A Run on the Bank

[Judah Lesan]

"Nothing can distract me from glaring at you with a healthy balance of fondness and desire," Xander tossed the pillow back at Zarah and picked up the datapad. The smirk on his face would tell Zarah that she had given him more than plenty ideas to cause trouble, and that he was about to do just that. "I had not been picturing you in these leathers until you said something. Why do that when I have a painting of you in boudoire in much less?"

He knew he was walking on the edge of inappropriate, but Zarah had seen the painting and it had been the cause for their game. Xander made a gamble that he was safe from losing the woman he was to pursue. After all, he had not once sought to use the fact they had shared a bed already as fodder against her. They had done so for her well being and survival. As wicked a man as Xander was, he was not that wicked, not anymore. Still, he could have his fun. That's why he turned to her after searching on the datapad for one of the scandalous images he could find.

"Though now that you mention it, I was thinking I could imagine you in something like this."

Xander grinned as he showed her the datapad. This was going to get him into deep trouble, but the enjoyment he was getting out of being with the woman would be well worth it. Besides, he had another image for thought once her reaction was complete. He couldn't help but laugh as he handed her the datapad however. The Sith King still was wicked enough to stir the pot whenever he had the chance. How would the virgin queen react to the knoweldge that Xander could possibly imagine her in such a salcious and scandalous thing?

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“Flattery.” Zarah narrowed her eyelids, attempting to staunch the smile growing on her face. Thus, it was to no avail. “I suppose the key word to that sentence was healthy, so I shall accept it with grace… and give you a compliment in return.”

The idea of settling into a relationship with [member="Darth Vizios"] had compelled Zarah to many long night conversations with [member="Chiara Viren"], and the search for her boundaries of soul. Still the painting entered her mind. Still it consumed both of their thoughts. His jab about the painting was enough to remind her of where his focus lied… not on the act necessarily, but the adoration which came with it. “So it is my fault, is it? I destroyed the chaste ideal of my leathers for a bawdy woman’s dress at the very idea? Why! Why did I have to mention it!?”

Zarah put the back of her hand to her forehead and scoffed, keeping her small amount of distance away from him… as was propriety’s sake. The pillow flumped against her elbow and she glared at Xander with the ferocity of a cat at play.

‘Let him honour you as a Lady, of course. But... propriety aside, when the time is right... your first kiss is monumental. And I believe you should make sure it is on your own terms, in your time. If he respects you, as it seems he does, then he will continue to wait until you're ready for that next step… You're not beholden to the old laws anymore, take the opportunity to discover and trust in your heart.’ Chiara’s words of advice had given an odd comfort to her cousin, and the relief to know that although her default was the stringent way of the Cronese Noblewoman, she needn’t follow the path entirely. Zarah had the right to decide for herself.

“Ah!” Zarah slapped him across the shoulder and huffed her way to a stand, brushing her hands on her skirts. “The idea! The very gall! Where’s the protection!? Or is the protection the sheer amount of jealous rage which would ensue once you caught other men seeing me in such a get-up!? Or my mortification over anyone seeing me in barely more than knickers, and thus my blinding them all!”

Zarah walked straight to the cockpit and hit the button for the door. “Lu Sii! Your hundred credits. You were right!” Passing the girl a credit chit, Zarah swerved back around to face Xander with a smirk on her face.

“Never bet against a Blackmoore and the chance for a lurid picture, mi’lady! Thank you!” Lu Sii curtseyed and pocketed the credit chit, with a grin.

“Never bet against it indeed!” Zarah shut the cockpit door again, coming back to sit beside Xander with a delicious pout on her face. “I lost my bet! Make it up to me!”

Zarah set the data pad face down on the table, leering at her rogue king.

 

[Judah Lesan]

"You bet 100 credits that I would not have such a thing?" Xander could not help but laugh. He knew this was not going to get him out of the predicament he was in, but the idea he was already a subject of the wagers between her and the miaden she had taken as her own proved to have some degree of hilarity. "You would think that I would be serious to send you into battle with nothing to protect you? My dear duchess if you are to be mine, no man shall ever see you in such regard. This would be for my eyes only, and I promise it would find it's way to the floor faster than you were able to put it on."

There was the saltious desire with just enough scandal that Xander was capable of. Zarah wanted her bad thing and now she truly had it. Her mistake had been ruling herself out as a target of Xander's devious mind. He grinned, slightly proud of himself, though would not allow her to remain wounded for long.

She looked at him with a face that screamed she had been wounded, yet there was enough playfulness to it that Xander was sure the wound was not deep.

With aid of the force, Xander called his coin purse to himself. He reached in for 100 credits.

"And how do you suppose I pay you back, my dear duchess? Do you require monetary compensation, or did you have another repayment in mind?"

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“Well when you say it with that laughter and infamy I see my bet was a faulty one! May I never play the stock market where you are involved!” Zarah chuckled, making a production of a great pout and huff. The huff increased monumentally at the salaciousness of his revealed truth!

“My goodness! Certainly not! No man shall see me in such excuse for… gosh, it’s not even fashion! How dare you wish to see me in such a temporary state! Oh! There you are, I see! As scandalous as ever. I suppose it should be comforting to think my state appeals to your baser instinct?” She fanned her face with a hand, turning quite away from any indication that the idea pleased her. In her mind she was still a mere placeholder for a painting, an interchangeable woman with a yet unproven affection. Perhaps soon that would change, but for the moment, she had little faith in the future... but oh how she shocked herself with the desire to win him.

“Money is a tool, not a prize. I have something more dear in mind. Close your eyes.” Zarah whispered, watching [member="Darth Vizios"]’ face. “Close them! No peeking, close your eyes.”

Her voice toyed with him, bathed in an insecure merriment and tender desire for her will to be obeyed. “Promise not to open them. Not until I say.”

Once he obeyed her request, Zarah brushed her index finger down his nose just to make sure he would neither fidget or trap her up. Her satisfaction came with a rustle of cloth, the layers of her dress and skirts shifting as Zarah evacuated the couch.

“No peeking. A gentleman never peeks and a scoundrel ought not when his Lady is flushing as furiously as I am now. Obey me. You owe me from my bet.” Under the courage of purchasing an advantage of a moment, Zarah shifted. Her breath came close to his ear. “No moving either.”

Her heartbeat thundered in her chest as Zarah Viren, impervious Duchess of Chandaar sat sideways in Xander Blackmoore’s lap. Her skirts rustled around him as she perched, her hands winding around the leather on his chest as Zarah nestled her cheek onto his shoulder and cuddled in under his chin. Her arms shook as they settled on either side of his ribcage, fingers splaying along his back.

“No peeking… I’d die if you saw me in such a vulnerable state. Simply die.” Zarah sighed, her words reverberating near his collarbone.

 

[Judah Lesan]

"Close my eyes indeed," Xander scoffed with a smirk. "Did I not already have a beard you would steal my paints and put a curly moustache on my face."

He settled in and did as she asked. Xander did owe her the debt after all.

"As you wish."

With his eyes closed he was left with his other senses to determine what Zarah would do. She fely his finger glide down the slope of his nose. HIs will was stronger than a simple prod of his nose to break his word. No, Zarah would not succeed in getting him to open his eyes until he either fell asleep or she commanded him to do so.

His ears caught the sound of rustling cloth and fabric as she moved about the room. Where was she going, and why was she insisting that she was so flushed? Xander's curiosity was only deepened when he felt her warm breath against his ear as she whispered. He was not to move. Xander nodded. What was this woman up to?

To his delight, and the rustling of more fabric, Xander felt the weight of the woman on his lap. Her head snuggled into his chest, and her arms wrapped around his torso. She smelled divine. Whatever her scent it was intoxicating. Zarah was embarrased that she would choose such a thing, and it was that he was forbidden to see.

Xander smiled. Zarah likely felt the movement the action caused to his torso.

"It seems I am not the only one being scandalous today. What would the noble women of Chandaar say if they saw such a thing. Perhaps we should only further the scandal."

Xander's arms were still free and the wrapped wound the woman in his lap. His eyes remained closed as promised, but he now held her in the stong arms that had kept her alive a little over a week ago. Xander would be lying if he said he had not craved her touch since that day. Even before she made him aware the woman in the painting was her, Xander had known he wanted this again. She was changing him, softening him, yet the Sith felt as though he carried no less power than he had a month ago.

"Now it is my turn to ask you not to move, my dear Zarah," the use of her name intentional. "You have won this round, and I happily concede."

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“Yes, however did you manage to divine my intention! I plan to paint your rugged face.” Zarah rolled her eyes and waited for his eyes to shut. He seemed a fraction perturbed by the action, but not overtly uncomfortable, so Zarah put her plan in action.

The scent of [member="Darth Vizios"] ran along her nostrils into the whole of her, so she might bottle and memorize it for a future time of lean attentions. He was so warm, and she, although freed of the carbonite, remained cold to the touch as if her soul had yet to release the devastating state of her imprisonment and rebirth.

She dared not look up at his face. Although she felt him smile, and his arms wound around her, Zarah shut her own eyes and settled in to be held.

“They would be so overcome I would be thrust from society all together! I’d be an unmarried charlatan of a woman, barely fit to be trod upon!” Zarah chuckled, giving out a whimper as his arms tugged around her.

“You’re wonderfully warm.” A soft and feminine voice resounded, wrapped in the frail body of a woman recuperating from 800 years’ sleep.

The moment he said her name, Zarah lost her fear for a tidy and attractive hope. My dear Zarah… never had she heard her name spoken with such effect. Never with such wealth to the syllables. “Move? I wouldn’t dream of it… Xander.”

Residing happily in his arms, Zarah let the tensions in her muscles reduce and dissipate for the comfort of his stalwart arms. A whisper escaped her, tender and vulnerable.

“I have not been embraced since my father was alive… such a little girl I was, wrapped up in my Papa’s arms. I’d forgotten… how lovely this is.” A hard and frigid Princess and Duchess was crafted the day her father hung. To admit she had so little affection since her father’s last breath was to admit the cornerstone of her entire persona and the block holding her back. To speak it was to release the bolt and allow the wound to flow freely and heal. As she rested there, Zarah felt once again the chance at security in a pair of masculine arms, different, caring in a completely other way.

“You may open your eyes, if I have not embarrassed you completely.” Zarah said, “I won’t move… but I will claim my victory… huzzah.”

Squeezing a small bit harder, Zarah chuckled quietly as she dipped her chin to look down at his chest.

 

[Judah Lesan]

"You still feel the phantom chill of the carbonite," Xander both asked and stated. She did not feel cold to him, but no one would remian frozen as long as she had and still feel as though they were at normal body temprature. His arms only pulled her closer.

"Let the women say what they will. A woman should not be denied the simple pleasure of a cuddle simply because it is improper. Most of those women would cast their clothes to any man with a pretty face and flattering tongue, allowing him to deflower them simply because of the thrill of the secret. You are far more proper than any of them, and while I would as soon as have you the moment you decide, those kind of women are not worth the effort of wooing."

Xander was shocked to here those words come out of his own mouth. They were sharp and unlike him. Before his stasis, even a year ago, he would have chased any of those women for the same thrill. No, not anymore. The promise of a woman that could both excite and love him was too much to turn away. From here is was simply a matter of time. Xander had already expressed his desire and intent. Zarah had agreed. It was a game of forever, and the waiting was something which caused Xander to ponder and reflect on who had been.

"Your father was a noble among nobles," Xander said as his eyes opened. "He would have been proud of the alliance you have secured for yourself, and the way in which have disarmed such a ruthless man."

A sigh escaped Xander's lips. As nice as this moment was the mention of her father had brought him back to their reality. They both sought crowns which were no longer theirs, and they were headed for Netherworld as soon as Chaira's alliance was secure.

Xander began to stroke the woman's hair wishing his hands were that of a noble. How she must have hated the calloused hands of a warrior touching her perfrctly smooth and pristine skin.

"You will see how ruthless I can be soon. The Netherworld will not permit the soft noble you have seen thus far to survive. I would hope that part of me will not scare you off from our pursuit. He is not a man you would want to hold I think..."

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“Every second. It is as if I can never get warm.” Zarah cuddled in, feeling the pressure of his arms hemming her in. It occurred that she should mind how he held on so possessively. She should battle and rage for her autonomy, yet it also occurred that she hasn’t lost her autonomy, but gained an alliance which would be the formation of them.

“Xander!” Zarah coughed aloud, gazing up at the jaw of the man who was simultaneous brigand and king. “I have never heard such… magnanimous insults or… you truly would feel no desire for them? When they are easy with their bodies and I so hard? How terribly beautiful of you to say.”

It further softened Zarah in his arms. “A Duchess is always thought to be insidious of body and yet kept to a higher standard in the Cronese Mandate… she is a perilous toy. It hadn’t been such when Father, Aunt and Uncle were alive, but after… my father was a good man… I loved him dearly, as if he were both sun, moon and oxygen. Yes…” Tilting her head chin upward, Zarah searched Xander’s face. “Yes, he would have been proud of disarming ruthlessness most of all.”

She hadn’t realized she was capable of the burbling moan of delight which came from her throat. Xander’s hand on her hair had with it a delicious texture, the rough hand of a man who worked and made way for what he wanted without restraint. It was not the hand of leisure, but the mark of the pugilist and assassin.

Zarah realized she much preferred the hand of a man who knew how to ply his strength to work. Yet, his words brought her back to their predicament, back to the abandoned or lost thrones, back to the pursuit of power in which they plied.

“Do you think me any less capable of a double standard? Xander, you know me. You’ve known my ways. I may be an innocent in the matters of the heart and the bed, but I am no innocent to violence or the acts of war. I promise to see all of you rightly, as you are. Do not hide yourself from me and I will give you yet again the same courtesy. It is the only way… the only way to survive the Netherworld intact. I know what [member="Chiara Viren"] refused, that acts of cruelty can have a greater purpose, when placed on the blade’s edge between surrender and victory… although it does scare me… what you will think of me there. Of what I can do… of what we can do in tandem… yet fear is an emotion for slumber and dream,” She pulled away only to put her unclad hand on his heart, taking his hand and placing it upon hers. “Fear has no place here, in our hearts. It cannot find bastion between us, for we shall never fear each other. Never. I command it.”

Zarah’s voice descended to the alto of her regal years, a voice of power, which was instilled by the same Force which flowed around him and made visions of paint strokes and brush bristles. [member="Darth Vizios"]

“I shall have enough to fear of the Netherworld. I shan’t fear you. Say it. Promise me that, Xander. Fear does not belong in us.”

 

[Judah Lesan]

"The cold would fade. If it were not for the fact that it is a phantom feeling I would be concerned. Instead I fret that you will be doomed to it."

Despite his ruthless nature, Xander was a caring man. All it took was to look at the way he ran his house and the history of his reign as King. He was as caring as he was wicked, though most would only see one or the other. The Sith had spent years fashioning him into a man that could be both without reservation.

"I am as shocked as you are, but no I could no longer pursue them. Perhaps I have had my fill of that game, but I would much rather think the prize you offer is what deters me. Like it or not, but you have me captive."

He listened to her words about her late father. The man seemed to be exactly the opposite of Xander Blackmoore. If it was true that a woman sought to marry a man that reminded them of her father, then Xander was doomed from the start. Xander knew he would never be able to acsend to the pedistal this man occupied. It was not undeserved either. From what Xander remembered of him, the man was every bit as worthy as Zarah made him out to be. Her thoughts and memories were not displaced.

It was not her words which caused him to stir, but rather the intensity of passion which came with them. Zarah would match his ferocity in the Netherworld, of that there was no doubt. She had been trained by Hydrocus and Ahani. Those two were about a matched as Xander and Kazrah in their methods, but only further supported why Zarah would prove to be Xander's equal.

The thought of what they could accomplish together, the tandem movement of their killing, made Xander smile. It appealed to the basest part of his nature. Beneath the King was the monster Kazrah had unleashed, and Xander's master wished to purge him of. It had been too long since Xander had fought with one at his side that boasted to be his match.

“Then I will not hide myself from you. I know of what you are capable of, who taught you. Those names are not lost on me, nor the violence of which they are capable of. If you survived their training then you are only as strong and violent as they. Your dresses do not distract from that truth. What will I think of you there? There is only one way to know.”

She placed her hand on his heart, and his hand on hers. Xander could feel it beating beneath her chest. The drum of it beat harder at fact his hand was where no man had touched her before, and his beat just as hard.

“You command me now?”

Xander quirked his brow, though the quizzical look was soon replaced for another, one of desire. He would not promise her in the way she wanted. In fact he expected her hand to strike his cheek when he pulled away. Xander had brought his lips to take hers. He was not timid about it either. There was no fear, only desire. When he broke the kiss, only then did he speak.

“I promise.”

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“I hate the cold.” Zarah clenched her jaw, huddled in as much for the warmth of him as the comfort he provided. Could she say she was as caring as Xander in the concerns of her people? The only succour she had was the fact she gave the throne to its’ heir without claiming herself upon it. Yes, there were times when Zarah was kind. Not many, but enough.

“If you did pursue them, their heads would be off their necks and in your lap before you got to the first tangling kiss.” Zarah said, sliding a hand to her lips afterward. “My goodness me… Yes, you are my captive. I will have you no other way.”

His Sithly smile coated her spine and Zarah felt the mesh of her containment unfurl. Yes, neither held the pretence of Sainthood, nor would the hide from the other. The abandon and wild love of the painting showed a couple who revealed themselves absolute one to the other. It was only right… only spouses could reveal so much with such confidence.

Zarah’s grim face broke into the smallest of smirks as he agreed to the harsh response. They were the Monster King and the Dragon Queen, and neither would be denied their quarry in the Netherworld. Not an ounce of it.

“I do. A Queen would command her King.” Xander brought his lips to hers. Her body clenched, breath pulled from her lungs. The kiss exploded across her lips and into her body with a fervour which would damn them, a reaching and desirous claim by the man whose vision sent them barrelling down an unsuspecting path. She balled her fist and punched him hard across the cheek and jaw, a rough hook from the otherwise precise and dainty woman.

“You daring miscreant!” Zarah barked, grabbing the lapels of his leather shirt. Her knees swerved to straddle his waist, skirts underneath her body.

“You promise with.. with…” Yelping out with a growl, Zarah pressed her lips against [member="Darth Vizios"]’ again. “Mmmh! Scoundrel, I wanted to choose that moment for myself!”

Zarah smacked her lips, setting her fingers upon them. “I will not be undone by a single glorious kiss…”

Her fingers trailed from her lips to Xander’s, feeling across them with a new delight. Nipping her lower lip, Zarah shoved off his lap pressing cold hands to hot cheeks.

“It was far easier to deny you, before I knew what a kiss was like!” Zarah paced the lounge to settle her new nerve. The short distance between their bodies helped Zarah recalculate. He was willing to wait on her command, but Xander was a man who owned his desires. “I suppose I deserved such a response, especially when I demanded you not hide from me… bless me… I am a blessed woman indeed if that is but one kiss.”

Licking her lips, Zarah stopped pacing. “Kiss me.”

 

[Judah Lesan]

"And my head would be soon to follow, I have no doubt," Xander said with chuckle.

She was proud of the fact she had effectively captured him. The man was enraptured in the very thought of her, and as she would have it no other way, Xander would not seek to change that.

Their banter only furthred Xander's smile until the raw feeling Zarah's words brought to the surface. She would command him, and she would do more would Xander allow it. His hand continued on her head until she pulled away. It was only then he kissed her. There was no hiding who he was or what he wanted. One kiss was all he wanted. There was no intent to steal her virginity before she was willing, but one kiss taken, her first.

As he had suspected her fist collided with him. There was an anger mixed with desire. Her accusation came with another kiss, one Xander smiled into. He had won this round. She wanted him.

Her pacing would prove to be futile as her own words had already condemned her. It was indeed much easier to rebuff someone without the knowledge of what a kiss was, or what it was to kiss someone specific. Xander smirked. There was no hiding the fact he was proud of this moment. Xander Blackmoore had given Zarah her first kiss and left her craving more.

"One? I believe you kissed me also. That makes it two."

He stood at her command to kiss her again. His arm wrapped around her waist to stop her pacing. Blue eyes settled on her.

"We are doomed," he said before his lips took hers again.

Everything Xander did was intentional and deliberate. Zarah would know this, feel it, as he expressed his want and desire with one act. If she were to break the kiss and not know what Xander thought and felt, he had failed to kiss her properly. Xander had no intention of failing.

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“Undoubtedly your head would be next, although perhaps not the one with your ears.” Zarah growled, with a snapping smile. The beauty of her new desire expanded with the ownership she felt over [member="Darth Vizios"]’ affections. He was hers, now even before they made the further commitment.

“Two then!” Zarah yelped, still rushing through her paces. Caught up by his arm, Zarah put her arms around his neck. Yet it seemed as if Xander no longer thought their lack of matrimonial commitment stood in their way.

“Oh to cleanse the pride from your face!” She yanked her fingers into his hair, dragging it forcefully back. “You smug man! You knew this would happen, you planned it.”

His second kiss smashed against her barricades and inner walls. She mewled into the kiss, her muscles relaxing instead of the tension of their first. Whatever she thought would happen with the advent of Xander’s affection, Zarah was for the first time ill prepared.

In the affection of Xander’s onslaught, was the staunch promise of the painting. The proof of his building affection, of his desire and pleasure was rampaging through their lips and into the virgin future queen. By the time the two disconnected, Zarah was both quite breathless and sober.

He was, in this short week, committing himself to a lifelong game and the realization struck her in her trembling, but glad lips. For her part, Zarah could not remember a time without Xander Blackmoore the child, youth, or adult in her life. This was not a man she barely knew, but a man she was further discovering with every minute away from the dreaded and horrible carbonite. The shadow of House Blackmoore had been attached to House Viren since the beginning of Zarah’s own recorded time. As she looked up to him, Zarah felt a confidence donated by her gifts in the Force, she felt the penalty of their time. Of their growing and future bond. The deal had been for Zarah to put no further stop once affection was established. Her arms stayed coiled along his neck.

Zarah had known Xander Blackmoore her entire life. Now it became fitting that he would be her future spouse. His kiss was his promise defined. And she wanted it as much as she wanted an extended experience in living.

“Xander? You manka cat… keep working at me like this, and you will have to deal with a proposal sooner rather than later… You delicious villain. Don’t stop.”

 

[Judah Lesan]

“I did not plan this,” Xander said with a playful emphasis. “I fully expected you to smack me across my cheek, call me brigand, and rush to your quarters and lock yourself away. Seeing you grab my collar and pull me to you for another kiss was not something I expected.”

This was why Xander was smug. She had behaved exactly as he expected and contrary to it all at the same time. He winced when her accusation came with a tug on his long hair.

“Pride… on my face… I wouldn’t dream of it, dear Zarah. You have had your victory today, and I have had mine. It is simply the same smile that graced your features when I conceded to you.”

Things moved faster than Xander expected. He had not thought he would have won her affections so quickly. The way she kissed him though, he knew he had them, and Zarah was not lying when he said there would be a proposal sooner than later. He could only smile again. Especially when she called him a manka cat. It was a much better pet name than Puckles, and more fitting for who Xander was.

Villain was the more appropriate word used. A delicious villain was another thing entirely. Xander would never understand how she could call him a villain in one breath and express affection for him in the other. One never thought of the story’s villain being worthy of such a thing, yet Zarah offered it.

“The chase, I will never stop, that I can promise you. However, perhaps I should refrain from kissing you before you lose your mind entirely? Though perhaps I have already lost mine, because I am ready to accept the moment the proposition leaves your lips.”

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“I did not plan it! All I wanted was a hug, a bit of a cuddle!” Zarah pondered his admittance. What he expected and what occurred proved enough that Zarah’s heart was in it, that Xander had no full control over her in some manipulator’s way.

“I both hate and love you.” Zarah scoffed, eyelids narrowing on her pretty and flushed face. For the brief moment she did not realize the significance of what she said beyond a simplified retort of his smug behavioural admonition. The longer she stood with her arms around his neck, fingers tugging just hard enough to pull his chin up, the more Zarah’s slip settled in her cheeks and spine.

She detangled her fingers and pushed off his chest to gain precious distance. When all avoided reason, a Lady could part to breathe. The simplest of acts became a mantra in the Duchess, breathe and think. Breathe and recalculate. Pressing both hands to her hot cheeks, Zarah turned her back on Xander Blackmoore.

Why combat fate? Why deny them the most time possible to be together as husband and wife? Why continue a farce of bodily distance? What portion of her pride was to be lost by the diligent refusal of instinct? Was it the security of her position, the old way of courting which bound her to a longer road? Zarah’s mind returned to [member="Chiara Viren"]’s admonition that the old way of courting was not necessary to follow. Yet, Zarah breathed, she was getting ahead of herself. Had Xander proven with more than words that an attractive lady wouldn’t turn his head? Had he proven his old ways as disbanded as her own time of courting?

The fact remained Zarah could love Xander Blackmoore. Sith, King, brigand and devoted potential husband. She could love him and it terrified and thrilled at the same moment. Was the word could in the equation merely a stop gap from infatuation? No. What infatuation could be had from an old friend?

“And once I’m won, will you grow bored of me, the virgin who waited too long? Will you decide I was a good bit of fun, worthy of a small continuance of affection but no deep truth of passion? For my part I must throw myself upon the altar of passion from whence my power comes, as it was taught by [member="Ahani Najwa"]. Anger can fade, fear is a fickle source. Passion, the urge of living ferociously never dies, unless by repression and constant abuse it is beaten down. Will you love me, Xander? Who once opposed you. Will y-you would already accept a proposal! Now?! Good heavens, are you that delivered to the ideal of our path?”

While her back remained turned to him, her chin drifted to the side. She stepped further away and set her hands on her navel. “You have been waiting for the fulfillment of that painting for centuries... I have known you all my life. What is stopping us? What prevents our union but an artifice of time? If I were to ask you now, part of me decided it is too soon, I am not ready for the bed. Part of me wishes to be... it all comes back to time. I have spent so much of it in mid stall, frozen, encapsulated and cold. I’ve had quite enough of being perpetually still. Oh say something! Ease this!”

 

[Judah Lesan]

“So you love me now,” Xander said after the fashion of a schoolboy poking some fun.

Love. They didn’t know what that word meant, yet here Zarah was using it. Did she really love him? Even if she did, Xander guessed she did not even understand what had just come out of her mouth. Hate, now that was something they both understood very well. They were trained to embrace it, to allow it to fuel their passion and strength. Xander knew she meant that, but yet he also did not think she meant that word in such a strong sense.

There were so many questions thrown at him. Zarah talked and prodded all while her back was turned. Xander fought the urge to look at her buttocks as she spoke. It would have done him little good for the size of the hooped skirt hid her true shape from him. That would be his benefit of Zarah’s soon discovery of pants. A benefit Xander shrewdly did not discuss with her.

“Grow bored of you,” he scoffed at the very idea. “How could grow bored of you when you know what it means to embrace passion. Do you see yourself ever fading in your pursuit of the thing Ahani trained you to master?”

Whatever it was Zarah was searching for, Xander did not know. He refused to venture a guess, but only to answer her questions. The man also knew better than to try and approach her. Distance was an ally to them both.

“To the ideal, no. I am drawn to you as a moth to the flame. Whether it is my own volition or some enchantment you have managed to cast upon me, I find that I cannot escape you. You who would have been my enemy for the sake of your own pride eight centuries ago. Where is that pride now? Was it not tempered by the carbonite and betrayal of your beloved Felix? If you have found yourself change does it not stand to reason that I have changed also? Would I accept a proposal from you now, aye, I would.”

She turned over her shoulder to look at him for a brief moment and finished. Xander simply took it all in. There were more questions.

“A proposal was not what we agreed upon to be the invitation to my bed. A proposal, then, does not bind you to any obligation to enter it and be rid of your chastity. Have the past few moments built within me the desire to have you in my bed now, I will not lie, it has, but I am man and such urges are only natural. If you cannot move then I will.”

Xander took the steps forward to turn Zarah around to look at him.

“Speak with Chiara, and should the idea win her approval then we shall be engaged. Why should you ask when it is in my power to do so. IF she approves will you agree to become my wife, my queen?”

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“You must be imagining things, your majesty.” Zarah peppered the air with her embarrassed admonition, tilted and turned away from the reality of his jeering face. “Xander, I am all astonishment! You know the word, I thought it was impossible from your tongue.”

He prodded and she sent her volley back, squaring her shoulders with the dignity she assumed as her station. As a state of perpetuity, Zarah Viren was glad of the courtly nature of her clothing, which made presenting herself in austere authority much easier a feat. A skirt showed neither the trembling of one’s knees, nor the stance taken. It was as defensive a measure in attack or defence as it was a statement of femininity.

“I could never evade my eternal source!” Zarah balked, the idea of discarding the Passion of the Dark was as horrific as bathing in a distempered further imprisonment. “How did I survive if not for the infernal ability to hate the stillness with every ounce of passion in the universe both known and unknown?! No, I will never fade in my pursuits… I dare say you will not fade in yours or you’ll have me lashing at your back.”

What else could Zarah search for but the eradication of an eternal and frigid pause? Her fingers, hidden from his view by the skirts she wore, shook as she turned her vision away from the dreaded cessation of action. The carbonite… it took all stillness from her. All of it gone. So why did she want to push for an internment away from passion with a man the Force itself drove to rediscover and save her twice? The woman before him searched for motion, for the tilt of acceleration, for the eradication of a stilling fear.

“My pride withered and crumbled to dust long after I spent a lonely century crying out for help… Ahani found me then as she had in life. Without her tutelage I would not have survived… imagine… a mad Echani teaching a suffering Cronese royal how to maintain one’s sanity… she locked in her crystal, I in my black ice…” items in the lounge which were not fixed in place began to shuffle and push away from Zarah’s centre. A taste of her power flooded the compartment, frigid as the insufferable carbon, as unyielding as Zarah’s pride had been centuries prior. To any not versed in the Dark, the very presence of Zarah’s abilities wrought fear like a heart beating, a coiling centre of energy inside the woman shifting as if to accommodate the lonely change from solitude to a tandem experience. Dark frost flickered in powder-like patterns on the edges of Zarah’s skirts, fading up her dress. Inside the frost, the hymn electric.

“I want our alliance. As much to my own shock, I want you. You, Xander. I want my stale hearted King, who gave me wine and bread in an attempt to win the unwinable Duchess. I want the man who stood in my throne room and ordered a catastrophic marriage of which I combatted. I want the man I know now, who can be soft for me and good to his servants, but will be shrewd and hard and as dangerous as his calloused hands… I quite prefer the texture to your skin… there’s something intrinsically attractive about a working man’s hands… I know what this would mean and it… a true Sith Marriage is all consuming. It is the fount of more passion and exhilaration than any weakling could handle. It is possession and utter ecstasy… and here am I, undone by your company, undone by how you view me, undone.”

The sound of his boots crunched to her ears, depressing the frost. A hand so warm she balked touched the fabric of her dress, her arm. Xander turned her, and the eyes which flickered upon his face were the unyielding and impervious eyes of the Duchess, a hard and noble woman who weathered that which brought insanity to the vast majority of lesser minds.

“All or nothing, Xander I deal only in absolutes… and I know the same goes for you.” She would take all of him, conquer the affection growing between them and claim it for her own, or she would remain the frigid and tight lipped Duchess, who repressed all to naught.

“A Queen may ask for her husband’s hand as much as a King may ask for his wife’s.” The banter once again drifted easily. The touch of his hand banished the growing frost and consumed her once again with the security of knowing this was, above all, where the Force realigned.

“It took eight hundred years of torturous meditation for my opinion on marriage to shift…” A frigid hand drifted to cup [member="Darth Vizios"]’ cheek, thumb stroking along his cheekbone.

“Xander Blackmoore, I would marry you the second we touch down on Sabarene, if it were possible. Yes. I will be your wife and your Queen.” Pushing up on her tip toes, Zarah stole a kiss from her intended’s lips, a kiss of longing and the glad decimation of restraint. Once she was too breathless, Zarah paused, her forehead to Xander’s. Within the action, the spirit of passion itself, a Dark-Sider’s affection, filled with the perilous loss of inaction. The promise of future plenty.

“That is the way I wanted to kiss you first, you brigand… Chiara advised me to claim it for my own, and I intended to. How do you possibly think you are the only one with such urges? I will be your wife, as much as I love my cousin, her opinion will not stop me from claiming what is mine.”

 

[Judah Lesan]

”Of course I know of the word. Just because my lips do not use it does not mean the word is foreign to me.”

Xander acted with a slight air of pride at the revelation. It was too quickly turned serious by the remainder of the conversation. Their words battled back and forth to the moment they had been bringing themselves to for the past week. Their lives had been spent together, though Xander had been designed for Chiara, Zarah had always been there. The two were not at all unfamiliar with each other, and Xander knew this as much as Zarah did. While a proposal now would seem a hasty act, Xander had already once demanded she fulfill the agreement made as children. He would have married her then to uphold duty, but now, now Xander would because he wanted to.

All he could do was listen. Her words told him everything he wanted to here and more. When it came to the truth both of them stood as though bare before the other. For as many women as Xander had pursued there was only one who elicited this type of raw emotion from him. It was more than clear Chiara had been an infatuation. Could he have loved her, Xander had been certain of it. Could he say that now knowing that one more suited to him was desirous of him, perhaps, but why find out. Xander and Zarah were destined for each other whether by will or by choice.

She kissed him after accepting his proposal. Xander was still a few moments in the past with the revelation that she liked his calloused hands. They were the hands of a working man, and they would be that for his life now. There was more work they would perform to see their kingdoms regained, and their alliance established.

”But that is who you want... Your villain king. I cannot pretend to be one of the other. It was the second time you made me want to kiss you. I refrained the first, and refused to do so the second. Sith take what they want do they not?”

Xander smiled and stole another kiss.

”What should keep us from waiting then? Perhaps the uncertainty of the Netherworld, or should that only push us to it?”

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“My astonishment is vast and unconquerable. You know… the word.” Zarah laughed. She could bother Xander about his habits for days, and now she always would. Never more than this confusing moment was Zarah more appreciative of her battle to refrain from marrying Xander for duty’s sake. “I would have hated you for pride’s sake if I’d married you to salvage [member="Chiara Viren"]’s freedom. Now? Now I am glad.”

Xander was as quiet as her prison, allowing her the distance to find what clarity had struggled to instruct. “My darling.”

Zarah put her palm on his chest and separated herself with a smile, moving back into Xander’s quarters to the safe. The velvet bag rustled in her hand as she set it on his desk and dug in until her hand came across a square box.

“Felix was the son of my father’s Butler. When mother had my father killed, Felix snuck into his cell and father gave him his rings. We hid them, the two of us oh, I got such a beating. Mother wanted them, yet I never relented. One is said to have been made for King Xer’s son. Father wanted my husband to wear them, not some… charlatan my mother favoured in her entrancement of court.”

Returning to Xander’s side, Zarah opened the box and pulled out her father’s favourite ring. She took the calloused hand which seemed to be a particular horrific mark for [member="Darth Vizios"]. A King’s hands were often as soft as Zarah’s, those who ruled by the pen or a legion of advisors in their leisure had the dignity to deny hard work… Those were not Xander’s hands. “I remember Father in winter helping the staff de-ice a landing pad because a dignitary was coming and we ran out of time. I remember him digging into the soil of our rooftop gardens and tinkering with… it matters not. He would tell me a King was the highest ranking servant in the Mandate, and a King’s brother as much a butler as a Duke. I can love these hands. I always will.”

Pulling his hand up to her lips, Zarah kissed his knuckles and turned his palm up to place a kiss on the calloused palm. She pushed her father’s ring onto his ring finger and shut her eyes with a sordid chuckle. “It fits as if we made it for you. How is my surprise so underwhelming?”

Zarah promised under her breath to always take care of this man. To uphold and extol his valiant efforts to reward and protect them, and to protect him in return. Yes, Xander Blackmoore was worthy. “The second time you wanted to kiss me? What was the first?”

Another kiss stolen, Zarah laughed and placed her forehead on Xander’s shoulder, still holding his hand. “Sith take what they want, and I would want no less from myself or you.”

A coronation? A marriage conducted in secret could later become a formal wedding to unite the people. “According to Chiara, the Court of Chandaar is on Sabarene. [member="Manu Xextos"] rescued the lot of them. Why speak you of the Netherworld in such uncertain terms? We shall enter and conquer what we will. Marry me quickly. It would consolidate our power and create less opposition with the Noble Houses when we do come forth. They can’t attempt to weasel in on you then, throwing their eligible quote-unquote ladies at you, or their men at me. I have no desire to be displaced from your side… I do have one request… do not embarrass me if I am terrible in pleasing you. I will learn, be assured of that!”

 

[Judah Lesan]

Xander watched Zarah head into his quarters and dig into the vault unaware of what she was after. She returned with a small box. Xander eyes it for a moment, but as she began to explain what was inside, he knew what she was saying. Part of the man was too proud to accept a thing he did not work for, but the rest of him knew he had worked for it. Over the course of a week the two had plotted to recapture her kingdom and his. Beyond that they had been playing for the others affections.

Did they love each other, Xander still could not answer that question. Xander only knew that he was committed to her, not just their alliance. He would have married her out of duty, now he simply wanted to marry her. Perhaps that was what love was to them, a choice and commitment. It could not be something as fickle as a feeling.

”Your father’s rings? You honor me too much. The ring of a kind man on such a cruel finger...”

Xander could not pretend he was anything but. His gentleness was only because of the cruelty which drove him for more. He was not always a violent villain, and his villainy was not without some form of kindness. Zarah knew this, and her gesture completely overwhelmed him.

The talk of a quick marriage made Xander smirk. Her previous objection to why it was to soon was completely gone. The reasons to consolidate their power now were undeniable. Yet, she had questions he needed to answer, namely the kiss.

”My dear that is simple. The radiance you exude when you look upon me is more than enough a reason. However, that moment just before you fell onto my bed after clumsily backing away from me, that was the moment I wanted to kiss you first. Complain all you like about me stealing your moment, but do not wish to deny myself any desire where you are concerned.”

Xander nodded when Zarah mentioned Sabarene. He had heard the Cronese court had been assembled their, though he had not known it was Manu who had done it. If they were there, Xander could see on obstacle. They would not approve of a King that had only a claim and throne. He would be subservient to them when he would not bend his knee to any of their lot.

Xander scratched his chin.

”And what shall we do then? The Netherworld seems child’s play compared to the court of nobles that would divide us. The Induparan Monarchy must be reclaimed. They would throw their women at me to keep their line pure. Your nobles would refute my claim to your hand based on the fact my head lacks a crown. No, there is indeed too much wisdom in what you say.”

Determined steps carried Xander to the intercom.

”Turn us around, there has been something left undone on Naboo that Lady Zarah and I must see to post haste.”

Xander looked at Zarah with a smile.

”If we are determined to do this quickly, then it shall be today. I will need my mother’s jewels back however. I must find her wedding band.”

[member="Zarah Viren"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“However cruel we are to our enemies, there is no ruthlessness here. You and I both ruled our people with velvet and our adversaries with the lightsaber; my father would have survived if he’d learned the same lesson. A little villainy improves Kings and Queens.” She wiggled the ring beyond his second knuckle and set the image to the front. “There! How royal… no mud blooded Noble could deny you now. My proper King.”

She was not attempting lunacy by declaring the title on his shoulders. Zarah knew for the action to have continued merit, one must first proclaim their intent until it became truth. As it was, Zarah found herself incapable of letting go of his hand.

“You wanted to kiss me then?” Zarah laughed and shook her head, rolling her eyes to the ship’s ceiling. “I thought as much. I was trying so terribly to pick my moment I didn’t want half-splayed on your bed for my own clumsiness to be it. I’ve been planning some monumental event, Lu Sii thought it ever ridiculous. ‘Aw, jes’ take ‘im by ‘is smug mug and think of Chandaar’ she said… it was deliciously ridiculous!” Zarah squinted as she spoke with Lu Sii’s scullery maid accent, shaking her head with her hair beginning to loosen around her face.

“I have got to give that girl diction lessons… but it made me smile.” The girl in question was as much a malleable wildcard as the relationship Xander and Zarah started with upon her reintroduction to the universe. Beyond the tensions of their previous lives, Zarah felt the keen and high spirited hope of a partnership which would take them past their own deaths.

“Let them throw women at you after you and I are already wed. I will thoroughly destroy any who attempts to become the mistress of my husband. I will always be enough for you… or I have not done my job properly. Vise versa… you and I both know our positions will never be secure to our respective noble houses until we produce an heir… and I certainly plan to wait on that! Let the Houses throw what they may. We are partners, you and I, and our thrones will revere us again. Chandaar is in neutral space and with the sum of the Nobility on Sabarene, it creates a situation which we must claim upon setting on that desert soil. I’ve had some great years to finesse my strategies, Xander. It is best done now.”

It was much to her continued astonishment when Xander told the ship’s pilot to turn around. “You mean… now!? Xander, I'm not dressed for it!”

“Told you two! I was right wasn’t I?” Lu Sii’s voice peppered through the comm link, as the pilot groaned.

“Owe you a tenner, Lu Sii…”

“… how I feel? I owe her fifty… Yes Sir, right away we’ll go back down… wouldn’t happen to be heading to the Lake Country, would you?”

“Course he will. Lady Zarah’s estate’s just there… no, there, you… I got it, your graces! Don’t be worrying about nothing! I’ll whip them pilots surface-ward!”

“Sorry, Sir… Lu Sii sto-“ the comm shut off and the ship seemed to shift back toward Naboo. Zarah used the distraction to come behind Xander and thread her arms around his chest, putting her forehead on his spine. “We have got to train that girl… I never mentioned I do have an estate on Naboo. It’s uncanny.”

Skittering back from Xander, Zarah grabbed the bag of her mother-in-law’s jewels and held it behind her back. She grinned as she tip toes backward with a saucy grin. “If you are marrying me today, I demand a kiss befitting a proper proposal and its’ acceptance. Wow me… if you can, Xander Viren.”

Her backside hit against the low table behind her, the bag of jewels chinking pleasantly on the table top. A wicked grin perched upon her face, guided by her matrilineal jab she knew would create a reaction.