Dapples of thin sunlight undulated around the auburn woman, for despite her betrayal Solis loved her still; his adamant heart would not let her slide from its grasp so easily, not after waiting so long for her faith. Rhoswen danced through the light (a lover of ballet and all things ornate) allowing the faint shards of gold to perambulate their way across her softly swollen flanks. Glancing down at her sanguine skin, Rhos could not curb the sigh which fell so sullenly from lips of salmon, and she listened as the sound echoed out across the prairie. The concept of being pregnant had taken her, often violently, through many swathes of emotion; throwing her overboard into depths of which she greatly feared, but it had been easier to ignore before the physical signs had begun to show. Now there was no denying it, no pretending. Her skin cooled, chest hitching. A joyous thing it should have been: to bring life into this world, but the truth was that Rhoswen felt no joy, she felt in fact nothing but dismay. Raum could not keep up his lie forever, and increasingly she felt the weight of Solterra's eyes upon the back of her head, as though they saw her truth; their truth.
What would happen then?
At last, upon jaded hooves and aching limbs, the sight of Denocte's Capitol breached her ashen gaze. A familiar sight to behold; one that stirred something sincere in her heart. It had been many, many moons since her last visit to the Night Court - and more still since her last meeting with Reich. Perhaps it was foolhardy to be confiding in the sovereign of her Court's primary antagonist but he was her brother after all, who could deny her that? Tiredly, she wove through the stalls and streets (of which all she knew like the back of her hand) until finally, slipping into the shadows of midday, Rhoswen reached the royal wing of the keep. You'd better bloody be here, Reich.
@reichenbach here is a first-trimester rhos for u <3
He'd taken the throne with all the best intentions — to do what needed to be done in the best interests of the people who had taken him in, the family and the city who had not turned their backs on an orphan boy from far away. Yes, he'd had to commit to thieving and sometimes darker pursuits to survive until then, but Denocte had always given him what he required.
Reichenbach wondered now if that was the answer to his problems, if Denocte should be his one and only love and if it were even possible to stop his thundering heart from it's eternal chase. Foolish, fickle boy. Love had always been his ruination. It came so easily, and when it left (it always did) it ripped open the happiness and laughter and revealed only a dark web of compulsions. Sparrow, Aislinn, Florentine... all victims. He'd rather live a loveless life than repeat the cycle — though once again his heart would betray him.
The Night King tried not to linger on thoughts of porcelain and gold and instead turned his mind to his family. Dear Rhaegar, what would he think of his brother now? Rhaegar, who was so stoic and noble, born for greater things. Reich let his thoughts settle upon his crimson haired brother, finding solace in the knowledge that there were decent men left in the world.
It was not just men that Iscariot had left behind though, his sun-blessed daughter also roamed the earth. The rumours of her and Raum echoed in his gold ringed ears, only rumours, for his ghost was too clever to leave any true evidence...
As if he had summoned her, the scent of Solterra arrived before his sister — glowing. Reich smiled, worry lifting from his creased brow as he tucked his mourning and self-deprecation far away so as not to dim her shine.
"Rhoswen!"
He exclaimed, standing. His silver gaze flickered over her swiftly, checking for harm, before returning to her own argent eyes. She looked healthy, bright and sleek and well-fed. It brought a pleased smile to his black lips, the first genuine one he'd mustered in days. Reich managed a few more eager steps forward before his keen eyes noted the subtle bags under her eyes, the even subtler bump of her belly.
Tucked away in the great barren desert of Solterra, Rhos had heard little of Denoctian affairs and even less of her King-brother's personal antics. The desert was a cloying protector; sheltering the children of Solis within its perpetual thick heat, a wall of sand and hot air rising high: an invisible shield. And she could never have blamed Reich for not visiting, who could? No crow would ever be welcomed with open arms into the serpent's nest - oh the irony, she breathed, with the knowledge of Raum's insurgence in the court's midst. A bullet of guilt thundered into her chest, making her skin scream and her heart hitch: the heart was a powerful voice, and in a battle between her sense and her emotions, the heart had clearly won. The proof of this victory lay in the gentle swell of her flanks, the stirring of life deep within. She sighed, again. Rhos hoped at least that wherever her parents were now - far above beneath Calligo's ebony wings - they were proud: despite everything, the rose girl truly believed she had done her best to be true to herself. That as all she could do.
Rhoswen!
Stormborne eyes danced, seeking that booming voice and glittering smile. Rhoswen turned with the grace of a bird to face her brother, her chest flowering beneath a steady beat of happiness. It was easy to fall back into the past here, closing off the terrible truths which loomed over every hill, and into the heady sheets of nostalgia she lapsed. Reich himself was as arresting as ever, and the tinkle of those distinctive gold coins never ceased to calm her flightiness. In an instant, he paused - taking in the change her body had undertaken since their last meeting, and Rhoswen could not help the disappointment stinging like acid on the roof of her mouth. The child within her was a blockade, impeding any real attempt to relive the old days when life had seemed so very, very simple. That life was gone for Reich and Rhos, forever.
"Well brother, I think the protocol here is for you to say congratulations," she mused lightly, a bitter smile promising to kiss her velveteen lips. Rhoswen seeped forward, reaching up to brush her muzzle against Reich's in an uncharacteristically tender greeting. "How have you been?"
His mind ticked over as quickly as his eyes checked all the signs, connecting dots that he had previously ignored, knowing whose child now grew within his sisters belly.
"Well brother, I think the protocol here is for you to say congratulations,"
His silver eyes flicked to hers and slowly, so slowly, he grinned. A slow smile that quickly turned exuberant, brightening his shadow flecked face and turning his charm radiant. Reichenbach felt a lightness within him as his sister approached, her expression oddly affectionate, her touch even more so. He didn't mention how rare it was, just returned the gesture with a pleased nuzzle of his own. Rhoswen, pregnant! The thought made him grin again, his gaze once more returning to the slight roundness of her belly before sliding back up to twinkle at her storm grey eyes.
He would have a niece or nephew — and not a child born of Solterran blood, either. It wouldn't have mattered to him if the father had been a desert-goer, he'd have loved the child either way... but it was a comforting thought to know Rhoswen had not abandoned them fully, that her heart still loved a Crow.
"How have you been?"
He brushed the question aside with a roguish smile, saying;
"Fine, fine — no need to ask about your brother when you've got someone more important to look out for!"
He grinned again, cocking his head slightly before lowering his voice, his baritone humming with suppressed excitement as he peered at his sisters belly.
"I hope it's a girl..."
After a moment he straightened, rolling his broad shoulders and shaking out his taught muscles. They gleamed and rippled, the light sliding off of them like oil in water as his expression sobered, his coins singing against dark skin.
"It's a good thing Raum is returning — you can accompany him home."
He would have words with his Wraith later, perhaps make him worry that his King Crow was after his head for sleeping with his fiery sister — but Reich had never been able to tell Rhoswen what to do, nor did he want to. If the Ghost was who she wanted, then it was the Ghost she would have. The real trouble would start if Raum even remotely disrespected his sun-soaked sister — there would be repercussions whether Rhoswen was happy about them or not.
Reichenbach didn't even consider that Rhoswen might want her child to be born in Day, where she felt more welcome, more at peace. Caligo was their Goddess and she would bless the child with shadows and stars, with a thunderous heart and night-kissed passion... and Rhoswen would be safer here, around her family.
They might have been a motley, rag-tag Crow family filled with treason, bruised fists and laughter — but they were hers, and his. He couldn't imagine why she would want to stay in that sun-savaged land filled with humourless warriors... but then again, he never had.
Rhoswen's granite-washed gaze studied her brother's face behind a mixture of amusement and ambiguity; who knew how a man so volatile as Reich would react to the news, especially when (much to her indignation) it was no secret that Raum had been in her favour, of late. But, it seemed the Night King felt only joy, and for this his sister was relieved. It had not occurred to her that perhaps Reich would have been pleased his niece or nephew would not, by heritage, carry any Solterran blood; though a citizen of Solis' court, her own lineage lay long within the line of rich Denoctian merchants, not a single drop of Day in her veins. This, in itself, did not bother Rhoswen, for she knew that blood was not always the architect of ones heartsong, nor their allegiance - her life was a testament to such a fact. More than anyone Rhos knew what it was to feel suffocated by the expectations of faith, of loyalty, and still she bore the intangible scars of timeworn chains around her threadlike ankles. Above all else, regardless of whether motherhood agreed with her or not, Rhoswen knew she would never force her offspring to endure the struggle she knew so well. This child would be free to choose and follow her own path, be it Day or Night.
"I hope it's a girl..."
The auburn-haired beauty mused, smiling at the thought. Often she had pondered upon the sex of the babe within, curious and impatient all at once. In the end, Rhoswen decided she had no preference when it came to boy or girl - as long as it was healthy, she would be content. (Happy was a stretch, so in contentment she settled) Either way, the child would not face an easy youth; caught between the cold shoulders and grappling hands of two courts at odds with one another. She did not envy the journey her little one was set to withstand.
Still aching from her long journey, Rhos began to move into Reich's bedchamber, if only to rest her protesting muscles - when she heard the words - "It's a good thing Raum is returning — you can accompany him home." - causing her to pause momentarily, her fine angular ears lacing back into her mane as his statement hung heavy in the air. Silence reigned. And then, she pushed on, brisker now, her mind racing with a flash of hot irritation that manifested itself in the whipping of a thick sanguine tail around delicate hocks. To the window she paced, gazing out over the courtyard below - of course, the King's quarters would possess the most beautiful view out over Calligo's kingdom, stretching as far as Vitreus Lake. All this grandeur, all this wealth and power and all for what? Nothing had changed, they were all still as blind and selfish as the day she had chosen to leave this godforsaken pit of feathered assassins and glittering fucking stars. With the embers in her chest truly alight, Rhoswen snapped her head toward Reich wearing nothing short of a blistering glare. The air had turned sour, quite suddenly.
"Do you think now that you are King you possess the jurisdiction to order me back here? I am not just another of your lowly subordinates." she seethes, eyes flashing like a summer storm, "All this time and nothing has changed, has it Reich? Solterra is my home."
He should have known from the rigid silence that emanated from his bedchamber, the wrath limning his sisters crimson body. Despite the gravity of the situation, Reichenbach was completely lost within thoughts of auburn haired babes, of all the gifts he would sprinkle it with, all the skills he would teach it. The babe would never know loneliness as he had, she or he would be surrounded by the most protective, loving family Novus could offer. His smile bloomed, his imagination taking Raum and Rhoswen and creating the most perfect, wonderful child he could think of — hopefully they inherited Raum's agility and grace... and curse him, he wanted that babe to have his sisters red-hot temper.
A thought he might soon come to regret.
Absently, Reichenbach was aware of his sister wandering to the window, though his eyes and mind were elsewhere — so it came as a complete and utter surprise when his sisters temper broke the silence.
"Do you think now that you are King you possess the jurisdiction to order me back here? I am not just another of your lowly subordinates."
Argent eyes snapped up to fix on her own storm-grey gaze in surprise, tension setting Rhoswen to living flame. Hurt flickered through The Night King's chest, darkening his eyes as he frowned back at the fierce glare directed at him.
As a child, he'd often taunted and teased his easily-enraged sister simply to see her fury. An annoying older brother, always grinning and laughing, poking at her until she snapped — only to have him laugh more. But he'd always protected her — always tore into anyone else that tried to taunt her temper forth, had always defended her against the words like traitor and betrayal. He might not have liked her choice (and never would fully understand it) but if there was one thing he could understand, it was freedom.
If Rhoswen felt free in Solterra, he was resigned to having a sun-soaked desert girl for a sister.
"All this time and nothing has changed, has it Reich? Solterra is my home."
The child, though... she, he, they were full blooded Denoctian. As far as he knew, as soon as Rhoswen stepped foot back in her stars-forsaken desert they would name her a consort of Raum and put his crimes upon her head.
"Is it?"
He challenged, raising a brow in question.
"Your family is here Rhos, Raum lives here — do you really want to split the babe from it's family? They... You both will be safer here."
He withheld the words he truly wanted to say — that Solterra was brutal and harsh and unforgiving, that it might have worked for her but think of the child. He would be loathe to see his niece or nephew withering underneath a too-hot sun, staring up at the stars, suffering the taunts of sand snakes for their heritage. A sigh whispered between his black lips as he took a step closer to the window and his fuming sister, asking;
"Please Rhos, I want to watch over my niece or nephew and know they are safe."
@Rhoswen lolll Reich do u rly think that will help? also can't wait to write with sabby!!
Her anger was a volatile beast: taloned and fierce, but fickle by its very nature. It lashed like a caged animal between her ribs, thundering violently as she watched Reich's eyes pool with a hurt that cooled her magma, minute by minute. The desert girl knew he had not intended to offend her so, but that did not detract from the indignation that sat firmly still in her throat. When everyone had scorned her with a laugh or a snarl in the face of her defection, her brother had never openly declared his disapproval in such a vehement manner, but that did not lead Rhoswen to believe he accepted her allegiance through and through. The guilt she harboured over her betrayal of Solterra, in the name of keeping Raum's secret, hung over her head even as they spoke, fanning the embers of her displeasure with shame. And as Reich challenged her, Rhoswen burned.
"The choice is mine, I will not have it taken from me." A hiss that dared him to defy her. In truth, she could comprehend his position: he did not understand Day Court in all it's arid glory, and it was easy for her to detect the fear lacing his words. But if Raum left Solterra without ruckus or commotion, there could be no harm in remaining in the court she had chosen. Bar Reich, her family were dead or elsewhere, there was nothing to call her back here, not even Raum. She did not think this to be naive, nor selfish, simply the right she had earned. Of course she had known there would be some resistance on Reich's part, as well as Raum's, but more than anything Rhoswen was a headstrong girl - many winters and summers she had spent dwelling within the very midst of Calligo's Crows, she had not thrived among them for no reason.
Quieter now, she moved away from the window and toward her taller, broader brother. It seemed like yesterday they had been stood out in the courtyard below with not a care nor whim in the world; Gods look at them now. Dark smoke met glittering silver, and Rhos shook her head in a milder rendition of her pre-existing anger. "I understand your intentions, brother, but this is my life, and my child to bear. The decision won't be something that I will take lightly." A flicker of gold light washed over them as the shadows burned darker against Solis' sun looming against the tall windows. "We will be safe if there is peace between Solterra and Denocte, and that is on you. When is Raum due home? He tells me very little, of course."
@reichenbach late and ick, but something !!! love u
"The choice is mine, I will not have it taken from me."
Again, that sense that Rhoswen thought he could, that he would force her to do anything struck him — as if somehow wearing a title made him appear childish enough to command her to do his bidding. It wasn't far off the truth, considering his temper and passion when it came to matters of the heart.. and if he'd hypnotised Florentine perhaps he could hypnotise Rhoswen too.
It didn't sit well in his belly. The thought drifted through his head like grey smoke as Rhoswen's flame became an ember, reminding him again and again that he had thought about it... considered it.
His focus sharpened as Rhoswen moved from the window, her grace somehow more beautiful than Sparrow's, Aislinn's, Florentine's... a mothers grace, a quietly amused voice murmured within him. Golden light washed the room, casting them both in a surreal ambience — a strange blending of shadow and sun.
Reichenbach sighed, turning his head away from his sister's sharp gaze.
"He will return when he deems it safe to travel — even I don't know where or when the wraith will move..."
His long lashed eyes returned to her elegant face,
".. it's safer that way."
Because Solterra is dangerous, the road is dangerous, even the Pass claims lives. How will my niece or nephew find their way home? He wasn't foolish enough to speak any more of raising her child in Denocte, though strategies had already begun to take form within his mind. Reichenbach sucked in a quick breath as a thought occurred to him that previously had escaped him... so, attempting to sound as if he wasn't desperate to know, he asked:
"Rhaegar... have you heard from him..? Sent... word?"
Rhoswen simmered silently beneath her brothers voracious gaze, knowing that her words would have pierced his heart and his pride, but she could not stop herself from wondering when this cycle would end. This well-worn chorus that rang in her ears to hail the loss of the stars and the hatred of a goddess she knew so well. Why did you leave? Won't you please stay? How could you have betrayed us so? The chasmic rhythm that beat on into the darkness held her between iron fingers, pressing her throat against a wall she had lingered beside for too long, too long. It was a sadness that screamed in the very coldest parts of she - parts she barely dared to acknowledge for fear of their chill; Rhoswen was fire, she could not withstand the ice that threatened to creep so reptilian beneath her skin. Perhaps she had not been worthy of Calligo's love, nor adoration; perhaps she was too fickle, too adamantine for a deity like theirs to adore.
But again, she professed: I do not care.
Reichenbach spoke in reply to her query, murmuring lowly with that old baroque voice she had sought. It was safer that way, he was right. And why was there need for safety in the first place? - because Raum and the Regime had plagued Solterra with their nefarious deception, with no thought to the consequences of the people living within those sand-scraped walls. Rhoswen wanted to scream. But only she uttered, "I hope that it is soon."
And then there was a pause, almost as pregnant as Rhoswen herself, that hung so saturated and nameless in the air. Her stormborne eyes flickered like burnt matches to glance up at the King, a question forming in the glittering light reflected from the fires; but it was answered before she could bring it to life. Rhaegar. Her head swung, lines forming upon the delicate ruby plane of her forehead as Reich stared, stared, stared. Memories of laughter and youth came swimming once more into her mind, and it took every ounce of strength to banish them - if only for a moment. "Nothing... I know nothing." Her voice was granite and magma, searing beneath the heat of her closeted grief. "I only hope that he is happy."
And there was nothing more to say. Wasn't that the tragedy of it all? The loss of an entire family in what seemed like the flick of a switch, leaving two souls to bear the sorrow of it all. They stood there - above the bustle, within the silence - a man and a woman, once children, watching as the bonds that tied them together frayed and fought to weather the night.
Until, finally, "I am tired, Reich. Might you spare a Solterran a bed for a while?" And she turned toward the door, aching to escape the confines of this room, this conversation. Oh, Denocte, you curse me again.
@reichenbach -exit rhos- wrapped this up to keep up with current ongoings!!<3
He should have known better than to expect her to know anything about their lost brother — his best friend. At one point his only friend. Though Reichenbach had become extremely popular after Iscariot's generosity (likely because his belly was full and his heart starting to grow) he could not forget his brother.
Reich shook his curled head briefly, nodding and smiling wearily at his pregnant sister as she asked about a room.
![[Image: rhosheader.jpg]](https://image.ibb.co/ikNXOm/rhosheader.jpg)
