The Red Glaive

Aeria had always been more interested in swords, rather than needles. It was a fact of her sister, that Adelaide had eventually come to accept. It was always Aeria, and to a lesser extent, Alita who would deviate from the norm. Aeria had always been the quiet one, obedient, but rebellious when it came to the womanly arts. Alita, however, was always loud and rash and very difficult to tell what to do. So it was strange to hear of Aeria’s blood moon escape more than year ago. It was something she expected of Alita, not Aeria. Yet, her baby sister was full of surprises these days.

Especially when she came to her home, with a man trailing behind her. An impossibly attractive one at that. Adelaide watched from behind a curtained window, as her sister approached with a man shortly behind her. There was very little that happened in her home that Adelaide didn’t know. When it came to Aeria, she had sent servants to alert her when she approached. They had let her know that she came with a stranger when she came into view nearly a block away.

“Tell Videl to keep him here, I want to speak with whoever he is and remind Videl that he has to be ready before I am.” Adelaide said. Videl he had grown so much since she last saw him. Still, despite his tall stature, Adelaide still only saw that raggedy boy how played with her even raggedier sister.

Fides nodded and rushed away. He was her most loyal servant, more loyal to her rather than Alwyn. As she expected, she had bought him during a trip to Duowell then all but given him his freedom. On paper, he belonged to her, though she had let him know he could leave if he wished. He chose to stay, and Adelaide paid him just as well as any of her other servants.

It was as her father had taught her.

As the eldest, Adelaide had been the one her father had leaned upon the most when their mother died. Even as nine year old, many turned to Adelaide when her father slipped into a dark depression. She learned the ins and outs of ruling during that time she spent in charge. Aeria was barely four then. It was during this time that Adelaide had figured out her father’s secret. The reason for her family’s ruin for which she loved and hated him for.

There were many things their father hid from them growing up to protect them. Even now, Adelaide suspected she only knew a little. So many things didn’t make too much sense still and only she had been old enough to see them before Madame Salver brought them stability.

Aget, maybe saw a little, but Aeria and certainly the twins, had no idea of what was really going on back home. It was a difficult predicament one Adelaide didn’t want to be a part of. So when Alwyn came to their father’s mansion asking for a bride, Adelaide jumped on the opportunity to be essentially sold, but free of the duty of caring and giving up everything to start anew somewhere far away with the man she married.

Adelaide desperately wanted to love him. He was her husband after all. He was seven years her senior but he was handsome with a strong chin and caring brown eyes and he was always immaculately dressed though she wished he would practice with sword to least build a bit more muscle, not that he was overweight at all. He wasn’t bad to look at all and he doted on her, like a girl doted on her dolls. He loved being with him, and strangely missed him more and more each time he went on his business trips.

It was strange, every time he was gone, she always doubted how much she loved him or if at all. But when he was here she couldn’t keep her hands off him. Perhaps it was the pleasure she derived off him in the late hours of the night that she was addicted to, or maybe it was a stupid thing called love. She wasn’t certain. It certainly wasn’t the same thing that she had had with Walther back home.

Those nights together under the bed covers had been some of the best fun she ever had. Walther was a good lover and, despite Aget’s feelings, she was glad he had been the first man she had been with. They learned on each other, secretly behind the ever watchful eye of both their fathers and Madame Salver.

And yet, the more she thought of those moments with Walther, the less she missed it. Madame Salver has always said that marriages among the upper class were hardly ever for love, she explained, however, that one could always learn to love. Is that what she was feeling? Was she finally learning to love Alwyn?

Well, their affairs certainly didn’t help the matter.

She had hers and he had his. Learning to love wasn’t easy, not when there were so many good looking people in the capital and not when decent whores were so cheap. Alwyn had told her on their wedding night that he didn’t expect her to be loyal - she was to be his pretty little trophy - so long as she didn’t expect the same of him. She took his words to heart and to bed.

Though as Adelaide dressed, for her husband’s immediate arrival she couldn’t help but feel happy. Giddy almost. During his weeks long absence, Adelaide hadn’t had a single affair. Not a one. Though the opportunity certainly presented itself. It had taken her years to get here.

Then the message came. Fides informed her of Caius down in her courtyard and that there had been a raided by pirates on the harbor. Everyone on his ship was unharmed, he’d probably bribed the pirates for their safety, but they were delayed a few days in port. He would not make it in time for dinner.

Adelaide couldn’t hide her disappointment from Aeria. She hardly saw her husband as it was, initially she had been grateful for that, now however it left her forlorn. Not even Aeria could console her. So she tried distracting herself with putting all the little finishing touches on her sister.

Her poor helpless sister. It was a wonder she had made it this far. Other than Amberjill, Aeria had been one of the most subservient of her sisters except when it came to womanly things. She always listened to father and his reason, no matter how flawed it was. It was for this reason their father had chosen Aeria as his heir. Or at least Adelaide suspected.

Perhaps he had hoped Aeria would never marry, that she would stay in Cypress Grove forever. But the red of her eyes wouldn’t be enough to keep the men away for much longer. Aeria had, despite her objections, grown to be a beautiful young woman if only she allowed herself to be cleaned once in a while. Adelaide could only do so much - clean the dirt off under fingernails, make sure any unwanted hair was removed, actually brush her hair instead of keeping in a tangled mess, give her a dress, and make up - to reveal the woman underneath, but it was Aeria who had to embrace her femininity. If Dorian Stone hadn’t snaked his way into a deal, a better man would’ve come eventually.

When Adelaide, followed by stumbling Aeria, came into the courtyard and she came to face to face with the man Aeria had brought home. Immediately a thought filled her brain: bed him to make Alwyn hurt as he hurt you today. An insidious thought. One that never worked.

But she saw the way they looked at each other. Aeria, face beat red, and Caius eyes filled a strange wonder. Surely, he had to be the one who Aeria used to fill the pendant. Those glances, there had to be something there. . . “Caius, why don’t you have dinner with us, my dearest sister is in dire need of an escort.” Adelaide had found herself saying. She had wanted to test the waters. Have them go together, surely emotion would blossom if it hadn’t already.

What she didn’t expect, was Aeria vehement refusal. Strange, but maybe he wasn’t? So she would test the waters herself, did this Caius care for sister as she had suspected? She would find out. And if he didn’t and Adelaide ended up in bed with him, well, then that wouldn’t be a total loss.


The maid servants picked at his nails, cleaning the dirt off them. He never understood how he got so much stuck under there, though he suspected the time he spent with in the stables with his mare. He had named her Sira. Videl had been so hesitant to have Adelaide do these things for him, but whenever he bathed himself she scolded him pointing at the dirt under his nails. He just let her do as she pleased now.

“Ah,” Caius grunted as the hair dresser yanked roughly at his tangled hair. She were the very reason Videl kept his hair short, they had not been kind at all when Adelaide had ordered him cleaned the first night he had arrived.

Caius sat in his own tub in the large bath house and the bulk of the servants were, fortunately, more focused on Caius than they were Videl. “We could just cut it.” the hair dresser said raising a pair of scissors.

Videl didn’t know what to make of Caius. He only know that Aeria seemed to care a lot about him to have brought him along. He had never seen her more flustered than when she walked out in her dress and Caius was still there. The thought made him smile. He had never met a man that could get such a reaction out of her. Not even his brother, Jarv, as determined as he had been to win her attention, could never get her to blush so furiously.

“No!” Caius shouted lunging away in his tub nearly tipping it over in the process. He held his hand in his hair, shielding it from the scissors. But the hair dresser realized this is was a battle she didn’t want to engage in and, sighing, slinked away. Off to sheer the fur off some poor defenseless puppies or something.

“I think she enjoys causing us pain, she doesn't like strange men around when the Duke is away.” Videl said as Adelaide had explained it to him.

But Caius didn’t say anything. Gone was the confidant man that Videl had been sparring with earlier. None of the quips, he flung at Videl each time he knocked him down, seemed to escape his lips now. Videl had only just met the man, Adelaide asking him to make him stay, but he found a strange kinship with him already. He had a strange way of making friends.

Videl barely knew Caius, and yet, the way they had sparred, the way they had bantered, it reminded him of his brothers back home. Mostly of Walther and, to some extent, Owe. They always were the confident ones and Caius was of the same type.

Still, Caius’ sullen mood didn’t lift. That sullenness had only settled after when he had laid eyes upon Aeria. Lady Aeria that is.

“So the Lady Aeria.” Videl mused in his scented bath. That got his attention. Caius was to be her escort to dinner.

“Lady” he said a bit exasperated.

“She’s Baron Finch’s daughter, so that makes her a lady to you and me.” Videl said eyeing Caius. “Not that Aeria cares about status, growing up she told me to hit her harder because she wanted to get used to the sword, I don’t even think she realizes how abnormal her actions were. The law states that someone could loose a hand for hurting their lady or lord.”

“You and her. . .”

“She loves me like a brother, and I love her as a sister.” Videl said and Caius seemed to relax. “Hear me now Caius. I love Aeria like the sister I never had.” Videl said trying his best to sound menacing, “You hurt her and I will cut you down myself.”

“There’s nothing between us.” Caius said, but Videl didn’t believe him. Not after the way he had looked at her, the way his mind seemed to be filled with thoughts of her now.

“You hurt her,” Videl repeated, “and I will cut you down myself.”

But he only laughed finally relieving the tension. “Not with that shit upswing you have.” Caius said relaxing into his tub but that only lasted until the hair dresser returned ready to give Caius a shave. He winced when she pulled out a shiny steel knife.