<div class="floatleft">(http://s27.postimg.org/47l5lspvl/Duke_Pantarei_full_452999.jpg)</div><br/><br/>Dalvarien awoke with a start, his thoughts scattered far and wide as the half-breed attempted to sleepily collect them. His crimson hued gaze flitted around the unexpected gloom of his new bedroom. Or what should have been it, anyway. He blinked, concern growing as he came to realise that he was in an unfamiliar situation. Somehow, he had been spirited away and deposited in the middle of what seemed to be a subterranean alcove. Though how deep and where exactly he was, the Eladrin partially of daemonic descent had little idea.<br/><br/>He noted that the air itself seemed old and dead, the ground upon which he lay, hard, dirty and dusty- with his bare feet feeling just how gritty the rock was. Dalvarien rose fluidly, brushing off what clothing he did have on him.<br/><br/>Though he didn't recall undressing at all last night, it seemed he was missing most of his clothes, with what he did have in tatters. He recalled that he had retired to the accommodations he'd been granted by the Imperial princess during his stay in the capital. He'd found himself reading late into the night from a large book he'd taken from his private library before travelling there. Whilst reading, he must have drifted off into a deep sleep.<br/><br/>He knew not why some parts of clothes normally attached to one another were simply missing, as if they'd been torn off by someone. His clothes certainly seemed unkempt, and he vaguely remembered some suspicious words mentioned by the princess. Something about how pleased she was to have such a good-looking man staying in the same building as her, and how she had been waiting for a moment such as this. Unsurprisingly, his overactive imagination took hold of him in that instant, and he unwittingly imagined the kinds of situations he could have ended upon in. Dalvarien blushed heavily, and swallowed at the thought of what the princess might have done to him in his sleep, trying to refocus his thoughts elsewhere, to limited effect.<br/><br/>He sighed faintly, thinking to draw upon his magical affinity to shadows in the dimly lit environs he was now in. That turned out to be futile. His surprisingly feminine mouth opened and closed for a moment as he tried to figure out what was going on. Something was blocking his powers, though he remained ignorant of what. He was quite the pursuer of knowledge, and being ignorant of anything ill suited him. Voices not far away echoed and reverberated into the alcove in which the barely dressed, pale-haired fey currently resided.<br/><br/>For now, he would see what he could make use of, if anything, within the alcove. After that, he would warily consider investigating outside. He had little choice, of course, unless he wanted to dwell here forever, but that was besides the point...<br/>