Not only did Kethaias not burst immediately into a tirade or demands for Teleyard's head, but he seemed willing--with a little exasperation but willing all the same--to go along with the mood shift Ryland designed.<br/><br/>"What's this?" Ryland said, his smile edging just a bit wider as Kethaias brought out the box. "Another gift?"<br/><br/>He still had the scarf on as his necktie, and the pin was handsomely made to match. Ryland was still as Kethaias' hands worked near his throat at his cloak, and Ryland looked up warmly at him withouth lifting his chin.<br/><br/><i>Why do you care whether or not I come across as charming?</i><br/><br/>Ryland's expression stayed as it was, not even a flicker of anything else passing over it than what he had displayed before, save amusement. Just as Kethaias was drawing back his hand, Ryland turned his head down so that his lips brushed a withdrawing knuckle.<br/><br/><i>Surely you would find it easier to argue any attempt I make to ask your family for your hand if they all thought me a... barbarian.</i><br/><br/>"Well, you have been warned that I am foolish," he said, and then shrugged.<br/><br/>And he said nothing more about it. Kethaias, too, was content to drop the subject and move on to the invitation to lunch. Ryland thought that simple brush off might be the end of things, but then Kethaias caught his hand up again and spoke.<br/><br/>Ryland listened, his expression only cooling slightly.<br/><br/><i>I</i>am<i>a brute and a dangerous man, one who might have left the loose-tongued bastard gutted in the entrance hall had some dazzling and powerful beauty not been firmly attached to my sword arm.</i><br/><br/>Ryland kept his thoughts to himself, simply blinking back at him, perhaps a little too wide-eyed about it to be convincingly ignorant but at least enough to convey a sense of disinterest. It was as though he was saying,<i>yes, I was. So what?</i><br/><br/><i>But it is hardly the whole story, is it?</i><br/><br/>It was a blatant invitation: come and know the man underneath the crown. Ryland might have flung back:<i>Those are the only parts of the story which concern me.</i>But that would have chased Kethaias right off, wounded whether he was drunk or not. And Ryland... didn't he want to run Kethaias off?<br/><br/>Well, not yet, at least.<br/><br/>"Pleasant dreams," Ryland said, smiling gently and giving Kethaias' hand a parting squeeze.<br/><br/>He let Kethaias go down the hall first, and only when he was far down along it in the flickering spelled lights did Ryland start down himself. Halfway down, Kethaias was in his room and Ryland could safely speed up and retreat into his own.<br/><br/>It would feel exceedingly good to throw a tantrum in his room and then sleep among the mess of it, Ryland thought, so that was what he did. He even dragged down the sheets and pillows from the bed and made an angry nest.<br/><br/>The morning was unkind. Light had barely broken through the window (which meant it was well into morning, given the mountains blocking the sun for hours, but early enough in Ryland's consideration) before Gharreld was imposing on him. Muffled curses tracked his progress through Ryland's sacked room until he could fling open the curtains. Ryland stirred enough to look and see who it was and then pulled his blanket over his head.<br/><br/>The blanket was yanked back. Gharreld's breath had been polished with ash and sweetened with mint and he looked still decidedly pale and not a little coldly furious.<br/><br/>"So the barbarian has made you an offer," Gharreld said. "I suppose I should be at least grateful that you defended him against Teleyard."<br/><br/>Ryland pursed his lips, still buried in his nest. "You may thank me by defending me from<i>him</i>, then."<br/><br/>"Have you thought at all about the sort of<i>advantage</i>--"<br/><br/>"Oh, dear stars," Ryland said, and rolled over.<br/><br/>"--that such an alliance would bring us? Not to mention--"<br/><br/>Ryland pulled a pillow over his face and then had it wrenched from him. He put his hands over his ears instead.<br/><br/>"--the sort of luxury you would live in. This is the best offer<i>you</i>will--"<br/><br/>"La la la!"<br/><br/>"--ever<i>get.</i>It's practically an insult that it's<i>you</i>he wants."<br/><br/>Ryland threw his hands down. "You will resign me to live away from friends and family forever, always at the mercy of assassins, with a husband forever away at some war or other. You do not love me," he said piteously.<br/><br/>For a moment, Gharreld's expression dropped. He paused for a moment, and then said, with uncharacteristic gentleness, "Perhaps we ought to talk about all this with the rest of our family."<br/><br/>Ryland continued looking at him.<br/><br/>"It is not that I don't love you, brother, but you have a<i>duty</i>according to your birth--"<br/><br/>With a huff, Ryland sat up. "I have an appointment to keep. Thank you for so clearly illuminating your depth of affection for me."<br/><br/>Gharreld said, with a touch of the old anger, "Ryland--"<br/><br/>Ryland swatted him in the face with a pillow, hauled himself up, and barricaded himself in his bathroom. When he came back out, Gharreld was gone, but there was a note stood up on his desk--which he ignored--and the servants had made a good first pass on cleaning up his mess.<br/><br/>There was a long moment wherein Ryland considered, as he dropped on an expensive carpet, not sending anyone to Kethaias' rooms to see about lunch. He could pretend the emperor-king simply didn't exist from then on. It would certainly suit him to drive Kethaias away, and he didn't think it would take much, either.<br/><br/>Kethaias was being careful. For all his posturing and blustering, he had yet to do anything more than throw a tantrum in the theatre. He wasn't taking what he wanted. Though the threat was there. It suited Ryland to paint him as a gentleman, because a gentleman would acknowledge a refusal based on feelings. The problem was how long it suited Kethaias to play at that. Long enough that Banque would recoil the moment he turned truly barbaric?<br/><br/>But no threat of war or embargo would intimidate Kethaias, would it?<br/><br/>Ryland recognized that he was fighting quite alone with nothing for a weapon except his feelings. And all his attempts to look ridiculous, foolish, unconcerned, and stupid were being thwarted by the need to avert outright bloodshed and eventual war. Which only raised his esteem in Kethaias' eyes.<br/><br/>Ryland considered if he was above begging. No. He wasn't. But it hadn't come to that yet. Perhaps he could just be spectacularly awful in bed, but he had the feeling Kethaias would only take that as a challenge and an invitation to teach him.<br/><br/>Or he could win his bet.<br/><br/>He dressed and went to pick up Kethaias himself. Either the man would be delayed at the morning meetings as Ryalnd's father had obviously got wind of Teleyard's transgression, or he would have wiggled out with the express purpose of preparing to go out with Ryland for lunch.<br/><br/>Ryland had pierced the new pin through the breast of his coat in plain sight--anything that might elicit a reflexive smile--and knocked on Kethaias' door.