Cage the Beast

It was unusually warm the morning that Ksenia decided to venture out to the shore of the island. Gentle wind played with the strands of hair that were not pinned up away from the girl's face as she made her way down from the castle. The exams would be starting soon and the Slushatel decided that a short stroll by the water's edge would be a good idea before she went back to studying.

Dameon knew he shouldn't be out here on such a morning, due to the effect they had on his sanity and concentration, but he was out here for a defined reason, and if someone knew what - or who - his target was, they would understand.

Either that, or find it rather creepy.

His eyes scanned his sister behind this bush, eyes furrowing. He vaguely wondered why his sister would be outside at such an unbearable heat, anyway.

Ksenia turned her head as she heard footsteps coming from behind her, seeing her brother a few feet away. "Dameon? What are you doing here?" she frowned slightly. Over the past few weeks she had been seeing so much of him. But he was not one to come to talk to her. No, he just watched her from a distance, following her almost wherever she went, watching her with his dark eyes.

Dameon stared at his sister with slight bewilderment, though his eyes remained hard. No one should be surprised with that fact; he was no pussy, or a softie for that matter. He merely cleared his throat and let the silence last before he answered. "I am merely enjoying the spring breeze, Sister. What are you doing out here?"

Of course he was lying; there was no way he was revealing to his sister about his true intentions.

"Who do you take me for?" Ksenia growled as she stepped closer to her brother. "One of those foolish girls who have been following you around the school who would die happy if the great Volans Lord just spoke one word to them? You've been following me around for a while. A person who has been hiding for so many years would notice that!" she snapped at him, her anger spilling out of her. There were too many blades pointed at her at any given time and it was getting harder and harder to stay quiet, to endure silently.

The Slushatel sighed, lowering her head and running her hands through her hair. "What do you want, Dameon?" she asked as she looked up at him once again, her voice dark and tired.

"Oh dear no!" Dameon replied, in half shock. Mentally, he tried to suppress the giggles that would come upon his face; he wondered why girls would chase him around the school. He had never thought of himself as one with an appealing face, or an appealing body either, come to think of it. Sure, some of the girls hooted when he was around, but he had never thought much of it except for the fact that their hormones were acting up. "You are far too clever for that, and I sincerely doubt our forefathers would approve of an incestuous relationship."

Wasn't there a book about a pair of fraternal twins that bore three children together somewhere far away?

"I want to keep you safe and secure," the Hrabrost reasoned, his voice an everlasting monotone, "what else do you think I want?"

Ksenia couldn't help but gape at him for a few moments. "Excuse me?" she said, narrowing her eyes, never expecting anything concerning incest to come up.

"Well, thank you for your concern, but as you can see I have been fine inside this school for the past five years. I highly doubt than anyone is going to come out and jump at me from behind one of those bushes," she stated coldly, not at all pleased to hear his answer.

"Well, you were the one who put out the idea of you not being one of the girls who followed me around, and if 'the great Volans Lord', as thou hath called me, spoke one word to them they would die happy!" conjectured Dameon, cocking his head to one side, "and that is what I thought of!" He then spat, "I wouldn't want you, anyway; you're not my type. For one thing, you're not pretty enough. Haven't you heard of lipstick, sister?"

The young gentleman raised his eyebrows, "That's because no one knows you're here for the past five years, you bumbling idiot. Now that word is out, one day you'll be dead. And don't put any of that 'everyone dies' shit out there."

Ksenia just stared at him as he talked, not saying anything in return. She shook her head, fully intent on dropping the subject. She had no idea how they even ended up talking about something like this. All he seemed to be doing now is insulting her.

"What word?" Ksenia snapped at him. "The word that you cannot seem to stay away from me? Do you even realise that you yourself would be the main contributing fact to me being found?" she yelled at him. "'Everyone dies'? Is that what you think I would say?" she snarled at him. "Contrary to your belief, you are not the only person concerned with my safety in this school and I don't see anyone else following me around!"

Meon shook his head. "It's okay, Ksenia. Denial is a symptom of you having a crush on me," he mused, even though he would usually frown at this sort of clishmaclaver. Merlin, this was fun. And hilarious. And a fruitful way of spending his morning. Who knew Ksenia had such a terrible temper?

"You have a point," Meon agreed, firmly nodding his head, "alas! - there are other factors too, and do you not know how stealthy I can be? I can hide better than you can - I've hidden for sixteen years, and I'm only found because I had to be found!" He then stared at his sister, ignoring her words.

Ksenia wasn't exactly sure what she was doing when her hand flew up and collided with the side of his face. She watched, her face frozen as his head turned from the force behind her strike. "Save your jokes for your little fan club," she said quietly, the words coming out darker than one would expect from a small girl like her.

"I don't care how stealthy you can be. You are creating more work for yourself where there is none. And you are taking away the last bits of privacy I have left. But that does not concern you, does it?" she frowned up at him as she asked the question. He was just like the rest of them, like Valec and the others, not carrying one bit about her own opinion.

Dameon suppressed his urge to laugh at the mention of him having a fan club. Sure, he knew a lot of girls that fancied him and tried to grab his attention, but none of them were special to be his, and the mere thought of him being the idol of a group of girls was absurd. "Really, Ksenia?" he asked, "a fan club for me? Oh perish the thought! Don't you realize how idiotic that sounds?"

A handprint was smeared across his face, and he could feel fire igniting in his veins. The slap didn't hurt, but the humiliation that came afterwards stung him more painfully than thousands of fatal wasp stings. Too soon it was that his rage that his rage took hold of him, leading to him grabbing his sister by the shirt.

"Listen to me, you little shit!" snarled the Hrabrost, his eyes staring daggers at his sister's, "I don't care about the miserable life but hit me one more time and I will destroy you." He pulled Ksenia closer towards him, gritting his teeth. "I will not let the world find out that the last Volans girl has no manners, and is as ugly as a crow. If need be, I'll find a man you detest with the looks, the reputation and the money, and I don't care how badly he fucks you as long as you please him and we're back on the top of the food chain. Understand?"

Ksenia couldn't help but gaps slightly as he grabbed her shrt, yet her expression remained straight. She listened to what he said, keeping a cold expression on her face. "Than I suggest you start looking for him," she said evenly, looking into his eyes. "And do make sure that he doesn't perish into dust if someone swings a sword at him," she stated before stepping back from him. She was glad tht he at least stopped teasing her like a child and turned more serious.

"Why, I am only trying to return your humor, brother," she said with her back to him as she watched the water. Her whole composure was too calm for a girl who had just been threatened by her own brother, but in fact this situation was nothing the Slushatel was not used to.

Dameon rolled his eyes, though this was an outward gesture he did not do often. "Oh my God, Ksenia," he snapped, "do you think I have the time to pull of such a trivial yet vital task? I'm not going to play Cupid between you and whatever fellow comes your way." A lightbulb lit up in his head. "I think I'll get you to marry Valec. He seems like a gentleman, most of the time," he mused, letting go of his sister's shirt, "he seems able as well, physically, emotionally, mentally. What a joy! What do you think of him?"

Ksenia's calmness earned her a seal of approval from the enraged Hrabrost, who was now confident of her sister's stomach in tense situations. "And what sort of humour is that?" he replied sharply.

Ksenia rolled her own eyes at his words though he wouldn't have been able to see that with her back turned to him. He really couldn't make up his mind on how important the fact of finding a suitor was.

As she heard his next words, the Slushatel couldn't help but raise her head and laugh, a strong genuine amused laugh. "Valec is a wonderful choice, I have to agree with you, Brother. If you could convince him to agree to this marriage that is. He is a coward when it comes to commitment," she said with a smirk, remembering the kiss that they have shared not too long ago.

"Your type of humour is more of an incestuous kind. Mine would be more appropriate, I would say," she stated plainly. The hair that framed her face was swept up gently by the wind as she stood on the edge of the cliff, unmoving.

"And how would you know that?" argued the Hrabrost, a perverted notion playing in his mind. God, how he had changed since he had arrived in this institution. It was as if he was still ten years old and learning about the sexual joys of the adult world, "Tell me, Ksenia, have you and Valec ever consummated or performed any sexual ritual? Don't be shy if you did."

Meon let out a small laugh, and as genuine as it was it still sounded rather hollow. Well, he couldn't control what he couldn't control. "I do not have incestuous humour, sister!" he moaned, though his tone stayed perfectly still, "I never suggested that you should marry me, or I marry you, or that we should bear a child together or anything!"

The breeze seemed to halt then.

Ksenia turned around to face him as he asked the questions. "I kissed him," she said simply. She was not one to be intimidated by a few simple threats, she had gone past that point a couple years ago. "Who knew that actually kissing the manwhore would stop him from pursuing me as a toy for his own sexual pleasure," she said with some disgust laced in her words. She raised her eyebrows at his choice of words. Sexual rituals? What on magical earth did he mean by that?

"Will you please shut up about that subject," Ksenia snapped at him, some level of politeness still present in her words. Slapping him didn't appear to help the situation as she had hoped.

".. so you have performed a sexual ritual with him?" Dameon asked, trying to make sense of his sister's words. A coy smirk began to play on his face despite his sister's disgust of the thought of kissing Valec, "Well, what a joy! Tell me, was he able? And you must have been one... terrible kiss for him to stop fancying you. What a pity." He shook his head, hanging it in shame.

At Ksenia's temper, Meon started laughing. A loud, low, hollow laugh.

Ksenia just blinked at him for a couple seconds. "I think I will go back to the common room. I had enough of your lovely personality for one day," she snapped at him before walking back towards the castle. He was already giving her a headache they haven't even known each other for that long. Perhaps it was a good thing that they did not grow up together. She would have surely killed him over those long years.