She's got the devil's eyes

The past few days have been busy ones for the northern queen. Of course, that’s to be expected, given the current state of Beqanna. But she finds that she rather misses the moments she’d had to herself. The ones she so often found herself lost in, exploring and discovering secrets that are not hers. Some are useless secrets. But some. Oh, some could topple kingdom’s if one knew the right ways to ply them.

But alas, today she finds herself with another visitor at her borders. A familiar one, for all that they have only had the opportunity to meet once. Still, where truths remain buried, there one can often find Heartfire. And, well, Heartfire has a feeling this particular Primarch should likely invest in a shovel.

She is already moving to intercept him when he sends her name into the wind. Words are easily lost to the exposed cliffs and hardy grasses, but she is near enough to hear. Still, she makes no move to reply until she closes the distance between them, her eyes a sharp, clear blue as they fix upon the pale stallion with unerring ease and a faintly curious gleam.

She wonders what might have brought Litotes to her kingdom. He had allied himself unquestioningly with Castile, and given the tenuous nature of Nerine’s relationship with Loess, it is curious that he had come without a Loessian representative in tow. Unless, of course, he had begun to question his alliance with the dragon king.

Although, given what she had learned from her recent with Kensa, she does rather have a feeling there are motives beyond the obvious here.

“Litotes,” she greets easily as she settles a comfortably conversational distance from him. “I must admit I hadn’t expected you to visit. Are you reconsidering your alliance with Castile?”

and they'll cut you like a weapon

She's got the devil's eyes

Heartfire had learned a long time ago that everyone has hidden facets. Pieces of themselves easily overlooked, easily buried beneath the things the world tries to force them to be. Heartfire would never be so foolish as to truly discount anyone. Indeed, she’s often found the greatest surprises seem to come from the most unlikely sources.

And, well, for all that Litotes had torn Pangea from its former kingdom to ally himself with Castile, Heartfire is well aware that he is a wild card. After all, it’s that very trait that had brought him to Castile’s side.

And if it can be done once, it can certainly happen again.

He meets her pointed question with curiosity rather than defensiveness. A fact that offers a great deal of insight as to the strength of his connection with the southern kingdom. Only a fool would not explore that thread further. And Heartfire is certainly no fool.

A glint of amusement crosses her blue eyes as he self-deprecatingly reveals his recent disinterest in politics. Of course, it’s not news to her. But then, she’s always been interested in politics. Perhaps too much so. “I can’t say I haven’t appreciated the disinterest some kingdom’s have in the political state of things.” Her lips tilt faintly at that, an almost display of humor. “It certainly makes my life easier.”

That near candid relief of her admission is followed by an expanse of silence in which she closely considers Litotes after his request to elaborate. While the answer is hardly a secret, the way in which she chooses to answer could certainly influence how Litotes perceives it.

“I would not say Castile and I are enemies, per se,” she replies thoughtfully after a time. “He is merely… laying the stonework.” Her gaze hardens faintly, turning briefly to the south before returning the Litotes. When she continues, her tone is frank, the faint bite displaying clearly enough that she can see how the chips are falling. “While I respected his decision not to pursue an alliance, the move on Taiga has quite aptly demonstrated he has no respect for mine.”

and they'll cut you like a weapon

She's got the devil's eyes

It surprises her not at all that he has so little knowledge of Castile, Lepis, and Wolfbane’s plans. They had certainly chosen not to share them widely. Indeed, even for a woman of her rather far-reaching capabilities, it had been a struggle to obtain the information she had. In fact, she had only managed to confirm her suspicions by confronting Lepis directly about it.

Of course, when one has the insights Heartfire does, it’s not difficult to apply leverage in the right places to gain the information she desires. And Lepis, for all her close-lipped confidence, is an easy woman to locate the weaknesses in. One need only pinch at her pride to cause her confidences to spill.

And spill they had.

She eyes Litotes openly, considering his surprise at her words, the restless shifting of his pale frame, the obvious agitation at realizing things had been kept from him. Though Heartfire could never claim to be an open book, she does wonder why they would choose to keep such things from their allies. Especially knowing she would likely object as she had.

It would be utterly foolish for them to expect to take all of Beqanna bloodlessly.

“It was done with Castile’s blessing,” she replies bluntly, the truth of that statement easily visible in the hard, unforgiving glint the settles in the blue of her eye. Her features are stony as she continues, her displeasure at the circumstances clear. “Whether it began with Lepis and Wolfbane is irrelevant, it was done with his knowledge and support.”

Were she a crueler and more petty woman, she might wonder aloud if Castile had ever had such an original thought. But she is not, nor does she desire the backlash such a comment might bring. Still, it has become increasingly clear, over these last months, that most of what had occurred lately had rarely started in Castile’s head. But they always seemed to have his fingerprints all over them nevertheless.

It’s also becoming increasingly clear that Litotes is not nearly so enamored of Castile as she’d once thought. A mistake to believe so on her part, but one she is quite glad to see she was mistaken about. And in the wake of the understanding, she pushes harder than she might normally have, not willing to miss her chance to impress upon Litotes exactly the nature of the man he had allied himself to.

“I doubt Lepis had any true desire to share her plans with me, but…” she pauses then, a faintly satisfied smile briefly crossing her lips. “Let us just say she has far too much pride for her own good.” Her gaze cools once more as she fixes it with unerring directness on Litotes. “She informed me herself she plans to either make a play for the Northern throne or secede Taiga and align it to Loess. Either way, she made clear her plans to ally with Castile and revealed his knowledge of those plans.”

It had been a mistake for Lepis to tell her those things. But then, Heartfire has always been a woman who thrives on others' mistakes.

and they'll cut you like a weapon

She's got the devil's eyes

A faint smile tilts the corners of her lips as Heartfire considers Litotes, blue eyes gleaming inscrutably in the dark mask of her features. Castile, it seems, would be the architect of his own demise in many ways. Apparently he had not learned the art of not alienating his own allies. Heartfire, for all her surreptitious dealings, had made a point of offering her own allies just as much as she would gain from them. Her knowledge is their knowledge, such as it is. There is value of keeping things close to the vest, of course, but Castile seemed to be rather ham-handed with that particular ability.

She can appreciate the anger that builds in Litotes at the realization of just what had been kept from him. She had known such anger herself, more than once. The only difference between the two is that Heartfire directed that anger into a laser focus, her patience honing it until it became as sharp and lethal as a perfectly aimed dagger between the ribs.

“I am doing what I can to avoid war,” she replies after a thoughtful moment, “but you know Castile. It may be unavoidable. And he has allowed his own confidence to expand his head until it clouds his entire vision, it seems.”

She shrugs faintly at that, as though to say there was nothing to be done for it. She had, after all, offered Castile ample opportunity to avoid such things. She had never inserted herself into the middle of his squabbles. Never declared herself his enemy. He had chosen that path on his own in his greedy lust for power.

“Actually, I need to speak to Castile as well. Perhaps I can join you. I could also take the opportunity to explain the benefits of allying yourself with Nerine to Dawn.” Her blue gaze fixes on Litotes, one corner of her lips quirking slightly. She is not one to waste an opportunity, after all.

and they'll cut you like a weapon