#ever since finishing ruin and rising i've wondered about this
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So since they killed Marie so early in the tv show, how is The Darkling going to find them in Ruin and Rising or is Sergei still going to be a character?
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Grace and Country 2/5
Rating: M
Pairing: 'Hangman' Adam Page/F!OC, One-Sided Kenny Omega/F!OC
Warnings: Canon-Typical Violence, Harrassment.
Co-Written with @lilmissriottbliss
Taglist - @moxleyunstable, @axelwolf8109
Summary: Ava and Adam go on that date, it goes about you'd expect with the Dark Order involved, Things with Kenny come to a head.
"Violet!"
"Ava? Mon Cher Smackdown is about to start why are you screaming?"
Violet gave Finn a look before putting her friend on speaker "Mon Roi is here too, what has you so excited?"
"ADAM ASKED ME OUT ON A DATE!" The younger woman yelled
Ava could hear Violet cursing in French from a small distance. “Really? That’s amazing! Give me details now!”
“I lost my phone and he found it near your adopted brother and then Kenny was annoying me again so he covered for me by saying we were going on a date so we’re actually going on one!”
“I’m so happy for you!”
“Could you do me a solid?” Ava asked
Of course darling," Violet agreed
"Could you guys not tell the big boss?" Ava begged "You know I love Seth to death, he's my dad shaped person but he wasn't happy about this whole AEW deal and he'll be even less happy to know I'm going out with one of their biggest stars"
Violet and Finn silently looked at each other before agreeing to the younger woman's request
"We have you covered darlin" Finn said
"What are you going to do about Omega?I'm starting to worry. He's really not taking no for an answer"
“I honestly don’t know” Violet handed Finn her phone, taking out the one meant to contact family. “I think she’s going to threaten Malachi into watching over you” Finn laughed.
Ava sighed in relief. While Malachi Black, formerly Aleister to Violet, was dark and broody, he did scare Kenny with a simple stare.
“So how’s Mox doing?” Violet asked
"Good, he got Omega off my back last night at Dynamite, threatened him with Ruby." Ava said "He said something about promising Seth to look out for me?"
"Seth called him and Miro when you decided to go to AEW." Finn explained
"Called in a couple of favors. You are the baby."
Ava rolled her eyes even though the couple couldn't see her "You've got to be kidding. I can take care of myself"
“We know you can take care of yourself, Seth has a overprotective complex”
Ava sighed but didn’t disagree. “We got to go now, see you tomorrow!” Violet hung up.
Ava turned off her phone, seeing a text from Kenny. Rolling her eyes she deleted it. “Is he ever gonna get the point?” she asked herself before flopping on her hotel bed with a sigh. He thoughts turning to the next day and the date she'd been dreaming of for years.
-Next Day-
She met Adam outside a café, the cowboy looking handsome in normal street clothes and without a certain purple and black group shadowing him.
“Wow, you look great” He said. As she grinned and twirled once, showing off the chic black suit she'd chosen for their date.
“Hope you don’t mind but I invited Violet and Finn just in case your friends crash this”
Adam laughed. “They probably will ”
Inside the cafe, Finn and Violet were waiting at a four person table, surprisingly without their daughter in tow.
"Where's my honey bunches?" Ava said with a pout, that Adam found adorable
"Becky and Seth have her" Finn explained "Shes having a playdate"
“Next time you bring her” Ava pointed. Finn raised his hands and laughed. Violet slid over a black coffee to Adam.
He accepted it with a smile. “So you’re both going after the top titles in Smackdown” he grinned.
“Yup!” Finn grinned. “It was fun in NXT but I wasn’t spending another week without my husband there” Ava sighed.
“It’s harder to get a title shot in AEW, I have no idea how to get to Britt”
“I lost the chance to be the inaugural champ because someone thought an ass deserved it” Adam muttered.
“Adam I think your shadows are here” Violet pointed to a booth in the corner
Sure enough, the purple and black clad Dark Order filled 2 corner booths, trying and failing to be inconspicuous.
"Oh god" Adam murmured "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have told them where we were going"
"They really care about you" Ava smiled at Adam causing that feeling to flutter in his chest again.
"You may not, have been the first AEW champion but you've got a shot at Kenny at All Out" Finn says
"Sure do" Adam says "I can't wait, I've owed Kenny an ass whipping for a while now"
“Fucking creep” Ava rolled her eyes. “How’s Paige?”
“You don’t know that from Mox?” Violet raised an eyebrow. Ava shook her head
“She’s ok, doing wonders with her makeup. Her and Sonya are planning a wedding”
Ava nodded. “Sorry about the Kingdom disbanding”
Finn rolled his eyes. “Of course Vince brings up Shotzi and us but doesn’t want Kyle, Millie, Priscilla or Jordan”
Adam and Ava share a smile knowing while AEW wasn't a paradise by any means…it wasn't run by Vince.
A loud bang sounded from the back of the restaurant and every turned to see one of the corner tables flipped on its side as John Silver looked around sheepishly.
Adam dropped his head in his hands as Ava giggled "I'm sorry, I'm gonna go uh…handle this" he said rising from his seat and heading toward the back.
"They are quite the band of misfits aren't they?" Violet said as she tried not to laugh as they watched Adam easily lift the table back in place and start seemingly scolding them for crashing their double date.
"They love him, and with the entire….mess with the Elite…their very overprotective." Ava explained
“Reminds me of Seth” Violet said. Ava’s eyes widened.
“It totally is!” Finn laughed as Adam came back and sat down.
“They swear it’s just a coincidence they all wanted to come here on the same day and time as my date”
Violet flipped her hair and put on her flirty voice. “So this a date?
Adam blushed hard. “Um…well, it’s definitely not a…friend thing…we’re not friends. I mean we are friends!, but I want to be more then friends!"
Ava blushed as she watched Adam flounder under Violet's question
"Leave him alone, mo chroi" Finn finally rescued the younger man from his wife.
“I was just being a good friend” Violet smirked.
Adam took a breath. “I don’t know why but I have a thing for goth people”
Ava looked at Violet.
“Really? Is that why you went to the Dark Order?”
“Honestly? Kenny ruined tag teams for me. The Bullet Club went to shit after you were kicked out”
Finn’s eye twitched, remembering how the Young Bucks fucked him over.
“The Bullet Club is nothing to me now. They ruined it!”
“The Elite’s worse, nothing but kissing Kenny’s ass, apparently he was looking to go to Impact and take their top title”
“Thank god the old man bought them, Impact might have been the worse part of my career but AEW would have ruined them” Violet sipped her ice coffee.
Adam sighed.
“I don’t know what happened. One minute he was my brother, now he’s a stranger” Adam said quietly as Ava rubbed his back
"Its okay, your going to take the AEW title from him at All Out." Ava consoled him.
The 2 couples finished their meal and left the restuarant, Finn and Violet heading to the arena to get ready for Smackdown, and Ava and Adam walking though the city streets enjoying each other's company.
"This has been great" Ava says as they finally end up back at the hotel
"We'll have to do it again sometime" Adam replied causing Ava to blush again.
"Maybe next time….just the two of us?" He asked softly
“No demon and vampires. No Dark Order” Ava agreed. Adam hugged her.
“Adam!” Evil Uno yelled. The pair looked at the stable. Anna walked over. “Well, the date was a success so Alex made you this” She handed a black jacket to Ava. It had a purple rose stitched in the back.
“Wow, Alex’s a suckup” Adam joked. “I’m totally wearing this next week” Anna smiled.
“C’mon Adam, before the idiots start screaming”
He rolled his eyes but hugged Ava goodbye, kissing her hair before walking away.
The Next Week
After spending the weekend and into the next week bouncing between elation over her successful date with Adam (including spending a hefty amount of time texting back and forth with the cowboy) and annoyance that Kenny just would not stop texting and calling, it was finally Wednesday and time for that weeks episode of Dynamite, at which Ava had a match against Nyla Rose.
Over the past few days she had gone hunting for more appropriate gear to compliment her new jacket and was now wearing black leather shorts with purple accents and a purple and black corset top.
"Don't you look like a full fledged member of the misfit society, I really thought you'd have better taste Sweetheart" Kenny said walking up to her, the Young Bucks flanking him
“I’ve liked purple and black before the Dark Order existed” Ava snapped.
Kenny grabbed her arm. “Let go!”
“I just want what’s best for you” Kenny said fiercely
“HEY!” Darby Allin hit Kenny with a skateboard.
“She’s said no to you for weeks now, get lost!” He roared, Ava seeing why Mox had pretty much adopted him.
Kenny looked panicked and all but ran. The Bucks, glaring at her as the followed
“Thanks” Ava said to Darby. “I hate that fucker”
"Join the club" Darby replied
Later that night after beating Nyla Rose, Ava was celebrating in the ring when Kenny's music hit and The Elite surrounded the ring.
"I really tried to do this in private Ava, baby but you just won't listen to me, you'd rather hang out with those losers instead of being part of The Elite"
“I. Am. Not. Your. Baby!” Ava screamed,.
Kenny stepped in, smirking. “Just accept the date”
The crowd began chanting variations of yes and no.
Then the music of the Dark Order hit, Adam leading the stable to a beat down. Colt tackled Kenny, Adam waving sarcastically at him before going over to Ava, "You okay Darlin?"
"Yeah, fucking asshole. Why won't he leave me alone"
"Ava, Ava!" Kenny panted, "I have a deal for you, since you and the drunk, seem so close lately, Next week….you and Adam against me and Britt Baker. You win, you get a title shot at All Out. You two lose, Cowboy loses his shot, and you go out with me"
Ava looked at Adam, who was clenching his jaw. Anna and Evil Uno nodded their heads.
Ava grabbed a mic. “We accept! And let’s raise the stakes!!! If we win and move on to kick you asses at All Out, you leave me the fuck alone!”
Kenny gulped "Done!"
“I’ll add to that!” Adam yelled. “When I kick your ass, you don’t get to have a rematch as long as I’m champion. Let someone else get an opportunity”
"Deal!" Kenny said cockily "It doesn't matter anyway "You two are gonna lose and when you do...not only will Adam never get a shot at the AEW Championship, Ava...baby...your all mine"
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~Chaar Kadam~
04
Pawn
He is like sea. Ever changing, thousand storms hidden beneath sleek waves. Vast, deep, deadly yet calm and soothing - when he wants to be. Kuwar Veer Pratap Singh is a sea, that Amrit suddenly finds herself stranded in the middle. His deceptive calmness hides a trench beneath, depth of which none has ever tested. She doesn't want to tread these waters, but the choice is between diving and drowning. Isn't that the choice of every life?
Amrit paces the length of her room. Door locked and lights dimmed. The foolishness of her actions makes her inwardly cringe, who was she fooling with this pretence of sleep when with each step her deceptively elegant chains chime.
"Chun Chun Chun" He had said. "As long as I keep hearing their ring, my worries will cease."
Chun Chun Chun
The anklets chime now, mocking her as if they were an extension of the wicked man who had them made. Those anklets could not be undone, she recalled realizing that with a sneering Veer over looking her. She'd rather cut them off her feet -
The sharp knock scatters her thought. Amrit stops just as the door rattles.
"I know you are not sleeping," Veer's voice filters through the door. He doesn't sound very pleased. Good, Amrit thinks savagely. Let him stay awake all night, listening to his favorite Chun Chun!
"Amrit!"
She has the urge to stomp her feet and irritate him further, but Amrit knows how to choose her battles. Veer has that unassuming wickedness of a naughty child, who'd do the most unexpected thing to get his way. Instead she goes and unlocks the door.
"What?" Tonight, she doesn't have the patience to entertain his tantrums. Amrit had pleaded a headache to get out of the dinner debacle, in fear that it would turn somewhat similar to the breakfast drama just that morning. She was annoyed, hungry and on the top of it bound in elaborate gold chains of the kuwar's choosing. At least she had to have the privilege to snap at someone.
Veer raised his brows, looking down at her from his impressive height.
"Dinner kar lo, humare saath," he says. "It's all been set up in the room, we are not expected down at the table with everyone."
She makes a move to walk past him which he prevents with a hand on the door frame. His eyes are burning when they return her gaze.
"Keep me waiting, next time I'll break open the door." He bites out menacing words against her ear as if they were a soft caress. Looking over his shoulder Amrit notices the servants bowing out of the room, the dinner arranged in a corner. Veer steps away as soon as they shut the door and mentally shaking her head at his antics, Amrit goes to the table set up for the two of them.
"Bina khaye sone wale logon ko, ab badi jaldi hai khane mein," Veer taunts from behind. "Stop!" He says sharply. Unwillingly, Amrit turns to look at him, wondering what new play he has thought up now? Was he going to taunt her with food next? Dangle a paratha in front of her like a carrot in front of a donkey? Veer shakes a finger at her in silent no no. With long strides he joins her at the table and pulls out the chair for her.
"Ladies wait for their accompanying gentleman to pull out their chair," he says offering her the seat with an elaborate gesture.
"Why? Woh kudh nahi kar sakthe?" She asks sarcastically.
Veer pinches the bridge of his nose before pointing an accusatory finger at her.
"Yahi yahi problem hai tum ladkiyon ki! When someone is doing a good deed, can't you just keep back and let him do it? No, you want to show your nari shakti instead!"
Amrit plops down on the chair and looks up at him expectantly.
"What is all this Kuwar sahab?"
Veer takes his own seat and looks at her pointedly.
"Training," he elaborates. "Aaj se, we will have dinner here in the room. Just you and me. I will teach you Rani ma's table etiquette to it's last t.
"Etiquette doesn't end with a t." Amrit points out. "Kiyun? Are you embarrassed on my behalf? I did tell you Kuwar sahab, I'm not the right girl for you. Shukar hai aap ko samajh aaya, dher hi sahi!"
"Pooch nahi raha hoon madam, batha raha hoon," Veer tells her as he places a plate before her and starts piling it up with food. "I don't need your opinion on it. I'm telling you how it's going to happen. You will practice during dinner - I'll see your improvement during breakfast with everyone. It may be a pretence, but you are my wife out there. My other half so to speak. I'd rather at least one half is spared of Rani ma's criticism." He shakes his head at some dark thought and serves himself. "Between you and me, I'm the disappointment - you, you are supposed to be perfect, behetareen, unparalleled - such that, Rani ma could never find one who is your better. You are my victorious move against her, my trump card."
His eyes gleam with a madness that fills her insides with a chill. Amrit realizes that she is unwillingly made a pawn in this battle between mother and son. She had no choice but to keep moving forward and the man behind her - dictating her moves - she wasn't certain if he was sane.
"Hmm," Veer says self satisfied. "Shuroo kiya jaayein."
He was a relentless teacher. Amrit wonders how Rani Sahiba thinks less of this son of hers when he was as tenacious as she was.
"So, as we eat - we'll talk about Pakistani prisoners."
Amrit's fork slips. Veer corrects her grip on it again and raps on her knuckles with the back of his spoon.
"Dyaan kahaan hai tumhara?" He admonishes and cuts her savoury roll into small pieces himself. "You can't keep watching your cutlery as if you are performing a surgery on your food. There will be conversation around which you have to participate in -"
He plucked one piece on his fork and brought it to her mouth. "Learn to multitask."
Amrit swallows the bite just to shut him up.
"What about Pakistani prisoners?" She asks.
"There's a list of those who were recommended to be released under Rani ma's campaign scheme. Want to check and see if your aashiq is among them?"
He pulls out a file from nowhere and flips it open. The smile he gives at her eagerness to reach for it is condescending.
"I've heard dogs learn tricks better when they are given reward treats - aaj dekh bhi liya."
Amrit ignored the insult in favour of checking that precious document. It was the culmination of all her efforts. She won't let a petty insult ruin it. Veer watched her in silence for a moment as she reads through the file.
"What will you do when you get him out?" He muses aloud.
"Nothing. He knows how to live his life."
Veer chuckles darkly.
"You want me to believe you won't want to go to him? That you won't run away?"
"Do you play chess Kuwar sahab?"
"Why? You want to learn that next?" He retorts.
Amrit shakes her head. Returns to her food and manages - perfectly - to take a bite from her fork.
"The first rule of any battle is to trust your enemy to do the worst and your soldier to do the best. You have placed me on your side Kywar sahab, you have no choice but to believe I will do my best. If you doubt your own soldier - your opponent will benefit."
For a moment Veer says nothing, then his face breaks into a deceptively bright smile.
"Shukar hai," he says. Shukar hai aap ko samajh aaya, dher hi sahi!" He pays back in her own words, adding his signature sarcasm to it. "You are my soldier. Don't try to be my queen." He offers her another bite. "I've learned my lesson of trusting women. You are left with nothing if you depend on them. Rani ma. Anaita. Tum. All you women know is to disappoint. Ab aur nahi - now I decide the rules of this game."
"Kuwar sahab -"
She jumps at the sound of the door opening. In comes Rani Sahiba, her face a mask of indifference. Veer looks at her annoyedly.
"I'm having serious doubts about your manners Rani Ma," he greets. "Zara dimaag mein zoor daliyein, somewhere - someone might have taught you something about not entering rooms of newly married couples without knocking?"
To his credit Rani sahiba doesn't even flinch. Amrit feels her face burning. She looks away. Rani sahiba being Veer's mother has the nerve to smile.
"You didn't come for dinner. I wanted to talk. It cannot wait." She says pleasantly.
"Kahiyein," Veer mimics her pleasantness. "I'm sure you took the trouble to come all the way up to deliver some shok bhara samachaar!"
"Since you are insisting Veer that I give your wife," she throws a dark look at Amrit. "All due respect and status of a daughter in law of this royal family...I have arranged for that one ritual you missed to force upon us." She pauses for dramatic effect. "It cannot happen that a new daughter in law has joined the family and the newly married couple as you so eloquently put do not seek blessings from our kuldevi? I have arranged a kuldevi pooja for you and bahu. You should prepare to leave tomorrow."
The chill in her smile and the way Veer had suddenly gone very still tells Amrit all she needs to know about this upcoming veneration. The woman has her son's cruel streak, for her eyes flashes with victory at the ghost like pallor in Veer's face. Amrit has the urge to reach out and take his hand - a misplaced emotion that she quickly stomps on. This is the man who made her wear those anklets. She's not going to forget that.
"Kiyun, you have a problem Veer?" Rani sahiba asks sweetly.
"Nahi." Veer's voice is little too high, little too cherry. "Of cause I have no problem." He looks at his mother, his eyes reddening, his fists clenched. "So you'll be going with us too, won't you Rani Ma? Or do you have a problem?"
"Of cause. I - I will." Her voice falters and Veer's fist tightens.
"Of cause," he says. "Of cause."
He rises from the table abruptly.
"If you could finish me off in the process I'm sure you won't think twice to poison your own food. Aap kha lijiye Amrit, humari bhook mitt gayie."
Throwing those last words as if he was spitting out the said poison, Veer left Amrit staring up at the sweet yet cruel face of a supposedly benevolent woman.
**
#cross ship#mini fic#chaar kadam#kiyun utthe dil chhod aaye#veer#Amrit#Amveer#redefining cannon#mixed up narrative
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The Breakfast Club
Chapter 10B-Final
The Royal Romance AU
Warning: Profanity
Thank you to everyone who has read, liked, commented and/or reblogged. I have appreciated each one.
@ladyakwardness @ao719 @dcbbw @carabeth @romanticatheart-posts @emceesynonymroll @pedudley @stopforamoment @choiceslife @burnsoslow @gnatbrain @lovemychoices @timothygorgeous
Drake sat at a table in the back of the ballroom, he dreaded the next few hours of mind numbing boredom. There were at least two hundred people there to celebrate Liam's birthday and betrothal. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver flask, throwing it back, relishing in its escape.
His eyes scanned the room, adorned in gold and glitz, it looked like every other ball at the palace, rather than a birthday.
"Ugh, who let you in here?", he heard, looking up to see Olivia glaring at him.
"The same dumb fucks who let you in", he replied, matching her tone.
She slumped down in the chair next to him and hid her glass, filled with punch, between them, " Don't hold back on me Walker".
He relunctantly pulls out his flask and pours some of the liquid into her glass."So, what're you doing back her with the exile?".
She downed her entire drink, then motioned with her empty glass at Madeleine, "I just want to slap her smug face...she's been hanging all over Liam since she arrived."
Drake sat back in his chair, "Any word on Brooks, yet?".
"Not that I've heard, Liam's been quiet all day, and, of course, I have been busy preparing for my return to Lythikos".
He looked at her intriqued, "I thought you weren't leaving until September?"
She huffed, "My plans have changed," she said as she moved her gaze to Liam, "...there's no reason for me to stay any longer...besides, I really do want to get a start on helping my people and showing them what a true Nevrakis looks like".
He clapped her shoulder, "I'm scared for your people then because you can be a major pain in the ass".
She shrugged and nodded in agreement. "So, what's your plan? Continue brooding around the palace, hit up a few more liquor stores, maybe waste away in your filth of a bedroom?".
Drake took another swig of whiskey and offered it to her, "Naw, me and Savannah are leaving for Texas tomorrow".
She looked surprised, "I thought....".
He rubbed a hand over his forehead, "yeah, I know...mom has been calling lately and usually I don't talk to her, but, I did last night...she's doing real good and wants us to come stay for a while...it'll be nice to get away from here and spend some time with the family".
She smiled at him, then stood from her chair. "You know, you're still an asshole, Walker".
He raised his flask to her in tribute with a half grin, "Touche".
She winked at him, then made her way back to a table at the front of the room.
The ball carried on as guests danced and mingled. Laughter and the sounds of chatter filling the room. Servants brought out the finest displays of culinary art they could create. The court, as always, pretentous, wearing fake smiles and glistening jewels.
Constantine stood on the dais with Regina beside him. He raised a champaign flute, and called for the attention of the room.
As the noise tapered off, he proposed a toast to Liam, the future King of Condonia.
Liam raised his glass, giving an appreciative nod to his father, then the attendees, before taking a sip.
Constantine cleared his throat, "Now, if my son would join me here, we will announce his choice for our future queen".
Liam placed his glass on the table and walked stoically to the position next to his father, turning to face the crowd. Liam's heart was pounding, his anxiety was trying to get the best of him, but, he was holding it together....he had to.
Constantine placed a diamond encrusted engagement ring in Liam's palm, then motioned for Madeleine to join them, "Countess Madeleine of Fydelia".
As Madeleine stood, half of the room applauded approvingly, the other half stunned into silence. The younger nobility had disapproved of her prior betrothal to Leo; her family was knowingly corrupt and lining the pockets of evil factions in and around Cordonia. The older nobilty turned a blind eye to these practices, it helps when you are blackmailed by the crown or given special favors.
Madeleine gracefully made her way to the royal family, curtsing before them, then holding her hand out to Liam.
Liam took her hand and kissed it, standing upright again with her hand tightly gripped in his.
The room was silent and all eyes were at attention. Liam held the ring, breathing heavy, his senses heightened. He had placed the ring just at the tip of her finger, then peaked, expectantly, to the back of the room... everything stood still.
He met Madeleine's starry gaze, with a wild glance, his blue eyes beaming. He looked down at the sparkling ring, barely on her finger, slowly pulling it back off. Madeleine gave a bewildered look, shaking her ring finger, waiting for him to place it back on.
He turned to face Constantine, who was slowly losing his stoic facade; confusion written all over it. Liam motioned with his head to the back of the room, where Constantine followed his lead.
Constantine watched in horror as his oldest son saluted him from a doorway, with his middle finger and a wide, arrogant grin. The King took a small step forward, sneering in perpetual indignation. The audience began whispering to one another in wonderment; they could sense the rising tension.
Liam faced Constantine, reveling in his father's fury. With the ring pinched between his fingers, he held it up to Constantine's face before throwing it randomly into the audience.
Madeleine gasped, covering her mouth, she was completely stunned by what was taking place. She grabbed Liam, forcing him to face her, "What are you doing?".
He pursed his lips, and faced Leo again, stating simply, "I'm leaving". He took a step forward and Constantine, embarrassed, whipped in front of him, speaking in a hushed tone, "This ends now...you and your damn brother have had your fun, now stop this immature behavior and do what we're here to do!"
Liam shook his head in acknowledgement, "You're right father, this ends now", he said as he stepped around him.
Chaotic chatter was starting to escalate. Constantine pulled him back by his arm and held him in place, his voice now raised, "Stop this!....You're ruining everything Liam!"
Leo casually walked towards the two and braced himself in front of Liam. He pulled out a smart disk, cocked his head and held it up to his father, "do you know what this is dear father?".
Constantine replied with a sneer, "what?".
Leo placed the disk in his fathers hands, "You taught me everything I know about ruling Cordonia, I've worked with you for years....I know all your secrets, your dirty deals, the people you've conspired with and how you worked with a terrorist group to take out the late King of Monocco...all of it right here on this little disk....I guess you could say I've been saving it for a rainy day..so...welcome to your rainy day father", he said with glee.
Constantine was speechless, he looked out at a sea of angry council members and dignitaries, scattered throughout the ballroom.
Liam peered out from behind Leo with a proud chuckle, "...and I've taken the liberty of ensuring every news outlet in Cordonia has a copy of it". He then placed two fingers over his mouth, feigning shock "...oops..was I not supposed to do that?"
Leo laughed out hysterically and placed his arm around Liam's shoulder, "Good one little brother".
Constantine took a hard swallow, he wanted to kill both of them, right then and there. If he weren't in public, he would have done so. He put in a fake smile and gritted his teeth. "You're finished Liam....you and your brother, both, will never wear the crown...are you satisfied".
Liam pretended to ponder his threat then spoke sarcastically at him, "So, I suppose the bloodline dies with you....would you like me to congratulate Olivia now, as a Nevrakis will be the next monarch on the throne".
Realization of his words suddenly hitting Constantine, he pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, nearly in tears. His knees were going weak and his entire body was working against him. He couldn't strip Liam of his title or he risked his perceived enemy becoming his heir. With his secrets being aired, scandal and council hearings would soon follow. He felt like his entire world crashed down, face flushed, eyes widened.
Leo grasped Liam's shoulder, "You ready to go?"
Liam started to feel free for the first time in his life, it was exilerating. He looked, seriously, at his father one last time, "You can't hurt me anymore."
He stepped away, walking shoulder to shoulder with his brother, out of the ballroom.
Drake, still sitting in the back with his feet propped on the table, took another drink of whiskey and said to himself, "I thought this party would be boring....man was I wrong."
*****
Liam grabbed a bag he had packed earlier, that he left in a closet near the door. He got into Leo's rental car and they drove to the airport tarmac.
Liam stepped out of the car and grabbed his bags. Standing at the bottom of the stairs of the airplane was Maxwell and Riley. He immediately ran over to her, dropping his bags and lifting her up in his arms, "There's my girl".
Maxwell had called Liam late, last night after finally finding her home. Her step father had been arrested the night before for domestic violence against her mother; he wasn't home when Riley returned.
Leo, Liam, Riley and Maxwell boarded the plane and took their seats.
Liam held her hand and gave her a soft kiss, "You ready for New York?", he asked.
She smiled brightly, "As ready as I'll ever be."
They landed several hours later, staying with Leo and his wife for a few days. Riley would move in with her friend Daniel, while she and Liam got to know each other more, though, they rarely spent time apart.
Maxwell wanted to go with her to New York, they had come so far, he had to make sure she would be okay....she had become his best friend.
As Maxwell waited for his flight to be called back to Cordonia, Riley sat next to him.
"Maxwell, you know for all of that talk about failing the Beaumont name, you sure know how to make things better."
He looked at her inquisitively, "How so?".
She crossed her arms on her lap, "Well...it was you who made Olivia see things differently, and it was you who gave me a place to stay when I didn't have one, you introduced me to all these new friends and you're the one who rescued me from a bad home....you're very special Maxwell...never forget that."
Maxwell smiled at her thoughtfully, "Thank you Riley."
They hugged one another as Maxwell made his way back to Cordonia.
Due to excrutiating stress, brought about by several council hearings and foreign inquisitions, Constantine's health declined. Six months after Liam left, he had a stroke and was left bedridden, unable to speak. Regina acted as head of the state, as well as, several key figures of Cordonia politics....including Duchess Olivia Nevrakis of Lythikos.
Leo worked with Liam, prepping him for his eventual elevation to King. He would fly to Cordonia on occasion, to learn from Regina and check in with the court. He, however, never visited Constantine again.
Riley attended university and received her degree in counciling; she wanted to work with children who had come from traumatic backgrounds.
7 years later-Coronation Ball
Constantine's death had been inevitable, however, most people hadn't expected him to suffer so long when he was alive, without speech and very little movement.
Liam and Riley stood at the entrance of the ballroom, having been married for just over a year, the young couple had just attended their coronations earlier that day.
The herald made the announcement, "Thier Majesties, King Liam and Queen Riley of Cordonia".
They made their rounds, shaking hands with people excited to usher in a new, more positive face to the monarchy.
They sat down at their table preparing for the meal. At the table with them, Drake, Olivia and Maxwell. They had stayed in close contact over the years.
Olivia took a sip of her champaign, "So, are you ever going to pop that baby out...it shouldn't take them so damn long."
Riley clutched her growing tummy, "Olivia, I still have three months to go."
Liam laughed, "Yeah, our little Ellie needs a little more time."
Maxwell chimes in, "And as soon as my new app takes off, Uncle Maxwell will be reporting for babysitting duty."
Drake sighs, "Im afraid to ask....what app?"
Maxwell gets giddy with excitement, "Its a story about all of us, and you can make choices about what you want to happen in the story. Each one of you are a character."
Drake shakes his head, "Leave me out of it...no one wants to see me as character in some damn app."
Maxwell leans up, "Not true...My focus group says you're one of the more popular love interests, of course, they keep forgetting about me."
Drake sits a little taller in his seat, trying to hide his growing smile and ego.
After the ball has ended, they all say their farewells. Maxwell walks out the front of the palace, places his sunglasses on, raising a fist into the air as he crosses the palace lawn to his car.
#choices trr#the royal romance#trr fanfic#trr liam#trr drake#maxwell beaumont#trr#liam x riley#drake walker#olivia nevrakis#liam x mc
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Hello! Can you talk to me a little bit about Valyria? Is it 100%unsavable? Anything still hiding there? Maybe some dragon eggs? I'm sure my question is answred somewhere in the books, but I've just started reading them! And I love the idea of Valyria being rebuilt.
Hello! I am sorry I took some time to answer your ask.
Look, I made this PDF document for you - the 12 pages dedicated to Valyria from The World of Ice and Fire (I created it from my own PDF file of TWOIAF so it’s safe to download). They will make you understand Valyria much better than I ever could! :) There are some other minor passages about Valyria in the book (like a description of the wars between Valyrians and Rhoynar but it’s some obscure lore for a beginner and I didn’t think you’d want that), but this is the main text about it.
I love Valyria! It was such a beautiful and modern place in comparaison to all the rest of Planetos. While the world in ASOIAF seems to be forever stuck in a sort of Early Middle Ages, Valyria's era equivalent would be somewhere in between the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery, with many aspects of ancient Rome, and of course many elements of Fantasy. Valyrians were really an advanced civilization.
At its apex Valyria was the greatest city in the known world, the center of civilization.
Apart from taming dragons, and mixing their blood with dragon's blood (the expression "blood of the dragon" is not a metaphor, Valyrians did mix their DNA with the dragons' DNA, to have a better affinity with them), they also practiced magic. We don't know much about their sort of magic, but we know that they used it to build castles and skycrapers and roads, just as they used it to forge Valyrian steel. Nobody knew how to make Valyrian steel apart from Valyrians themselves, and since the Doom the knowledge and art of it was lost. And only the most skilled armorers could hope to re-work the existing Valyrian steel (for example, Ice was re-forged into 2 new blades, Oathkeeper and Widow's Wail, but the process was difficult and the armorer couldn't achieve the coloring he wanted).
In A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion travels along Valyrian roads.
During one stop, he used the time to have a closer look at the road. Tyrion knew what he would find: not packed earth, nor bricks, nor cobbles, but a ribbon of fused stone raised a half foot above the ground to allow rainfall and snowmelt to run off its shoulders. Unlike the muddy tracks that passed for roads in the Seven Kingdoms, the Valyrian roads were wide enough for three wagons to pass abreast, and neither time nor traffic marred them. They still endured, unchanging, four centuries after Valyria itself had met its Doom.
Come moonrise, they were back in their saddles, trotting eastward under a mantle of stars. The old Valyrian road glimmered ahead of them like a long silver ribbon winding through wood and dale. For a little while Tyrion Lannister felt almost at peace. "Lomas Longstrider told it true. The road's a wonder."
Valyrians also practiced a pre-modern form of democarcy, a bit like the Roman Republic according to GRRM. They did not have a King or an Emperor, and every one had a voice, though of course some were more influential and powerful than others.
Women in Valyria were treated differently from women in Westeros - Valyria seems to have been much less misogynistic. We know it thanks to Visenya who was a warrior and who trained since very young age apparently without facing disapproval from her family; and thanks to her blade, Dark Sister, which was originally forged for a woman's hand back in Valyria - which suggest that Valyrian women could be warriors. We also know about a Valyrian woman explorer, Jaenara Belaerys, who flew on her dragon to discover the unknown lands of Sothoryos.
Jaenara Belaerys flew her dragon, Terrax, farther south than any man or woman had ever gone before, seeking the boiling seas and steaming rivers of legend, but found only endless jungle, deserts, and mountains. She returned to the Freehold after three years to declare that Sothoryos was as large as Essos, "a land without end."
The negative side of Valyria was the practice of slavery, which started following the fifth and last war between the Freehold and Old Ghis (the ancestor of Slaver's Bay). I can understand why the Ghiscari people were enslaved (they were defeated enemies, and Valyrians decided to put an end to these wars forever) though I do not support this choice, but there was absolutely no need to continue with slavery. Valyrians were already extraordinary and powerful and superior to all the rest, and they achieved their greatness through their own effort and own work, not through slaves. Slavery was a very dark chapter in the story of Valyria, and was what probably brought the Doom.
Unfortunately, I do not think Valyria could be rebuilt. I like this idea too, and after I first finished reading the novels the ending of Daenerys rebuilding Valyria was very appealing to me, but now I understand that it's highly unlikely to happen. Valyria is a shattered, ruined land of very active volcanoes, haunted by "demons", and is uninhabitable for normal humans.
This is a passage from a Tyrion's chapter, when he is sailing towards Slaver's Bay and passing well south of where Valyria once stood, 400 years after the Doom:
A dull red glow lit the sky to the northeast, the color of a blood bruise. Tyrion had never seen a bigger moon. Monstrous, swollen, it looked as if it had swallowed the sun and woken with a fever. Its twin, floating on the sea beyond the ship, shimmered red with every wave. "What hour is this?" he asked Moqorro. "That cannot be sunrise unless the east has moved. Why is the sky red?"
"The sky is always red above Valyria, Hugor Hill."
A cold chill went down his back.
And this is how the people perceive it:
Every man there knew that the Doom still ruled Valyria. The very sea there boiled and smoked, and the land was overrun with demons. It was said that any sailor who so much as glimpsed the fiery mountains of Valyria rising above the waves would soon die a dreadful death.
Whatever happened to Valyria was not only a simple volcanic eruption (like in Pompeii) - it was a much more cataclysmic event. When the spells the Valyrians used to control the Fourteen Flames collapsed, it appears that all these volcanoes exploded at once, and rained down magma and ashes and acids. Earthquakes broke the land and provoked great tsunamis that destroyed the cities.
“So those are fires of the Fourteen Flames we’re seeing, reflected on the clouds?”
“Fourteen or fourteen thousand. What man dares count them? It is not wise for mortals to look too deeply at those fires, my friend. Those are the fires of god’s own wrath, and no human flame can match them. We are small creatures, men.”
“Some smaller than others.” Valyria. It was written that on the day of Doom every hill for five hundred miles had split asunder to fill the air with ash and smoke and fire, blazes so hot and hungry that even the dragons in the sky were engulfed and consumed. Great rents had opened in the earth, swallowing palaces, temples, entire towns. Lakes boiled or turned to acid, mountains burst, fiery fountains spewed molten rock a thousand feet into the air, red clouds rained down dragonglass and the black blood of demons, and to the north the ground splintered and collapsed and fell in on itself and an angry sea came rushing in. The proudest city in all the world was gone in an instant, its fabled empire vanished in a day, the Lands of the Long Summer scorched and drowned and blighted.
And this is what happened to the Isle of Cedar, located hundreds of miles away from Valyria:
On the day the Doom came to Valyria, it was said, a wall of water three hundred feet high had descended on the island, drowning hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children, leaving none to tell the tale but some fisherfolk who had been at sea and a handful of Velosi spearmen posted in a stout stone tower on the island’s highest hill, who had seen the hills and valleys beneath them turn into a raging sea. Fair Velos with its palaces of cedar and pink marble had vanished in a heartbeat. On the north end of the island, the ancient brick walls and stepped pyramids of the slaver port Ghozai had suffered the same fate.
It does not seem to me like a salvageable place. There are a lot of things hiding there I do not doubt, from beasts like firewyrms to the remnants of Valyrian buildings and sorceries (if Euron's armor is really made of Valyrian steel, and if he really got it from Valyria as he boasts, then it's safe to say that more Valyrian treasures could be found). About dragons’ eggs I am less sure, though it is not impossible I guess (Euron, again, claims he found a dragon egg but threw it overboard in the sea “during one of his dark moods”, though he didn’t say where he found the said egg) but anyway the only dragons that will be important for the plot of ASOIAF are Daenerys’ dragons. Maybe after the War for the Dawn these potential eggs would come into play? I certainly do not want the dragons to die (a fantasy world without dragons where dragons once were is a sad world), it would be nice if Valyrian eggs could be found and hatched for the beginning of a new era of dragons. I cannot say that GRRM will go in this direction though.
I am sure we will see and learn more about Valyria in Winds of Winter! There were a lot of world-building around it and a build-up of information in the fourth and fifth novels, and a prominent villain (Euron) is heavily associated with it. I also believe that Daenerys will cross the demon-road (a Valyrian road north of Valyria that runs from Volantis to Meereen and that everyone is afraid to go to) on her way to Volantis, and maybe divert her trajectory and fly over the ruins of Valyria, if only for a short while. It would be great if she found a cache of Valyrian steel! If anyone should have a Valyrian steel armor in the story then it’s definitely her, the last true Valyrian and the last dragonrider. Not to mention that it would be very helpful in the fight against the Others! But two Valyrian steel armors may be one too many for GRRM.
We only have to wait now :)
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