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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 3798567" data-attributes="member: 3285">As Gray and Cold as Stone - Part 8a: A Restless NightQuintus and Ilmarė entered the parlor, only to find Elandre pacing there.  There was no trace of her practiced smile. “What have you learned?” she demanded.Quintus rubbed the back of his head.  “Well, actually we didn’t—”“—have a problem digging up the evidence,” said Kham as he limped into the parlor.  He was covered in dirt.“Oh?” said Elandre. “Yes,” said Ilmarė with a smirk.  “Do tell.”Kham dusted himself off.  “From what I was able to find, Adolphos val’Tensen made a deal with your father to reject your hand in marriage. Basically, it was a ploy to say no to the Emperor without publicly dishonoring your family.”“Katticus…” said Ilmarė.Elandre’s eyes narrowed and her lips curled angrily.  “So, father would use me as a pawn in his political games, would he?”“But then I suppose you knew that already,” continued Kham.  “Katticus…” said Quintus.Elandre resumed stalking up and down the parlor floor. “Dangle me as bait to keep the Emperor happy, hoping to snatch me away before the jaws close on me?”“I mean, Roderick would have to be an idiot to marry you.  Going along with the marriage is tantamount to a hostile takeover.”“Kham!” shouted Ilmarė.  “Roderick went through with the proposal!”Kham coughed into one fist.  “Oh.”“And now his failure means I’m doomed to a miserable life with that damned Milandisian,” said Elandre. “I’ll kill him.” Elandre remembered she still had an audience.  She smiled, once again appearing to be the perfect congenial hostess.  “I’m sorry.  You have done well, and I thank you. Please stay in the villa tonight as my guests; I will have your payment ready in the morning.  For now, I must go speak to my father.”  With that, she left.Kham shook out his hair.  A few leaves fell off.“What happened to you?” asked Quintus.“Let’s just say it was much faster getting out of Acastus’ study than getting into it. He’s still in there.”“Fell out the window again?” asked Ilmarė.Kham rubbed some dirt off of his nose.  “Anyway, I didn’t tell her everything.  There’s this other note,” he waved the note in Quintus’ direction.Ilmarė snatched it from Kham and read it.  Then she handed it to Quintus.  “Well,” he said.  “Looks like the holier than thou Acastus is actually in league with a cult.”“All to prevent reunification of the Mother Church with the Dark Triumvirate,” said Kham.“This is troubling,” said Quintus.  “We should—““How DARE you?” Elandre’s voice was brimming with barely controlled fury.  They could hear in the parlor, even though she was with Acastus in the study.“You will not speak to me in such a tone, girl,” replied Acastus.“I have, and I will again.  You have made me a pawn in your games with the Emperor. And when you lose the game, I am the one who pays the price.  You could have at least warned me—““And if I had warned you,” Acastus interrupted, “what would you have done?”“Tried to bring you to your senses!” yelled Elandre.  “We could have figured out some other way together, a way to avoid defying the Emperor—““There IS no other way, Elandre.  I know you’re angry, but I am still your father, and I am still the one who decides what is best for my family and my country.”“What’s best for YOU, you mean,” said Elandre.  “You don’t care a grain for Coryan or for me.”“Elandre—““Which is why I suppose you’re just as happy to banish me to some cold, gray wasteland with a fool for a husband.  That way, you won’t ever have to trouble yourself over me again.  Well, if that’s what you want, so be it.  The next time you see me father, it will be over your grave.”The argument ended with Elandre violently slamming the door.  “Awk-ward!” sang Kham.  “Well that was fun.”  He grabbed a bottle of wine from a pedestal.  “I’m going to bed. Wake me when she kills him.”</blockquote>

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