Let Justice Be Done Ch. 73

When Raguel returned to his and Viviane's cottage barely anytime had passed. A few minutes at most. 

Raguel had left before Viviane could speak to him. Try and explain why she agreed to the Winter Queen's demands rather than fight them.

She could feel the worry and fear in Raguel's heart, but underneath it was shimmering anger, slowly building. Viviane didn't have time to see what it was aim at. At the situation? The Winter Queen? 

...At me? She thought in guilt and fear. 

Then in a flash of Light, Raguel returned and Viviane rushed to him. 

"Raguel, I'm sorry, I know you don't wish for our child to be bound to Queen Mab, but that was the surest way to have the least of her strings on..." Viviane slowed downed and stopped as she felt Raguel's emotions. 

Calm. 

Much calmer than she anticipated. Like the surface of a pond that looks untouched, only a very deep view can show the small tremors in its heart. 

"Dear?" Viviane asked, getting his attention, making him look at her.

"Sorry for leaving like that." He said as he took her hand and went with her to their bedroom. Viviane let herself be pulled. 

As the two sat on the side of the bed, it seems like the tiredness of their long day crashed on them. 

"How long were you gone this time?" Viviane asked, knowing of the difference in time between the Human World and the Fea Realm, and how God usually adjusts the travel time to minimize it for when Raguel comes and leave Viviane. 

"Just a few hours at most." Raguel said. He looked like he was remembering the meeting with Queen Mab, if his feeling were anything to go by, yet he was calmer about them now. "Look, Vivi, you understand the Winter Courts and Mab better than I do, so I will trust your judgement on that." He then held a hard look. "But I do need to know, does Mab have some kind of hold over you?" 

Viviane flinched and looked away in shame. She tried to move away, but the warmth, and gentle, supportive hold of her husband's hand in hers, let her stay. 

"...When a new Lady of the Lake is announced, and rewarded that position, they are given titles and special privileges. However most importantly, they are taken to the Winter Queen's personal chamber where they are given an offer." Viviane explained. 

"Which is?"

"Either to be granted strength that is given from the Queen's own power, thus linking them to her. Granted knowledge in return for the Queen having access to their mind and thoughts. She does not and can not touch their mind, all she needs is observe. Or..." Viviane looked down, a pensive look in her eyes. "They can ask for any favor as long as they agree to the appropriate price." 

"Viviane, no..." Raguel sighed, knowing yet dreading what his wife was going to say. 

Viviane gave a sad chuckled. "Raguel," she began. "Do you remember how I am very good at fighting?" 

"Yes?" He blinked at that question. 

"Have you ever wondered why?" 

Raguel sat up as he thought on the question, now looked at his wife in new light. 

"The rivalry between the the two Fairy Courts can be extreme at times, yet to avoid all out war, and too many assassinations and subterfuge, the courts would at times make gladiator tournaments to, well, freely kill each other in a legal manner. Or at least in a way that both party agrees to and can enjoy." She explained. 

"Very civilized." Raguel said with a dry tone as he nodded.

Viviane chuckled and continued. "I wished to rise in the ranks of the courts quickly without having to participate in the politics of it. More than that I wanted knowledge for my craft." Raguel's eyes widened in alarm, but a shake from Viviane's and a feeling of reassurance from their bond calmed him. "At least that's how it was at the start. Technically it's not enough to gain a seat of Lake Lady for just combat prowess, you still need to know how to play the politics game."

"So something different happened?" Raguel tilted his head, while imagining that scenario. He answered Viviane's feelings in the bond with acceptance and patience sent back from him. 

Viviane let out a shuddered breath. "I made a deal with Queen Mab. If I win the tournament decisively then she should appoint me as a Lake Lady. She agreed, I think she was just amused at the time. 

"In that time, I fought not just powerful warriors, but also fairies the Winter Queen thought of as nuisances or threats, and that's just from the Winter Court. She used me to cut off the Summer Queen's rising stars, her favorites, or allies." She took a deep breath. "I won. All of them, no matter the battle, the matter the condition or challenge, I won. And when I stood before Queen Mab...All I wanted was to be left alone."  

"Isn't that what you would have gotten anyway as a Lady of the Lake?" He asked. 

"Not necessarily." Viviane shook her head. "No fae of a lower position could infringe upon me or harm me, but my fellow Lake Ladies still could. The favor I asked from Queen Mab was to be made untouchable by the politics of the courts. Either of them." Raguel's eyes widened in understanding. "In return I was to answer any direct call from Queen Mab. 

"And while she did so in the past, the number of times she actually called on me for a task, were few and far between, it's likely why there might be some resentment for me in the upper echelons of the Winter Court, as I have all my power, personal or political, and prestige and I don't have to be bothered by any of the responsibility or threats of it. Only being answerable to the Winter Queen." She finished with a sigh. 

"...I see." Raguel said, realizing what taking Viviane from Queen Mab entailed and looked like. "If I complete her tasks, and can now live with you in peace, 'taking you from her' as she called it, will her protection be removed?"

"Do you regret marrying me?" She wondered. 

"Never," Raguel took the hand he was holding and kissed it, making Viviane blush despite wanting to appear composed. "I just want you to be safe. I want us and our family, now and in the future to be safe." He said. 

"So..." Viviane asked, as she moved to lean against her husband. "What will we do?"

He brought his hand up and began caressing her head. Viviane leaned down, till she found herself resting her head on his lap. 

She blinked a few times, as she realized what she had done, and her face went red like a tomato. 

Raguel smiled and kept gently rubbing her head. 

"Father told me that He would attending the Fairy Queens' meeting. So that's one task down, and we should get an invitation to the auction from that. There is an item we'll have to go get from Listenois to use to enter the auction. As for the Beast..." Raguel let out a long sigh, feeling tired. "Honestly I really don't want to give one of the Impure Beasts to Mab. Alive or dead. Not even pieces of one, as I want to destroy them without a trace."  

"So what will we do?" Viviane asked, yet couldn't focus as she started to feel slightly too good from her husband's head rubbing turned massage. 

"We do what we can. We'll get through this together, Vivi." Raguel thought of how he will hunt the Impure Beast, and how he will manage it. He thought of the boy that helped him and Merlin, Arthur, and nodded as that's someone that could aid him in this task. 

"Do you have a concrete plan, or just some vague platitudes?" Viviane said with a smarmy tone. 

Raguel blinked as he had been lost in thought, and stopping massaging Viviane's head causing her to pout.  

He looked down at his wife with a loving smile. Viviane blinked as she noticed it was also a desiring smile. 

"Well for now, there is one task that we both could work on." Raguel's tone was hungering. 

"I..." Viviane looked away, struggling to smile or stay pulled down into melancholy. "I do not wish for us to j-join together, just for the sake of some task, husband mine." She wasn't saying that because she was shy, regardless of what Raguel felt from their bond. 

"Viviane," her eyes snapped to her husband's face, as his voice was lanced with the want of a restrained animal. "I don't fucking care what Mab wants. I'm flirting with you, because I want you, dear wife." 

"W-Well," Viviane gulped, as she looked wide eyed at her husband's bestial behavior of wanting to claim her, yet couldn't help her smile. "If that's the case...take me." 

Raguel leaned down and took her lips.