Lady to be

Wrath continued on with his day making sure that everything would be in order for the binding ceremony that would take place come morning. Everything had to be perfect, he did not want to go into the binding with his soon-to-be Lady thinking that he does not want to bond with her. Even though he would prefer to stay a single man, regardless of how beautiful she was, that did not mean that he would make her existence miserable. It was beneath him to be harping on and on about the fact that he could not choose his fate. She was doing this out of duty just as much as he was, she owed it to her clan, the people who took her in and raised her as their own.

Around midday, as his lordship was walking through the halls leading to the kitchens. He halted in his steps and snapped his hand up in time to catch a throwing knife just seconds before it would have entered his temple. Spinning the blade back and forth between practised fingers, he motioned to his assailant to come forth.

"You're breathing too heavily, Galliard." He reprimanded in a hardened tone. Disappointed that his kin could not even get something as simple as his breathing under control. "Even a child would be able to notice you."

"A child maybe, but an infant I say not." Galliard answers, swinging his body forward and doing a backflip off of the rail he was hanging from.

"This is no laughing matter," Wrath reprimanded, resisting the urge to sigh in exasperation as he watched the youngest of his siblings land on his feet without an ounce of grace. "As the Prince of Wrath and my current heir, you must-" He began before being cut off by his brother.

"Be of the utmost professionalism, skill, bravery, and last but not least have an enormous pike firmly up my ass!" He mocked, using imitation magic to match the sound of his brother's voice.

"If you would spend as much time learning the art of war as you do learning magic you could actually get somewhere." Wrath snapped at his brother, patience was never something that he had when it came to Galliard. There had always been something about him that managed to aggravate him far more than others.

"I am trying, brother, not all of us are born knowing how to slit someone's throat like you." Galliard rebutted, his cheeks going rosy from the dig at his martial inability.

Wrath observed how his brother's fire dimmed at his comment. He felt pity for but a moment even though what he said was true. Galliard was working hard, he trained more than the others in his class but improved at a far slower rate. It was obvious that his lack of improvement was also getting to the little lordling as well. He clearly felt useless to his kin and more importantly to his clans.

With that thought an idea popped into the Lord's mind, without a word or a chance for his brother to react. The large hand of Wrath clamped down on his shoulder. A deafening crack could be heard for miles as he activated a teleportation spell. The young prince found himself alone with his brother in another clearing at the edge of their territory. The unexpectedness of the teleportation left him somewhat dazed and in need of slowing his beating heart.

"What in the veil was that?" He questioned, alert for any incoming attacks, hand fingering a dagger.

His brother simply raised a hand for silence, before a powerful burst of magic surged from him. Galliard flinched at the force of it, his brother never did things halfway it seemed. His eldest sibling nodded when the detection and anti-invisibility spells did not bounce off of another mana wielder.

"I need you to go to Lady Lust and stay with her as she and my bride prepare for the wedding," He sent the young boy a scathing glare through his mask before he could object. "I do not trust that my wife to be is not hiding something." He told him bluntly.

"You think everyone is hiding something." Galliard half grumbled, his brother had always been a very cautious person, it was how their father raised him to be.

"That's because everyone usually is." The Lord shrugged, he had never been wrong in that.

"Then why choose her if you do not trust her?" Galliard queried, genuinely curious.

"I had no choice, not to mention I have not trusted a single woman I have met this week," Lord Wrath declared icily. "Our father is dead, our sister must remain as the Princess of Embers, you are not skilled enough to take the throne if I were to perish." His brother's stance stiffened at that jab before he sighed in acknowledgement.

"You think lord Envy may have you killed after she is full with child?" The teen asked solemnly.

"With no viable regent besides Lady Lust, it would be the perfect opportunity to do so." He spoke honestly, not shying from the possibility.

"It is also possible that one of the lords who despise Lord Envy may have her killed to force you to choose a new bride." Galliard supplied another possibility.

The young Lord and Prince of Wrath both sighed at that idea, in total agreement for the first time in years. It had taken far too long to sort through all those Sword Maidens and to do it again after rejection would be to endure all kinds of headaches. Not to mention how smug Sophia would be about it.

"I may need to have you married off soon as well, brother." The elder said matter of factly.

"Yay..." The younger responded sarcastically, rolling his throbbing shoulder.

Galliard had no interest in such things, much like his older brother, he saw marriage as more of a duty than anything else.

Wrath teleported them back into the castle just outside the door where Lady Lust and his future consort were present. The young prince entered the room first, Lord Wrath behind him.

When they entered the room both women were deep in conversation, they were chattering quite fondly. It appeared that they bonded in the short time that they were left together. Lady Lust stood behind Syrin as she sat in front of a mirror, a row of colour samples floating around them to see which one best fit her complexion. Syrin's luminescent eyes shifted onto him in question as the brothers entered the room. Her bright gaze locked onto him through the mirror. Her guard went up as soon as she noticed him, Wrath observed, it was clear from the look in her eyes that she trusted him just as much as he did her.

"What brings you here my Lord?" Syrin asked, standing to greet him.

"Galliard, my youngest kin, was curious as to whom his new sister to be was and wanted to take this time to get to know you before the wedding," He answered, lying as easily as he breathed. "So I brought him here to meet you."

Her strangely coloured eyes gravitated from the Lord to the Prince, her gaze holding his for a moment. Galliard fidgeted as the feeling of discomfort settled into the pit of his stomach under her gaze. Lady Lust watched from beside Syrin in amusement as It dawned almost simultaneously on both of the women why the young boy was there.

"All right." She said, straightening her spine and looking Wrath straight in the eyes, something that few very rarely had the nerve to do. "Since you don't trust me sufficiently, I'll let little Galliard accompany me wherever I may stride until you see that I am of no threat, at least to you."

The Lord let out a chuckle, less so impressed that she had picked up on his obvious plot. More so that she had not been afraid to call him out on it as many would have been.

"I understand, my Lord, why you would be wary of me..." She spoke walking closer to him. "Your Lord Father has just travelled to the veil due to what seems to me like treacherous circumstances, I would be more concerned if you did not suspect me."

"After all, I could be after your power and that alone, but you needn't worry about me for I am only after honour for my family." She bowed down once she reached a mere step from him.

"From this day until my last breath, I pledge my life, my heart, my body, and my soul to you and you alone..." Her head rose to look up at him, eyes glowing. "I shall fight with you, and I shall fall with you."

He rested a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head at her actions.

"Stand, you are to be my wife that makes you my equal, you are to bow only to the divine," Syrin bowed her head once more in thanks before doing as her Lord ordered. "You do not bow to me, you rise with me."

Even though he admired her, he could not yet let himself be swayed by this seductress, her speech made him all the more cautious of her. Someone was out for his throne, which meant his siblings were obvious targets as well, and soon she would be too. He endeavoured to find out who it was before it was too late.

"Sit little Galliard," Syrin motioned to a seat that was next to her. "If you are to spend the day investigating me, the closer you are, the better your results."

Wrath scoffed at her jab, he knew that she knew that whatever information Galliard handed over today would not be valid in his eyes. Now that she was aware that she was being watched, yet she still invited him to stay nonetheless. The boy pretty much hopped into the chair excited to have the company since most everyone in the castle ignored his very existence.

"You should get back to your duties, my Lord." Syrin quipped, reclaiming her seat in front of the mirror. "Your little spy has it from here."

"Alright then," Wrath scoffed with a nod of the head as he fought back a chuckle and left, giving her no chance to respond. "I shall see you at the ceremony."

"Until the morrow." Her voice, a sultry whisper echoed through his mind and went straight to his groan.

A smile inched its way across Lady Lust's face before she threw her head back and let out a long laugh. Galliard himself could not help the chuckle that escaped past his lips.

"Why I never,'' The dumbfoundment was clear in the older Lady's voice. "The bollocks you have on you, girl."

The ancient shook her head in disbelief at what she had just witnessed. Knowing what he was capable of, no one in their right mind, other than his siblings and the matriarch of Lust would ever dare to talk to Wrath as such.

"You are very lucky that worked out in your favour." The woman said with one last chuckle.

"He is quite the hot head, you would not like him when he is mad." Galliard nodded his head in agreement and thought back to the many times he had managed to gain his brother's ire.

Syrin watched the little boy, his eyes filled with amazement and awe. The girl knew well of the temper of her beloved, it was known throughout the clans. She often heard many maidens fantasising with each other about being the one to tame the brooding beast. She would scoff whenever she overheard such foolishness, tame the beast, ignorance. The beast within him was not one that needed to be tamed but unleashed. It is what makes him such an exceptional and worthy Lord. Yet beast or no beast she was not one to back down easily.

"I will not be afraid to speak my mind regardless of the consequences," Syrin stated, contemplating. "I will not be a background wife, if he wishes to have my hand he shall take me as I am."

"I knew there was something about you I liked." An ear-splitting grin graced the face of Lady Lust once more. "You will make a fine Lady of Wrath."