Between Two Evils - Chapter 2
Apr. 2nd, 2008 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
botiasAnother helping of the L/A extravaganza. I've been working on Persephone also, I promise you all.
It took Allura a little time to believe that he was really gone, that she was alone and not being—her mind shied from the thought. She sat up and looked around, moved more by edginess and a wish to distract herself than by curiousity.
It was not what she expected. The only light came from the next room, but she could make out that drawers and cupboards lined one wall, a large mirror was on another. Everything was shades of bronze or black, and surprisingly simple. Arched openings that led to other rooms dominated each of the other two walls; one was dark. She got up and walked to the one that was dimly lit and peered out.
It was the room he'd set her down in. The large space was more what she thought suited a barbarian prince: deeply shadowed and opulent in shades of red and black and gold, a far cry from her simple, brightly-lit rooms on Arus. Directly across from where she stood, the only other opening led into darkness. Some sort of entryway perhaps. The idea didn't interest her; she could honestly say that there was no place outside these walls she preferred unless a change of planets was on offer.
She thought, with a some sense of defeat, that this was to be her cage. Still, there were no scantily-clad slave women or grisly trophies, and there was a quality to the silence that suggested refuge.
Sagging with a sudden weariness, she considered her options. Return to the bed or... curl up on some other piece of furniture like a frightened virgin. Both were equally unappealing. She leaned against the wall. After a moment, she slid down into a sitting position and pulled up her knees, letting her head fall forward onto them.
Not waiting for his flustered and rumpled-looking escort to announce him, Lotor strode into the room. The table in the conference chamber would have seated dozens, but only five people awaited him there. He pointed to the stiff-necked man with the ridiculous bow tie. “You. You're in charge.”
He pointed at the four remaining Lion Force pilots. Without their fifth they were little more than a nuisance, but a nuisance just the same. “You. Extended Leave, effective now. If I hear the faintest whiff of rebellion, I will return and make Arus a lifeless rock.” He let a wide, nasty, and very heartfelt smile spread across his face, “And that would displease my wife.”
He spared a few moments to bask in their fiery glares of hatred. One of the pilots went for his weapon, but some killjoy had emptied their holsters—probably Bow Tie.
He looked at the royal adviser again. In spite of the early hour and shocking reversal, he appeared focused and unemotional—except for a certain hard gleam in his eye. Coran would do the smart thing—no matter how merrily he would consign his new liege to hell.
Satisfied, Lotor turned to leave.
He didn't quite make it out the door before Bow Tie spoke. “Prince Lotor, I would—”
Lotor didn't look back. “I'm not interested, Coran. If that ever changes, I'll be sure to let you know.”
Lotor scowled at the empty bed.
Of course.
She couldn't be where he'd left her, or some other considerately obvious place. That wouldn't do at all.
He turned away. At least he'd narrowed the search area considerably; now he wouldn't have to—
He stopped, feeling the rush of emotion that always came when he saw her.
She seemed to be asleep. Her knees were pulled up, and her head rested on her crossed arms, face turned away. Her hair was still loose; it fell across her in shining waves almost to the floor. He walked to where she was curled against the wall and sat down on his heels, succumbing to the familiar fascination.
She was his, only for him for the rest of his days. She had sworn it. He could take her back to the bed this very moment, strip off her flight suit and look his fill, touch her any way he liked. She would let him, just as she had allowed him to touch and kiss her before. The memory of her soft lips, the way they had parted for him... he reached out a bare hand to touch the silky crown of her head.
Allura woke with a start at the first touch of his fingers. Her eyes widened when she saw him, and she flattened herself to the wall behind her with a small sound.
He waited, hoping. Perhaps her fear would lessen once she had gotten over her surprise.
It didn't. If anything it increased as she awakened fully, her breath coming quick.
His mouth flattened. He could take her back to the bed—and feel her flesh shrink from his touch. He could kiss her as he had before, but this time he would know that the sounds she made were not from pleasure. She turned her face away from him.
He felt a flash of anger; perhaps this had been a lot of trouble for no reward.
The anger passed as quickly as it had come. He shook off his doubts. It was long past the time he usually rose, and he hadn't yet slept.
“Come to bed, Allura,” he said. It was not a request.
An odd impulse made him hold out his hand to her. Curious, he waited to see what she would do.
After a long moment, she put her hand in his and let him help her to her feet.
Lotor took off his helm and dropped it onto a table well-marked from previous impacts. It was a relief to have seen his father off at last.
Everything had gone as he planned, perhaps because Allura was not directly involved. Arus had been enough of an embarrassment that his father had been pleased to hear the last of it, but not so much of one that Zarkon had taken a personal interest in its defeat. Lotor gave himself a mental pat on the back for his excellent timing. For their part, Coran and his Lion Farce had chosen to play dead rather than become that way.
He had not planned on his father amusing himself by keeping his newly-wed son as busy as possible.
He should have. It was what he would have done.
“Good evening, Allura,” he said.
He received a small, precise nod in reply. She didn't ignore him, not quite. He walked farther into the room.
She seemed content enough now, his wife of three days, perched on one of his divans reading a book, but he had no illusions. If he were to touch her, the fearless woman he'd faced on the battlefield would magically transform into a crying girl; he was sure of it.
He still found it extremely annoying, but at least he had time now to devote himself to the problem.
He flung himself down opposite her and considered the matter while he watched her read. She wasn't exactly simple to woo. She had accepted food and clothing from him without complaint—at least none she had spoken aloud—but he knew her better than to think that jewels and luxuries would be well received. It was ridiculous; everyone liked wealth and power.
He became amused as more and more time passed without her turning a page. Troublesome as she was, she somehow delighted him as nothing else had ever done. It was a deep pleasure to return and find her here, to wake and find her in his bed, but that was the least of what he wanted to share with her.
He got up and walked to the entrance of his—their—bedchamber. “Princess, if you will accompany me?”
She hesitated and then carefully marked her place. He admired her as she stood and walked toward him. Her incredible eyes were veiled by her lashes, but he saw a flash of a blue-green glance as he waved her inside.
He followed behind as she walked into the center of the room and stopped. At that moment he was certain her exposed nape was the most sensual thing he had ever seen. Closing his hands on her slender shoulders he pressed his lips there; it was every bit as silky and fragrant as he'd imagined.
Not allowing himself to linger, he brushed past her and went to a drawer on the far wall, pulling out clothing and a pair of boots that looked too small to him for anyone but a child. The dark gray fabric of the military jacket and pants was sturdy and could stop minor laser and projectile strikes; a shirt and leggings of much softer material went underneath.
He'd always liked to have an escape plan and had never been shy about using it. This tendency had earned him a few jeers from time to time, but it kept him alive, and gutting the jeerers was always fun. There might be a time when he wanted to leave quickly, and he didn't want to do it trailing a woman in long skirts and silly shoes.
He turned and tossed the clothing on the bed. “Change into these. We're going.”
He watched Allura stare at his offering, clearly trying to make sense of this turn of events. Just when he wondered if she would poke them to see if they were real, she set her shoulders, walked to him and presented him with her back.
If he had amused himself at her expense, comeuppance wasn't long in coming. He reached for the fastener on her dress and slid it down, exposing ever more of the exotic cream of her skin. He was forced to close his eyes after only the briefest glimpse in order to have the ability to walk out of the room much less the will.
“You lied!”
Lotor smiled, “Early and often, my sweet.”
Allura remained pressed to the glass with the eagerness of a child until he had landed, then she ducked under the half-open canopy with a speed and wild grace that surprised him and dashed to the foot of the huge mecha. Blue Lion wasn't the largest of the five, but Allura didn't stand much taller than the wrist joint of its massive foreleg. She placed a hand on one curved metal claw and stared up at the head that arched three stories above her own.
Lotor followed the trail she'd made in the long grass until he reached the place where Blue Lion sat on its haunches in the broad golden meadow. He held out his hand. Allura tore her gaze from her lion with obvious difficulty and looked down at what he held; then she looked up at him, incredulous. It was the first time she had fully met his eyes since he'd married her.
After a moment he sighed impatiently, wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pressed the key into her palm.
She closed her fingers around it and looked up at her lion and then back at him.
“Lotor, why...”
“It's not really my color,” he said, as he looked at the huge silver claws. They were the least of its weapons, weapons which had proved uniquely effective against his father's forces. He smiled—weapons which his father believed were destroyed...
He looked down at his wife.
She was looking at him still, searching his face. “Aren't you afraid that I'll...”
Five words together, progress indeed. “Flee my dastardly clutches? You gave me your word, Allura. I don't believe you'll betray it.”
Allura flushed a little under his steady gaze, but there was no trace of guilt or evasion in her face. She looked up at her lion again with a yearning expression that was becoming rather annoying.
“Well? Are you just going to stare at it?”
Allura flushed a little more, but said nothing. It was adorable the way she changed color with her moods, but he was wistful for the Allura that had told him when she thought he was being a bully—that had stated with the most enthralling passion that she hated him.
She reached out and laid the key against the lion's leg. With a swiftness and silence that was startling in such a huge machine, the mecha bent its forelimbs and lowered its head until the meadow grass tickled its chin.
Lotor watched her dart away from him with a last backward glance, and then she clambered up behind the lion's jaw and disappeared into a hatch between its ears.
She'll come back to you, a voice inside him said, with four of her very closest and best-armed friends. But it was a small, passionless voice, easily ignored.
Without warning, the lion ship crouched and launched itself into the autumn sky in a joyous arc of silver and blue. The flight systems kicked in just as its hind feet left the ground, destroying the silence; the tremendous rush of air flattened the grass around him and made him set his feet.
Lotor watched it bound off, running on the air above the treetops. He turned away before it was out of sight.
Allura had been flying for some time before the experience began to seem real. She hadn't realized how much the lion's loss had grieved her until the weight of it was gone; not only was her father's legacy still intact, so were her planet's defenses.
She'd chosen a course away from the castle into the wilds of Arus; she knew without having to be told that Lotor hadn't brought her here for tearful reunions.
She was just high enough to see a curve on the misty blue horizon, and her view of the Southern Range was spectacular. The low sun turned the river delta ahead of her to gold and picked out the turning trees on the foothills. She had never done this before, piloted a lion for no reason but the pleasure of it. Although all of the lions were technically hers, she was very much the rookie pilot and had deferred to Keith just like the rest of the team. Even if it had occurred to her, she would never have asked Keith if she could go joyriding in a time of war, and she would never have gone out without his permission. At least... not for something so frivolous.
But, the war was over.
The war was over.
And if she hadn't won, it was difficult to see from where she was currently sitting.
It was probably time to head back.
Allura sent the lion into a dive. The horizon rotated out of view and was gone, replaced by the river valley which was becoming rapidly more detailed. Allura could just see individual leaves of the trees when her lion plunged into the water. For a moment everything was froth and then the veil of white was carried away from her with surprising swiftness. As her lion settled to the bottom of the immense river, Allura leaned forward, transfixed by the luminous, blue-green mystery rushing away from her to the sea, the swirling liquid surface above.
She stayed there until the setting sun had reduced the view to a featureless murk, reasoning that the water was good for her lion, and then she walked it out of the river. When she reached firm ground, she launched it. The first stars filled her view as the powerful mecha beneath her lifted her into the sky.
She was back.
Lotor jumped down from his cockpit and watched Blue Lion descend out of the deep indigo of the evening sky. The lion was facing him; its head and tail were up in an attitude that looked too frisky for comfort, and its yellow eyes glowed in the gathering darkness. He was suddenly aware that he had not made any plan for his defense, though he must have known that she might try to kill him now.
Facing down her battle mecha with only a sword was an experience of a different magnitude than trusting her not to kill him in his sleep. Feeling a heady mix of adrenaline and certainty, he waited to see what his fate would be.
The lion landed lightly on its feet and then crouched to release its pilot before sitting back on its haunches again like a well-behaved hound. When Allura came close he could see that her eyes shone and her cheeks were tinted. She no longer carried herself as if any wrong move might cause him to pounce on her. His eyes narrowed with satisfaction.
Everyone liked power—even Allura.
Chapter 3
Chapter 2
It took Allura a little time to believe that he was really gone, that she was alone and not being—her mind shied from the thought. She sat up and looked around, moved more by edginess and a wish to distract herself than by curiousity.
It was not what she expected. The only light came from the next room, but she could make out that drawers and cupboards lined one wall, a large mirror was on another. Everything was shades of bronze or black, and surprisingly simple. Arched openings that led to other rooms dominated each of the other two walls; one was dark. She got up and walked to the one that was dimly lit and peered out.
It was the room he'd set her down in. The large space was more what she thought suited a barbarian prince: deeply shadowed and opulent in shades of red and black and gold, a far cry from her simple, brightly-lit rooms on Arus. Directly across from where she stood, the only other opening led into darkness. Some sort of entryway perhaps. The idea didn't interest her; she could honestly say that there was no place outside these walls she preferred unless a change of planets was on offer.
She thought, with a some sense of defeat, that this was to be her cage. Still, there were no scantily-clad slave women or grisly trophies, and there was a quality to the silence that suggested refuge.
Sagging with a sudden weariness, she considered her options. Return to the bed or... curl up on some other piece of furniture like a frightened virgin. Both were equally unappealing. She leaned against the wall. After a moment, she slid down into a sitting position and pulled up her knees, letting her head fall forward onto them.
***
Not waiting for his flustered and rumpled-looking escort to announce him, Lotor strode into the room. The table in the conference chamber would have seated dozens, but only five people awaited him there. He pointed to the stiff-necked man with the ridiculous bow tie. “You. You're in charge.”
He pointed at the four remaining Lion Force pilots. Without their fifth they were little more than a nuisance, but a nuisance just the same. “You. Extended Leave, effective now. If I hear the faintest whiff of rebellion, I will return and make Arus a lifeless rock.” He let a wide, nasty, and very heartfelt smile spread across his face, “And that would displease my wife.”
He spared a few moments to bask in their fiery glares of hatred. One of the pilots went for his weapon, but some killjoy had emptied their holsters—probably Bow Tie.
He looked at the royal adviser again. In spite of the early hour and shocking reversal, he appeared focused and unemotional—except for a certain hard gleam in his eye. Coran would do the smart thing—no matter how merrily he would consign his new liege to hell.
Satisfied, Lotor turned to leave.
He didn't quite make it out the door before Bow Tie spoke. “Prince Lotor, I would—”
Lotor didn't look back. “I'm not interested, Coran. If that ever changes, I'll be sure to let you know.”
***
Lotor scowled at the empty bed.
Of course.
She couldn't be where he'd left her, or some other considerately obvious place. That wouldn't do at all.
He turned away. At least he'd narrowed the search area considerably; now he wouldn't have to—
He stopped, feeling the rush of emotion that always came when he saw her.
She seemed to be asleep. Her knees were pulled up, and her head rested on her crossed arms, face turned away. Her hair was still loose; it fell across her in shining waves almost to the floor. He walked to where she was curled against the wall and sat down on his heels, succumbing to the familiar fascination.
She was his, only for him for the rest of his days. She had sworn it. He could take her back to the bed this very moment, strip off her flight suit and look his fill, touch her any way he liked. She would let him, just as she had allowed him to touch and kiss her before. The memory of her soft lips, the way they had parted for him... he reached out a bare hand to touch the silky crown of her head.
Allura woke with a start at the first touch of his fingers. Her eyes widened when she saw him, and she flattened herself to the wall behind her with a small sound.
He waited, hoping. Perhaps her fear would lessen once she had gotten over her surprise.
It didn't. If anything it increased as she awakened fully, her breath coming quick.
His mouth flattened. He could take her back to the bed—and feel her flesh shrink from his touch. He could kiss her as he had before, but this time he would know that the sounds she made were not from pleasure. She turned her face away from him.
He felt a flash of anger; perhaps this had been a lot of trouble for no reward.
The anger passed as quickly as it had come. He shook off his doubts. It was long past the time he usually rose, and he hadn't yet slept.
“Come to bed, Allura,” he said. It was not a request.
An odd impulse made him hold out his hand to her. Curious, he waited to see what she would do.
After a long moment, she put her hand in his and let him help her to her feet.
***
Lotor took off his helm and dropped it onto a table well-marked from previous impacts. It was a relief to have seen his father off at last.
Everything had gone as he planned, perhaps because Allura was not directly involved. Arus had been enough of an embarrassment that his father had been pleased to hear the last of it, but not so much of one that Zarkon had taken a personal interest in its defeat. Lotor gave himself a mental pat on the back for his excellent timing. For their part, Coran and his Lion Farce had chosen to play dead rather than become that way.
He had not planned on his father amusing himself by keeping his newly-wed son as busy as possible.
He should have. It was what he would have done.
“Good evening, Allura,” he said.
He received a small, precise nod in reply. She didn't ignore him, not quite. He walked farther into the room.
She seemed content enough now, his wife of three days, perched on one of his divans reading a book, but he had no illusions. If he were to touch her, the fearless woman he'd faced on the battlefield would magically transform into a crying girl; he was sure of it.
He still found it extremely annoying, but at least he had time now to devote himself to the problem.
He flung himself down opposite her and considered the matter while he watched her read. She wasn't exactly simple to woo. She had accepted food and clothing from him without complaint—at least none she had spoken aloud—but he knew her better than to think that jewels and luxuries would be well received. It was ridiculous; everyone liked wealth and power.
He became amused as more and more time passed without her turning a page. Troublesome as she was, she somehow delighted him as nothing else had ever done. It was a deep pleasure to return and find her here, to wake and find her in his bed, but that was the least of what he wanted to share with her.
He got up and walked to the entrance of his—their—bedchamber. “Princess, if you will accompany me?”
She hesitated and then carefully marked her place. He admired her as she stood and walked toward him. Her incredible eyes were veiled by her lashes, but he saw a flash of a blue-green glance as he waved her inside.
He followed behind as she walked into the center of the room and stopped. At that moment he was certain her exposed nape was the most sensual thing he had ever seen. Closing his hands on her slender shoulders he pressed his lips there; it was every bit as silky and fragrant as he'd imagined.
Not allowing himself to linger, he brushed past her and went to a drawer on the far wall, pulling out clothing and a pair of boots that looked too small to him for anyone but a child. The dark gray fabric of the military jacket and pants was sturdy and could stop minor laser and projectile strikes; a shirt and leggings of much softer material went underneath.
He'd always liked to have an escape plan and had never been shy about using it. This tendency had earned him a few jeers from time to time, but it kept him alive, and gutting the jeerers was always fun. There might be a time when he wanted to leave quickly, and he didn't want to do it trailing a woman in long skirts and silly shoes.
He turned and tossed the clothing on the bed. “Change into these. We're going.”
He watched Allura stare at his offering, clearly trying to make sense of this turn of events. Just when he wondered if she would poke them to see if they were real, she set her shoulders, walked to him and presented him with her back.
If he had amused himself at her expense, comeuppance wasn't long in coming. He reached for the fastener on her dress and slid it down, exposing ever more of the exotic cream of her skin. He was forced to close his eyes after only the briefest glimpse in order to have the ability to walk out of the room much less the will.
***
“You lied!”
Lotor smiled, “Early and often, my sweet.”
Allura remained pressed to the glass with the eagerness of a child until he had landed, then she ducked under the half-open canopy with a speed and wild grace that surprised him and dashed to the foot of the huge mecha. Blue Lion wasn't the largest of the five, but Allura didn't stand much taller than the wrist joint of its massive foreleg. She placed a hand on one curved metal claw and stared up at the head that arched three stories above her own.
Lotor followed the trail she'd made in the long grass until he reached the place where Blue Lion sat on its haunches in the broad golden meadow. He held out his hand. Allura tore her gaze from her lion with obvious difficulty and looked down at what he held; then she looked up at him, incredulous. It was the first time she had fully met his eyes since he'd married her.
After a moment he sighed impatiently, wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pressed the key into her palm.
She closed her fingers around it and looked up at her lion and then back at him.
“Lotor, why...”
“It's not really my color,” he said, as he looked at the huge silver claws. They were the least of its weapons, weapons which had proved uniquely effective against his father's forces. He smiled—weapons which his father believed were destroyed...
He looked down at his wife.
She was looking at him still, searching his face. “Aren't you afraid that I'll...”
Five words together, progress indeed. “Flee my dastardly clutches? You gave me your word, Allura. I don't believe you'll betray it.”
Allura flushed a little under his steady gaze, but there was no trace of guilt or evasion in her face. She looked up at her lion again with a yearning expression that was becoming rather annoying.
“Well? Are you just going to stare at it?”
Allura flushed a little more, but said nothing. It was adorable the way she changed color with her moods, but he was wistful for the Allura that had told him when she thought he was being a bully—that had stated with the most enthralling passion that she hated him.
She reached out and laid the key against the lion's leg. With a swiftness and silence that was startling in such a huge machine, the mecha bent its forelimbs and lowered its head until the meadow grass tickled its chin.
Lotor watched her dart away from him with a last backward glance, and then she clambered up behind the lion's jaw and disappeared into a hatch between its ears.
She'll come back to you, a voice inside him said, with four of her very closest and best-armed friends. But it was a small, passionless voice, easily ignored.
Without warning, the lion ship crouched and launched itself into the autumn sky in a joyous arc of silver and blue. The flight systems kicked in just as its hind feet left the ground, destroying the silence; the tremendous rush of air flattened the grass around him and made him set his feet.
Lotor watched it bound off, running on the air above the treetops. He turned away before it was out of sight.
***
Allura had been flying for some time before the experience began to seem real. She hadn't realized how much the lion's loss had grieved her until the weight of it was gone; not only was her father's legacy still intact, so were her planet's defenses.
She'd chosen a course away from the castle into the wilds of Arus; she knew without having to be told that Lotor hadn't brought her here for tearful reunions.
She was just high enough to see a curve on the misty blue horizon, and her view of the Southern Range was spectacular. The low sun turned the river delta ahead of her to gold and picked out the turning trees on the foothills. She had never done this before, piloted a lion for no reason but the pleasure of it. Although all of the lions were technically hers, she was very much the rookie pilot and had deferred to Keith just like the rest of the team. Even if it had occurred to her, she would never have asked Keith if she could go joyriding in a time of war, and she would never have gone out without his permission. At least... not for something so frivolous.
But, the war was over.
The war was over.
And if she hadn't won, it was difficult to see from where she was currently sitting.
It was probably time to head back.
Allura sent the lion into a dive. The horizon rotated out of view and was gone, replaced by the river valley which was becoming rapidly more detailed. Allura could just see individual leaves of the trees when her lion plunged into the water. For a moment everything was froth and then the veil of white was carried away from her with surprising swiftness. As her lion settled to the bottom of the immense river, Allura leaned forward, transfixed by the luminous, blue-green mystery rushing away from her to the sea, the swirling liquid surface above.
She stayed there until the setting sun had reduced the view to a featureless murk, reasoning that the water was good for her lion, and then she walked it out of the river. When she reached firm ground, she launched it. The first stars filled her view as the powerful mecha beneath her lifted her into the sky.
***
She was back.
Lotor jumped down from his cockpit and watched Blue Lion descend out of the deep indigo of the evening sky. The lion was facing him; its head and tail were up in an attitude that looked too frisky for comfort, and its yellow eyes glowed in the gathering darkness. He was suddenly aware that he had not made any plan for his defense, though he must have known that she might try to kill him now.
Facing down her battle mecha with only a sword was an experience of a different magnitude than trusting her not to kill him in his sleep. Feeling a heady mix of adrenaline and certainty, he waited to see what his fate would be.
The lion landed lightly on its feet and then crouched to release its pilot before sitting back on its haunches again like a well-behaved hound. When Allura came close he could see that her eyes shone and her cheeks were tinted. She no longer carried herself as if any wrong move might cause him to pounce on her. His eyes narrowed with satisfaction.
Everyone liked power—even Allura.
Chapter 3
