[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/lp7lay3.png[/img] [hr][i][color=LightSteelBlue]Time: Evening[/color] [color=LightSteelBlue]Location: Banquet Hall[/color] [color=LightSteelBlue]Mentions / Interactions:[/color] [@FunnyGuy] Alexander, [@princess] Charlotte, [@Tae] Kalliope, [@samreaper] Kazumin, [@princess] King Edin & Queen Alibeth, [@SilverPaw] Prince Wulfric, [@Helo] Callum, [@ReusableSword] Roman, [@JJ Doe] Count Fritz[/i][/center] [hr] [color=lightgray] Cassius stood there, fire in his veins, still tasting the bitterness in his mouth that both Roman and Callum had left there. And then Alexander’s hand touched his arm. It was the gaze that did it. Not the words. Not the false sweetness that poured out of the man's mouth like syrup over rot. It was [i]that look[/i]. That heavy, suffocating look that pressed into his mind like a weight on a bruise. It was something he had seen before…[i]felt before[/i]. Not just once, but for what felt like a lifetime some years ago. He knew that feeling all too well. For a heartbeat, Cassius fought it. He could feel the beast in him claw against invisible chains, but then it settled…slowly, inexorably, it settled, like mud dragged down into deep water. The anger did not vanish, but it did dull. Quite a bit in fact. His shoulders eased, fists loosened at his sides. The frustration still smoldered in his chest, moreso now that he begun to realize what was happening to him…but it no longer screamed for release. Because it couldn’t, even if it wanted to. Alexander’s tactic had worked. It clicked in his mind, cold and sharp. He had been compelled. The realization burned hotter than the fury had, but there was no space to react to it. No room to do anything at all, because that was the moment Charlotte moved. He barely caught sight of her before she was there. No words, no hesitation, only arms wrapping around him. Soft and trembling. Her head rested lightly against his chest, and the world around him seemed to blink out of existence. The gasps, the murmurs, even the sharpening gazes from nobles around them. None of it mattered. Only her. The hug was brief but it hollowed him out, scraped something raw and aching to the surface that he had buried deep, and before he could even process it, before he could even really hug her back, she was gone again. Slipping away like smoke between his fingertips. Cassius turned his head just in time to catch Kalliope’s eyes, and the look she gave him was not teasing. It was not jealous. It was worry. Real, worry. The kind that said she had seen the same thing he had felt. That Charlotte’s touch had not been a whim. That something was wrong. His gut twisted sharply. Before the thought could take root too deep, a voice broke into his periphery. [color=limegreen] “Howdy do there...Cassius, is it?”[/color] Cassius blinked, dragging his focus over to the bright-haired farmboy who had somehow ended up next to him. Kazumin was smiling, cheerful as ever, offering a handshake like nothing had just happened. Like Cassius hadn’t just thrown his future into the jaws of royal ire. Still, Cassius reached out and took the hand, feeling the firm grip, the grounding reality of it. He let the boy ramble, let him tease about Charlotte’s hugs. It was a lifeline, in a way. A brief, normal thing in a night that had turned inside out. He didn’t speak really, but he wish he could have. He would have to make it up to the man another time. And then Kazumin was called away, leaving only the fading warmth of his handshake and the heavy weight of the hall pressing back in around him. He was just sinking back into his seat when the king’s voice cut through the air. [color=DDB775] “You forget yourself, Lord Damien. ” [/color] Cassius barely lifted his eyes. He heard the mockery beneath the cold. The threat wrapped in the words was perhaps subtle to some, but this was not his first incident with royalty. He caught the queen’s glare too, it may have been the deadliest amongst them all. They wanted him to flinch, but he didn’t. He never did. He stood tall, a slow breath leaking from his nose, the calm still unnaturally wrapped around his bones from that fucker’s undead powers, a problem for another day. Let them rage, let them posture. His heart, his focus, and his worry was somewhere else entirely now. Prince Wulfric’s voice followed soon after, cool and deliberate. [color=ab274f] “There is no need for threats, Lord Damien. If you seek to defend your sister’s honor, you are free to challenge Lord Ravenwood to a duel... ” [/color] Cassius flicked his gaze to him at last, not with anger, but with something almost pitying. A duel. He could have accepted it. Hell, he could have stood up and made it official in front of the whole damn court. But what would it prove? His fight was not at this table. His fight was the girl who had just hugged him like she was drowning. Perhaps it was his concern for Charlotte, perhaps it was the compel…most likely though it was some combination of the two, but he words Wulfric offered slid off him like rain off oiled cloth. He turned his head away without even answering the spoiled, royal prick. And that was when Fritz’s voice cut through, calm and measured. [color=9354FF] “You do look unwell, Lady Charlotte. Would it help if Lord Cassius Damien escorted you to the infirmary? ” [/color] The Count was right, Cassius had seen it now. The paleness beneath her blush. The way her hands trembled when she thought no one was watching. The slight unsteadiness of her steps. The way her gaze had started to glass over, distant and dazed. Charlotte was not alright. Something was wrong, [i]very[/i] wrong. He could feel the court watching him, feel the weight of their stares, their judgment, their thinly veiled delight at the show he had made of himself. Let them all watch. Let them whisper because they have nothing better to do with their privileged existence. Cassius Damien had bigger things to worry about tonight than politics. He made his way toward her without hesitation, every instinct in him coiling tighter with each step. When he reached her, Cassius took her hands in his and leaned down to meet her eyes. [color=lightsteelblue]“Lottie…”[/color] His words so gentle compared to the way he spoke to the black sheep prince Callum and whatever the hell Lord Ravenwood was supposed to be. [color=lightsteelblue]“I believe it would best if both of us stepped out for some fresh air. It’s beginning to get a little stuffy in here, it seems.”[/color] Somehow, despite it all, he managed a kind smile. One like she had seen from him the night before. Leaning in, his voice lowered to a volume that was only loud enough for her ears alone. [color=lightsteelblue]“Let me help you, please.”[/color] [/color]