15. Out with the old, in with the new by Pashen

alexander

Alexander nervously paced back and forth across his bedchamber, his body quivering with fear and excitement. The day had finally come for him to assume the throne which he had dreamt about for years now. He thought his father would never relinquish the throne, but someone had convinced him otherwise. His attention turned back to the door as the servants knocked, coming to put the final touches on his appearance. Not much was needed, as Alex was naturally a good looking man. He adjusted the collar of his robe and made his way down to the throne room, having to partake in the pre-ceremony chatter. To his surprise, Cel was there and actually looked like a duke, and not some crazed magic apprentice. The two brothers spoke for some time, mostly about the oddity of the sudden power shift.

Mon, May 27th – 9:01AM

pashen

Pashen’s eyes burned completely crimson when the crusty old gatekeeper told her to prove who she was and refused to open the gates for her. He knew damn well who she was, having been married to Vorador for 12 years, making her the Princess of Proudglaive and mother the four of the Dukes. Kilpatrick had always enjoyed making her life a hell and Vorador had shrugged off Pashen’s outrage, humored by the cranky old coot and her temper.

When Gilthom arrived covered in mud and straw, leaves and sticks finally the old bastard admitted her. Once in the castle, Gil left her to ready himself and Pashen made her way slowly towards the throne room. A host of memories flooded her when she passed by the family portraits; surprisingly Vorador had not burned the ones with her. She heard the quiet murmur of voices, letting her know that there were more gathered than she’d originally thought.

Before she reached the open double doors to the throne room, Pashen paused and with a cringe in place, a golden flicker of her eyes brought a change of clothes. The rich blue and greens of her formal gown offset her golden tan nicely. It was Thayne’s favorite, it wasn’t the original though, that gown had been destroyed within King Druzzle’s castle. Pashen had it replaced because of Thayne’s fondness for the off the shoulder, tight bodiced gown with the flowing, layered skirts. A small woven circlet of living wildflowers rested on top of her head, Haven’s crown. This was the most important day of Alexander’s life to date and as his mother, her heart swelled with love and pride.

She wished that Thayne could have joined her but he was leery of the entire event, understandably so, Vorador would be officiating the coronation but Pashen needed to be here.

Taking a deep breath she sauntered forward pausing in the doorway to scan the small crowd of nobles scattered throughout the royal room. It was easy to pick out Alexander, in the tradition of his father Alex stood head and shoulders over many of those gathered. A charming smile curved her lips until her one dimple appeared. She knew without a doubt that Proudglaive would shine under Alexander’s rule. She didn’t understand Vorador’s choice, it made no sense that he would step down but she figured in due time his reasoning would be known.

Quickly she made her way to her sons, ignoring the open appraisal of Lord Tectrellsen. He had always made her skin crawl, ever since that time a half dozen years ago when he cornered her at Vorador’s birthday celebration.

Mon, May 27th – 12:29AM

celmiril

Thankfully a servant had come to Celmiril’s lab deep in the bowels of the castle to alert him that it was almost time for the crowning of his brother. Father would have killed him if he’d forgotten about it.

He carefully locked up Herman, a neon-pink hamster with long fangs and bright orange wren wings. “You stay put.” The misbegotten creature gnawed on the steel bars of the cage, grinding his teeth in a way that sent a creepy shiver down Celmiril’s back.

He hurried from his lab through the castle to his suite. He allowed the servants to bath and dress him, even trim all the burnt hair from his head. Once properly attired in a blue robe with his family crest stitched in golden thread on the front, he hurried to the throne room and breathed a sigh of relief that his father hadn’t yet arrived.

He hated these royal functions simply because they took time away from his consuming experiments. Seeing Alexander, he made his way over to his brother and sensing his brother’s nervousness he began to chatter about his latest research into the differences in the Chaos Fyre of Rosha and the Chaos of Cedre.

Mon, May 27th – 12:57AM

demitri

Demitri spoke at length to Syriana about going to see his brother crowned Prince. He had to be there, wanted to be there and was ready to face his father’s wrath if Vorador had found out about the two of them.

Syriana was the most important thing in his life and it was her that he worried about. It was not that he feared his father, he feared what his father might try to do to her.

“Ashke, we will have to deal with the old lion sooner or later. You go.” Syriana kissed him gently then shoved him towards the door of their home within Tradarien.

He looked over her shoulder at her, worry still visible on his features. “You will stay with Alasse?”

“Of course, m’love.” She purred.

Her smile was genuine enough but he didn’t necessarily trust the gleam of amusement in her beautiful eyes. So it was with a few misgivings that Demitri left.

Once inside the throne room with his brothers and mother, Demitri bided his time waiting for the arrival of his father by running through various scenios of how he was going to ask Syriana to marry him.

Mon, May 27th – 1:55PM

vorador

His meeting with Elza that morning had finally convinced him that giving up the throne would be in his best interests. Once he was done dressing, Elza put the finishing touches on his appearance, brushing his hair and such. Several moments later, Vor was leading the altered succubus down the hallway to the throneroom. Once there, the old Prince went straight to the throne, signaling everyone to take their seats. He spoke for several moments, giving the typical speech one would give at the occassion. Towards the end of the end of the speech, he started to get towards the actual ceremony. First, Alex was given the pendant that marked the position of Prince. Then with soft words, the pendant acknowledged its new owner. As Vor went behind his throne to get his blades, there were odd sounds that started to come from the audience. Despite this, Vor returned, blades in hand. He spoke briefly, explaining how these blades came with his station. However, midway through this, trouble broke out.