[center][img] https://i.imgur.com/rAa2bpv.png[/img] [/center] [color=firebrick]Time:[/color] Nighttime Sola 28th [color=firebrick]Location:[/color] Dinner event [color=firebrick] Interaction: [/color] Roman [@ReusableSword] Alexander [@FunnyGuy] Mina [@Tae] Wulfric [@SilverPaw] Calbert [@Princess] [color=firebrick] Mentions:[/color] [color=gray] “If you're going to make backhanded compliments, you should put some more power into it… Like when you slapped Violet in the face.” Violet sat in stillness, the flickering candlelight catching the edge of her wine glass, casting fractured shadows across her porcelain features. The commotion around her was drowned beneath the hum of something far more unsettling. Her name had been spoken. Not once, but many times now by those at the table. Once with that charm-laced cadence that pulled at the softest parts of her, and again with a compliment so perfectly timed, so carefully dressed, that she might’ve blushed had she not already built a fortress beneath her skin building layer by layer as her secrets were laid bare for all the hear. Her lips parted slightly as if to speak but she stopped herself. Scarlet stirred like an ember roaring into a fire. A prickle beneath her skin. Not fear, something older. Something colder. Her chest felt hollow and full all at once, like a breath she could never finish taking. Her pulse, throbbed in her neck, not fast, not slow, just there. Reminding. Repeating. Her face sotfening into an eerie calmness. The memory of his warmth—it flickered. His promises once felt like refuge, like a fire in the dead of winter. Now, they lay curled in ash. Forgotten. Her mind reached for them, grasped, but they slipped—like fog between fingers. She took and idle sip of wine as the rest stained her lips, a smile that wasn’t hers played at the corner of her mouth. Sharp. Knowing. Tired. Inside her, Scarlet twisted, coiled. Not a scream. Not a cry. A hum. Low and biter. The sting on her cheek returned. It was not fresh, but not healed. Just present. A ghost of the flesh.She blinked once, slowly, and saw it all again: the kiss meant for someone else, the crowd, the gallery, the slap. Trust turned to rot, affection to theater. The man she thought she had love for was a trick of the light just like her reflection in a cracked mirror. Her hands trembled, just slightly, before stilling again. Why did this moment feel like she was at the stables again? Her face being smothered deep into her truth but would she bite. Roman’s forked words came again, jabbing at Alexander’s bloodline, his worth. Pulling from her thoughts, Violets head turned slightly toward Alexander, her eyes watching his hand as it stabbed into the food on his plate. No ring. Curious. Alexander without his ring at such a large gathering with the king here no less. That didn’t seem like a choice. It made sense now. Protective. Angry. Honest. She felt the storm brewing between the two men and the tension curl beneath her ribcage. She wanted to feel angry at his remark about the slap, to feel betrayed that he would air out such a private situation so freely at the table but Alexander only spoke what Violet was too afraid to say outloud. Alexander had treated her with a harsh hand, that much was true, but she started to see as time continued on that he had kept his word to her.She would have died had he not forced her awake. And yet she was faced another lesson that he attemped to show her. One he had once asked her about, Could she trust Roman. Her answer had always been yes. Until recently. She set her wine glass down, the sound sharp but not loud. She turned to Wulfric, who was watching her with that knowing, princely quiet. She tilted her head ever so slightly in acknowledgment as the others at the table awaited her response, to confirm or deny Romans actions. [color=firebrick]“I find myself less interested in choosing between the two of them,” [/color] she said, calmly addressing the entire table now. [color=firebrick]“And more interested in understanding why I was ever made to feel I had to.”[/color] She responded to Wulfric in an unamused tone. Her eyes glanced back to Roman as he continued to speak. His words were sharp amongst his laughter, eating as if the words he spoke had no effect on the person who had held him in such high regard. She felt the burn behind her eyes, her throat closing as her eyes fell from him shutting for just a moment as she attempted to center herself. Her breath caught in her chest as the knife he weilded so freely stabbed her, deep and slow with each word that left his lips. His laughter twisting the blade with ease as her fingers clenched at the fabric of her dress hidden from anyones eyes. Her scarlet eyes glanced up at him. Violet didn’t flinch. Not at Roman’s laughter, nor his smirking glances, nor even the wink he dared toss in her direction like they shared some private joke. The only betrayal more deafening than his words was the ease with which he delivered them. As if the promises he'd once whispered to her were nothing but kindling for his amusement now. He had said he would start a war for her… to help her find a way from this curse. Instead he strips her naked with his words shaming her in front of everyone while attempting to imply Alexander as a horrible husband to Leanna. Throwing her in the mud was one thing but going after Alexander was another. Scarlets eyes depend with a building flame. She had been wrong, she had been so wrong about everything. Her fathers words caught her at surprise as she glanced over at him, feeling the warmth of his hand graze hers. “My darling,” he murmured, the gentleness in stark contrast to the storm he had just conjured, “you owe no one here an explanation. Not him. Not this court. If you would like me to handle this, I will. If you would like to speak further, you need not look for permission. Only know…” “…I will stand at your side, no matter what.” Her chin rose as he finished speaking. [color=firebrick]“Thank you” [/color] she said softly so only he could hear her.[color=firebrick] “I would like to handle this myself”[/color] Scarlet said softly before directing herself to Roman. Her voice was soft and razor-edged. [color=firebrick]“You seem to find great satisfaction in feeding yourself, but far more in starving others of dignity Lord Ravenwood.”[/color] Her eyes lifted to meet his—no warmth in them now, no trace of the girl who once fell for his smile. [color=firebrick]“Insults masked as jest. Compliments given with a cheek still wet from someone else’s kiss.” [/color] She let out a gentle laugh as the irony amused her as she glanced for a moment at Mina. [color=firebrick]“It’s curious, though. You claim concern for a woman’s reputation…”[/color] she tilted her head just slightly,[color=firebrick] “…while dragging mine so elegantly through the mud. You speak of virtue and passion as if it's something to be mocked—while you, in the same breath, muse aloud about imagined entanglements between a husband and his wife, creating scandal where there was none until you decided to offer false entertainment while gorging yourself with the grace of a street dog.”[/color] Her voice dropped as her eyes narrowed in on him [color=firebrick]“I am not a tale for you to twist. My reputation is not a game piece on your board for your amusement. I am Lady Violet Damien, and if anyone here has forgotten what that name means…” [/color] She leaned forward, just slightly, her voice lowering[color=firebrick] “…I invite you to continue.”[/color]Her sharp crimson eyes pierced at him with an even sharper edge then the blade he so freely twisted into her. She reached for her glass of wine as swirled it slowly within the glass [i][color=firebrick] “If that was your idea of passion, I assure you, your touch left no warmth worth remembering.”[/color][/i] her voice cracked under her breath, the small truth of hurt peeking behind her mask that only someone with a keen ear could hear. She lifted the glass to her lips taking a long drawn out sip before setting it down. [color=firebrick]”Careful with your wine Lord Ravenwood, we wouldn’t want another moment of passion to slip out…”[/color] she said venomously as Scarlet struggled to keep her poise. Her lips curled into a smile as she winked at him with a condescending expression. [/color]