyes on him.
“He is with your mother.”
“Why is he allowed to visit her when her own sons cannot?”
It was so difficult to keep his face impassive, to keep the edge out of his tone. He envied his brother’s ability to put up a front of indifference, when it was all he could do to keep himself from snapping disrespectfully.
“Because he is her twin, and his presence is calming to her. Who do you turn to first when you fall ill, William?”
Will drank from his tea to keep from pulling a face.
“I promise, I will send for you when she is well enough to receive visitors. You may be excused if you do not care for breakfast. Perhaps some fresh air in the garden will settle your nerves.”
“I-It’s not nerves,” William bit his lip too late to stop the slip, stinking in his chair a few inches and hiding his face in his teacup.
Magnus appraised him for a long moment before returning to his paper, “Empress R’Klll and Prince Dorrek will be joining us for supper tonight. Whatever this is, I trust you will have composed yourself by tonight. Attendance is mandatory, William.”
“Yes, sir . . .”
~+~
The gardens were strange, the plant life and creatures unlike anything he had seen on any of the Empire’s colonies. The journey to this isolated system had been a long one, during which he idled away the long hours studying the Earth’s multiple ecosystems.
If there was one praise due to this barbaric little rock, it was its ecological diversity. He had never heard of a planet with so many vastly differing climates and organisms in a single biosphere. It was slightly . . . enchanting.
His Grandmother would have a fit to know he had such soft thoughts, fortunately she could not read his mind.
Yet … there were some on this planet who could do just that; it was an unsettling reality.
Did his betrothed have a “gift”- as the Earthlings insisted on calling it- of this nature? A shiver consumed his spine at the thought. There was enough mistrust and conspiracy orbiting his world of shifters. The only safe haven he truly had were the recesses of his mind, if he had to agonize about guarding his thoughts in addition to ever other wall he had erected around himself . . .
His careful farce of calm pleasantry would fall apart in a few heartbeats. That was not an option.
A bizarre cawing startled him out of his reverie, reminding him that he was in no position to be letting his guard down, not in this strange land where he was isolated, vulnerable and still had not deciphered friend from foe. The sound continued, louder this time and joined by several more of whatever creatures were producing the odd noise.
Instinct had him camouflaging with the garden’s foliage, toeing silently down the path towards the ruckus of flapping wings, shrill caws and what sounded like a human voice as he neared the bend around a pruned hedge fence. It opened into a courtyard of carefully manicured grass, dotted with patches of flowering plants, small fruit-bearing trees and in the middle-
Dorrek squinted, wrinkling his brow as he studied the young man crouched a few yards away- one of the garden attendants, or animal keeps perhaps? He wore a simple red tunic and dark breeches, murmuring in gentle tones to the creatures surrounding him. Birds, if he recalled his lessons correctly, regal and beautiful with shining tails of long patterned feathers that shimmered in the late morning sun. They cawed with impatience as the boy dug into a small pouch he was holding, stretching out a hand full of some kind of seed for the loud screeching creatures to peck at.
“Yes, yes, I know. I haven’t been here in a while. Be patient, you’ll all get some,” the boy’s soft chuckle was warm and mellow.
That voice sounded familiar, though he couldn’t place it. Leaning forward for a better look, he- His foot snapped a twig loudly.
The seed whirled through the air in an arc with the momentum of boy’s sudden turn, “Who’s there?!”
The beautifully bizarre creatures squawked in excitement, circling him in a wave of bright plumage as they pecked at the spilled food. Dorrek blinked in shock, recognizing the worried, pinched face of Prince William. He was surprised he was allowed outside so … under-dressed.
“Thom, this isn’t funny! Come out!”
For a moment, Dorrek hesitated. He could slip away, unnoticed and seek solace for his current turmoils in solitude or …
“How many times have I told you I hate it-”
Dorrek melted out of the shadow of the hedges, the camouflage he had painted his skin with slowly sliding away until he morphed into his human-like form.
“When you sneak up on-Aaagh!!” William bit off his undignified noise, dropping the bag of seed to spill all over the ground. He ignored it in favor of waving his arms about angrily, “How long have you been standing there! Why are you spying on me?!”
“I wasn’t spying. I merely happened to come across you … and watched for a minute …” Dorrek scrunched his nose slightly as he realized how bad it sounded only as he was saying it.
“Then why did you hide yourself?” William insisted, crossing his arms over his chest, “I don’t care what kind of eerie custom that might be in your culture, but here that is called spying.”
The desire to roll his eyes was quite urgent, but Dorrek managed to reign himself in, “Very well then, I will not do so again.”
“Well …” The other teenager blinked, visibly thrown off balance by his easy submission, “Alright, as long as you understand then …”
He didn’t seem to know where to look after that, eyes flitting about the garden as he rubbed an arm in such an obvious show of tension that Dorrek wondered if this boy had ever managed to conceal his feelings from anyone. It was a glaring difference from the glacial facades of the rest of his family.
A long feathery tail brushed his thigh as one of the animals stepped around him to approach the spilled food, drawing his attention back to the reason he had ended up here.
“I heard the cries of these- birds,” the word tasted strange in his mouth, “I have never seen creatures such as these before …” .
“Peacocks,” William supplied, shooing one away from pecking his foot.
Dorrek gave him a puzzled frown, “Why are you using foul language?”
“Wha-” William stopped, blinked, and turned away with a snort, hiding a short snicker behind his hand, “I’m sorry, it’s just that-”
He waited in agitated confusion for the human to explain his sudden rudeness. When William finally turned back, his teeth were biting the corner of his mouth to hide patronizing smile, “Fowl is another word for bird, Peacock is the name of these birds and well- It was just a terrible pun is all …”
“I see… Pardon, if I have not yet fully mastered your language,” he drawled, shaking his head. This boy was so strange, “Peacocks, then?”
“Mhmm,” William nodded as the discomfiting silence returned to settle around them in a thick fog.
Several long minutes passed while Dorrek tried to think of something to say, and William fidgeted while doing his best not to look at him.
“Are you-”
“Did you-”
Finally, they both started at the same time, pausing awkwardly to stare at each other before William looked away with a hasty wave, “Go ahead …”
“I was just wondering it you are feeling better today? You had-” Dorrek stopped to find a polite phrasing, for the way the prince had lost control of his powers and dead fainted the previous afternoon when learning of their arrangement, “Quite the shock yesterday.”
“Yes, well … I’m perfectly fine now,” William shifted away from him, scratched at his arm, petting one of the peacocks to avoid his gaze.
He sighed, shifting his weight, “Look, there is no need to lie to-”
“Excuse me?”
Sharp eyes snapped to his, and Dorrek was alarmed to see a tinge of blue light flickering in them, remembering the sting of the prior day’s magical outburst. Yet there was no shrieking today; William spoke with a low clarity that was far more distressing because if its calm.
“Who to you think you are? Just because my grandfather has signed me away to you, does notmean you can presume to know me. You have some nerve! Intruding on my privacy- on my life- just to insult and judge me-”
William shook with barely contained fury, glowering at him with a fierceness that Dorrek did not expect the awkward human prince to possess. His hands curled into trembling fists, the tense line of his jaw pulling the veins of his neck into view as his emotions crested. Such a display, would beshameful at home, and yet- he stood frozen in place by the intense light in his eyes.
“You don’t know a single thing about me.”
The angry hiss hit him like a fist, compelling him into action as William stalked away. Before he even knew what he was doing, his hand had caught the prince’s elbow, stopping him short though he tugged hard to get free, “Wait-”
“Let go before I make you-”
“Prince William, please, I meant no insult by that. It is just that-” Dorrek spoke, hushed and sincere, “I am sorry.”
William flinched, and when he looked up, his eyes were a startled brown.
“When I greeted you yesterday, I did not realize that you were yet unawares of our kingdoms’ treaty. I had thought that by the time I arrived, you would have been informed, and would be expecting me. I did not mean to spring such a serious matter upon you as I did. I caused you great distress and pain, and for that I am truly sorry.”
He let go as William tugged his arm back, wrapping a hand around the spot he had touched.
“I do not presume to know you, but I cannot imagine you are ‘perfectly fine’ with this arrangement because-” Dorrek hesitated, breaking eye contact and steeling himself with a sigh, “Because I am not fine.”
“You-” William looked taken aback, “Aren’t?”
“Of course not. I have been forced into this as much, if not more, than you. What did you imagine? That I would come here looking to sweep you off to my harem like some flesh-peddler?”
The prince’s face flushed dark with color, his shoulders hunching as he looked away quickly.
Dorrek gaped, shock getting the better of him for a second before he threw his head back with a laugh, “Surely- Surely, you did not?”
“W-Well!” William’s face reddened further, his shoulders nearly reaching his ears, “Could you honestly fault me?”
Running a hand through his hair, Dorrek sighed to catch his breath, “Honestly, before arriving here, I was afraid that I might have been saddled with an intolerable, pampered, tantrum-throwing brat.”
He had to laugh again at William’s expression- the boy had no concept of a poker face. How he survived in a royal court this long was beyond Dorrek’s comprehension.
“I-” William swallowed and shrugged, “I did throw a bit of a tantrum …”
“Believe when I say it was not half as bad as mine …” Dorrek shook his head with a rueful chuckle, “I would hate to be the mason responsible for rebuilding the mess I left back home.”
“Is that suppose to be comforting?” William pinned him with a sidelong gaze.
“It isn’t?” He smiled at him, a little crooked.
“You are mad,” Pursing his lips, William edged away from him.
“And you are only a little bratty, but still completely tolerable.”
William’s face twitched, as if he were fighting off a smile, “Why are you out here so early?”
“Ah, well I just decided to take a walk because-” Much to his eternal mortification, his stomach gave a loud grumble; he cleared his throat with an apologetic shrug, “My appetite took a leave of absence at the breakfast table … But it seems to have returned with a vengeance.”
William raised a sardonic brow as the skrull’s belly emitted another the loud gurgle, “Perhaps you should go to the kitchens and have them prepare something-”
Suddenly his own stomach chorused an embarrassingly loud reply, betraying him to what Dorrek imagined were similar circumstances. He watched William’s eyes go wide, fingers clenching in his tunic as he ducked his head with a nervous laugh.
“I might not have eaten much at breakfast either …”
Dorrek pressed his lips into a firm line to save William’s dignity the expense of his laughter, “Perhaps you should lead the way- Seeing as I haven’t the slightest idea where the kitchens might be. I have not learned my way around the maze of corridors here.”
Slowly that dark head came up, soft brown eyes staring up at him with something like bewilderment. Dorrek shuffled aside, gesturing for him to take the lead. For a long moment, he seemed unsure, brow furrowed as he looked down the path, arms still wrapped around himself.
Blinking with a small shake of his head, he finally spoke, “Right- Come then, I’ll show you the shortest route.”
William turned down the path, and Dorrek thought he saw the ghost of a smile- but perhaps it was just the glare of the late morning sun pricking his eyes.
~+~
Part IV: Benoni…
~+~