09-03-2015, 01:16 AM
Kushiel’s smile to his mother was lazy, indulgent and affectionate. He wouldn’t lie, he was happy not to have to do any campaigning. If she had staged a coup and it went horribly wrong she might have had to come live with him. He tried not to grimace. Wouldn’t that scenario put her in a temper? Kushiel would prefer not to see it. Still, the idea of being a prince did have an allure to it. He could do nothing to exert himself and call it being an esteemed member of the royal family. Royal families were supposed to be figureheads, right? Kushiel was happy to admit that he would be a fabulous figurehead. “That’s right you’ll inform me. I demand an early invitation to your coronation.” There were some things he was unwilling to comprise on. This was one of them. Should that proud day come, he would want to get there early to watch, and laugh mercilessly at all the fools who were now under his mother’s thumb. Not that it was a bad place to be, Kushiel was a long time resident, but still, give an inch and Gallows probably had the skill and ambition to take a mile.
Kushiel rolled his eyes at her next words. She had to rub it in didn’t she? Sometimes he wasn’t sure why he bothered speaking at all. Probably because he loved the sound of his own voice. That was really the only reason to move his lips at all. Other than to give the eavesdroppers something to do. He was charitable that way.
“Change, yes. Vitality, interesting.” He nodded along, as if it were interesting then groaned loudly, obnoxiously and in a bawling sound thick with exasperation. He needed to make sure everyone knew how very boring both of those ideas were.
“Does he want world peace too? Because it seems like that is where this is going.” Truly, it was so cliche Kushiel was prepared to set Demian on fire just to make him more interesting. It was no secret that Kushiel had no patience for boring things, and his general disdain for people of productivity was clear.
It was all so very plebeian.
Kushiel dropped the act to consider Gallows’ question. Straia was not so easy to explain as Demian, apparently. There were many things he could say about the Chamber queen. He just wasn’t sure which of those things he should say. Surprisingly, the first thing he thought of, for all her power and raven magic, was that she was funny. Not in a haha way, not in the way Kushiel was funny. She was droll and dry in a way that left you wondering if you were a total fool. He liked that in a woman. Still, certainly he could not go visiting other kingdoms and report that his queen was funny. Kushiel didn’t think much of his vocation as a diplomat, but even he thought more of it than that.
“She is powerful…a little scary actually.” That was true. She was as scary as she was funny, and he liked that even more. Still, Kushiel found he couldn’t make himself scared of her. The danger was obvious, right there on the surface, but he found he liked her too much to heed it. He smiled a little and continued.
“And she certainly has enough eyes to keep one of them of me, so I have to mind my manners.” That was another lie. She did have enough raven spies to keep an eye on him, but he hadn’t been minding his manners. His first diplomatic meeting at the Chamber had ended when he all but kidnapped the visiting diplomat to unsuccessfully woo her. But hey, nobody was perfect.
Kushiel
some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall