Derveni

Soft Pink Fillet Apparel A fine piece of soft pink jewelry, elegantly draped to cover the head of the dragon. 1500

________________________________________________________________ Derveni ________________________________________________________________ Prince - But my demons are dressed in pretty little dresses and they know the art of seducing naive men like you into committing great sins. - There are so many fragile things, after all. People break so easily, and so do dreams and hearts. - Do I ever cross your mind or do I do all the thinking of us on my own? - I don't care if you say my name like it's poison or like it's a prayer, as long as it leaves your lips.

Silks, Soirees, and Sovreignity.

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The ballroom was full to bursting.
All around, nobility of the Arcane Isles; dancing, twirling, earls and dames, exalted knights.
Nobility of other lands, too; Derveni saw representatives sent from both the Earth and Lightning flights-- the Earth dragon in gems and jewels, the Lightningborn in shining armor.

Derveni smiled. Honey, and caramel, dripping down the sides of teacups; this was the impression that disquieted those who met his gaze. Just a little too glazed over to be sure he knew what was happening, and still he smiled so serenely. His eyes were half-lidded, and he moved like he was in a dream.
Maybe he was in a dream.

Around him, young ladies and fellows alike gazed at him- for he was, after all, the prince. He’d been seen before- this was not the first ball he hosted, and they knew it would not be the last. They also knew that there would be some few lucky enough to follow him into his bedchambers, even if they’d be escorted out of the castle come morning: even if that had to be the case, what a thrill, to spend a night in passion with the young prince!
And though his smile was sugar and his sight dreamy, he could tell who was looking for prestige, who was looking for pleasure, who was looking for a leg into the castle in the future.
It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t remember their faces when he woke up.

His eyes glittered as he saw one- a young, pretty thing, coquettish and coy, that looked away when he looked directly, and when he didn’t, their eyes were on him. His smile widened, his eyes glittered their arcane, pupil-less glow, and he paced around the dance floor to see her more closely.
“Does a young prince have anything to do with such common folk as myself?” They asked, as soon as they’d realized he was approaching them.
“I was told that you were the one to gift this to me,” he purred, a wing-tip brushing the silver-and-spinel fillet. “Was that so?”
“Afraid not,” they smiled, “I wouldn’t spend money on someone who already has it all; that would be foolish after all.”
Derveni’s fins flared, a low rumble in his chest that ran through the floor. “Oh? Do you at least think it compliments me?”
“It matches your eyes, but not your scales, and from the way you’re smiling, I almost think you want me to say no, it doesn’t compliment you at all.” They laughed, and Derveni purred all the louder, as they danced away from the table they’d been sitting at.
“Where are you going?” he asked, moving to follow.
They gestured with a wing for him to stay. “Nowhere important. The buffet, and then into the night, never to be seen again.”
“Why not stay for the night? We’ve barely even started~.” This, of course, was a lie- the party had been going since seven, and it approached midnight now.
“I don’t need to! Me, a common dragon, barely above the servants you keep?”
“A beautiful one,” he added, trailing after them, “or do you think I’d be unbearable company?”
“You have your wenches, so why do you host these parties? To find new and exciting prey?”
He laughed, grabbing a morsel from the platters-- when they had arrived at the buffet tables, he didn’t care to know. “Hardly prey. Perhaps I long for love, and I host these parties to find such things.”
“Is that it, now? I think it’s more likely that you want to break as many hearts as you can.”
“It is you who breaks my heart, now; do you want me to leave?”
“Not at all-, like you said, the night is young. Maybe there’s something for us to find after all.” They smiled, and dipped and weaved their way back through the crowd, Derveni hot on their trail.
Maybe there was something for them to find, a challenge, a conquest in his own manner.

---

In the night, the others move- for the castle is home not only to Derveni, but to the parents and siblings as well.
The father, for his part, remains consumed with bitter hatred. He knows, he knows, that the sword which adorned his side was stolen by one close to him. Family, or handmaid. And he has killed his handmaid, torn apart her fraction of the domain- the sword not there, he concludes that his family must be to blame.

Theia passes the ballroom, silent. A memory of another world, where she might have gotten to take part in such playful things, flashes in her eyes, and she almost follows the music in. But she hesitates, she shakes her head. No. Joy is not her lot in life.
She passes the ballroom. Silent.

Overhead, frail wings carry a pearlcatcher to her loft. The princess, the Dead One, Peklo is home at last. For many nights she has been in the world beyond, and suffered all the while at the hands of the elements and the dragons both.
Her domain is untouched, with dust the only marker that time has passed here at all. She resigns herself to obscurity, and lays herself to rest upon her bed- how nice, she supposes, to rest upon a bed once more.

---

"Don't you understand?" He smiled, honey and caramelized teacups. The attendant shifted uneasily. Derveni gazed into the looking-glass, eyes half-lidded with boredom as he touched the silvered fillet's cabochon.
"... Master?"
"Hmm?" He turned, his eyes shining just slightly too much, to the little creature. "How boring."
The attendant shied away. "I'm not sure I can follow."
"Do you think it compliments my face?" He tilted his head, the barest trace of a smile softening his face from the otherwise harsh features of his father's breed. "Who did you say brought it? They must have thought very hard about their gift to a young prince, hmm?"
"It was... A young woman. She said she'd met you once before."
"A ball?"
"A gala a few weeks ago, yes." The attendant seemed again to shy away.
"I suppose she meant to court me with this, then," Derveni sighed, sitting in a pile of cushions, pillows, and layered blankets, "tell her I've no interest in her."
"Ah- sir," the little spiral's silly habit of twisting itself into knots when it was stressed was, perhaps, part of the reason Derveni was so careless with his language around it. "Perhaps that would not be wise? I know, of course, that you don't mean to do something so dangerous as put your kingdom in trouble, but-."
"Don't I? Perhaps I do. Perhaps I mean to put everything to the torch."
His smile was sharper now, seeing how unsettled the little attendant was. "Master, I'm sorry, but-."
"I'm too much for any one; you, above all others, should understand that."