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Eamon couldn't help but notice that the Prince was uncommonly beautiful in a way that would be defined as more feminine than anything. He recalled the stories that Lissandra would weave late at night of fairies and dragons and princesses who were better at fighting than any knight.
Raulyn looked like he had stepped out of one of her stories.
His eyes were gray like storm clouds and his cheekbones were high and proud. His eyebrows were dark while his hair, golden and long, braided in a way that was too much in the way of the Ataton style for Eamon to be comfortable with, was long. His mouth wasn't overly generous but was pink like a lady's would have been after they were painted.
His right eyebrow was pierced three times, his nose was pierced with a small ruby and his lip had a golden ring through the bottom left lip.
But he was young. He was painfully young, despite his brash demands and his poise. Eamon could still see the youth in his shoulders and hips, could see that despite the destruction he wrought, that he didn't know how to control it.
As they studied him, he studied both of them in turn. Raulyn's eyes lingered on the tattoos on display and something shifted in his eyes, something dark and twisted.
"King Eamon," he said and his voice was deeper than Eamon expected. He nodded at Eamon before turning to Alik. "King Alik. It's a pleasure to meet the two of you face to face."
"I suppose," Alik said softly.
Raulyn smiled, as though Alik had actually paid him a compliment.
"No, we are not here for pleasantries, are we?" Raulyn said.
"No," Alik replied.
"Does your husband speak?" Raulyn asked and his gaze slid from the tips of Eamon's boots to the crown on his head. "Or does he merely kill at your command? A dog on a leash."
"I would watch your tongue, boy," Alik said softly. "No one controls the king, least of all me. No one can stop him either. Do not tempt him or me."
Raulyn chuckled and nodded. "Of course. The warrior king, bested by my father's soldiers."
"After he was drugged and beaten, I would like to remind you. Would you like to see what he's like without chains and broken bones and drugs running through his veins?" Alik said, "One more insult, child, and I will step aside and let Eamon do as he pleases."
"So you do control him," Raulyn said and smirked.
"I serve to remind him of the people that we seek to save from you, nothing more." Alik said.
"Save from me?" Raulyn scoffed. "I have saved as many people as your husband has killed."
"Give us your demands, boy. We do not have time to waste on you," Eamon growled.
Alik twitched at the sound of his voice. It was more of a growl and even Raulyn's face gave away more than he probably realized.
"I have no demands," Raulyn replied but there was such a sly look on his face that Alik knew that it was a lie.
"Alik," Eamon muttered and Alik nodded and turned back to their boat.
Just as Eamon was about to step into the boat, Raulyn cleared his throat and said loudly, "But I thought you might like to know that your sister says hello."
"My sister?" Eamon said slowly and straightened up. Alik even turned so that he and Eamon were shoulder to shoulder, staring at Raulyn. "Please be more clear."
Alik thought of Lissandra and her frequent letters to Avelina. He wondered if they had been faked somehow, if she could have been kidnapped after leaving them.
"The Princess Avelina. She waits for me in our royal bedchamber," Raulyn replied and his smile grew.
Alik blinked at him and looked up at Eamon. He could feel the same relief in his chest that he read on Eamon's face, followed swiftly by incredulity and the fierce desire to laugh. Alik wanted to turn to the ship behind them and wave to his sister-in-law, safely aboard the ship, surrounded by guards.
"You have. Avelina?" Eamon choked out.
To anyone else it would have sounded like desperation or even horror, but Alik knew that none of that laced his words.
"Which is why I knew you would want to barter. Perhaps to save your sister," Raulyn raised a single shoulder in a casual gesture and winked, "Or perhaps not. The choice is yours. You bow to my wishes and your sister will be returned-"
For all the knowledge that Alik had of Eamon, he often forgot the speed of the man. His sheer size overshadowed nearly everything else and it was easy, purposefully too easy Alik realized, to understand how quickly Eamon could move from one spot to the other.
The platform shifted under the distribution of their weight and Eamon was suddenly on the opposite side, his hand around Raulyn's throat, the tips of the young man's boots barely touching the platform anymore.
"Your sister-" Raulyn tried to choke out before Eamon cut his words short.
"You halfwit. My people will remain loyal to me, now and through their lives and their children's lives. I don't know who you have in your bed, who you have forced yourself on night after night-" Eamon pulled Raulyn up and close to his own face.
"Eamon-" Alik hissed, as the platform rocked and the archers from Vresal took aim at them.
"But my sister is safe, guarded by the fiercest of all warriors," Eamon dropped Raulyn and stepped back.
The archers did not lower their bows.
"Are you so sure?" Raulyn said from his knees and coughed as he rubbed his throat. Then he laughed. "When was the last time you saw her?"
"Do you think he will answer you and tell you where she is? You play a child's game with a man who has fought more wars than years you have been on this earth," Alik snapped, overriding Eamon's instinct to tell Raulyn too much. Their eyes met and Eamon took a step away from Raulyn who remained on his knees. Eamon took pleasure in the fact that there were already bruises blooming on his fair skin.
Alik approached Raulyn and knelt down to his level so that they were eye to eye. "What are your demands?" He asked softly.
"Leave the Isles to us and my men will let your people live," Raulyn croaked. "You can have the southern lands back along with their resources as long as we are left in peace."
It would mean leaving Eamon's home, leaving his birthplace and never returning. It would mean giving up Stormholme, whatever remained of his people there, his reputation would be in tatters-
But it would keep his men alive.
Alik knew that was reason enough for him to consider the offer.
"What will happen to the people? The people of the Isles?" Alik asked.
"They will have their place," Raulyn said and though he was still on his knees, a cold light shone in his eyes and Alik had to fight his instinct to pull away. Instead, he remained crouched in front of Raulyn.
"You will make them slaves," Alik concluded.
"Nations are made in such ways," Raulyn said and moved so suddenly, Alik cursed himself for not being more ready.
Pain blossomed on his cheek and he fell back, landed on the platform and raised a hand to his cheek. Eamon was already jerking the small dagger from Raulyn's hand and the look on his face chilled Alik even as the pain raced through him like a wildfire.
"Eamon, no!" He cried out.
Alik knew that Eamon could kill the other prince with less than the dagger he now clutched. But Alik was also aware that it would start a war that would be bloodier than it had to be. The people on the Isles would pay the price for Raulyn's death and they would pay it for generations.
Eamon stood over Raulyn who was already bleeding from his nose and mouth. Eamon was breathing hard, his shoulders rising and falling with his breath.
"You will pay for that," Eamon said and stepped away from Raulyn. He offered Alik a hand up and tore a strip of cloth from his own shirt and passed it over to Alik.
"I'll send your people your warmest regards," Raulyn said as he wiped his face clear of the blood there.
"Tell them that their King is coming for them. Tell them that I will be there soon," Eamon replied evenly. "Tell them that their princess fares well."
"But not all of the royal family. Not all of you survived that night. Too bad, isn't it?" Raulyn grinned and it was ghastly. His teeth and face were still red.
"Didn't we?" Eamon grinned as well and it was like they were old friends, sharing a funny story. "It doesn't seem like you are an expert on my family, seeing as you have the wrong princess in your bed. So who's to say who survived your father's cowardly attack? Are you sure you hung the right man? Are you sure it was Prince Edmond? What word have you on Princess Lissandra?" Eamon tapped the side of his head with the dagger he had taken off Raulyn and even Alik had to wonder if he had lost touch with reality. "I will see you soon and when I cut your tongue from your mouth and have you quartered by my four best horses, you'll know that I didn't earn my crown with pretty words. I earned it through the blood of men who were better than you."