"Shall we walk then, Duke Raine?" Stretching his left arm out in invitation before stepping off, Count Shaun wasn't asking but dictating the conversation.
Lifting his cane from the ground and clasping it behind his back, Duke Raine followed with a steady, almost robotic pace.
The two highborn mages disappear behind a dense wall of roses and brush, passing through the side entrance of the garden.
Ashton, moved silently along the rooftop to keep his hawk like vantage, narrowing his eyes. He was eager now, to see how well his father would play the game.
"I will come and out and say it," Shaun began, "Stop what you are doing now, then maybe we can sit at the table together - harmoniously"
"What do you mean?" Duke Raine calmly responding without breaking his stride, or even looking at the count
"My son is young, but he has grown inflexible."
"Youth is stubbornness, and stubbornness is easy to straighten out"
"It is not stubbornness, Ashton is calculating. If you push him, you will realize he won't whither or break"
"Motion can only grind to a halt against superior friction"
"Motion influenced by man, can always be halted by the hand guiding it"
Walking in silence, the air visible from the tension and weight of their hidden meanings. The count and duke standing in stalemate, one aware of the others schemes, and one confident in the power he wields, together a discordance.
"Recently, your county's reputation has grown tall," Raine said. "Some say it's only the beginning, that your house will continue to grow and harvest influence."
He paused, just long enough to shift the weight of his words.
"I say you are bloated. Your house rests on the back of a child whose grandeur is too much for it."
Count Shaun's outward calm didn't waver, but something in his eyes flickered.
"Is that a threat?" he asked.
Forming a crooked smile Duke Raine responds, "Of course not... I am merely investing in my daughter."
Leaping from the roof of his home and into the garden, he missed the last reply of the duke. Having heard all he needed, confirming what he already known.
The burning sensation in his gut, his desire and emotion, vanished like a ghost. The blood in his body previously racing throughout his veins calmed and went cold as his mind cleared.
Politics, Ashton knew, knew they could be undermined and outmaneuvered. He also knew, a single domineering display of his superiority, magical might, could shatter even the deepest schemes. Steeling himself, not for the bold plans being drawn inside of his mind, but for his family who will be dragged into it.
While heading back underneath the colosseum, eagerly awaiting the stone embrace of his training ground, a scene of disgusting intention but timed brilliantly strikes him still
"My lady you have been quite rude" Aaron Raine purrs, notorious for his flirtatious encounters, reaching out his hand attempting to grab hold of Charlottes without consent
Without thought or deliberation, Ashton launched forward. Crossing the distance in a mere moment, his mana shifted and his stealth broke, its application once enhancing his senses now embraced his muscles.
Grabbing hold of Aaron by the wrist, "What are you doing?" Ashtons appearance like a gust of wind, create an atmosphere filled with tension and shock.
The party of his family and the duchy was already eye catching, the hostesses of the gathering, heir of a genius, flanked by knights in blackened metal exuding a fighting spirit. The eyes of everyone still within the garden was on them, hundreds of people lay witness to the confrontation.
Due to his superior physicality Aaron after a second of surprise breaks Ashtons grip, "No, what are you doing?" Genuinely surprised by the situation, his eyes narrow and his attitude no longer perversive, but focused.
"When I see a hungry dog, I usually walk past it, but right now I think I should just put it to rest" Ashtons eyes naturally narrow, like a predator, coupled with the threat and coldness in his voice put pressure on Aaron unfamiliar to him
"Haha," A laugh of ignorance and nerves. "You think a nonentity like you can threaten ME?" Aarons face visibly washed of any rationality, his voice rose, brittle and uncontrolled, drawing murmurs of disdain from the gathered crowd. His outburst wasn't the confidence of a noble. It was the tantrum of a boy exposed.
[A man with such a rocky reputation, earned because of actions just like this. You disgust me...]
Exuding his own fighting spirit, a refined and controlled exertion of his mana, as if it was alive, reaching out and crushing the posse like gravity. Slithering against the air and surrounding the knights but more so Aaron, Ashtons true intention bares its teeth
The whispers of onlookers and the content within his family, they couldn't have seen it progressing but witnessed its conclusion. The 3rd circle illusion magic underneath his pressing mana, the fear on the faces of those marked by him. Knights faltered, hardened warriors staggered as visions struck their minds, shadows of past wounds, echoes of trauma, fear painted in familiar faces. Some saw death, some relived it. Others simply froze beneath the suffocating pressure.
All except one.
Isebell Raine remained unfazed, a conscious decision to spare her on Ashtons part. Reading the embarrassment on her face, the way her eyes did not move along with Aarons.
She did not flinch beneath his pressure, because Ashton hadn't let it touch her.
Unreached by the hostility laced in his magic, Isebell instead felt it innocently. Beholden its density, its purity, how naturally it threaded itself into the world around them, and it captivated her.
Not as a noblewoman.
But as a mage.
However, her intrigue did not last long. The silent whispers of the crowd coming together, creating noticeable volume in the garden faded in a collective gasp
Count Shuan and Duke Raine, their aura unmistakable, the emotion on their faces opposite.
Duke Raine the first to wash his face of annoyance, despite the glee remaining on the counts.
Formal speech, yet hostile in tone "Young count, I believe you have sufficiently proven your point"
The command clear buried by civility, a demand for his son and knights release