10-17-2020, 04:22 PM
He sat. Oriena watched with sly eyes, but was apparently satisfied with the capitulation. Rafael tagged behind, pulled along by the hand, though by the look on his face he had no intention of being anywhere else. The way they clung seemed awfully pathetic, but there was no accounting for taste. Rafael was beautiful to look at, she supposed, and sweet as sunshine, but she could hardly imagine the attraction to something so wholesome. Nox would burn him right up.
“Oh sweetheart, she didn’t leave her hooks in. I welcomed the cunt right in.” Oriena smirked, but it twisted cold and was quickly smothered by a sip from the bottle. The alcohol wasn’t doing much, but everything did suddenly feel easier. The pressure a little less. She leaned back in her chair, ran a hand through her hair as she watched the two men opposite. She wasn’t afraid of Nox’s retaliation, and even if she was, she knew now what happened when the ijiraq came to protect their investment.
She had no way of knowing if Nox held the power himself. Likely, given the snake he’d once been. Ori only held her own for comfort, which was precisely why it winked out from her now, and without protest. If Nox fucked her over she would make him regret it -- and she imagined he knew that too. She doubted the intention though: she perceived a man who did dark things and cloaked it in the guise of a hero, unlikely to be duplicitous unless she pushed him. Juliana was right about these two. It was nauseating, but it also meant Nox was unlikely to do anything that would risk Rafael’s disapproval. Which might even include refraining from lying about the help he was willing to offer, apparently absent any terms at all.
She laughed to herself. Felt suddenly weary. All that delicious leverage completely unnecessary, but for once Oriena wasn’t complaining. If there were strings she would find them. She lived and breathed and bartered on secrets.
“Who else is hunting him?”
Nox called it revenge, her own words really, but it was nothing so simple. It was the defiant howl for freedom. The blood-soaked promise of war. The ijiraq were predators, and they were angry. But she was hardly going to point it out.
“Oh sweetheart, she didn’t leave her hooks in. I welcomed the cunt right in.” Oriena smirked, but it twisted cold and was quickly smothered by a sip from the bottle. The alcohol wasn’t doing much, but everything did suddenly feel easier. The pressure a little less. She leaned back in her chair, ran a hand through her hair as she watched the two men opposite. She wasn’t afraid of Nox’s retaliation, and even if she was, she knew now what happened when the ijiraq came to protect their investment.
She had no way of knowing if Nox held the power himself. Likely, given the snake he’d once been. Ori only held her own for comfort, which was precisely why it winked out from her now, and without protest. If Nox fucked her over she would make him regret it -- and she imagined he knew that too. She doubted the intention though: she perceived a man who did dark things and cloaked it in the guise of a hero, unlikely to be duplicitous unless she pushed him. Juliana was right about these two. It was nauseating, but it also meant Nox was unlikely to do anything that would risk Rafael’s disapproval. Which might even include refraining from lying about the help he was willing to offer, apparently absent any terms at all.
She laughed to herself. Felt suddenly weary. All that delicious leverage completely unnecessary, but for once Oriena wasn’t complaining. If there were strings she would find them. She lived and breathed and bartered on secrets.
“Who else is hunting him?”
Nox called it revenge, her own words really, but it was nothing so simple. It was the defiant howl for freedom. The blood-soaked promise of war. The ijiraq were predators, and they were angry. But she was hardly going to point it out.
![[Image: orianderis.jpg]](http://thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/orianderis.jpg)