Ezra set the book aside at the knock, getting up and opening the door. His face, which had been set in a calm neutral, immediately morphed to irritation when he saw her standing there. "What do you want, Allian?" he demanded, none of the respect that was usually due a royal in his tone.
"Do you want to get out of here and back to your precious soldiers?" She questioned, glaring up at him and using none of her usual royal commanding tones. "I have…part of a plan. But I need your help." Allian seemed begrudging to ask for his help, and she didn't meet his eyes until a moment later. There was demand in her eyes as she questioned, "Well? Will you help?"
"Yes, I would." he replied, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe and crossing his arms, looking down at her with notes of scorn in his eyes. "I'll help, maybe. It depends on what you're wanting me to do."
Allian crossed her arms, “I can’t talk in the hall, it could get me in trouble.” She met his eyes, not even daring to look into the room behind him, “But I have a few ideas. It all depends on how quickly you want to get back. And how good of terms you wish to be on with my father.” The longer she stood there, the more ideas came to mind, ones she had never considered on the walk over.
He arched his eyebrows. "You're inviting yourself into my room? How bold, Allian." nevertheless, he straightened and stepped back to allow her inside. "Welcome to my quarters." his voice was still faintly sarcastic and mocking, and he clsoed the door once she was inside the room.
“Ezra, you forget I live in the palace, I’ve been in almost every room here.” She replied with a huff, walking in past him as if she owned the place. Allian glanced around for a moment, simply looking around his room to see what he had and if there was a place to sit. “I’ll make this quick. Sound good? I don’t want you here any more than you want to be here so this should be easy to plan.”
He sat down in his chair again, raising his eyebrows again. "You invited yourself into a man's room, Allian, you are only encouraging the rumors. But sure, tell me your plan." he said, leaning back and looking at her with a lazy, slightly tired expression on his face.
She rolled her eyes but didn't snap back, crossing her arms as she stood in his room. "I have a few plans. If you never want to come back to the capitol, we could get you arranged to marry me, then have you cheat and my father would send you back to your soldiers in dissappointment. Or you could simply leave. It wouldn't guarantee your position, but you would be away from here." Allian rattled off her ideas in sucession, leaving Ezra no time to object or make any smart comments. "Finally, you could marry me, and as my first royal order, I would send you back to your lines. You would be able to come back to the capitol when your presence was needed, but you could spend all of your time away."
"Firstly, who would I cheat with you on?" he arched an eyebrow at her. "This may come as a surprise to you, but I do not have a steady stream of lovers pining at my door; I have not had one since Alexei died. Secondly, even if I could find someone, most people would not dare cross the monarchy, there is too much fear of retaliation from your father for that. As for actually marrying you…you do realize that at some point you will need an heir? And if you marry me, the heir will be mine as well? Do you know how heirs are made?" his last sentence was sardonic, one of his eyebrows arched as he studied her.
Allian huffed as his blatantly dismissed her ideas, deciding to take the bait and respond again, “I know of a few young ladies that are head over heels for you, I could probably track down a noble boy too.” She then scowled at him. “As for the bit with getting a heir, I don’t plan on having one for quite a while. By that time I could find a lover, I know my father has had a few so it’s not unheard of. I’ll make sure they resemble you enough to pass as your child. The only thing you’ll have to do is entertain the idea of staying around the capital for a few days so the story is believable and come around again when the child is born.” She raised an eyebrow, watching Ezra carefully for whatever he would bring up to complain about next. “Anything else? With all the flaws you’re bringing up it almost seems like you actually want to marry me.”
"And what would you do if this heir grew up to resemble me not at all?" he challenged. "If they looked nothing like me, or the lover you took spilled the story that the child is not mine, but his? You would have a scandal on your hands." he scoffed. "I do not wish to marry you, I am merely pointing out the many, many flaws in your planning."
"All I have to do is find someone with blue eyes and black hair to match you," She replied, motioning to his features then to her own, "No matter if the child has my features or theirs then, they will pass as our kid." Allian took a moment to think over her next response, finally saying, "I don't see why you would care, you'll be off with your soldiers. But I have friends in the capital, and ways of keeping my lover from spilling any secrets if they so want to. Though I think I could work out a compromise to keep them quiet."
Allian glanced around Ezra's room, passing the time by studying what he had brought back with him to the capital and how he had set up his room.
"And what about other physical features, Allian? My height, my nose, my hands? Hair and eyes are not the only things that might be passed on." he reached up to brush a hand over his ears. "My father was elven; that blood can still show through in strange ways, even if it's not very visible on me." his room was pretty much how the palace had set it up. The bed was made, and the wardrobe door was partially open. A suitcase was stashed beneath the bed, and books lay on various surfaces throughout the room.
"So what are you suggesting?" She snapped back, glaring at him with annoyance. He seemed intent on crushing every plan of hers, and she was getting sick of it, "You don't have a clone, and I'm not exactly in the position to go hunt down an elf for a child just so they have your build and heritage. Do you have any better suggestions? I have about five ways to poison you if you'd prefer to skip all of this and be gone for good. The only reason I'm even plotting this is to get you back to your stupid soldiers." Allian scowled, looking positively frustrated as hell. There was never going to be a lover she could take that would give Ezra's exact chance of his features.
"Half-elf, not full elf." he corrected, mouth twisting for a moment. "I'm just saying that neither plan would seem to work out well, unless you wanted to commit to it all the way. Especially marriage. You cannot marry me and then take a lover, Allian, it simply will not be accepted."
“Half-elf,” She echoed, correcting herself with a huff. Allian gritted her teeth and pinched the bridge of her nose, doing her best not to snap at him again. “So what are you suggesting? Our options are limited Ezra. I can either marry you and we can have a child, I can marry you and send you away while taking a lover, I could refuse to marry you and you could be shunned from the nobles or I could simply arrange your death. Any way it falls there’s a chance everything will go wrong. If you have a better plan I would love to hear.”
"I don't want to die." he said, rolling his eyes. "So arranging my death is out of the question. The path with the least shame involved is marriage." he gave her a critical look. "Disgusting. But. We would not have to have a child for a few years yet, and perhaps you will grow more pleasant to look at with time, though I daresay your height will not."
She snorted, unsurprised that even after all of her plans, the best idea was still marriage. “See, you’re assuming that I will grow accustomed to seeing your ugly face. And that I won’t end up strangling you because of your comments.” Allian looked him over, a skeptical look on her face as well as disgust, “You realize that there’s a fair chance that you won’t be able to stay with your precious soldiers if we end up…having a child.”
His eyes narrowed faintly. "False. Plenty of parents are absent, for many reasons. A war is a good enough reason, to me, to warrant only visiting at holidays." he replied. "I have never met my own father, though he is not a general." he didn't really know what his father was, only that he had never met him.
She didn’t speak for a minute, then finally said, “If things change by the time a heir is born, I would expect you to be around for the child. But that’s a matter for a different day.” It was clear she didn’t share the same views as Ezra, but they were talking about a hypothetical child. Fighting over how present a father figure was could wait until there was a real child to care for. “So it’s settled? Marriage is the easiest way to get out of each others way, and when talk of a heir appears…we’ll figure it out.”
Ezra grimaced, running his hands through his hair. "No. Yes. Fine." he grumbled, frowning. "I suppose that'll make you happy? You get the throne and a husband." he shook his head for a moment. "And I get to leave, and your father off our asses."
She nodded. Marriage was going to be horrid, but at least they had come to an agreement. Now they just had to convince her father to go through things quickly so they could get out of each others hair. “My father will want you around for my coronation after we’re married, and people will think it’s weird if we don’t have a honeymoon, but those will be easy enough to deal with.” Allian looked over at Ezra with something closer to agreement than annoyance and headed toward the door. “We’ll talk later. Try to convince my father that this marriage is the best idea. I’ll get him to put off other suitors if he thinks you’re serious.”
With that, she walked out of his room without another word, going back to her usual royal self as she left him behind.
Ezra snorted faintly. "Gross." was his only response to everything about a honeymoon and a coronation. Once she was gone, he leaned back in his seat and wondered if he had really just done that. If he had really just agreed to marrying Allian. Marrying her. What had he just done?
She walked off, heading towards her room as she processed the conversation. They had really just agreed to marriage like it was a trade deal, and frankly she was fine with it. Allian had been expecting to get the crown from marriage, but she was also getting the ability to send Ezra away for as long as she could without facing any repercussions. It was going to be wonderful. Though first, they had to jump through the hoops of actually getting married.
(Timeskip at all? Or keep going in this scene?)
(idc, whichever you like)
Ezra sighed faintly, hoping he would not regret this in the future. But even if he did, he could always have an affair.
(Cool, gonna do a timeskip then, just for fun)
It had been four days since Allian had spoken to Ezra about marriage, and all four of those days she had been trying to convince her father to abandon the other suitors. It was a change of pace from her other attempts to do anything but marry him, and her father clearly knew that. But, just to see what she was talking about, her father had arranged a meeting with Ezra.
He had sent the general a summon for his office, and currently, the king was waiting there for him. Allian had been forbidden from attending the meeting, but she waited outside of his office, watching for Ezra. This was their chance to set their plan into motion, and she needed to tell him just how crucial it was that he convinced her father to believe her.
(perfect)
Ezra had gotten dressed before coming down, combing his hair and putting on fresh, clean clothes, so that he looked good and put together. He knew this meeting was likely about Allian, and so he did his best to look his best before coming down to the king's office, his walk careful and measured. He didn't want to seem off, or like he was a mess.
Allian glanced over when she saw Ezra, her mouth set in a thin determined line. She stepped away from the wall, meeting him a few steps away from the office door. "Don't screw this up." She started, looking up at him, "My father said I can't be around to listen to the meeting, but I'll expect a rundown of what you talk about if it's about us." Quickly, she looked him over, nodding in approval that he looked presentable. That could gain more of her father's approval.
Ezra frowned faintly. "I am aware." he replied, looking down at her. "Your father has high expectations, and I don't intend to let him down." he crossed his arms for a moment, before realizing that that would mess up the lines of his clothing, and uncrossed them.
Allian nodded once, for the first time in a while meeting his eyes with something other than complete hatred, "If you screw up, you'll be here twice as long, fighting against other suitors. So use that pea brain of yours to not mess up."
"Ezra, please, come in." The king's booming voice could be heard through the door, and it was clear he had heard the general's voice outside.
She scowled at him once, then walked away from Ezra, leaving him to go in and speak to her father alone. Something in her mind told her that he wasn't going to screw up, but she was still doubtful. The two of them had only come to a slight truce days ago, this was a large leap.