Forum Thread
Bring down the Prince of Shadows
Forum-Index → Roleplay → Bring down the Prince of ShadowsKeeping to the shadows of the alley, the young man glanced down to his left, a wider lane that managed to remain full of shadows. He knew a group of soldiers mixed with mercenaries was hiding hardly a twenty second sprint away. For a moment, he wondered if he hadn't followed in his father's footsteps and gone insane. He was risking everything for a woman he hated. However, despite his esteem for his friend and leader, he knew Ezan's methods of disposing of people he disliked weren't the most tasteful, and he was unwilling to let Lizzie fall into his hands. Perhaps he was just unwilling to allow all of his efforts from two days prior to go to waste.
Paradox slipped silently into the darkness to his right, trying to keep his footsteps as muted as possible. One wrong move and he would be discovered. One wrong everything would crumble. Ahead of him, he just barely noticed a small figure with a pronounced limp moving his direction. She blended in almost perfectly with the night; no one would have seen her unless they knew exactly what they were looking for. Forcing himself to maintain his slow pace, the aristocrat held up a hand in greeting and warning. You're in danger. Please don't try to kill me.
Finally, he paused in the overhang of a rackety building in the outskirts of the Dregs, dropping her hand. "Now," he said once he could speak without his words being interrupted by heavy breathing. "Do you have any safe houses I could see you to? Or does the stray recoil from the concept of amicability?"
He paused scathingly for a moment before continuing. "I see no reason to malign you if you are able to maintain your civility towards me. If you can hold your tongue for the remainder of this interaction, then so will I. Think you can manage that?" Again he prevented himself from tagging on any slanderous titles, though he felt she deserved to be labeled with names worse than he was willing to stoop to. Ice burned in his stomach and flickered in his silver gaze for a couple moments after he finished his words, but it faded as he regained control of himself.
Paradox couldn't recall another soul who possessed this power to infuriate him so. Perhaps that was the danger of dealing with the lower classes, though he had encountered no other commoners with such an ability. Something in him then recalled how Lizzie had looked lying on the cot in the apothecary, unconscious, pale, and limp, and again set the odd, terribly unwelcome ember of concern dancing in his mind. Clenching his fist and maintaining a blustery sarcastic tone in his voice that wasn't half so strongly present in his heart, he asked, "Furthermore, how do you define insults? I may be inclined to wonder aloud if your leg is holding up, but perhaps my taking that into consideration would offend your tender sensibilities. In an effort to adhere to your request for no further deprecation, I will therefore assume you are more than up to taking off at a sprint at a moment's notice." The young man glanced away, scanning the streets with eyes that hid a sense of confusion growing within which he was quite unwilling to address in the moment. He added, "It is just well. It would be bothersome if our friends caught up, you couldn't run, and I was unaware."
"Lovely. I suppose that's the most that could be asked for."
"I don't think I have much of a choice..." he was muttering when the children appeared. His mind blanched. Lizzie... was the Emerald Fox? Of course. Of course she was. The one time he'd chosen to help a commoner, they turned out to be only one of the most violent and dangerous criminals in Wolfshire. What was more, she had made it extremely clear that any report made of her would immediately result in his incarceration and likely execution as well. He was trapped in a room with one of the sworn enemies of the Heads of the Noble Houses, and any exhibition of his fury would backfire faster than he could blink.
But somehow, that just didn't seem right. Lizzie was violent, brash, and fiery, yes, but her personality didn't entirely fit with the crimes he knew her to have committed. She'd been on her way to deliver food to a family when he'd intercepted her, and here she was being fawned over by children, who, so he'd heard, were usually good and pure judges of character. He, meanwhile, was well aware that she saw him as the antithesis of everything she fought for, yet she had gone this long without making any clear attempts to kill him. Ezan had been the source of all the reports, come to think of it. Certainly, though, the king wouldn't have lied. Would he have? When the young noble thought about it, he wasn't so sure. Besides, as much as he got the sense she would slit his throat if she knew that he was thinking it, there was also the fact that the thief was quite small. It felt hard to believe that she could really be that harmful. In a way, her height was even slightly endearing. Her eyes were, too. Something told him he probably shouldn't be thinking that, though he wasn't entirely certain what it implied.
"That won't be especially difficult for them," he stated, his voice devoid of most expression. However, subtly, against his will, there was a slight tentativeness in the edges of it, the sort that might indicate a person testing whether or not a joke would be received well by the other party.
When had he seen the world as himself? What an odd question. He blinked cooly and said, "I see the world the only way I can; as an aristocrat and as a politician. That is me. It is who I have always been. I serve my king and my state, and perhaps fulfill my own interests through that. I wouldn't label myself as horrible, nor would I call myself benevolent. The honor of my House is my only goal, and I will do what I must to garner it. I have seen more of the world than you might think, and up to this point it has served to confirm me in that pursuit." Silently, he added, By standing here, I am in direct violation of everything I am. Perhaps it would be more accurate to ask when I've seen the world as someone other than myself, and to that, I would answer that this is the first time, because the way you keep making me think cannot be me.