Black Is The Color of My True Love's... [private]

[Dimitri Wladisyaw]

"I am pleased you will stay in Arium, in my city I hope, the dark citadel will always welcome you Anora." He smiled as she pulled away and adopted that most rare of Dimitri's personalities, that of the accepting man, indeed a reasonable man.

"I will travel with you to Zinn and then also to Jaedaxia, I have business in both, Prime shall however be yours alone, though take Erethar by all means, I seek to have back no gifts, save my rings that remain in my family." He smiled and suggested of course in thos last words that a Wladisyaw she was not.

Of course Dimitri held his head a little higher, a clear and wonderful tactic was forming in his rather morbid mind, this little break would allow him a share of pleasure without guilt and with a reason for doing so, justified debauchery, and then she would be his again in time. Her emotion told him this, before he asked for her back due to her rejection but she did not wish to leave him, all he needed to do was continue to stoke the little fire of love that burned within her, to tempt her little mind back to his, and to warm her body with the crushing flames of his emotion." He smiled to himself, "It would work our nicely he supposed."

"We shall remain aquintances I hope, once you are given the consul job and I hope you will gain it, you shall have much dealings with me." He smiled, "Would you like me to set up some rooms for you in the Citadel, it is a military stronghold but I am redesigning it into my personal estate in Vortex proper and keeping the army stationed there as well of course." He smiled, "The city is beautiful, and I am glad you have found love for my city if not me, it pleases me and nulls the pain I feel creeping along my soul."

[Anora Eventide]

Anora was quietly gathering the embarrassing little fragments of her decorum. She felt like a hostess who had dropped a plate and spilt all over her guests. Dimitri's offers made her flutter with a wisp of bemusement. The gravity of the severance had not yet permeated it seemed.

"Thank you, Good Duke," an older title from less familiar days, "Your offer is kind, but I will be traveling alone and seek some personal apartments in Vortex. I will not impose my presence on you. But I am grateful for Erathar and will take you offer."
One of her familiar slim smiles graced her paled expression.
"I am very fond of him."

Nulls the pain… he did have a sense of theatric phrasing. His poetic airs were Anora's friends at the moment. She felt vaguely alienated the more melodic a man's speech became. True feeling was too raw a thing for her to be fully articulate about. She had her occasional clarity of phrase but could not sustain it for long, hence her stutters.

She began to replace her gloves on her hands.
"Yes, we will speak again regarding our interests in Vortex's place within the Empire."

She folded her hands, mantled in cool quietude. Her pristine posture seemed brittle despite its severity, as if a heavy spirit was tenuously suspended by hollow bones, but her chin raised with such a cultured delicacy.

"Let us finish this darkening with a stroll to your home, so I can gather my things."

And that was all she had to share, or at least Anora compelled it to be.

[Dimitri Wladisyaw]

"I would rather not." He smiled, "My men will accompany you and help your transport your things, I am afraid I have business." He paused, "I wanted to show you the Citadel and the soldiers training, now I must go alone it seems." He smiled, "Perhaps best if we did not see each other again before you left the city." He chuckled and ran a finger along his jaw finding it hard to continue this cold indifference, "Send me a letter if you find yourself with the role, we shall meet as two politicians, which I personally feel will be refreshing."

In truth she would surely know he was masking what he really felt, men did not change so quickly, it was one of his more obvious deceptions but for the moment it served a very rgeat purpose.

He smiled and with a brief gesture leant in to kiss her chastely on the cheek, then a few guards appeared besides her ready to do as Dimitri ordered. The Duke turned on his heel and with a final wave vanished into the snows calling as he went, "Do send my regards to your family, such a funny business this has been."

As he walked away he moved with a spring in his step, tempoary freedom pleased him, and now all he needed to do was make sure Anora remained free and in his gaze for some time, she would come crawling back in the end he reasoned. A brief tinge of doubt appeared but like so many things it was repressed.

[Anora Eventide]

Very well then.

Anora stood alone in the snow, a few soldiers milling far behind her. A funny business. That was one way of looking at it.
She would not be made to feel obligated at the end of this. If he hadn't broken and burnt promises and codes of behavior like hay, she wouldn't be standing here alone in the cold. Or so something like a temper told her.

As Dimitri stared back at her, her would see her profile and the subtle set of her jaw. Her hands were pressed to her side and her fingers flexed and shut. Something akin to selfishness crossed her. She'd be taking the dresses and set those freakish little handmaids free in his absence. They were not obligated to remain family property, were they.

Her cold little mind burned for a moment, overwhelmed by the rush of reactions. By the time she reached the Collegium she would likely have overwhelmed this bout of impulse with cordiality and logic and amended her plans. But for this brief candlemark, a fraction of her heart was bleeding emotion. Less than any normal human, but more than she was accustomed to controlling.

A dark cloud lingered over the winter queen that Dimitri looked back at, its black currents heavier than the evening itself. And then the temper was drawn in with the tilt of her head and the secretive shape of her mouth as she moved towards Har'oloth.