Bonded Alloys

Mercury grinned back at Themesycia’s comment about the younger woman not needing much beauty sleep before she wandered off to go get them some water. In the meantime, Sabine took it upon herself to request her own fight with Vandrad, clearly wanting to fit in and seem worthwhile. It was a horrible idea, really. The woman had screech in pain just from the prince holding her arm the night before, so chances were he could probably flick her with a finger and send her ass over head. Naturally, Mercury was delighted by the prospect. She chuckled openly. that was going to be a show, and one that she was most looking forward to.

Sadly, it seemed she would not get to watch. The instant Mercury plopped her rear into a chaise, Themesycia suggested that Vandrad absolutely take the time to entertain Sabine with a spar while the duchess and Mercury took a stroll together through town. It took every ounce of willpower the Silver Wolf mage had not to pout. After all, she didn’t want Themesycia to think the idea of going on a private walk with her was unenjoyable for her -- she just really wanted to see Sabine get physically humiliated. And to see just how awful she would be at trying to use the fight to get physically closer to Vandrad. It was sure to be a trainwreck, and Mercury’s morbid curiosity was practically begging to be its witness.

That, and the thought of having to stand back up and walk after all the exercise was exhausting.

Vandrad, of course, did not trust the intent of Themesycia isolating Mercury, which the Silver Wolf herself was a little curious about. Even her mind went straight to the assumption that the duchess was trying to wiggle a second round out of her. After all, she and Simon had made it pretty clear that they had no intentions of stopping to pursue her, and not just because it would be suspicious to Vandrad for them to seemingly do so out of the blue. He eyed his mother, opting instead to join them on the walk and openly stating his purpose to make sure nothing illicit happened between them. “Well, you’re no fun,” she muttered playfully, smirking at him over the glass of water as she drank it.

It was the only remark she made, content to relax while she could and drink her water until the two of them decided what her fate was. Unsurprisingly, Themesycia won. What was surprising, however, was the manner in which she won. For a moment she continued to coo at the man, wondering how she and Mercury were supposed to have any girl time if there was a member of the male persuasion lingering about. At first Vandrad started to protest, but the duchess cut him off gently by asking him to trust her with a more serious tone than she normally seemed to have. It even caught Mercury’s attention, piquing her own curiosity over what it was that the woman could want.

She watched in curious silence, sipping from her water as her gaze flicked back and forth between the two du Wolffs before Vandrad finally relented. Themesycia kissed Vandrad appreciatively on the cheek before wandering over to Mercury and offering her a hand up. The younger mage smirked and took the limb. “I never say no to a pretty lady.” The two of them started to walk away hand in hand, and it seemed that Sabine had also realized something very noteworthy had just happened, possibly important. Suddenly she seemed to be in doubt of her decision to stay and play with the prince. Mercury chortled with amusement, continuing to not hide her entertainment at Sabine’s expense.

While the duchess addressed Sabine’s confusion and uncertainty, Mercury’s free hand slipped down to Simon as they passed him. There was a wicked grin on her face that no one else could see as she passed the man a small but obvious camera. “So us ladies can see the humiliation when we return,” she murmured to the man with a mischievous wink. There was no way that she was going to miss Sabine getting her ass handed to her by Vandrad, who surely wasn’t going to hold back on using the spar for a bit of self therapy. Then, she jumped in surprise and flashed a naughty grin at Themesycia as the older woman grabbed at her ass, playing right into the display.

The two women said nothing to one another until they had gotten to the trees, though Mercury was giggling to herself over the whole exchange. Themesycia apologized for throwing Sabine at her, to which she only grinned. “Oh please, I went to bed last night day dreaming about this. I will happily accept the chance to pick on her a bit more. Frankly I was going to do it anyway, I was just going to find time to do it in Midi.” She shot the duchess a devilish look. Though it came across in the guise of humor, there was no mistaking that Mercury was the type who held a grudge, and held it hard. Sabine had made herself a target and that wasn’t going to go away just because the woman went back to her home country.

But the look didn’t last long as the older woman brought up an incident from the night before. By the way Mercury blinked at her, it was obvious she hadn’t been expecting the question. “Oh, no we’re fine,” she said quickly. Then, realizing that the answer sounded forced, Mercury sighed. It took her a moment to find her words, particularly since she hadn’t been prepared for this conversation to come up. She wasn’t entirely sure how up front she wanted to be about everything that had happened. Mercury trusted Themesycia, but she had only just met the woman yesterday, and the Silver Wolf mage was still learning how to open to Vandrad, let alone others.

“Sorry, I’m not… good at this,” she finally admitted. The duchess had been accepting and kind to her when she hadn’t needed to be, and it hadn’t taken long for Mercury to be convinced that it wasn’t coming from any place of wanting to manipulate her. Themesycia genuinely liked Mercury, or so the younger woman felt, and even if it was hard to talk about she would at least do the respect of trying… even if it put her in a slightly vulnerable place. “As social as I am, it’s… difficult for me to understand people. I don’t really hang out with anyone long enough to get to know them very well.”

Great, that sounded like a cry for attention, she muttered to herself in her head. Rather than linger on it, Mercury continued on, speaking much in the same manner as she had at the bar with Vandrad, her words coming with stops and gaps as though she were putting them together in her head as they left her mouth. “It was just a misunderstanding. I was teasing him and… thought I said something too far. He had gotten upset and walked off. But when I went to apologize to him, he wasn’t mad at me. The subject matter had bothered him, but… not for the reasons I thought it had. Not because of anything I’d done or said. He helped me understand, though. We’re fine now.”

Mercury elected not to get into any details over it, knowing that Vandrad was as elusive as she was. He probably wouldn’t have cared if she went into details with his mother, but at the same time it felt wrong to expose him and his vulnerabilities, even to the woman who arguably cared about him the most in this world. Hopefully she wouldn’t press the matter too deeply. A bit uncertainly, she flicked her gaze back up to Themesycia’s. “Was... that what you wanted to talk about?” Mercury asked. Obviously the duchess had wandered off with her for a reason, one that had been serious enough to get Vandrad’s attention and cause him to relent his watchful gaze over her for what was sure to be much longer than ten minutes.

“In your defense,” Mercury told the older woman with a smirk, “You didn’t rob me of anything last night. Vandrad did. But the show was well worth the watch, and frankly I think having the only person whose attention she actually wanted defend me probably made her more upset than if I had defended myself. But hey, if she wanted to come back and give us a second chance that’s on her, not you.” She easily played off the oddity of Vandrad having come to her “rescue” at the gala the night before, something which was certainly still strange to her but not necessarily something she saw as that big of a deal, though his mother probably did.

Somehow, Mercury managed to blubber through the awkwardness of asking a question she had been wholly unprepared for. Themesycia assured her the small hiccup at the bar the night before hadn’t been the reason she’d brought Mercury out here, but apparently she had seen the effort it had taken to answer as much as she had about it and the older woman appreciated it. She explained that she never wanted Mercury to feel obligated to talk to her about anything she didn’t want to, whether it be about herself or about Vandrad, comparing that to a set of eyes constantly keeping them stripped of freedom.

And boy, didn’t that hit home? She managed to keep her face straight, but her gaze flicked forward to watch where they were walking while her brain rattled around inside her head. There was some other kind of emotion swelling up inside of her that she absolutely needed to squash down, and quickly. It was now twice in less than twenty-four hours that someone had respected her in a way that resonated more deeply than they could ever understand, and just like the first time Mercury had exactly zero idea how to handle it. Though, she did manage a small smile back at the woman even as Themesycia gave her hand an encouraging squeeze before letting it go.

Thankfully, the duchess seemed keen on changing the subject quickly after that, though Mercury would soon find the subject matter to be much weightier than anything she’d ever come across before outside of her own personal life experiences. The Silver Wolf mage waggled her eyebrows at Themesycia at the mention of ravaging, but otherwise did nothing to interrupt the woman, who went on to express her concern was more just wanting to make sure Vandrad hadn’t acted out in some way. She explained that Vandrad has always been headstrong and near tunnel vision focused on his quest to get stronger than he currently was at any given moment. He’d never had a friend before, nor wanted one, having taken a long time to even really come around to his own family and their lavish lifestyle.

And according to Themesycia, that was her own fault.

Mercury frowned at her, interested in where this was going but also confused as to why it was being brought up with her. Wherever the conversation was leading, she could already tell it wasn’t going to be an easy story -- though nothing would truly prepare her for the depth of how hard it was. The forest opened up into the town, and the duchess fixed her gaze before them toward the path ahead as they walked it. She explained that their family hadn’t originally been from Bellum, and then when they had come she had been quite young and new to the family. It was odd wording, but she quickly addressed it by admitting that the story of Vandrad being found as an infant and taken in by the du Wolffs had actually been her own story, not her son’s.

She stared at Themesycia in open shock, her mouth opening as if to comment but quickly stopping as she realized she had absolutely no idea what to say to that. It was quite the revelation, though Mercury supposed it answered the question of how she was only related to Simon and Everance through adoption. It seemed she had been left in the brush by her birth mother, but a man named Vincent, Simon and Everance’s father, had taken her in. Unfortunately, the compassionate sentiment had not been shared by her adoptive mother. The woman had spent all of Themesycia’s growing life reminding her that she didn’t belong, and the only reason she hadn’t become as closed off as Vandrad was because the rest of the family had wholly accepted her.

The Silver Wolf mage walked in silence alongside Themesycia, a growing tension inside of her that this story was about to venture into a realm that was completely alien to Mercury. Her emerald gaze kept darting around the area, taking the town and its people in without really looking at any of it. She’d never had someone open up to her like this before, including Vandrad’s weird behaviors the night prior, and she was uncertain what the proper behavior was. All she could do was listen wordlessly and hope that was the right answer.

About for decades ago, she and Vincent had indeed been at the peace talks between Bellum and Fiore that the family had mentioned the night before, and a sudden recollection hit her. She had been certain that Simon hadn’t been wholly truthful when speaking about Vandrad’s adoption, but hadn’t caught any kind of proof, only had an inkling that Mercury had all but written off already by this point. Now, she was about to hear the true story, which apparently involved them being on Fioren soil with Rune Knight protection… in the name of Gren Ragnos.

Mercury had known since the beginning that Vandrad had been looking for his dad. As Themesycia herself said, there was no mistaking their relationship. She had already seen his pictures, and Vandrad was indeed a near copy of the man. But apparently, Gren had been forced to actually have to do his job when assassins attempted to hit the summit, forcing her away from her father where Gren eventually rescued her. He guided her back to her father and to safety, and at some point during the whole ordeal she had become so enamored with him that she jumped him. Apparently, it had been both of their first times, and from the sound of things they had slept together at least twice.

But during that time was when the young up and coming duchess had put together for herself that it wasn’t Gren she had been enamored with so much as his life style of being a knight and a warrior. In fact, she had come to realize that apart from Simon she wasn’t attracted to men at all. But by then the man had fallen for her, and she’d had to find a way to let him down gently, explaining that they could never be a thing due to her status as a noble in an enemy country. On the way home, after Gren had left, was when she got sick… and then later discovered that she was pregnant.

They’d had to hide her pregnancy from the public and even from most of the family, in order to save their reputation as nobles. Her father wasn’t upset with her, unlike her mother, but still she had been shut away for a few months until Vandrad was born where Themesycia could claim the same story that Vincent had with herself: that she’d simply found the boy abandoned and chosen to take him in. The public ate the story up, revering her for her compassion.

Provided that Vandrad had magic. Mercury had already done some research on the country before coming to it, but that didn’t really take away the impact of hearing the words spoken and confirmed to her face. Bellum regarded people without magic as subhumans fit only to be slaves and nothing more. Despite her own circumstances, Mercury didn’t have a whole lot of pity for slaves… but somehow, it hit a little harder to think that the only reason Themesycia would have been regarded as a hero was if he had grown up to have some trace of magic. And it seemed that the du Wolffs had spent a lot of money to purchase tests that confirmed he did have latent abilities that would one day mature into fruition.

The more Themesycia spoke, the more overwhelmed Mercury was beginning to feel by the entire conversation. Granted, she hid it fairly well. Or at least, the extent of it. A glance at her face would probably tell the duchess that Mercury wasn’t entirely sure how to take this sudden and personal story, which was probably explained by her own admittance not so long ago that she wasn’t really experienced with a lot of deep, heartfelt interactions. But to her credit, she continued to do her best to push her increasing anxiety down and give Themesycia the respect of a listening, attentive ear, even if she had the sinking suspicion that this was leading up to information that Vandrad might not exactly be keen on her hearing.

Vincent had died the same year Vandrad was born, and much to his wife’s chagrin it was Themesycia who had been named by will to assume the duchy in his stead. She had been the only one of his children interested in the responsibilities of leadership, and neither of her siblings seemed at all upset by the appointment. It was only Beatrix, who had been infuriated by it. Between that and losing her husband, the woman had started to fall apart violently, her eyes setting on Vandrad. A knot formed in Mercury’s stomach the likes of which she’d never felt before, already having an inkling of where this was going and not liking it one bit.

Themesycia had at one point been in a committed relationship with a woman named Yuna, who she hired to be Vandrad’s caretaker. According to the duchess, the young boy adored Yuna with every fiber of his innocent being, and was very close to her to the point of her being like a second mother -- which seemed to be what Themesycia had in mind. Given that this was the first time Mercury was hearing the name, she could already deduce that something ill had befallen the woman, which only increased the odd wrenching in her stomach, especially as Themesycia stopped walking, completely lost in her own story.

Mercury stopped awkwardly next to her, continuing to listen. Eventually, the duchess had been drafted to help with a slave revolt, leaving Vandrad in Yuna’s care. But unfortunately, Yuna was not as strong willed as Vandrad’s birth mother, and that was when Beatrix had chosen to strike at her grandson. It was difficult for Mercury to picture a man as strong willed and unbending as he was to have been a victim of abuse, even in his early years… but then again, it did explain a lot about why he had become that way. Mercury was already drawing an uncomfortable number of parallels between Vandrad’s history and personality against her own.

Her discomfort grew when she realized the duchess was crying, something Mercury really didn’t know what to do with. The only times the Xocili had ever been exposed to tears were to her own, and that was a long, long time ago. She couldn’t remember the last time anything had moved her to tears, and those times certainly hadn’t been out of consideration of someone else’s feelings or troubles. Add to that the fact that the few times she’d cried had been met with swift and firm punishment, and… well, she had learned at an early age that tears were just a sign of weakness to be purged from the body.

Which just made the phenomenon all the more troubling for her to see a woman that had just utterly decimated her in a spar not even ten minutes ago standing there before her, moisture pouring shamelessly down her face. Mercury gulped quietly, her eyes darting around as much as Themesycia’s as she tried to stay as even as possible about the whole thing. This story was clearly difficult for the duchess to tell, and Mercury didn’t want to ruin it, no matter how uncomfortable it was making her.

When Yuna had finally caught Beatrix abusing the young boy, she’d gathered enough courage to act, attacking the older woman while Simon snatched young Vandrad up and tried to pull him out of the fray. But in the midst of it all, the matriarch had managed to get her hands on a weapon and run the other woman through so thoroughly that she died immediately. Vandrad, apparently, had snapped, cloaked in an aura of evil so thick that it knocked Simon back and out, and completely disintegrated his grandmother. And ever since that traumatic experience, he’d been different. He was harder, more distant, causing Themesycia to think she had lost her boy along with her lover.

By the time Themesycia looked back up at Mercury, there would be no mistaking that she had no idea how to process the story that had just been presented to her. For all the composure in her expression and demeanor, there was a bit of wideness to her eyes like a deer caught in headlights. She must have been exuding complete and utter confusion as to why Themesycia had told her all of this, because the duchess went on to answer that very question without Mercury even having to ask it.

As much as Vandrad would deny it, he did consider Mercury a friend, according to his mother. In her own way, Mercury knew it was true… though she herself had never really stopped to put any weight to it. The Silver Wolf wizard joked and teased him all the time about being his best friend while he insisted otherwise, but there was more truth to her jests than even she had ever really taken the time to consider. Is that what was happening between them? All the weirdness and changed behaviors that she didn’t understand, the feelings she was unfamiliar with… was that the sensation of forming a bond of friendship? He had told her he trusted her…

Either way, it seemed that Themesycia had recognized that Vandrad had found something in Mercury he’d never allowed himself to have before, and it was enough for her to want the woman to know their story, so she could understand why Vandrad was so closed off and gruff all the time. But for all his surliness, he was a good person who valued whatever place it was that Mercury had in his life. The lavender haired woman was utterly speechless, grasping at straws for what to say or do, for the proper way to react to all this heavy information. Despite her best efforts, it must have been written all over her face because Themesycia apologized a minute later, admitting she hadn’t exactly meant to go into so much detail.

It was enough to at least get Mercury’s voice working, if roughly. “It’s okay,” she told the woman, having to immediately stop herself to clear an odd bit of coarseness from her throat so she could speak clearly. “You have nothing to apologize for. Like I said, I’m… I’m the one who’s… inexperienced with this kind of stuff.” Somehow recognizing that she was about to ramble to cover the awkwardness, she managed to shut herself up there. It was uncommon for her to feel like this at someone else’s pain. Mercury had been on the listening end to a number of sob stories from people in the past that seemed to think she cared, and none of them had affected her. So why was it different now?

It was another long few seconds before she found her voice again. “There’s never been a time where I’ve ever felt like I’ve had to… endure him,” Mercury told the other woman, once again speaking tentatively as she formulated her thoughts, desperate to do more than just dumbly listen to such a difficult tale. She didn’t know how to take the information, but she at least recognized that its intent was for Mercury to understand Vandrad, presumably so as not to hold his mannerisms against him. That, at least, was something she could speak on a bit more readily. “Even when he tried his hardest to kill me, I never had any issues with him. If anything, he’s the one who tolerates me. I know I joke about that for everyone’s benefit but… that doesn’t make it less true.”

Her jaw twitched a little as she tried to figure out the right way to say what she wanted to say. “Honestly, the only reason he and I ever even saw each other again was because I knew he wanted nothing to do with me… which I found… amusing.” Mercury found it surprisingly difficult to say that outloud, the softly spoken words tasting sour in her mouth when even yesterday she could have admitted to her rather immature behavior without any sense of remorse or guilt. Now she was riddled with insecurity over it. It sucked. “There’s no reason for him to trust me as much as he does. I’m… I’m not the nicest person. And I certainly haven’t been to him. We more or less worked well together from the start, I suppose, but… I don’t know why he keeps me around. I haven’t given him very many reasons to.”

She bit her lip a little and looked down at the ground. “I know he’s a good person. I’ve never done anything malicious to him, of course, but he’s still been better to me than I deserve. I don’t know when or how we started… actually getting along… but it was because he chose to accept my behaviors. Not the other way around.”

There probably was some truth to the duchess’ insistence that she had forced the moment on Mercury, who was certainly far out of her comfort zone. But, as Vandrad himself had said to her about parts of their own relationship, that didn’t make it a bad thing. Mercury simply didn’t know how to voice that without sounding… well, fake. She had absolutely zero faith in her ability to handle any of this with sincerity, because she didn’t have much practice at being a sincere person.

Thankfully, Themesycia let her speak her mind, as uncertain as it was. And she didn’t seem too upset by Mercury’s admittance that the start of her friendship with Vandrad had mostly just been her treating him like a toy for her amusement. The words fell from Mercury’s mouth in an irregular stream, with the duchess letting the younger woman get them out in full before choosing to speak again. Mercury forced herself to look up at Themesycia again when she put her hand on Mercury’s arm. The duchess told her that for most people, Vandrad was a puzzle not worth the effort of putting together, and that no nice or normal person was going to be able to befriend him.

In fact, she said that being nice to him isn’t what would make her worthy of his trust. What Vandrad needed, what he wanted, was someone that could keep him sharp. Mercury knew this much was true because Vandrad himself had said as much to her himself the night before, though hearing it a second time from another mouth didn’t make it any easier to hear. The important thing, according to Themesycia, was that Mercury had barged her way in whether either of them wanted her to or meant to, or not.

There was a smile on the older woman’s face as she told Mercury that she had seen more of her son’s humanity over the last two days than she’d seen since that day years ago. She insisted that viewing it as a matter of him tolerating Mercury wasn’t the right mindset. Rather, Vandrad was learning to open up. The Silver Wolf mage had never thought of it that way before. And Themesycia made it clear that if Vandrad hadn’t wanted Mercury there then she wouldn’t be, whether by his insistence or his mother’s.

What probably rang in her ears the loudest, however, was the woman’s statement that Vandrad’s reasons for wanting Mercury around didn’t have to be apparent for them to be real. Her emerald gaze held Themesycia’s as the woman caressed her cheek supportively, thanking Mercury for taking the time to be a pain in her son’s ass. A much needed smile cracked itself across Mercury’s face, easing the tension and giving her something to cling to that wasn’t alien to her. “Any time,” she teased. The duchess seemed to need the escape from the weight as much as Mercury did, going on to joke about how she probably should have brought drinks with them to help ease the awkwardness, which got a small laugh out of the younger woman.

“Just means we’ll have to get ourselves nice big drinks when we get back,” Mercury informed her with a grin as they started walking together once more. Themesycia lamented her inability to keep her desire for girl talk back until after getting to watch Sabine get tossed in live view. But, they would both have to be content with the recording. “I’m sure it will be fine. A big screen shows so much more detail. We can pause it, play it in slow motion… plus, this gives us the excuse to ask Sabine how it went when we get back. I’m sure she’ll be furious, cause there’s no way he went easy on her. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll be gone by the time we get back, though I was kind of hoping to steal the honor of scaring her off myself. Oh well. Vandrad probably deserves it more.”

It honestly hadn’t occurred to Mercury that they were going to any specific place until Themesycia spoke up to confirm that they’d arrived. She blinked at the older woman as they stopped again, before looking up to see a modestly sized home crafted of brick that was set on the cliffside that overlooked the vast lake their palace was set into. It had a yard in the front and was at the end of the road they were on, with none of its neighbors very close to it. An inkling of her conversation last night with Everance was starting to come back to her, causing another sudden and inexplicable twist in Mercury’s stomach.

The duchess joked about somehow having the wherewithal the night before to give the matter some thought, drawing a small but nervous laugh from Mercury. Themesycia opened right out with saying she already knew Everance had mentioned this might happen, which had in fact taken away most of the surprise, though there was still clear and real shock on Mercury’s face. Clearly, she hadn’t believed the statement before. In fact, she hardly believed it now, even as Themesycia told her up front that this was a place for Mercury to call home any time she was visiting Bellum without Vandrad’s company, a statement that assumed -- or at least, hoped -- that Mercury would return someday, whether or not the prince was with her.

Mercury was so shook by it that she couldn’t even laugh at Themesycia’s comment about sharing her own bed if she really wished, her jaw dropped as she stared back and forth between the older woman and the house. “B-but… but I can’t…” she stammered, finding herself once more at a total loss for words. It was becoming a habit that she wasn’t entirely thrilled about. When it was clear that Mercury was incapable of finishing whatever statement she’d tried to start, Themesycia went on to explain that she understood it was probably strange to be given a home by someone she had barely known for a full day, but she had her reasons and believed herself a good judge of character. If she could trust Mercury to respect her son, then a vacation home was little in comparison.

There was a sour lump in Mercury’s throat. She truly didn’t understand why these people were putting so much faith in her, faith that wasn’t merited. If they knew who she really was, and what she was really doing on Earthland, they would never have done all of this for her. In fact, they probably would have killed her on the spot, or held and tortured her for information. The truth of the matter was that Mercury was an enemy to everyone on this planet, whether she wanted to be or not… and she was quickly starting to realize that she didn’t want to be. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do or say about that. Not without inviting hell, not without bringing war that none of them were prepared for.

For the first time in a long time, Mercury felt like crying. The tears never came, and the moisture never built up in her eyes, but she wanted to. It was just too much between Vandrad’s odd behaviors, his family’s unrelenting kindness, his mother’s story about their awful past… all the unexpected twists and turns from the last twenty four hours were really starting to build up beneath the surface. She wanted to protest, and her mouth opened several times to do so, but all it took was one look back at the woman to know that Themesycia wouldn’t accept it. It was rare for Mercury to come across a woman more staunch than herself, but there was no denying that in a contest of wills the duchess would probably win nine out of ten times.

Finally, Mercury sighed softly, accepting the situation with the knowledge that nothing she said or did would make it change. “Thank you,” she told Themesycia quietly. “It means… a lot.” Cliche words if there had ever been any, but no less accurate or weighty. The Silver Wolf mage didn’t know how to express such a deep level of gratitude, especially when she was still struggling to come to grips with what was happening, so she’d gone with the simplest and dumbest words that had managed to worm their way to the front of the chaos in her mind. She shook her head a bit ruefully, a small smirk on her face. “You guys really need to stop giving me stuff. I’m going to develop a complex.”

Her attempt at humor to break the tension, though again it was true. Mercury’s thumb once again picked at the underside of the ring on her middle finger, not fully aware that she was even doing it. She’d never had a home before, not really. The closest was her small suite in Silver Wolf, which had been a luxury to her up until the night before, when she’d finally been exposed to the lavish life that Vandrad had been raised in. After that, her own accomplishments seemed pretty small… not that she had an issue with that. She was greatly enamored by the idea of grand living like this, but also intimidated by and afraid of it.

Really the biggest saving grace was that the home Themesycia had seen fit to bequeath to her wasn’t anything of overwhelming proportions, or at least didn’t appear to be on the outside. It was quaint, much bigger than anything she’d be used to but still smaller than Vandrad’s bedroom so that was a relief. The true test would be to see how it looked on the inside, of course, but that surely wasn’t going to remain a mystery for much longer...

If there was one thing Mercury was certain she would never grow tired of doing, it was making fun of Sabine. The instant Themesycia referred to the princess as a banshee, Mercury began to chortle to herself. The duchess expressed her opinion that the Midian had probably hoped showing off her boobs as openly as possible would be enough to get Vandrad’s attention, to which Mercury rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely a lot of men out there that are easily swayed by such things but with a personality like hers she’s going to need a lot more than a mediocre rack to trick someone into considering her.”

As they continued the walk toward Mercury’s future home, the duchess admitted that the real reason she kept hosting these engagement balls for Vandrad was because it was the only way to get him home to see his family. She refused to marry him off and put him in a contract with someone he wasn’t actually interested in, which was admirable and not a luxury a lot of nobles had. He always turned them down and she always let him, no matter how difficult it made things for her politically at times. But really she only did it because she wanted to spend time with him, and he never took the time to visit of his own accord. This was the first trip where he’d actually been enjoying himself, which Themesycia credited to Mercury. He never would have gone down to the after party of his own choice, let alone dress up for the first time, without someone around that he actually enjoyed spending time with.

A few more minutes passed of high emotion after that, with Themesycia gifting Mercury the house and then granting her the time she needed to accept the fact that fighting it wasn’t going to do her any good. Finally, Mercury thanked her, and Themesycia told her she was welcome, following it up by stating that she only spoiled those who wouldn’t take it for granted. Otherwise, she’d wind up with more Sabines, a thought that Mercury audibly grimaced at. They didn’t waste much time on the classless woman, however, as Themesycia insisted they go inside and have a small tour before heading back to see how badly the Midian had been humiliated. The duchess conjured a key and used it to unlock the place before turning and handing it to Mercury, who accepted it gently, still a bit in shock that this was actually happening.

As the older woman started with a brief overview of the place, they walked inside where Mercury’s first view was of an open concept living room that led to a dining area. There were a couple couches and smaller tables on top of a rug, facing a lacrimavision on the wall over a fireplace. Plenty of natural light flooded into the area from the windows, illuminating it clearly enough to see by. As she looked around slowly to take the space in, Themesycia explained that Everance had tried to sell her on a much larger mansion on the other side of the island, but even the duchess had figured that Mercury would have put up more of a fight over something so extravagant.

Mercury grinned at her as they made their way toward the kitchen, wiggling her eyebrows a bit at the insinuation that Themesycia would have had to tie her down for that. “Luckily for you, I can whip up a couple pairs of handcuffs at leisure.” The kitchen was a decent size, not lavishly large but roomy enough to not feel cramped, with large open windows that showed the porch with the grill and hot tub. The kitchen itself was fully furnished, so Mercury wouldn’t have to worry about most utensils or other necessities. There was also a basement that was currently outfitted as a study, though she suggested that a sex dungeon would be more worthwhile, eliciting a merry chuckle from Mercury.

The Silver Wolf wizard allowed herself to be physically lead by the woman to the staircase, where she was advised there were two bedrooms and bathrooms, of which one was a master bath with an attached, private bathroom. Mercury would be allowed to change and furnish the place however she desired, including with anything technologically focused. While Bellum as a country frowned on such things, the du Wolffs were much more liberal. No surprise there. Themesycia moved to sit down on the couch and relax for a bit, inviting Mercury to go ahead and view the rest of the home at her discretion, giving the woman some time to be alone as she processed everything.

She wandered upstairs and made her way into the master bedroom, which was fairly spacious, certainly bigger than the room she had at Silver Wolf though not obnoxiously so. It also had a small private balcony, and was furnished with a king sized bed and a small reading nook. Finally by herself, Mercury took a moment to breathe, taking a small gulp and letting her emotions run rampant in her head and on her face. Though she was still unsure that she should really be taking any of this, mostly the woman was just grateful. Overwhelmingly so. She didn’t even realize how much until she realized there was a single, stubborn tear slowly trickling its way down her cheek.

Mercury wiped it away stubbornly, pulling herself back in gear and continuing to look around. The bathroom had a large tub with a separate standing shower, all crafted from the same tile as the floor and walls. Like everything else, it was fully furnished with clean towels and rugs, and even a small closet for linens and such. It wasn’t until she walked back into the room to see the balcony that she noticed there was a walk in closet, which would certainly get good use from her and her wardrobe. After a quick step onto the small balcony to see the beautiful view it provided her of the water and cliffs, she checked out the other room. It was slightly smaller than hers, but not by much, outfitted with the same sized bed and another walk in closet. The bathroom outside of it was a bit more simple, though still elegantly crafted, with a single tub and shower combo like one would find in most bathrooms.

Moving back downstairs, she wandered down into the basement and immediately knew from the size and shape that she would be outfitting it into a workspace for her to tinker with her electronics. A study was certainly nice, but Mercury didn’t do so much reading that she needed a whole room dedicated to it. At least, not reading from books. Still, she could probably find a way to make use of a lot of the furniture and items that were there at present in other parts of the home.

Once she had finished familiarizing herself with every floor and taking a proper, appreciative look at each room, she returned to Themesycia with a small but genuine smile that she couldn’t keep from her face. “I love it,” Mercury finally told the woman. “I don’t really know what else to say. I’m still in shock, I think. But I love it. Thank you so much.” Simple words, but they couldn’t have been more heartfelt. Or at least, as much as Mercury was truly capable of.

It wasn’t much longer after that where the two women returned to the palace, locking up the house behind them. The du Wolffs and Sabine were nowhere to be seen, with the stage having been removed from the pool. The breakfast had officially finished and, as Themesycia would surely explain to her, things had moved back inside and to a more clothed state. Since the duchess would likely know where to find everyone afterward, Mercury let her guide her to the older woman’s dressing room once again where she could find something appropriate to wear. It seemed the family typically dressed more classy around the home, as nobles were wont to do, and while Mercury herself wasn’t anything close to a noble it wouldn’t do for her to be the odd one out.

So by the time they were heading toward wherever the others would be gathered, she had clad herself in a short but classy red dress that was loose across the shoulders with a leather corset midsection and a small skirt of black chiffon. A set of black leggins went up to her thighs where they were secured in place by a few satin straps. A strappy pair of heels the same color as the dress adorned her feet, and she had a couple simple bracelets on her wrists as well as a small black leather choker that matched the belt around her waist. Now that she was more awake, she took the time to actually do her makeup again, just something light to touch up her natural features rather than the extra work she’d put in the night before, and she crafted a couple simple stud earrings from her magic to go with the look. Her hair, which was still longer than she was used to, was pulled up into a loose bun with a few strands falling out here and there to frame her face and give the bun itself a bit more character.

While a lot of her talk with Themesycia was still rattling around in her head, Mercury was fully composed now, ready to get back with the rest of the family and see what had become of the spar with Sabine and to see if the woman had held up long enough physically and emotionally to continue hanging around. With any luck she would still be there for Mercury to pick back up giving her a hard time, but she certainly wouldn’t complain if the terror had finally opted to run back home with her tail between her legs, either.

Out of all the things Mercury liked about the duchess, she had to say that the woman’s sense of style was probably one of her favorites. There were very few things in the older woman’s closet that she wouldn’t have considered for herself, though much of it was far more grandiose than really fitted her style… or station. Still, the little red number was perfect for Mercury, just classy enough to be appropriate but still on the wild, fun, and somewhat punk side. She quite adored it. And the dress that Themesycia herself put on was quite the piece, elegant but still racy -- which seemed to be the woman’s style. It was floor length with black stripes that ran down the bottice, with sheer, nude colored material between each of the stripes that made it seem see through without actually showing off anything overly much.

As the two women made their way over to where Themesycia assumed most would be gathered, an inkling of an idea had formed its way into Mercury’s head. “Hey, so before we get back to them, I just want to throw this out there… you said earlier that the reason you throw those balls is so Vandrad would come to visit you. I know he wants us to leave tomorrow, buuuut...” Her voice trailed off a bit as she gave the older woman a cheshire grin. “If you want him to stay a little longer, I’d bet money I can make that happen. Just try to express an interest at some point tonight in the two of us staying longer, while both of us are present. I’ll handle it from there.”

She didn’t want to go over all the details of the play she had in mind, otherwise it would look rehearsed and he would be more likely to fight against it. But surely his mother voicing a wish for them to stay longer wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary, and then Themesycia would be as in the dark about what Mercury’s angle would be, making the strategy more authentic. Mercury gave the duchess a small wink.

Shortly after that, they entered a study of sorts where Vandrad and Dudley were locked in what appeared to be an intense game of chess while Everance enjoyed a glass of wine reading a book. Mercury noticed the woman first, as she was wearing the exact same dress that Themesycia was, just in white instead of black. It looked equally as ravishing on the dark haired sister, who smiled at them and spoke up to the boys as though they had been worried about Themesycia actually whisking Mercury away for a good time.

Dudley was the only one who spoke up, and even then only to voice an idle response to her words that betrayed he hadn’t actually been listening to her. Themesycia assured them all that indeed, as promised, nothing had happened. She had simply made Mercury acquainted with her new vacation home. Mercury grinned at Everance. “The sad thing is, I didn’t really believe you. I was pretty shocked. Remind me to never brush off hints about that kind of generosity again… if only so I can save myself some face by being emotionally prepared for it and not stand around stammering like a halfwit.”

Themesycia inquired as to the Midian princess, noting her blatant lack of being there and hanging all over her son. She asked if he’d managed to kill her, to which Vandrad only gave a small snort and a sincere wish that such had been the case. Mercury listened as Everance gave a quick synopsis of what happened, how Sabine had apparently thought it was all fun and games, tossing ribbons all over the prince… because of course she had ribbon magic. It explained her sorry excuse for a bathing suit. How utterly embarrassing. Though, perhaps not as embarrassing as being one punch knocked out by the man whose attention Sabine was trying to win over.

Mercury giggled like a mad woman over the mental image of Sabine flying across the lawn only to immediately lose consciousness. Apparently, Simon had needed to bring her back up to the room the woman was being lent to let her rest there and regain consciousness on her own. As Themesycia wandered over to join her sister, Mercury finally stopped and actually looked at the two men in the middle of their competition, as if actually noticing them fully for the first time. Dudley was in very similar attire as the night before, albeit this time with a shirt underneath to complete the look and make it a bit more dressy. Vandrad himself was the picture perfect look of a businessman, complete with a tailored pair of black pants and a button up shirt that was loose at the collar. It was a completely different look than what he’d been wearing at the ball, much less pretentious and more flattering in its simplicity. The sleeves were rolled up, he was wearing a watch like a respectable man of class, and even…

“Oh my stars, are you wearing glasses?” Mercury asked him, her trademark impish smirk tugging up the side of her lips. She wandered over to him, not afraid to break his concentration to tease him a bit over it, though truth be told they looked good on him. Hell, the entire look suited him, more than she’d been prepared for. Her stomach was doing weird flips that she staunchly ignored as she casually walked up beside him, grinning.

With a playful glimmer in her eyes, she gently reached down and pulled them off his face to put them on her own, curious as to if he actually needed them or if they were just glass. When her vision failed to blur from the spectacles she had her answer, and her smirk deepened. “And they’re not even real,” Mercury said as if in wonder, adjusting them on her own face as she smirked down at him. “You’re just wearing them as a fashion choice? I like it.”

With a small grin, Mercury removed them and gently placed them back on his own face. Then, she stopped as if to study the look again. “You should dress like this back home more often,” she finally told him with a grin. “All you ever wear are those grungy workout clothes. Don’t get me wrong, I love all your bulging muscles hanging out and covered in sweat as much as the next woman, but this is a good look for you and you should run with it more often. For reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with me ogling you all day in them. Can’t wait to see what you looked like doused in ribbons, by the way. Did you enjoy your therapy session with the future misses?”

He didn’t turn to look at her until after she pulled the glasses off of him to put on herself, smirking down at him as Vandrad raised a brow at her. They were kind of fun, truth be told. Maybe she’d have to consider getting some. She could think of a few of her outfits that would be complemented by such a classy statement piece. They were a little big for her, being men’s glasses, but not by a lot. The prince just looked at her in relative silence as she rambled off a few teasing flirtations, which was her usual style. Given that she wasn’t exactly looking for a reaction out of him at the moment, however, she didn’t really linger on them, the comments already forgotten from her own mind as she went on to ask about his tussle with Sabine.

Vandrad smirked at her, leaning back in his chair to give her his attention as he laughed about how little the encounter had counted as therapy. Apparently, the woman had flailed literal balls of ribbon at him like she expected him to bat at them in play. Mercury didn’t bother trying to cover the rather undignified snort that loosed itself from her nostrils. Everance drew her gaze by chiming in to add how Sabine had attempted to make a form of whip out of a ribbon, which at the very least had caught the noblewoman’s attention by being a bit on the kinky side, even if in a sad way.

A delighted grin tugged on her mouth as the prince voiced that the ribbon whip wasn’t nearly as impressive as chains, giving Mercury a wicked look. “You should see some of my other toys,” she teased him back, wiggling her brows a little at him playfully. Vandrad finished his summation of the event, stating that Sabine had quite literally asked him to hit her thinking that it was some kind of game. He had obliged, and from the sound of things had at least attempted to moderate his strength in comparison to what he believed she could take, but it seemed that Sabine was even more fragile than she looked as the single, half hearted strike had sent her careening across the courtyard.

Dudley was all too happy to chime in with that part of the story, eagerly regaling how the woman had been so decimated by the blow that he was sure there had been stars floating around her head like some kind of cartoon. Sabine’s “outfit”, according to Everance, had practically come apart at the seams leaving the young woman half naked in her unconscious stupor -- though apparently her breasts weren’t half bad. Themesycia and Dudley both stated there was nothing that could ever convince them to be intimate with the woman no matter how nice her tits were. “I could certainly think of a few things I would do to her with a gag. All of them intimate, but none of them sexual.”

Torture was just as satisfying as sex, sometimes. At least, as far as Mercury was concerned. Themesycia stood up and asked if anyone wanted drinks, since Everance already had one. Vandrad accepted his mother’s offer of firerum after giving it a moment’s thought, and Mercury’s brows furrowed in interest. “Firerum? I don’t think I’ve ever had that before. Do you mind if I try a sip?” Presuming he gave her the go ahead to try his before potentially wasting a drink -- not that Mercury expected not to like it, as she’d yet to come across many alcohols she didn’t enjoy the taste of -- she’d wait until his glass was telekinetically moved over by the duchess. Swirling the liquid in the glass a bit to aerate it, Mercury gave it a quick sniff to let the aroma tease her palate before taking a small swig.

Handing the glass down to Vandrad, she let the small mouthful rest briefly on her tongue so she could appreciate its taste in full before swallowing. “Shit, that’s good,” the slayer murmured in appreciation, her emerald gaze flicking back down to the glass before back up to Themesycia. “If there’s any more of that, I’d love some for myself. Thank you.” Soon, she had her own glass in hand and her gaze had turned down to the men’s game of chess, analyzing their pieces to see who was winning and at the best advantage.

Themesycia commented on doing something special that evening since it was Vandrad and Mercury’s last night in Bellum. The words had ignited something inside Dudley, who quickly exclaimed that he had an idea and slapped his giant hand against the table. Somehow, to Mercury’s obvious surprise and amusement, the pieces stayed put. The giant’s suggestion was to look right at Vandrad and ask him if he’d ever made what sounded like his signature dish for Mercury before.

Vandrad wasn’t the only one blinking at the large man, though where his gaze wavered Mercury’s was set. As the prince slowly commented about not having cooking for anyone but himself, clearly trying to brush the topic of conversation away. But it was far, far too late. Her eyes flicked right down, narrowed gaze boring into him as she just stared at him for a moment. Then, she smacked his shoulder firmly with the back of her hand. “You’ve been holding out on me, you son of a bitch.” Her playful look glanced momentarily to Themesycia to voice a teasing, “No offense,” before looking back at Vandrad again. “Now I’m going to expect breakfast waiting for me every morning I come to Fairy Tail. Otherwise, I’m just gonna go find the nearest room at Fairy Tail and go back to bed, and you can play with yourself the rest of the morning.”

She grinned down at him and took a sip from her glass, enjoying the warm rum. Dudley expressed how outrageous it was that Vandrad had been keeping his skills to himself, a sentiment which Mercury agreed with wholeheartedly, before suggesting that the prince, Everance, and Bartrand work together to whip up a meal for them all that night. It seemed a reasonable idea, though Themesycia lamented that they were out of the proper meat for such a feast. If they wanted to follow through, they’d have to go hunting, literally. That idea got the large man all the more excited as he near about jumped to his feet -- somehow still managing not to upset the table and the game -- confirming that their new plan was to send Vandrad and Mercury off in true du Wolff fashion by trapping some game and eating it fresh. All they needed to do was finish the game of chess and he’d be ready.

Of course, he’d been so distracted by his own excitement that he completely missed Vandrad’s move. Mercury had almost missed it herself, too busy being entertained by the giant’s antics, but the prince caught her attention and gave her a devious smirk that caught her interest. She watched as he slipped his game piece into place, and only a brief glance at its relation to Dudley’s queen told her that Vandrad had just successfully checkmated his uncle. He elected not to call it outright, content to let Dudley find out the hard way with only a small tease of a hint, with Mercury smirking in pleasure beside the smaller man.

The Silver Wolf mage leaned casually on Vandrad’s shoulder with great amusement as she watched Dudley search the board, sipping casually from her glass. It took his uncle a minute or two to pour over every conceivable option before having to accept that Vandrad had managed to trap him and win the game. The revelation sent the man out of his chair again, though he seemed impressed rather than disappointed or upset at having lost. Then, Dudley turned his attention to Mercury to ask if she would join them, assuring her it would be brief but well worth her while.

“Oh hell yeah,” she told him, authentically interested in the idea. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve gone hunting. Unlike this sneaky asshole,” Mercury said, thumbing at Vandrad with the arm that rested on him, “I’m not that great a cool. I rely entirely on boxed food with minimal instructions. I just gotta get my gun from Vandrad’s room. Unless you guys have a particular tradition you follow..?” She’d never really hunted with anyone else before. It was possible that they made some kind of game out of it, or simply relied on magic rather than weapons to accomplish the task. Mercury could work with that too, of course, but she was much more comfortable with Mercy.

Vandrad was quite resistant to her demand for regular home made breakfasts, giving her a sharp look as if he were insulted by the very idea of her suggesting it. It was a look she got from him multiple times a day, so Mercury only continued to grin at him like he’d agreed, rather than not. Or at the very least like the discussion wasn’t over yet. Dudley insisted that it was cruel of Vandrad to treat Mercury that way when she’d come all this way to help get rid of his awful intended bride to be, before suggesting that maybe he and his wife would take her off his hands for her. Everance chimed in, assuring the prince that they could easily come up with meal plans for three.

“Oooh, now there’s a tempting offer,” Mercury said, flashing the couple a flirty grin. But Themesycia joined in saying how as much as they would all love to get a bit of the Silver Wolf mage for themselves, doing so on their last full day in Bellum was hardly the time to be selfish with her. The conversation moved along, and soon it seemed a few of them would be getting ready to partake in the hunt. Dudley assured her she wouldn’t need her gun, stating that the hunt was always done by wrestling their intended meals with bare hands, of which he had every faith she could do given her display of strength during the morning’s spar session.

Everance would teleport them to the hunting grounds, the woman giving Mercury a heads up that the sensation of her magic was a bit odd at first, that it would feel like she was falling but that soon after she would be right where they needed. After that, she explained their method of returning and with a snap of her fingers the study disappeared and a plummeting sensation filled her stomach just long enough to register it before Mercury found herself standing in a thick forest that went on as far as the eye could see. She shook her head a little, clearing her body of the weird feeling.

As she took a look around to familiarize herself with the area, Dudley promptly began taking his clothes off. Or at least, the top half of his outfit. With a feral battle cry, the large man ran straight into the wilderness at a dead sprint like a barbarian warrior. “What is it with giant men and tearing their clothes off?” Mercury asked herself with an amused smirk, though Vandrad would be able to hear the question. The prince voiced that Dudley’s preferred style of hunting was to manhandle his future meal into submission, which Vandrad attributed to his uncle’s blood as a half giant. Not exactly the most efficient method, but it did give them an advantage.

Mercury followed after him with a smirk, content to move along at an easy pace. After all, she was in heels which was hardly conducive to hunting in a forest. It was interesting to note that he gave more care to his nicer clothes than to his training armor, which was usually in pieces by the end of their use, but Mercury really didn’t think about it overly much. She usually preferred to keep her nicer clothes pristine as well, being a bit vain in that regard. Mercury smirked. “Well, as long as he enjoys himself I suppose. Personally, the idea of wrestling my dinner sounds exhausting. I’d much rather shoot it down before the adrenaline has a chance to make the meat gamey, but food is food.”

After a moment, he brought up the house, a change in conversation she hadn’t exactly been expecting. Vandrad expressed his assumption that his mother was going to try something along those lines, reiterating how disappointed she was when he insisted Mercury stay in his bed the night before. Apparently, he seemed to think the comment was an awkward one as he quickly followed it up to explain his meaning: Not that he wanted Mercury in his bed, now or any time, just that his mom would have been excited to let her have her own place where the duchess could sneak into more easily.

Mercury raised an amused brow at him and chuckled. “Relax, would you? It’s not like we cuddled or anything.” The way she teased him about his overly protesting wanting to share a bed with her would probably be a red flag to the prince, but by the tone of her voice and the way she wasn’t fixing her gaze on him in any knowing fashion it wouldn’t take long for him to figure out that she earnestly had no idea that they actually had cuddled. “Besides, if your mom wanted to bed me that bad I’m sure she would have found a way to make it happen, whether or not you intervened. She seems quite the tactician. Very good at reading people… which I admit, is a little intimidating.”

Though she voiced the thought in humor, that did nothing to lessen the truth of her statement. Mercury prided herself in being near unreadable to most folks, but it had been a damn challenge so far against the Ashen Dread. And frankly, she wasn’t sure that the duchess hadn’t already put together more about Mercury than the Silver Wolf mage had meant to allow. It was nerve wracking, and made her feel a little vulnerable… but not necessarily in a bad way, she supposed. The du Wolff family seemed to genuinely like and care for her, at least.

And Vandrad went on to state just that, revealing that his mother rarely gifted entire buildings to people like that. It was a truth that brought back some of the weird knots in her stomach from earlier, if more muted than the first time. He told her that next his mother would probably want to exchange phone numbers with her and plan a time for her to come back and visit again. Mercury grinned. “How do you know we haven’t already done all that?” she teased, carefully following him through the forest while her sensors idly kept an eye out for other living creatures within her range.

When she spoke again, however, her voice leaned more toward the sober side than playful. “I was… definitely shocked,” Mercury told him. She had already said as much in the study to Everance, but in front of the rest of the family it had been more comfortable for her to make a joke out of it. Here, with just Vandrad around to hear her, it was easier for her to be more sincere about it. “I honestly didn’t take your aunt seriously last night. I thought your mom was pulling me away to make Sabine jealous or something, since apparently that woman seems married to the idea that I’m her competition or something.”

Mercury rolled her eyes a little, smirking at the thought before going back to the conversation. “I didn’t really know what to say. Or do. I tried to fight her on it. And by that I mean I stood there like a moron with my mouth hanging open, unable to form a complete word, let alone sentence. I haven’t done nearly anything worth that level of generosity.” There it was again, that subtle but authentic note of insecurity that she generally kept hidden under layers of wit and humor and flirtation. Even Mercury could tell she hadn’t done as good a job as she should have of masking the sentiment, which either meant she was off her game still from the emotional rollercoaster of the morning or just didn’t care to hide it as much as she usually did.

For a brief moment, her mind flitted back to the story Themesycia had told her about Vandrad’s past. He’d told her the night before that he trusted her, but she did feel a little guilty knowing about what happened, unsure if it was something he really wanted her to know. Mercury understood why the duchess had spilled it to her, of course… but if the situation had been reversed? She couldn’t think of anything more mortifying and humiliating than someone spilling her secrets. A part of her wanted to mention it to him, but she decided against it. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, right? And there was no use in humiliating him over something that she was hardly going to judge him for.

Her thumb was absently picking at the ring again, a nervous habit she had picked up fairly quickly without realizing it or meaning to. Mercury just couldn’t understand why these people kept being so nice to her when they barely knew anything about her. Sure, she’d managed to befriend Vandrad which was obviously something of note, but even the prince didn’t know her as well as they probably thought he did. It felt like she was receiving gifts under false pretenses, which normally Mercury wouldn’t have any issue with. In fact, she’d usually revel in it. So why was it different now?

Mercury flashed the prince a grin when he told her he wasn’t shocked to hear that men had a tendency to take their clothes off around her. He didn’t voice it quite in that fashion, but it was essentially the gist of the comment, just in a way that wasn’t necessarily an outright compliment that she could run with to tease him over. Then, shortly after that, he agreed to her opinion that there was little value in strongarming their meals. Like her, Vandrad didn’t see the appeal in getting all muddied and barbaric up just to eat. He did address her thoughts on the meat getting toughened by the prey’s pre death adrenaline, however, stating that he knew ways to keep it from getting that bad. Apparently, he could use salt and some kind of grain to keep it tender until it was ready to be cooked, giving her a rather smug look and assuring her that he knew what he was doing when it came to food.

“Apparently,” Mercury teased him back with a grin. “First was all the fancy dancing, then singing and playing piano… now suddenly, you’re a cook too. You’re just the whole damn package, aren’t you? Now I’m just sitting here wondering what other random little skills and talents you’ve been hiding from me all this time. Next I’m going to find out you crochet in your free time and that you secretly have a fascination with antique cufflinks that compliment all your fashion glasses. I like my eggs over easy, by the way. You know, for all the breakfast you’re going to be making me in the future.”

She wiggled her eyebrows at him playfully, but the lightheartedness of the conversation was quickly swallowed by the topic of the house, which subsequently lead to a brief exchange about how adept Themesycia was at reading people. Mercury liked to consider herself fairly good at such things, at least in regard to certain emotions. After all, she’d be trained from a young age to read people in order to gauge their intentions. But that training didn’t cover all areas of life, and came from the place of someone who was analyzing a target’s every move to determine its potential level of threat. Not for things like simply getting to know someone. It was a vastly different skill, and apparently his mother was such a natural at it that the older woman often forgot that others around her didn’t possess the same talent.

Vandrad didn’t seem too surprised over the idea that Mercury and his mother might have already exchanged information and set up ways and times to see each other again. By his own words, Themesycia seemed to have found a new best friend in his companion, if only because the duchess knew that Mercury would endeavor to keep Vandrad on his toes when she wasn’t around to do so herself. He assumed they had already made plans, which Mercury neither confirmed nor denied, simply gave him a sly, mischievous grin with a sideways glance.

She was only mildly surprised by the prince’s conjecture that Sabine viewing her as a romantic rival wasn’t exactly that far fetched. While normally Mercury would have been all for teasing Vandrad for that kind of statement, she knew that he had a point to lead to and was more interested in hearing it than poking fun at him. He stated how, in the impossible and hypothetical world where Sabine actually did manage to convince Vandrad to marry her, the woman would always be competing for his time against Mercury. After all, the Silver Wolf mage was his partner in most things at this point, including work and combat training. Sabine, for all her idiocies, likely recognized that Mercury was a constant in his life that she wasn’t going to get rid of or surpass any time soon.

He had some good points, and the way she nodded her head candidly expressed her agreement with them. Though it was admittedly strange to hear him talk about her with such importance in his life, when barely two months ago he would have done anything for the chance to never have to put up with her again. Even more weird was the knowledge that the same was true in reverse. Not so much that Mercury hadn’t wanted to see Vandrad again after their first meeting -- obviously she did since she’d gone out of her way to continue to be a pain in his ass -- but more that she also had never really had anyone be a genuine part of her life as much as Vandrad currently was.

Mercury didn’t get the chance to think over that long, however, as the prince suddenly admitted that Sabine probably wouldn’t be joining them for dinner because he’d actively made sure to hit her hard enough to keep her knocked out for quite some time. He even went so far as to jokingly refer to it as his wedding gift to himself. The Silver Wolf wizard sputtered laughter out of her lips, quickly covering her mouth with one hand to keep the sound from carrying too far and scaring off their game. It was hard, though. The image she’d built in her head was amusing as fuck. “Boy, she’s going to be pissed when she wakes up,” Mercury said through a few more chuckles, her expression eager. “I can’t wait.”

But then she found herself opening up a bit more, returning to her sincere gratitude -- and confusion -- over the gesture of being gifted a home that Mercury didn’t exactly feel was merited. Vandrad slowed his already casual pace to turn and look at her. She was more preoccupied with her own thoughts and insecurities to really notice him studying her, though she had subconsciously slowed down to meet his new gait. Still, his amused scoff caught her attention, drawing her emerald eyes to meet his dark ones as he playfully reminded her of her accomplishment in achieving what no one else had managed in his life: getting his attention. Even his mother recognized what a big deal that was, deeming it worthy of a reward.

The way he talked, she knew he was being silly about the whole thing, seemingly playing off his own importance for her benefit and amusement. It worked, or at least for as long as he kept the conversation light, her gaze twinkling with mirth as a wry smirk tugged on her lips. The mood quickly came back down to something more serious, however, as he brought them back to the conversation they’d had the night before about the influence she’d been in his life in such a short time. Her emotions fluctuated greatly as he told her that it was worth enough to him that he honestly didn’t know how he would ever repay her for it, explaining in plain terms that he’d never had anyone he felt he could trust outside of his family. Subordinates and comrades, yes, but not anyone he could trust on a personal level.

Which was why he had agreed that gifting her a home was a suitable action when his mother had broached him about the idea. Mercury’s brows furrowed in visible surprise. She hadn’t realized he’d been a part of it, too. Her stomach twisted again in that weird sensation that Mercury didn’t understand, and was frankly starting to drive her crazy. The way he spoke about her having a reason to come back to Bellum and visit again in the future made it sound like he actually wanted her to spend time in his home and with his family. And furthermore, her presence here might be incentive enough for him to come back and visit more himself.

He had trouble meeting her eyes on that last statement, which was just as well because she wasn’t entirely sure she could match his gaze evenly if he had. Themesycia’s words came back to her about wishing that he would visit and spend time with them more often, and her admittance that the only reason she even held balls for him anymore and tried to arrange marriages was because it was the only way to get him to come home. It resonated something in her that didn’t come out often, a feeling of isolation and sorrow that she rarely, if ever, allowed to reach the surface of her thoughts.

She shook her head and cast her glance out to the woods without really looking at them, simply having about as much trouble maintaining eye contact as Vandrad was. “I understand where you’re coming from,” Mercury told him quietly, the words falling out of her mouth before she really had a chance to stop and think about them to decide if it was a good idea to say them. “More than you know. And I can understand wanting to repay someone, but a house? That’s…” Her sentence trailed off as she didn’t readily have the words to describe her thoughts on the scale of the gift in comparison to the things she’d provided to him that still felt very small to her.

A soft sigh escaped her nostrils. “When I first arrived in Fiore and joined up with Silver Wolf, my idea of luxury was a small bedroom barely big enough to fit a bed and desk. Something that wasn’t necessarily big or fancy, but it had a bathroom and a window to the outside, and it was private. Something I could call my own. In the day’s worth of time that I’ve been here, that concept has been turned on its head by people who can readily just give away whole houses, and clothes and jewelry worth more than my entire wardrobe.”

“That’s not a bad thing, of course,” Mercury quickly added, not wanting him to think that she was resentful toward him or his family for being wealthy. “It’s just… very far removed from what I grew up with. What seems appropriate for you, feels… disproportionate to me. As wonderful as it feels to be around people that value me in their lives, being given all these things in exchange for me just… being me… It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever really comprehend… or not be intimidated by.”

It was the most she’d ever said about her origins to him. Vandrad was intelligent, so Mercury figured he’d probably been able to put together enough to assume that she didn’t come from anything like the privilege he did, but the comments that had clawed their way out was more than telling to the reality of just how opposite her station was growing up in relation to his own. It was a rough life when one’s idea of living the dream was just having a bedroom to themselves that was barely big enough to fit their things inside of it. It meant more than she knew how to say that they were so willing to open up their high living lifestyles to her, but it was also a frightening level of culture shock that she hadn’t quite figured out how to deal with yet.

This entire conversation was getting dangerous, though not for the reasons that an outside viewer might think. She was quickly starting to realize that she was letting on more about her history than she really should have, certainly more than she’d ever said to anyone in the past, which would be quite the red flag to her superiors. But for once, Mercury just didn’t care. If they had an issue with her having a friend, well… then they could have an issue. She could still do her job and let herself get to know someone, right? Besides, it wasn’t like they were going to send someone to harass her over it. As long as she got what they wanted and continued to send in her reports, they probably didn’t care what she did.

And somehow, they managed to keep digging themselves into these awkward holes that neither of them knew how to get out of. Vandrad listened attentively to her somewhat vulnerable confession without interruption, and when she was done he spoke up softly to admit that he often took his family’s wealth for granted. He said that he’d been lead to believe his whole life that he’d been found abandoned by Themesycia and taken in by her, and because of that he’d run off to the military as soon as possible, out of some effort to feel like he’d earned the status his family had taken him into. By his own words, it was his attempt to try and live the life of the man he should have been, what he believed he had actually been born to, and in the process it exposed him to the men and women at that level who made him wonder why his family lived in such splendor when there were so many deserving people beneath them that worked their asses off and deserved more than what they made for it.

It hadn’t really made as much of a difference as he hoped, though. At the end of the day, he’d still be raised as a prince, and that’s what he was trained to be at his core. Even if his attempts to lower himself failed, he would always have his family and heritage -- adopted or not -- to rely on. And then he surprised her by admitting that he had already learned that Themesycia was his actual birth mother. Her gaze flicked to him a bit sharply there, as he was probably expecting… if not for the reasons he might expect it. Mercury had already decided earlier after her talk with the duchess that she wasn’t going to let on that she knew the truth, but Themesycia hadn’t actually said whether or not Vandrad knew he was actually her son. And since the rest of his cousins were still under the impression that Vandrad was adopted, he probably assumed that was the story Mercury had been told as well… which wasn’t a lie.

No matter the reason for it, the surprise still worked in her favor to allow her a genuine look of shock as he touched on the topic. Before she could make a comment, however, he seemed to realize he was rambling away from the point he was trying to make, apologizing to her and getting back to the heart of it: That for all the wealth his family had, it paled in comparison to what it could have, or arguably should have, been. It seemed his mother actually withheld the vast majority of the du Wolff income to service and take care of her people, rather than hoarding it for personal enjoyment. Given the type of splendor his family still lived in, it was saying a lot about how rich their gross worth was.

Mercury had never in her life heard of anything like that. Money itself wasn’t that big of a commodity where she was from, but the concept of someone in a position of leadership and domination being so giving and selfless with their resources was… well, completely foreign to her. The was used to something much more tyrannical, to the point where benevolent rulers weren’t something she believed existed. Not until now, at least. And according to Vandrad, while his mother was rather free with giving away her money, actual material possessions she reserved for those she liked on a personal level.

It made her shake her head a little, again wondering if she was worth so much accolade, and knowing she wasn’t. But even if she wanted to get into all that, she couldn’t. It was a reality that Mercury absolutely had to be completely mum on. She was so lost in her own thoughts about everything that she didn’t even notice him stop until she felt his hand take hers. The gesture immediately wiped the other thoughts out of her head and Mercury turned to him, blinking. Her lips parted a little in surprise as he took the time to look her in the eyes and make it very clear that he understood how all of it was strange and a bit scary to her, even stating that it would probably happen more in the future. But, they did it because they knew it would mean something to her, even if he hadn’t really realized how much until only a moment ago. He told her that they wanted her to treasure the things they gave her.

She felt frozen in place as he just looked at her with an intensity in his dark eyes that she wasn’t used to seeing, in him or in anyone. He said her name so softly that it took her back, her emotions doing an intense somersault along with her stomach. Why was her pulse so high? Her mouth felt dry all of a sudden, as well. But before he could say whatever it was he had on his mind, a fortuitous distraction came in the form of a giant, ugly creature barreling its way through the trees. It was an odd looking creature, ape like in stature with a pointed head and an overabundance of muscles. The moment it saw them, it came racing at them on blind instinct, ready to attack.

Mercury reflexively reached for her gun, only to find it not there, the second time in twenty four hours she had run into the problem. Unlike the first time, however, she was actively being attacked by something. She wouldn’t have time to switch into mage mode, however, as by the time she had realized Mercy wasn’t there Vandrad had already reached his free hand down to snatch a boulder and sling it at the beast with one hand. It smashed right into the creature’s forehead, killing it on impact.

Everything had happened so fast she was still catching up by the time Vandrad looked back to her and realized he was still holding her hand. She blinked at the dead creature, and then at her companion, his brows furrowed together with… something she couldn’t really read. Finally, he let go of the limb, leaving it feeling a bit chilly in the fresh air before he commented that they had their quarry and walked over to it. Mercury stood there for a brief second, once again feeling like something important had just happened, but with no logical evidence as to what it was she was left with nothing but confusion.

It was all for the better. She had been getting hit right and left with all these weird and foreign emotions since last night, and it was making her uncomfortable. If he wanted to take a step back from whatever the hell that was and pretend like it hadn’t happened, Mercury was perfectly happy with that option. Wandering over to the corpse with him, she smirked down at it. “So this is a Vulcan, I take it? Definitely don’t have these things where I’m from.” She lifted a heeled foot and pushed its face over a little to get a better look at it. “Certainly got a lot of meat on it though, that’s for sure. Is one going to be enough or will we need more? Your uncle looks like he could eat a whole one of these on his own and still have room for dessert.”

Vandrad confirmed that the creature was, indeed, a Vulcan. He described them as herbivores that had at least enough intelligence that sometimes they could communicate with Earthlanders, and apparently they had a rather… carnal... interest in women. She raised a brow at the prince. “That so?” she asked, staring back down at the thing in curiosity more than fear. Getting hauled off to some hole to get violated by one of these creatures certainly didn’t sound like her idea of a Sunday Funday, but with how quickly Vandrad had dispatched this one Mercury had already easily deduced that they weren’t exactly difficult to fend off. Or at least, not for people of their strength.

He answered her question about whether one would be enough, stating that Bartrand and Dudley alone would certainly eat more than their fair share due to their larger appetites. His suggestion was that they were going to need at least two, probably three more to have enough for everyone to eat their fill. As if it were his cue, Dudley’s voice sounded from above them. Mercury looked up toward the sky, raising a hand to block the sunlight from her vision, to see the large man descending down as though he were coming down from an exceptionally high jump.

He landed with such force that the entire forest seemed to shake, causing Mercury to have to steady herself a bit to not fall over in her heels. There was a giant pile of fur on his shoulders and once the world stopped rocking she could see that he actually had three of the things dead and slugged over his shoulder. Dudley seemed quite pleased by their catch, saying that between the four Vulcans they would have enough for the night’s dinner. Vandrad’s voice caught her attention as he rolled his eyes and reiterated his previous point about his uncle being a wild man. “You definitely weren’t joking,” she said with a smirk, her emerald gaze still eyeing the larger man’s catch, impressed despite herself.

And with that, it seemed they were ready to head back toward the palace. Vandrad seemed content to simply grab their quarry by the fur and drag it behind him. Dudley spoke the entire way back about his thrilling combat with the beasts, telling them in rather intimate detail how he’d managed to slay each one with his bare hands. Mercury grinned the entire time, rather enjoying the half giant’s innocent enthusiasm. It was endearing. As she walked, she wasn’t even really aware of how she tried to keep a little in front of Vandrad so she could help make sure his path was clear of bushes and branches and other things that might snag his nice clothing, a feat that would probably be harder for him with one of his hands full. And when they got back to the spot they needed to return, she made sure to collect the clothes that Dudley had shed so they wouldn’t be left behind in the forest.

They were back as quickly as they’d gone, arriving directly in the meat freezer as Everance had said they would. Mercury shivered momentarily at the dramatic change in temperature, but the cold was quickly forgotten as Dudley quickly dropped his pile of corpses and commented about running off to find his wife now that he was all ramped up. Mercury watched the man go with a curious look and shortly after he walked out she snorted in amusement and shook her head. “Your family really likes sex, don’t they?” she asked him candidly. “The way they talk, it’s like they’re just… constantly having it in some form or another.”

She sounded entertained by the notion, as though it were a charming trait rather than something to mock or judge them over. Mercury turned and watched the prince put on a smock, which ebbed lightly with magic, telling her it was probably enchanted in some form. He also put on a pair of gloves and pocketed his glasses, and as he did so he gave her the option of going back up to the study to relax with his mother if she didn’t want to stay during what was sure to be a bloody mess of cleaning. “And let you have all the fun?” Mercury teased, not needing any time to think about her answer as though it had never been a question of whether she’d stay to help him or not. “I may not be much of a cook, but I’m no stranger to skinning my dinner.”

“Don’t suppose there’s another one of those hanging around somewhere?” Mercury nodded at his smock. Presuming he procured another one for her to use, she would throw it over her outfit and then help him get one of the Vulcan bodies up on the table. When he pulled out the knives, Mercury took a moment to run her fingers down the edges, pinching them between her digits and using her magic to sharpen them to a point so fine they would easily slice a hair in half without nearly any pressure.

Twirling one of the deadly blades expertly in her fingers, she grinned down at the body. “Alright, killer. Where do you usually start on these guys? I imagine you’ve got this down to an art by now.” Relying on him only as much as needed to learn the most efficient way to skin the thing down, she’d work with him to clean it, with little to no disgust for how gorey the process was. In fact, she handled the tool fairly efficiently without needing instruction on what any of the little hooks and grooves and curves in the blades were best used for.

When that was done, however, she paid great interest in how he prepared the meat. Vandrad had said back in the forest that he had a method of keeping the stuff tender, and Mercury was eager to see the prince in his full cooking glory, clearly still amused by the idea that he had all these little quirks and talents that didn’t seem to fit his typical, surly mannerisms. Despite the little ways she found to tease and play with him about it, however, there was no mistaking that Mercury actually respected him for the talent and that she was doing her best to learn from his own knowledge -- which she would do as long as he let her help out, whether in the freezer or the kitchen, assuming he wouldn’t feel like she was in the way.

He brought up the orgy the night before in response to her amused comments about how his family seemed so fixated on sex, advising her that the after party alone should have been enough to lead her to that conclusion. Which was a fair point. Vandrad went on to elaborate on how if his mother was to be believed their family was blessed by some sex god -- a reference Mercury didn’t really get fully, but she ran with it anyway. But apparently, Themesycia was so married to the idea that any mention of it usually sparked her into a rather meticulous story about it.

According to him, however, there really isn’t much of a reason for his family to be the way they are. His grandfather and grandmother were supposedly nothing like that, as far as he knew, but the rest of his family has just always been like this and not caring at all about showing it off in front of one another. Vandrad had always been the odd one out in that regard, though up until last night he’d assumed Bartrand was also less inclined toward such things. Clearly that wasn’t the case, as his younger cousin had made it very clear a number of times now that he wanted to marry Mercury. She grinned. “Poor kid’s gonna be heartbroken when he finds out I’m not about that life. Oh well. I’m sure he’ll get over it, he seems pretty spunky.”

She made her interest in staying known, playfully asking for a smock to keep her own clothes clean only for him to tease her over it, stating how she’d disappointed his expectations to see her gutting a corpse in heels and a dress. “Yeah, that means so much coming from the man that didn’t want to risk anything catching on his daddy suit out in the woods.” Mercury smirked at him. “And the heels are still on, thank you very much. If I get walk in the woods in these things I can certainly skin a Vulcan in them.”

He brought the spare coverup to her nonetheless. Mercury put it on and then donned the gloves and goggles he’d also brought her. Vandrad called her a show off as she sharpened the knives and twirled them between her fingers. “Yeah, but you like it,” was her only playful retort before it got into the thick of things with her, literally. Like with any kill, he said to start with the chest to remove the carcass, which is where the majority of the useless organs were. Supposedly the trick with Vulcans was knowing the proper way to get under the layer of fur to get a clean skinning, but he’d show her that part when they got there.

With the two of them at work, the process went fairly quickly. She could tell he’d done this so many times that he could probably do it in his sleep, which made her wonder if she was even helping him at this point or just slowing him down. Not that she’d feel bad about the latter -- it would just make the whole thing more amusing. For the most part Mercury knew what she was doing, or at least knew the proper use of the tools, but there were still a few spots where he had to stop her to give tips and direction. While she’d skinned a few things on a hungry night, it certainly hadn’t been prey anywhere near this large.

Eventually, they had a table full of raw meat that he’d put on top of a layer of salt, which he’d explained helped keep it from sticking to the somewhat frozen table in the cold room. The waste matter was burned through the use of his magic, and the ashes swept away into a trashcan. Then, he rolled the table of meat into an adjacent room that was phenomenally more cold than the one they’d been in the whole time leading up to it. The small room had large sacks of salt and the Bosca grain he’d mentioned earlier, to help keep the meat tender. And apparently, also made delicious bread.

Once that portion was done, he led her back out and explained that this part of the job was done until it was time to cook it, which he said would probably be in about four hours. Giving himself an hour to prep everything meant they’d have to come back in three hours. Despite the quantity of meat, Vandrad said it would all be cooked at once thanks to a specially made large skillet they’d commissioned a cook to craft for them. Apparently, it rested over a bonfire on the estate that faced the view of the ocean waters surrounding the island. The typical routine seemed to be that Vandrad handled the meat of the main dish while his aunt Everance whipped up some sides and Bartrand, surprisingly enough, handled desserts.

“Wow, you guys have this down to a science,” Mercury commented as she removed the borrowed get up and handed the items to him, impressed despite herself. It was a bit unheard of for nobles to do their own cooking and meal preparations, as far as Mercury was aware. Yet another way that the du Wolffs were pleasantly surprising her. As she checked herself over for any stray blood or gore -- in spite of the enchanted apron, she was still a bit paranoid about potentially ruining the delightful dress she was borrowing -- he spoke up about how nice it had been to teach something again, stating that no one usually helped him with this part of the work. In the army, it was part of his job to train the soldiers, specifically the ones that were hard to crack, like Mercury herself.

She grinned at him, clearly pleased by the comparison. The expression only grew into something more mischievous when he invited her to join him for the seasoning process, stating how everything they would need was upstairs and there was plenty to “experiment” with. He shot her a look over his glasses, and she was unprepared for the shiver that ran down her spine as a result of it. It was not okay that those things fit him so well, nor that they somehow made his cocky smirks even more attractive. Worse, she was pretty sure he knew it was driving her at least a little crazy. Smug bastard. Mercury wiggled her brows at him a little. “You know me so well,” she teased, “That or I’m getting predictable.”

But all good things came to an end, and he lamented that it was probably time for him to go check and make sure he hadn’t actually killed Sabine by accident. Mercury rolled her eyes. “Please, we both know how that’s going to go over,” she told him with a snort. Then she clutched her hands to her chest and dipped her knees a little, feigning the demeanor of a damsel and speaking up again in a slightly more falsetto voice. “Oh, Vanny-poo! How sweet of you to come check on your wife! I feel so faint, but just having you here makes everything better!” Mercury straightened up after that, reverting to her normal alto tone and merciless smirk. “I say let her sit until she wakes up on her own. Give her an inch and she’s just going to think she’s won you over and clamor over you all the harder.”

Mercury was getting ready to dismiss the topic of Sabine when Vandrad got a devious look in his eyes unlike any he usually got before. The depth of the grin caught her attention, her brows furrowing at him with amused interest in the unspoken question of wondering what evil thought had just occurred to him. She wouldn’t have to wait long for the answer. Apparently, he thought of something that might make her even more angry when she woke up, and boy did that interest her. It was bold and out of his normal field of comfort, but at this point he wanted so badly to be rid of Sabine that he’d consider just about any tactic. And that tactic seemed to be the two of them barging into Sabine’s room in a state of passion for her to awake to.

The Silver Wolf mage was visibly shocked by the idea, for a number of reasons. “Oh stars, that is cold,” she told him, though not with any disappointment. No, in fact she was rubbing her chin thoughtfully, an absolutely malicious smirk on her face. “She would be so furious, but even she can’t be so dense as to not get the picture that you aren’t interested in her after that. Although I don’t know… she has been really dead set on trying to outplay me all day. She may just try to push me out of the way and try to jump you herself, if she thinks that’s what it will take to make you want her. And that sounds like an absolutely train wreck to me… which naturally means I’m just going to sit back and watch and do absolutely nothing to stop her from trying.”

Mercury flashed him an impish grin. “Boy you must really be desperate to get her off your dick, though, to suggest something like this. And with me, of all people.” Despite the fact that the two of them had had sex already once before and quite clearly flirted with each other a lot, she really didn’t seem to think any of that meant much in the long run. What had happened between them had been a one time thing born from fury and tension and -- at least on Vandrad’s part -- hatred. No matter how much she teased him, Mercury honestly never seemed to think there was a possibility the two of them would ever wind up locked in a similar tango, even if only briefly and for show. After all, just because he’d agreed upon her assessment that sleeping with her hadn’t needed to be a badge of shame, it didn’t mean he wanted to do it again, or anything close to it.

So this was indeed a surprise to her, and one that she seemed not to take too seriously even though normally she would be taking the time to make jokes at his expense to twist his words into making it seem like he just wanted an excuse to get on her again. Finally, her smirk widened to a grin. “Alright, I’m in. Let’s break her.”

She listened has he explained that it was his aunt who always had an interest in cooking, and because of her he’d picked up the talent from a young age. Apparently, Everance lived far enough away that she couldn’t readily be available any day of the week to teach him first hand, but she was easily able to send him books with recipes and instructions for him to try on his own. Bartrand’s interest in the hobby seemingly came out of nowhere, and for the most part he wasn’t great at it, but somehow through it all he’d has a surprising knack for baking sweets despite the fact that he wasn’t the sweetest individual in the world himself. Mercury smirked a little at the joking comment.

But really it was the last part that got her attention. When they did this, it wasn’t just for themselves. Apparently, the family cooked more than what they needed and gave the rest to their staff so they could have a night off and be served instead of doing the serving. It was a notion that stunned her entirely, though little more than mild surprise showed in her facial features. “Wow, that’s… very generous of you all,” she said. Either she’d been entirely misled on what nobles were like, or the du Wolffs were a rare breed. Based on her interactions with them thus far, as well as her exposure to Sabine, she was fairly certain it was the latter.

The prince enjoyed her mockery of Sabine, chuckling at Mercury’s antics. She herself cackled when he retorted that even an inch would probably split the infuriating princess in half, a not so subtle insinuation toward how little she’d be able to take of him, or anyone. “I don’t know, did you see the size of the rod up her ass? Still, it seemed his bigger reason for doing it was because he’d only been behaving at the pool due to his mother, who’d wanted to make a further mockery of Sabine. But now that breakfast was over, Vandrad no longer cared and he was just ready to be rid of her and speak his mind, no matter how mean.

Oh, and he wanted to be mean. Mercury expressed her thoughts on the idea, both in terms of its effectiveness and everything that could possibly go wrong with it. Vandrad let her think the plan out loud without interruption, only speaking up when she teased about how badly he wanted to get rid of the sow to consider something this base, and with her. Even then, he simply stated that she was his partner in crime at this point, one that he knew wouldn’t half ass the show. That, and if he was going to do something so completely out of his nature, it would only happen because he was getting help from someone he trusted. While Mercury certainly caught the sincerity of the comment, and it did strike a warm chord in her, she was far too interested in the cruelty of the prank to think about it too much.

“Trusting me was your first mistake,” Mercury teased him with a grin. Still, she was sold, and told him as much. Vandrad was just as pleased and eager for the prank, so without any adieu they wandered back out into the main halls of the palace, which felt a lot roomier without all the people from the party the night before in it. He easily led the way toward the guest quarters, up several flights of stairs, until they were parked outside of the room that had been alloted to Sabine for her overstay. He remarked that they had arrived, stating that Sabine was clearly still asleep otherwise she would have already been shrieking to high heaven about what had happened during breakfast. Normally, Mercury sensors might have picked up that the explanation of his statement was perhaps a little too quickly added, but her guard was so far lowered in Vandrad’s home at the moment that the thought he was hiding some kind of knowledge or ability from her was the furthest thing from her mind.

She gave him the sauciest and most playful of grins when he told her it was showtime. “Then come and get it, daddy,” Mercury told him. Vandrad did just that, snatching her by the hips and pulling her right up against him and planting his mouth on hers with nearly as much gusto and wanton desire as he had back during their very real tryst in Desierto. Even during the act of kissing him, Mercury couldn’t help the cackling that bubbled up her throat as she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him basically throw her against the doors. They swung wide open with ease, the prince expertly guiding her over to the bed and pinning her to it with his own body and zero regard to the placement of Sabine’s beneath them.

Hands roamed with open fearlessness on both sides, with Mercury doing very little to understate her enjoyment of what was happening. And despite the fact that this was little more than a cruel spectacle to piss Sabine off, the Silver Wolf mage was enjoying herself. Laser sights focused on the insufferable princess or no, she certainly wasn’t going to complain about getting an unexpected second chance to bump minor league uglies with Vandrad again -- especially given his current attire and those damn glasses. Surprisingly, the prince wasn’t exactly pulling any punches either, openly listing off a number of dirty things he planned on doing to her, not bothering to keep his voice down about it. It was difficult to miss how exciting this was for him as well, but that was of little surprise given the nature of the prank, and Mercury really didn’t put that much thought into it.

She was starting to wonder if they were going to have to actually commit to the show all the way through to sex when Sabine finally woke up. The idiot woman had been snoring with her mouth open the whole time, having barely moved at all when Mercury’s back hit her feet. Vandrad had managed to get out quite a number of illicit promises to the Silver Wolf wizard before Sabine realized what was going on and shot up in the bed, practically screaming her question at them and demanding to know what they were doing.

Mercury pried her mouth off of Vandrad’s without stopping any of her other intimate movements to tilt her head back, fixing Sabine with a smug, upside down smirk. “Isn’t it obvious?” she purred, giggling a little from some of the things Vandrad was doing to her. “We’re putting you in your place. Or did you really think anyone, especially Themesycia, bought your little act this morning? The only thing more see through than your apology was that hopeless excuse for a bikini. But don’t take my word for it.” Giving the woman a dark grin, Mercury turned her face back up and started kissing and biting playfully on Vandrad’s neck and shoulder through his open collar, giving him the chance to finally let out all the things he’d been wanting to say to Sabine since the moment he’d met her the night before.

He’d more than earned it, and she wasn’t going to take that from him.

Mercury made no attempt to hide her giggling as Sabine quickly tried to ply for Vandrad’s affections again, starting with the use of that awful nickname. The prince swiftly cut her off, calling her out on coming up with some kind of tear jerking story in an attempt to connect with him in a way that wouldn’t work, to earn some favor. It was pathetic and he told her just that, pointing out the ridiculousness of her trying that tactic when the two of them were blatantly in the process of practically tearing one another’s clothes off right on top of her, for the openly stated purpose of mocking her. He wasted no time informing her that he’d practically loathed her existence from the moment she’d stepped foot in the palace, calling her out on her disrespect and lack of honor, and saying how if it weren’t for his family he’d have thrown her out long ago, and violently.

He was laying so many insults that Mercury was laughing into the prince’s skin as she kissed on him, especially when she finally gave up her act and started yelling at him, calling him a mongrel and Mercury a whore. But Vandrad was ready for it, running with the insult and turning it right back on her to call her a parasite that wasn’t even good enough to fantasize about. He pulled himself back onto his feet with Mercury along with him, spinning her around and pulling her up against him. She caught the ruse and ran with it, continuing to move and behave like they were still engaging in illicit activities even as Vandrad practically made a showgirl out of her, talking about how easily Mercury had captivated his entire family, even on a sexual level. He refuted Sabine insults toward Mercury’s physique and status while mocking those of the princess.

The whole time he spoke, Mercury kept her even, smug gaze on Sabine, putting on quite the show of enjoying Vandrad’s compliments and the different ways he was touching her. Then, she broke out into laughter when he told Sabine what no one else probably had up until this point in her life: that her awful and annoying personality was probably the reason all of her arranged marriages had failed in the past. Sabine shrieked in anger at the top of her lungs, storming past them and quickly grabbing her things and throwing them into her bag as she threw a tantrum over how she was being treated. She insulted the entire du Wolff family, which only made Mercury want to hurt her more, threatening to tell her father about it and how Vandrad had hit her. The way she spoke made it sound like she was going to get their house to go to war with Vandrad’s.

And it wasn’t even a little intimidating. Vandrad gave her an open invitation to try before turning Mercury around again and bending her over a table. As they continued to put on a show, he told the princess how much he’d love to single handedly turn her entire army to ash before letting Mercury have the pleasure of dispatching Sabine herself, fully admitting that the Silver Wolf mage was much more crafty than he was, stating it as the reason that in the choice of sleeping with Mercury or Sabine, he’d choose the former every time. Mercury shot Sabine a cruel smirk. “I’m intimately familiar with torture of every kind: physical, emotional, intellectual,” she teased, though there was no mistaking by her tone that she wasn’t joking even a little. “You’d break easy under a careless hand, but don’t worry. I know how to make it last.”

It was finally too much for the princess, who screamed at the top of her lungs, grabbed her bag, and stormed right out of the room leaving Vandrad and Mercury howling in laughter. The slayer was grateful he’d had her up against the desk, because frankly she was laughing so hard she needed it to help support her. “Fuck!” she exclaimed, wiping a tear of wild amusement from her face. Vandrad pulled her up, grinning wildly as he pointed out that they had an opportunity here to quite literally run the woman out and ensure she fully broke on the way out the door. “Oh, please,” she practically begged him through gasping breath, “I need this so bad.”

That seemed to be good enough for him, and off they would run after her… but not before Vandrad leaned forward and kissed her again. Despite how dead set she was on harrying after the woman, the odd gesture didn’t go past her notice, though she also didn’t exactly put much thought into it for the moment. If anything, she just reacted on instinct, humming briefly in pleasure and sinking into it for the quick second or two that it lasted, her fingers pressing ever so slightly against his sides. Then, he took her by the hand and they ran off into the hallway after the princess, the weird moment tucked away to ponder another time when there were less pressing matters at hand.

Ironically, it was the great hall where they caught up to her, the two of them calling out to the woman mockingly the entire way. “Yeah!” Mercury added after Vandrad’s own words about how they could use an audience, laughing through her whole sentence. “You never know, voyeurism could be your kink! Why don’t you stick around a little longer, we can show you some tricks!”

By now the whole palace was hearing the commotion, with family members quickly wandering into the room to see what all the fuss was about. It was Simon who had managed to stop the princess, who promptly called him a pig and told him to get his hands off of her. That was the duke’s cue to drop his own pretenses, which he did with great gratitude before twisting Sabine’s arm up behind her back and pushing her toward Themesycia in the center of the large room. Mercury was laughing so hard she had to lean against Vandrad’s side to keep from falling over, their hands still conjoined from the run down the hallway.

There was a brief exchange as the duchess shot the couple an amused look before asking Sabine what was wrong, and Sabine had the gall to call Vandrad disgusting to his mother’s face. The was in the process of insulting Mercury when the Ashen Dread swiftly and firmly grasped the insufferable woman by the face, stopping the words in her mouth. “Oh shit,” Mercury sputtered along with the rest of the du Wolff family’s comments, practically wheezing. This was going to be good, she thought, fully expecting Themesycia to go ham on the trash woman.

But it seemed the duchess had something else in mind as she called Mercury down to join them. “Oh, I get to help?” She was excited as a kid on Christmas morning, not that Mercury herself would really understand that analogy. Giving Vandrad’s hand a squeeze and shooting him a quick wink, she made her way down the steps to join them. Once there, Themesycia candidly informed her that Sabine would be taking her leave soon and asked if Mercury had any final words for the obnoxious princess. “Oh, I have several,” she said, fixing her glistening emerald gaze on the captive woman.

“First, you really need to step up your insults. Men and women who openly sleep around are hardly offended by being called whores and sluts. Unlike women like you, I imagine. Go ahead and follow through with your threats to tell daddy whatever you want about what happened here, but I recorded a lot of it and I’m more than happy to make sure he gets a copy. I’m sure he’ll be very thrilled to see his little angel in that little get up of yours from this morning.” If her family was anything like what Mercury assumed typical nobles to be like, she would bring a lot of shame to them if anyone found out she’d been running around trying to win Vandrad over like the common slut she’d been calling Mercury this whole time.

The Silver Wolf mage went on. “Also, just a few tips for your next intended marriage, if you want to actually be successful at tricking a man into marrying you: Learn to recognize the difference between a romantic rival and a conniving buddy that can help make sure you never get anywhere near the man you want. Because despite what you want to convince yourself about me, I’m not a courtier and I’m not a servant; I’m his best friend. Shut up, Vandrad, no one here is buying your denial.” Mercury turned to flash the prince an impish grin, preemptively cutting him off from any attempt he might make at correcting her on the friendship bit. Then, her attention was back on Sabine.

“Also, from one woman to another, you really should work on trying to gain a few redeeming qualities. If the shrill sound of your voice isn’t enough to drive away every man within a one hundred mile radius, the way you lead with desperation as your defining personality trait is. It’s cringy and sad, and I’m sorry no one has cared about you enough to point it out to you before, but that’s why I’m here. To help.” She put an overdramatic emphasis on the last word, putting her hand to her chest in feigned sincerity.

But that expression turned slightly sour as another thought came to her mind, one that had been building up under the surface since the night before. “Oh, and one last thing.” The sweet innocent of her voice was a telltale sign to anyone who could read such things that this interaction was about to turn someplace dark. It was the only warning anyone was going to get. In a flash, the Silver Wolf mage snatched Sabine firmly by the hair and pulled so hard it would rip the Midian woman right out of both Simon and Themesycia’s grasps. In the same motion, she swiftly kicked the back of Sabine’s legs, knocking her roughly onto her knees onto the hard floor. Out of nowhere, a skeletal prison of metal conjured around the woman’s body, securing her limbs and torso so tightly that it had her bent back almost in two, a metal plate slapping over her mouth like a muzzle.

Gone was any look of mirth in Mercury’s eyes. There was only a fierce, unadulterated hatred as she continued to grip the woman by the hair, adding insult to injury. And there would be injury. The frame would be pressing against her painfully at several points all over her body like tiny needles were driving themselves under her flesh, digging beneath her skin. But by the look on her face, Mercury was no longer playing around, and any enjoyment she was now getting out of this was purely from a place of vindictive sadism. There was no one else in that room but the two of them as far as she was concerned, and her unwavering gaze was that of a woman who had risen above so many horrors that there was nothing left to terrify or intimidate her anymore.

Leaning in close, she got right in Sabine’s face with the look of a woman ready to murder. “You can call me a whore, lie to yourself about my status to try and make yourself look more important than you are… Say whatever you want about me, or the rest this kind and giving family, because frankly no one here cares enough about your opinion to lose any sleep over it.” Mercury’s expression got unthinkably more dangerous as she pushed her face closer to the princess’s, making sure there was no mistaking her next words.

“But if you ever disrespect my mother’s song again, you’ll learn that I can be someone much more nasty than a common whore. And trust me when I say that it doesn’t matter where you go, how far away from me you are, or how softly you speak… even if you are completely alone, which wouldn’t surprise me, tucked in the deepest ravine in the most isolated wasteland on the Earth, I will hear you. Test me on it after you leave here, if you dare. You utter one word of mockery at that song, and there is no army in the world, no magic in the universe, that will protect you from the horrors I will inflict on you.”

Mercury paused there, giving Sabine a moment to let the threat sink in, boring into the woman with the cold, dead eyes of one who had killed and tortured -- and perhaps been tortured -- so many times that she’d long lost count, and not just in the heat of battle. Sabine was currently at the mercy of a woman who had experience murdering in cold blood, the only reason she wasn’t doing so now merely out of respect for the family that had been so generous and accepting to her when they didn’t need to be.

“Have I made myself clear, you toxic, sniveling waste of oxygen?” As if her words were the cue, the skeletal prison constricted a bit more on itself, bending her back just a little bit more.