Thread: War and Greed (Javorcek x ClearSight)

Danikas heart sank as she noticed the anger and sorrow in Myras eyes. It made her want to draw the beautiful soldier into her arms, to whisper sweet words into her ear and take away the pain she felt. But Danika knew she couldnt, as much as she wanted Myra, she couldnt afford such emotional entanglements. It actually frightened her how just one, drunken kiss had her contemplating dropping everything and riding off into the sunset with her knight like those princesses in fairy tales. And so as Myras hand twitched and the Vice-Captain moved forward as though to touch her, Danika tensed up, prepared to move back if Myra came too close to her, she didnt trust herself to say no if her knight kept pushing. Myra was the one who left you in the first place. You shouldnt feel bad about this! Danika thought to herself, her heart having tightened in sorrow as she watched Myra leave her tent. And then she remembered that a few days after she had brought up that her parents were finalizing an arranged marriage between her and a prince from Argis, Myra had disappeared from her life. The other girl had avoided Danika like the plague after that she hadnt returned any of the love notes that the princess had snuck under her door, hadnt scaled the wall to sneak into Danikas window at nightMyra had made it abundantly clear that they were over with her aversion. The loss of her lover had sealed her fate, Danika couldnt very well protest to an arranged marriage if she had no good reason for doing so. And so with a broken heart, she had allowed Richard to bond with her. Richard was not the one she wanted marking her neck though. His touch was too rough, his words were not sweet, he was selfish and pridefulDanika could barely stand to be in the same room as him. She missed her Myra, her playful, romantic Myra, and had quietly cried over her for many nights during that first year with Richard. It had been easier to forget about her pain once Caleb had been born there was a little creature that needed her and her love once again. Being a mother was something that Danika had always wanted and a subject that her and Myra could never confront because there couldnt have had a family if they had become mates, and being a mother was something that helped her forget about the silly pup she had once been. For a moment she wondered if her old friend knew of her affairs and that was what had brought on this sudden turn of events. No, no, she couldnt know about them. She was just drunkand Myra was always handsy when she was drunk. Like a good princess, Danika had been very careful to hide her affairs. Even Richard didnt know that she was sleeping with several of the servants a few of the noble dignitaries that visited the castle from time to time. Then again, her husband not knowing wasnt a grand feat, the man was oblivious and too wrapped up in himself to notice what was going on around him. But still, her lovers were all discreet, she was very careful in her choices in both women and locations for meet ups, there was no way that Myra could knowat least that was what Danika liked to believe. ---- The next morning, Danika woke up with a hollowness in her chest that she had not felt in years. Without her pups clambering into her bed to wake her up, without her children to take care of and teach all day, the princess was left with zero distractions. For the first time in a long time, she remembered what it was like to feel truly alone. She didnt like it, not one bit, and so hurried to busy herself so that she wouldnt notice. If there was one thing that Danika was good at, it was finding enough reasons and distractions to make the sacrifices that she so readily made seem easier. So after getting dressed into her ceremonial armor, she fell into ranks with her generals in order to listen to their reports and hear their recommendations for action. Her role was more mediator than anything else, so many strong Alphas usually made for a lot of headbutting. In the end, it was decided that they would send a small force forward to reinforce the border parties. This force would establish a base camp and send out scouting squads so that when the rest of the slower moving army arrived, they would not have to delay their attack. -------------------------------------------- Everything hurt. Sasha had been hammering out mithril all night, her eyes ached from straining them in the darkness and her hands hurt from wielding a hammer for hours and hours. When the morning came, she didnt even know how she was still standing, didnt even know how she was supposed to march with the rest of the army. She was so tired that she didnt even give a damn about cleaning herself, and so formed ranks, sweaty and covered in charcoal dirt. Thankfully one of the footsoldiers in her squad came from a wealthy family and had a horse. The kind male let her ride while he walked and held the reins, guiding the horse while Sasha dozed in the saddle. It turned out that her squad was one of the groups that would be sent forward. Without the slow moving carts from the main army, they should be able to arrive at the border within the next day or two. And while Sasha should be ecstatic that the half full wagon of mithril wasnt going to be following her, she still knew that she had many hilts to make tonight.