Private Tongue-tied

[Noelle Varanin]

August Oreno​

Regret.

It thrummed through her temples with wicked instance. They had offered her a bacta pill, but it felt excessive for a hangover. No, Noelle forced herself to sit in that ridiculously uncomfortable throne and hold her meetings as if nothing had occurred-- because nothing should have occurred.

This was Kal 's fault, somehow. She'd find a way to openly blame him if that wouldn't key him in to the scandalous night she had had. Surely when he advised she go out and try to be normal, he didn't mean...

She pressed her fingers to her temple as the latest inquiry walked the long way back towards the exit. The great hall was becoming more and more populated as the weeks of her rule went by. The Exodus of Eshan a decade ago had seen to the migration of many nobles. It was a good sign, wasn't it, to see their faces slowly trickle back in? She only wished they weren't all there looking at her now. She was sure their keen gazes could burn past her high collar and see the marks she kept hidden from view.

A subtle blush touched her cheeks. She reached for her glass of chilled coffee and refreshed her throat as the next pensioner was announced.

Lord something or other.

She took another deep sip.

 

[August Oreno]

Noelle Varanin

Water.

More water.

Greasy bacon and eggs.

Again water.

Salty tomato juice.

That was the breakfast for champions, if they didn't want to end up in a fetal position with the blinds down. Lord August of House Oreno felt excellent after last night. Well, it had been the breakfast and a metric feth ton of painkillers that aided him in the matter. It was for the best, because everything depended on this meeting to go well.

If they could get this contract? It would add a lucrative flow of revenue that would keep the creditors at bay.

For now anyway.

I present to you, Lord August of House Oreno.

He immediately hurried in, because making the Queen wait for his first audience would be stupid. He immediately went for a flourishing bow, sweeping his crimson cape aside in a dramatic fashion. "My Queen, thank you for agreeing to meet with me so soon. May your reign be long and truly fruitful." August exclaimed, using the words his Seneshal had suggested.

Kind of dry and boring, but she knew better than him in these cases.

After this August looked up with a warm smile that immediately froze in place. Eyes widened a fraction. It was the classical freeze-frame in a movie situation, where they follow-up with 'You might ask yourself how I got into this situation, well...."

"Um." What was JASMINE doing on the throne?? "That is..." He awkwardly coughed and smiled trying to recover. "House Oreno would be... grateful... if the Court would consider... its petition."

Perfect recovery and execution.

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Noelle's head fogged over as the bowing figure straightened up.

She could see the face and hear the name, but one plus one did not equal two. It took a few blinks for her to move past her shock, and another sip of her glass to force her thoughts to straighten. Oh yes, she recognized him as well. After the shock Kal's arrival had given her, she had made it point to practice keeping an even expressing in moments of stress.

The Echani could read ticks of the body like a book. It did no one any good to read the familiarity that occurred between the two.

He received only a distant nod of her head, reinforcing the rumors of a cold and emotionless Queen. Was that necessarily a bad thing? She seemed to get what was needed done.

"Lord Oreno, is it?"

Her heart slammed in her chest, her nostrils flaring as she met his gaze. Would he say something? He wouldn't dare.

"What could I possibly do for you?"

 

[August Oreno]

Okay, good.

She was playing it cool, frozen even.

That was the best route to go, so they both would avoid being embarrassed by one another. Then again... if they were honest? The embarrassment would most likely be heavier on her side than his.

Still.

He had forged a reputation of not needing romance. Stalwart edge and duty. It wouldn't play all that well either with his troops.

"Yes, your Highness. August Oreno." Not Amaranth by any stretch of the imagination. At least his fake name had started with the same letter. "It is my pleasure meeting you here for the first time." His hand brushing his chest as he inclined his head once more in a sign of respect. Dear gods, this complicated literally everything.

Why, oh why.

"Well, your Highness, House Oreno..." He trailed off as he got slightly distracted by her li- a blink and August refocused. This wasn't good at all. "...has the necessary expertise to expand on the capital's ports. If you grant us this contract, we could increase trade twicefold if not more."

A smile that barely disguised his anxiety followed next.

"It's... well, since the Thyrsian incursions, repairs have been slowgoing. We could speed it up and make sure the additional merchant ships have places to land, store their goods, such matters..."

Noelle Varanin

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Noelle raised a brow, her fingers absentmindedly fidgeting with her collar as she considered this Lord Oreno.

If she agreed, and their dalliance got out, this could be considered favoritism. Which was hardly the end of the world, but it definitely made things complicated. Human even, when she was trying to conduct a rule that could be marked as flawless-- incorruptible.

She did not realize how much she was trying to make up for her family's origins, but she was. And sleeping with a member of her court and granting them massive contracts the morning after?

Tension squeezed at her temples.

On the other hand, denying him could give him a reason to be angry. She could be subjecting herself to conflict, and tension, when what the court needed now more than ever was unity. Nevermind the fact that they did need more ports. Saying no to spite herself would taking from her people because she was afraid of a little contention.

A pickle indeed.

Her fingers slowly relaxed and settled back into her lap, an idea forming. "That is a rather vague outline. I assume you have plans on you. Marcel, please take Lord Oreno to my sitting room. We will review them at length after today's court. "

"That is, unless you have somewhere else you need to be?" She leveled, her voice dropping a dangerous degree as she held his gaze.

There offer of choice was an illusion.

 

[August Oreno]

About to bow deeply and thank her for her time, when she added that last bit.

She caught just the edge of a smile, before August managed to make it disappear as he rightened himself again.

"Your Highness, there is nowhere I'd rather be than sorting through this elaborate contract with you." His gaze meeting hers and there she saw that quality of the night before. The teasing I am karking with you vibe that had made him so frustrating to deal with last night. Truthfully Noelle should be thankful he wasn't pushing her around as much as back at the bar.

That would have been a sight to see.

"With your leave, my Lady."

Touching his chest briefly with another bow, before August followed Marcel into the sitting room.

It was... quite... spartanic. Maybe August should have expected that. Clean, white, devoid of the obvious decorations, it was frankly utilitarian in appearance.

He sat down and crossed one leg over the other.

At the very least there was a beautiful view through the window. You could see the skyline, the spaceport's bustling activity of ships coming back and forth.

Brilliant.

Noelle Varanin

 

[Noelle Varanin]

It was hard to pay attention to the remaining petitioners, not with the questions and the stress and the unknown picking at her attention.

Really, what were the odds. She wanted to smack that twinkle from his eye, but that would draw questions. So much about him left her feeling cornered and prone to lashing out. It wasn't his fault.

She was quickly blaming herself for the misadventure this was turning out to be.


Quick steps brought her back to her study. She declined having her lunch first, even though one had been brought to him. The estate was well made, with the usual echani flair for design and beauty. It was only the furnishings that were lacking. She stepped through the door and void them empty. Her gaze quickly snapped to his form at the windows.

She cleared her throat, her posture straightening as the door was closed behind them. They were quickly left alone, but even then she didn't do more than fold her hands before her front and raise her chin to the Lord. Her features remained prim, revealing nothing.

"Well this is unexpected," she commented, speaking first.

 

[August Oreno]

The lunch in question had barely been touched.

A polite nibble on the toast, half the water gone from the glass, but truth to be told August didn't feel hungry.

At first it had been the nerves for the audience. It wasn't every day you get to meet the Queen, who had the entire fate of your House in her palm. Then that was escalated by the reveal in identity. Definitely aggressively unexpected. By now the skyline had centered him a little bit. While Noelle Varanin had to deal with half a dozen, if not more, other petitioners... August was given a reprieve.

Which was spent practicing breathing exercises.

"Oh?" He turned around, leaning against the edge of the wall and studying her. "So, I guess you won't believe the 'Oh, no, I knew exactly who you were and this is all going according to plan'-line." August said with a wry smile, before his gaze swept back up to her eyes.

"You look nice... Jasmine."

He pushed himself off the wall and approached her casually.

As if he was walking in the park, instead of being face-to-face with pure Royalty.

"Well, we got ourselves into quite the complication, didn't we?" Bemused there as he paused in front of her. Did not try and reach out, because that seemed like a bad idea stapled on top of even more bad ideas.

"How are you?" Tone a bit softer.

Well, wasn't that surprising? The first question asked of her was one of personal inquiry. Asking how she was, instead of anything else.

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Her fingers wrung against each other as he approached, her expression still cold and unrevealing.

"Don't call me that," she asserted, not cruel but not kind either. She hadn't bore that tone with him last night. Then again, she was Jasmine last night, and Jasmine had had very little to worry about.

A lot of conflicting things came to mind, each them hard to express. She turned from him, which was probably worse, and crossed her arms around her core instead. A tense silence befell her.

"We should not be in this situation, and I am sorry that we are." She tilted her head and spoke over her shoulder. "But it would best if we put it behind us and focus on the plans you brought for review. Don't you think?" She dared to look up at him then, the offer once again an illusion of choice.

It was clear what she wanted. It was also clear she was afraid he would not give it to her.

 

[August Oreno]

If there was one thing that Noelle Varanin should have taken from last night...

Whenever she pushed? He pushed back.

"Certainly, Jade." A smirk there. The same kind of smirk that had made her want to punch him in the face. The same smirk that had made her slap him in the face. Then again, it had been accompanied with some choice words of his own, so nobody could have blamed Noelle for that. He tilted his head as he studied her lightly.

Definitely not Jasmine now.

All tension and frigid cold, but can you expect anything else from a Queen at court?

"Oh, I am not sorry we are." Leaning in to rest his hand on her shoulder. "I think pretending like nothing happened is a touch silly, my Lady." Murmured there softly with her real title. Still pushing, but in a different way now.

"You are done with the Court for the evening, so I'd say there will be plenty of time to review those plans later."

And the tone offered all kinds of promises alongside with the look he gave her.

 

[Noelle Varanin]

A familiar heat hit her cheeks, her attention dropping to the hand he had placed on her shoulder.

"You forget yourself." She shrugged it off and stepped away, frustration sparking into her voice. "I am your Queen. I say what we do, and I say it was foolish and ill begotten." She turned on him, a frown pulling down her expression.


"It should not have happened, and it will not happen again. "

Silence, her eyes boring into his with intensity that would burn. She was more than panicked, she was furious with herself. Everything felt at risk in that moment. His very presence was a threat, though to what she could not pin point. Adrenaline pumped through her flushed skin.

His gaze was a declaration of war.

She rose her chin and stepped forward. "If you care for the welfare of your House, you will make it a point to remember just who I am and open those plans. Do I make myself clear, Lord Oreno?"

 

[August Oreno]

Noelle Varanin

There was a fine line to tread here and August knew it.

Something told him this stern frozen projection was as much for her own benefit as for his. Perhaps a reminder to herself that she was Queen. If she didn't care at all, she would have already stomped him into the ground the moment he had touched her shoulder.

The Echani way.

But, how much could August push her, before she'd make him pay for it.

That was the question, wasn't it?

"You are my Queen, I do apologize if I seemed I wasn't aware of it." He murmurs apologetically, bowing ever so slightly. It was almost enough to sell it... if she didn't know that tone. But then... she stepped forward instead of making more distance. Wasn't that in itself an invitation? Every movement was communication in their culture.

They both knew it.

Instead of stepping back and supplanting? He stepped in just as well.

"You make yourself very clear, Queen Varanin." August murmured as he took another step in. Practically nose to nose there. "I wouldn't want to do anything that would jeopardize the fate of my House."

Words said one thing... his body language said something entirely else and challenged once more.

 

[Noelle Varanin]

She reacted without thought, the distance he closed speaking clearer than any verbal exchange. Logic would say to go for his knees, to force him down and make him kneel. It was all a power dynamic, one that continued on from the night before.

But she didn't want to force him to bend. She didn't want to make anyone submit. She shoved at his shoulders with a noise of frustration, trying to claim back the space without given up her own.

"Don't play with me. I am not some off world slut, I am not here for games."

 

[August Oreno]

He could clearly see it in her stance.

She had been about to drop him and he probably would have been deserving of it too.

August just didn't know when to quit it. He knew he was playing with ice (get it?) and yet, there was something about her. She shoved at him, but there was force behind it. Not aggression, no, more frustration than actual intent for violence or attack. "Who says I am playing with you, Noelle." And there he pushed back.

His hand settling on her shoulder and pushing her against the wall.

"I am just picking up what you are putting down." His hold on her wasn't hard or possessive. Just... firm. In a way trying his best not to escalate it too much, while at the same time... not giving her the room to flee from the situation the way she wanted to.

"You don't really regret last night." August murmured there, searching for something in her eyes. "Just the complication arising from it right now... but it doesn't have to be difficult, if we don't let it be."

Noelle Varanin

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Her lips parted to protest, but the words never surfaced. Last night she had put a lot of things down. Duty, responsibility, consequence. She saw why he pushed back, he knew her as a different person, but she couldn't be that person. Not here.

Not now.

But his eyes sucked her in, the tension between their bodies pumping tangibly through her veins. She could feel her blood rushed to the surface of her skin. She did not need the alcohol for her body to come alive with that tingling awareness. She didn't pull away, her words turning into mush as she found herself face with one frightening fact.

He was correct.

"That still doesn't make it right," she answered hoarsely, shrugging his hand off. She tried to turn from him and break for some air. Her head was still weighed down by the aftereffects of the alcohol. And he-- dammit-- she reached up to rub her face and get her thoughts straight.

"You should go."

 

[August Oreno]

And there it was.

Confirmation of what August had already assumed before.

He stroked her jaw once, before she shrugged it off. He let her turn away from him. Even if only for a moment. All of this was complicated and truly August had no idea why he was doing it in the first place.

Not for the advantage, that was for sure.

His deal was in jeopardy by playing this game.

"It's like they say..." Noelle could hear from behind her- before feeling that fraction of a step inwards as his arms wrapped around her waist. As if they belonged, breaching that propriety even more. "...if something feels so good, how can it ever be wrong?" Murmured against her hair and into her air. It was a load of croak, of course.

They both knew it.

A romantic whisper that dashed face first into the reality of what they were doing here.

But they had both, separately, known that last night too. It hadn't stopped them then. The security of anonymity ushering them forward. They had already taken that wrong step in the night.

It would be far more difficult to undo it... than to continue wherever it led.

"I should... but I don't think I will."

Noelle Varanin

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Her head completely fogged over, the energy for clear thinking simply not there. Be it the headache, the exhaustion or just the confusing way his presence made logic melt away. She liked the way his arms made her feel. Somehow her body managed to make it matter more than anything else.

It was lust, she realized; a very dangerous emotion.

"...if something feels so good, how can it ever be wrong?"

"Quite easily," she sighed, indulging them both for just a moment before she began to pull away. "I know what you think, but I really can't do this with you, why don't you leave your plans and I will review them when my head is--"

 

[August Oreno]

Giving voice to the reality in a way that shattered the romance.

Or the thin illusion of it, anyway.

For a moment August considered letting her pull away. Re-establish some sort of propriety and let that be that. Surely there were other women, Echani or off-world, that would have less of this BAGGAGE and concern.

There were.

But.

He pulled her back by her arm, making her turn in his arms and before she could argue- leaned in for a kiss. Not a fast one, no, there was still vast opportunity for her to break the spell completely. Maybe a left hook that would slam him down to the ground. But the very least thing he could do was this one last try.

Before the gates were shut completely.

Noelle Varanin

 

[Noelle Varanin]

A noise caught between their lips.

Any Echani worth their salt could have circumvented the grab. She didn't. Her restrained fingers flexed, then stretched for his cheeks. The damn of restraint broke. The ice sloughed off, her motions growing heated as she turned into him and kissed him back. Damn him, damn it all--

She ripped away with a sudden gasp, her chest heaving as she forced space between them. A hand on chest kept him back, her eyeves wide with confusion as stared up at the vixen before her. She stumbled back a step and touched her tingling lips.

"You need to go," she asserted with little conviction. She scrambled for the door he could reach her, careless to the impression she would give the doormen as she ripped it open. She straightened her shoulders, then said again, "This appointment's over. Please see Lord Oreno back to his carriage."

 

[August Oreno]

She didn't and that told him all he needed to know.

The kiss was hard and heavy and spoke far more than any words ever would.

...and it was over far too quick. He didn't try to close the distance again, instead watching her with a self-satisfied DAMNED smile as Noelle tried to make some sense out of the situation.

"Oh, Noelle, but we are only just starting-" And before August should say more, she scrambled away and ripped the door open. Now THAT was truly surprising. August hadn't expected her to go that far, or he might have... done what? What could he have done there. Nothing, really. The Queen remained the Queen and that was that.

His head tilted there quizzically, but then he inclined his head there.

"Of course, your Highness. I am pleased you were willing to hear me out again and I am looking forward to your future correspondence."

Executed without breaking a sweat and far too smooth.

"By your leave." Bowing there, as if he hadn't trampled all over her wishes this entire time and perhaps half the time last night. And only then did August follow suit with the doorman, brushing past her as if nothing at all had happened.

Noelle Varanin