REXANNA
She watches with a twinkle to her eye as Jigano listens to her words and it all sinks in, a soft smile playing at the corner of her lips. But then he seems to have the same concern that Wessex had, and there’s a part of her that wishes people wouldn’t just assume she’s doing it for someone. She nods with that same smile, nothing leaving the mask of her face as she shrugs. “Myself.” She pauses to regard his next set of words, of how Zariah would find her too much to handle, and she grins to him. “Gods willing.” She agrees before she sits back in her pew and glances to the Shrine.
“I was on the fence of it for awhile, debating and running through the options. But weeks ago, Zariah summoned me to the Manor.” She pauses, her eyes lowering as she recalls it all. “She showed me her son, had a casual conversation of children, of how I wanted to be a mother, once.” And she says ‘once’ because it’s no longer an option, one she feels deeply but is coming to terms with it. “She told me to marry Peter, to become a Launceleyn and bear his children to add to the family. I told her no.” Her eyes skate over to him, from her tale before she’s sure he knows what comes to mind (princes and brands and dungeons) before she continues. “She said I didn’t have a choice, would be married the following morning. Locked me in a room. I escaped later that night from the bathroom.”
There’s a heavy pause as she regards her friend. “My mind was made up, then. I went and grabbed Bastien and went to the Voice and Ascended.” She says easily, though it’s anything but. “So I did it for myself. Though the Voice was sure to bring up the similar concerns that Bastien may have convinced me. But no, I’ll tell you the same I told her. I wanted to become a weapon, no longer a pawn to be played.” She sits up a bit straighter. “And so I did.”
“I was on the fence of it for awhile, debating and running through the options. But weeks ago, Zariah summoned me to the Manor.” She pauses, her eyes lowering as she recalls it all. “She showed me her son, had a casual conversation of children, of how I wanted to be a mother, once.” And she says ‘once’ because it’s no longer an option, one she feels deeply but is coming to terms with it. “She told me to marry Peter, to become a Launceleyn and bear his children to add to the family. I told her no.” Her eyes skate over to him, from her tale before she’s sure he knows what comes to mind (princes and brands and dungeons) before she continues. “She said I didn’t have a choice, would be married the following morning. Locked me in a room. I escaped later that night from the bathroom.”
There’s a heavy pause as she regards her friend. “My mind was made up, then. I went and grabbed Bastien and went to the Voice and Ascended.” She says easily, though it’s anything but. “So I did it for myself. Though the Voice was sure to bring up the similar concerns that Bastien may have convinced me. But no, I’ll tell you the same I told her. I wanted to become a weapon, no longer a pawn to be played.” She sits up a bit straighter. “And so I did.”
A Light That Never Goes Out.
