>>5655886Well… No, not exactly. After all, Prince Rufos is enthralled, and Ekaterine isn’t even next in line to the throne so long as he lives—let alone if Alexos has somehow survived. Still, it doesn’t HURT.
“Every moment you remain here, “ The Novice points out, “is a risk. The deeper you embed yourself—in a family full of PALADINS no less!—the more likely you will be exposed, and captured. And while you have been here, do you think that my father, and the senior Priesthood whom you so defied and whose natural order you defiled, have been IDLE?”
You start to sit up, stopping only when your persistent pains pin you in place.
“They work against my reforms?” you ask sharply.
“OBVIOUSLY, you absolute buffoon!” the Novice hisses angrily. “What, has all your cuddling and canoodling with your new mate—sorry, your STILL VRIGINAL ‘BRIDE’—made you softer in the ehad than you already were? Why would they NOT reassert that authority which favours them, when the young upstart who upended it is away for nearly two months?”
You consider this gravely. Is two months really so long…?
“And what about Bloodrise?” the Novice demands. “have your forgotten your FIRST mate, your CHIDLREN? If I have sunk resources into that sword you lost, into this body you’ve risked and ruined, what of your abominable SPAWN? They carry almost ALL that is left of an ancient Dragon King in their insectoid ichor, and they are defended by DWARVEN SLAVES and DEGNERATES, while you, you…”
You rest a hand upon hers, and finally the trembling Novice stills herself. With Reptilian ease, she shifts from supreme-most agitation to icy calm.
“What is even the point of this sham marriage?” she asks, plainly. “You are leaving when the deed is done and the embryo implanted, yes? Why not simply bed her and be done with it?”
You tilt your head.
“Mammals of her ilk and station are pair-bonded for life, and cohabitate by custom,” the Novice reminds you. “Do you thinks he will take KINDLY to her new husband departing immediately after the wedding ceremony and your mating?”
…Well, no, probably not, come to think of it.
“What,” the Novice asks pointedly, “is even your PLAN here, Dragonborn?”
>You plan to remain in Hawksong, operating as Long Wang, and to set up Hawksong as your new seat of power>You will leave Ekaterine, wedded and impregnated, and return to your duties elsewhere, though she will fret and fear for you>You will make Ekaterine your bride… And then reveal your true self to her, your identity as the Dark prophet Theral, and take her with you when you leave>You… Don’t know. You can’t decide. Right now, you just want to focus on the wedding. Is that so WRONG of you?>Write-in 