Trash Panda

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

When Iris asserted that she believed he would be a just king, Cas felt warmth creep into his cheeks. Despite what she thought, other high borns didn’t often comment on the kind of ruler they predicted he would be. He’d been told of all the qualities he needed to have: authority, steadfastness, confidence, charisma, et cetera, et cetera. But when it came to his eventual rule, it seemed like everyone had the same expectation. As long as the quality of life never changed in the capital, they didn’t care what else he did to leave his mark on Aspiria. Hearing her profess that she thought he was capable of great things left him tongue-tied.

As she explained that she wanted to be remembered for doing something meaningful, he couldn’t help but find it ironic how opposite their perspectives were. He had been born into a position where he had the power to effect change, and he would have given it up in a heartbeat to anyone who could do a better job than him. On the other hand, she was just a regular high born who aspired to do more with her life. If it had been so simple, he would have suggested that they should just trade places, but unfortunately, there was no good way to pass the crown off to someone outside the royal family without putting the stability of the entire country at risk.

At least, not outside of marriage, he thought to himself, averting his gaze as if one of the paintings was suddenly interesting. The only way any high born in Aspiria could rise that high up in power was by marrying into the royal family, but there was no way he could bring up the topic even jokingly when he was starting to have real feelings for Iris. It would have been way too uncomfortable, so instead, he kept his mouth shut and let the subject drop on its own as she headed for the door.

“It’s fine,” he offered her a reassuring smile. “I’ve been here dozens of times, so we can look around at whatever pace you want.” As she brought up effecting change one more time, he considered her words more thoughtfully. He supposed she had a point that if someone had the ability to do something great, then they should take advantage of it. Perhaps he’d been taking his status as the crown prince for granted, but it was also daunting to know that he would soon have the power to hurt the country too. Politics was complicated business, especially with other powerful nations, and he didn’t want to be the one responsible for causing irreversible damage to his homeland if he messed up.

“I think you’re braver than I am,” he confessed, casting her a sheepish look. “‘With great power, comes great responsibility…’ That’s something I’ve been told all my life, and it hangs over my head every day. It’s kind of terrifying to know that I could make or break Aspiria when I succeed my dad.” Especially with the ongoing rebellion. It was hard to tell how heavy-handed the monarchy needed to be when dealing with the Scourge, since the movement was made up of Aspirian citizens. He certainly didn’t feel equipped to navigate the complexities of calming a restless people if the fighting didn’t stop before his father passed.

Eager to move on, he brightened again when Iris asked him which shops were the best. “Any that catch your eye,” he answered with a grin. “They’re all great, so we can stop by as many as you’d like. Just let me know if you see anything so find interesting.” With a wave of his hand, he took the lead along the sidewalk to keep moving along the circuit.

--

For the rest of the afternoon, they walked the rest of the way around the historic district, dipping in and out of shops whenever one of them spotted something they wanted to take a closer look at. Cas felt like time flew by in Iris’s company. She was easy to talk to, and her occasional jokes always made him laugh. He could think of plenty of actual dates he’d been on that had gone worse, and by the end of it, he found himself hoping once again that she was single.

When they got back to the parking lot where he’d left his car, Cas glanced at his phone to check the time. “We’ve got a couple hours left before dinner,” he mused. “Not enough time to go back to the mall, but… how about some ice cream? There’s a stand in the park we could stop by before we leave.” He paused, his dark eyes flicking down to her crutches, and quickly lifted his hands. “No pressure though. If you’re too tired, we can go back to my place to rest.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I don't think it was anyone's proudest night lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The heated air that touched his skin when he stepped back inside the tavern was relieving to Crow. He paused in the doorway, taking a moment to warm up as he searched the room for the cloak he’d left behind. The mistake had been minor, but he still chided himself for being careless. When he had been living on his own, he had been much more aware of the whereabouts of his possessions. Everything was valuable when one worked hard to procure it. Now, having been given anything he could need by his father, he noticed that he’d started to take some of the belongings for granted. Not wanting to become like the other spoiled noblemen and women in the inner kingdom, he planned to pay more attention in the future.

Luckily, the abandoned clothing was still on the bench where he’d left it. Expecting to make quick work of picking it up, he took a step toward the empty table but didn’t get any further before the tavern keeper spotted him from across the room.

“Hey!” he barked, marching over to the viceroy with a glare. “I told ye and yer friends to get out of my tavern, so beat it!”

Crow held up his hands in an innocent posture. “We’re leaving,” he assured the short man. “I just left something behind.” In the back of his mind, he found the tavern keeper’s hostility amusing. He was much bigger than him, so he could have easily pushed him aside to get to the table if he’d wanted to. However, he already felt a little guilty for causing a scene earlier, so he opted for a friendlier approach.

“I don’t care,” the tavern keeper shooed him again. “Ye can come back and get it when ye’ve sobered up enough to stop picking fights with my patrons.”

“I am sober,” Crow frowned, unsure if pointing out this fact was helping or hurting his case. “It’s snowing outside, and I forgot to put on my cloak before we left. If you just let me pass, I’ll get it and be on my way.”

The man eyed him for a moment longer before letting out a loud sigh. “Fine,” he relented. “But I’m watching ye, viceroy. If ye take even one step away from that table, I’ll pummel ye.”

“Thanks,” Crow nodded with an amused smirk. With the short guard out of the way, he trotted over to the bench and threw his cloak over his shoulders. The thick fabric felt cozy against his cooled torso, and the cold air outside didn’t bother him nearly as much when he stepped out of the building again. He drew the hood as he rejoined Penelope and Naida, covering his head against the still-falling snowflakes.

“Sorry about that,” he casted the female knights a lopsided smile. “I’m ready to go back to the castle now.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Understandably xD
Crow realized he got so caught up in everything that he forgot his cloak

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

When Penelope answered his question by doubling over, Crow startled and fumbled to hold her long hair back as her stomach purged itself of the alcohol that had made her ill. At least she seemed to be feeling slightly better when it was over. He pressed a swift kiss to her cheek once she stood up straight again and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, laughing softly at how proud she was about punching the knight who’d gotten in his face. “I’m impressed you sent him to the floor like this,” he admitted with an incredulous shake of his head. “You’re frightening even when you’re drunk.”

At the sound of Kane’s voice behind them, the viceroy tensed reflexively. He peered back over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes, staying close to Penelope. The nobleman may have been apologetic now, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d assumed he was trying to take advantage of her when there had been no evidence. He was still simmering over how quickly the other men had jumped to such terrible conclusions about him, just because he had been a thief before he had been brought in by the king.

While Penelope corrected Kane about the situation, herself, Crow glanced back at the tavern with a slight shiver. In his rush to confront the spiteful knight and then hurry the lieutenant out of the building, he’d left his cloak at the table. He wondered idly if the tavern keeper would let him come back inside long enough to collect it before they left. He was only somewhat chilly now, but the longer he stayed out in the cold, the harder it would be to bear the icy winds. They had a long walk back to the castle that night, and the snowstorm didn’t look like it would be letting up anytime soon. He would have rather bundled up in thick fabric than arrive at the palace turning blue.

He turned back to the others as the three knights approached, watching them hostilely. To his relief, Kane was finally backing down about protecting Penelope from her big bad “predator,” and for a moment it seemed like they would be parting ways, as Crow had been wanting to do from the start. But, of course, it was too good to be true.

The viceroy felt a flash of anger as the same knight who had taunted him turned his dagger tongue on the lieutenant. She didn’t deserve to be treated that way by a fool who knew nothing about her. He wouldn’t stand to listen to the man ridicule her either.

“Bastard!” he snapped, pulling away from her side to call after the knight. “She’s done more for this kingdom than any of you ever will!” With a scoff that left his lips in a vapor as cold as his voice, he turned away from the group of nobles to press close to Penelope again, using her touch both to calm him and to keep warm as a frigid breeze blew through the street. By now, he couldn’t stop trembling in the cold and gooseflesh had risen on his skin.

“What the hell was that all about?” Naida crossed her arms, watching Kane and his posse walk off with a frown.

Crow ignored her question. “I left my cloak inside,” he murmured to Penelope, taking a small step away from her. “I’ll be right back.” Wasting no more time in the snow, he turned and jogged back to the tavern to retrieve it, leaving the two noblewomen alone while he braved the wrath of the tavern keeper.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

It worked, kind of xD

At least, if anyone fights now, they won't be inside the tavern lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow ground his teeth as Kane insisted that no one would be leaving with him alone. In that moment, he finally realized that the noble and his henchmen weren’t trying to separate him from Penelope so that the blonde could flirt with her, but rather because they thought he would take advantage of her while she was intoxicated. He couldn’t believe they had the audacity to accuse him of such a thing, even if they never expressed it directly. He had been known for thievery when he’d been a peasant, nothing more and nothing less. The men before him now had no grounds to assume he would sink so low as to get a woman drunk just to use her for his own selfish gain.

He clenched his fists at his sides, seething with thinly bridled rage. Like the three knights, Kane’s reminder that they should all keep level heads went in one ear and out the other for the viceroy. He knew he was at a disadvantage in numbers, skill and resources if a fight broke out, but as the noblemen continued to taunt him, he no longer cared about the odds. Not when they were berating him for a quality he had never possessed in his entire life. Even when he’d slept around in the outer villages, he had not once forced a woman into bed with him against her will. He had been a criminal, but no one who had known him well would have said he was a bad man. Luring away an inebriated woman was beneath him.

As the drunkest of the knights got close enough that Crow could smell the reek of ale on his breath, he narrowed his eyes furiously and tensed to throw a punch. All reason had flown out the window when his honor as a decent human being had been slandered to his face. However, before he could even cock back an arm, he stared in astonishment as Penelope lunged first. Though unstable, she succeeded in landing a blow to the knight’s jaw that sent him crashing to the ground. In the next instant, the viceroy staggered as she latched onto him to keep from collapsing as well.

He gripped her sturdily and planted his feet until she regained her balance, studying her with a mixture of fondness and admiration. He hadn’t expected her to be able to knock a man over when she’d had so much to drink. Perhaps he wasn’t quite as outnumbered as he’d thought.

Promptly, she seemed to feel sick from the rapid motion, and Crow paled. “Wait, wait,” he pressed a hand to her back to usher her quickly toward the door. “Hold on. Don’t throw up until we’re outside.”

“The rest of ye had better go with them,” a new voice barked angrily. Crow glanced over his shoulder to see that a short man with a bushy, well-groomed beard had stormed over to them and now stood with his hands on his round hips. “Troublemakers, all of ye!” he waved his hands in a shooing fashion. “Get out, get out! I won’t stand for ye ruining the atmosphere of my tavern with yer squabbling. This is a classy place.”

“I guess that’s our cue,” Naida groaned, climbing reluctantly to her feet and shuffling toward the exit after the lieutenant and viceroy. Kane and the knights walked with her, the former moving with haste in his attempt to catch up with Penelope.

Outside the building, Crow led the knight to the closest snowbank, watching her concernedly and rubbing her shoulders with one hand. “Are you still feeling ill, love?” he asked gently, all animosity toward the other noblemen momentarily forgotten as he focused on making sure she was okay.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

It's getting heated ^^;

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow glanced fleetingly at Penelope when she tried to offer her support before his eyes fixed on Kane again. He didn’t know what the nobleman was up to, but he knew he didn’t like it. Outnumbered four to three—or really, four to one, since both of the women were drunk—he fell instantly into old habits, pinpointing his exits and keeping his potential enemies in sight at all times. That he was sober meant he had a slight edge over the group of knights, but it wasn’t enough to make him feel very confident about his odds. The men might have been drunk, but they wore armor and had weapons at their belts. In close quarters, the lone viceroy was highly disadvantaged if a fight broke out.

He had to wonder what they thought they were doing though. Even if they had personal grudges against him, he had still been chosen by their king and given the title of ambassador. He despised the thought of running to Albin to solve his problems for him, but if his father found out that some of his own knights had attacked him, well… He’d already heard the threat of his adversaries being drawn and quartered once before.

As Kane suggested he could leave separately, Crow bristled. If the nobleman was just trying to pull him away from Penelope, he was going to excessive measures to do so. There had been no need for him to get his bodyguards involved. It was a cowardly trick, in the former thief’s opinion. Even past rivals like Gavin and Cedric hadn’t resorted to anything this low. He was tempted to challenge the blonde to fight him one-on-one if he was so eager to assert his power. However, he had enough of a rein on his temper to quell his tongue.

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered under his breath while Naida and Penelope expressed their hesitation with the plan as well. As much as he disliked the thought of being “escorted” by so many knights, he would never leave the lieutenant alone with a man like Kane. Whatever his reason was for trying to separate them, it couldn’t have been good.

Then, the drunken knight spoke up. Crow’s last thread of composure threatened to snap as the man ridiculed him about the night Elizabeth had tried to seduce him in his bedchamber. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he snarled, rising to his full height from the bench and stepping toward the other man. At his approach, the guard tensed and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the viceroy went on, incensed by the accusation. He turned his cold eyes on Kane. “These two are close friends of mine, and I’m going to walk them back alone, like we originally planned. If you don’t like it, then you can take it up with someone who cares.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow might not have given Kane the best impression either. He still hates most knights ^^;