Goodbye Hello

"I'll have Miriel bring them tonight after dinner with my mother," Marcus assured his former alave with an easyy wave of his hand.

He was going to be cruel to Miriel to break him in. Nothing the boy would do in the coming weeks would be easy.

"I expect reports of your progress within the ranks on a weekly basis. Send word by letter through the palace courriers."

He wouldnt let his contact with Sigil wane at all. He would still talk to him on at least a weekly basis. He would fight to make it happen.

"I appreciate it."

Sigil replied, if he couldn't see the man it would at least bring him some comfort to be allowed his possessions.

"I'll make sure the reports are thorough and up to standard."

What little time they got together would not be wasted in the slightest.

"Excellent. I dont tolerate sloppy service."
Marcus allowed a small smile up at his Elf. He would miss Sigil's efficiency. He would miss everything about the man.

The Vampires blue eyes turned back to Miriel. "If you continue bunching that fabric in your hands I will remove it entirely from your pperson," he warned.

He wasnt going to have a meek slave that balled up the perfectly neat fabric rhat was given to him.

"I'm not known for sloppy service."

He wouldn't let himself slip just because he was a soldier now.

Miriel gave a soft gasp as he was looked at and released the fabric, he was trying to bunch it in front of his crotch, he didn't want to go into the barracks and have all of those soldiers staring at him.

He could tell what they would be thinking and he wasn't foolish enough to believe that Marcus would protect him.

Marcus amirked. "Coreect me if Im wrong but I remember many nights of sloppy service, hm?"

His good mood dropped as he rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I am not going to last long with a slave as meek as a mouse. How will I survive it?"

He was already regretting picking Miriel. He wondered if there were any new untamed slaves around...

"I don't could it as sloppy if the person being served is thoroughly pleased by said service."

Sigil looked down at the meek little Elf and chuckled, shaking his head.

"He didn't seem so meek back in the Pantry, perhaps your not pressing the right buttons any more Marcus."

A smirk curled at his lips as an idea rolled through his mind.

"He did as he was told because you threatened to take the robe away, I can only imagine that was given to him by the Queen..."

He hinted, he devotion to the Queen seemed to spread further than just speaking ill of her, he treasured what he was gifted enough to be obedient.

"Seems you have a lot of training to do, that, or just eat it."

"I do not like the idea odf using my mother to control a person." Marcus liked doing things with his own power. Using his mothers power and influence? No he didnt like that.

The Vampire sighed.

"I have a lot of training to do if I want him to show me a personality."

He didnt want a mouse for a slave. He wanted a man.

"You should have sourced your own slave if you had wanted something to your...tastes."

Marcus would have been better off dragging an enemy soldier back here and taking them as a pet if he wanted someone that appealed to him.

"Still, you have him now so you'll have to figure it out, if you can, I'm sure this one still has a little fire in there somewhere."

Sigil chuckled and looked down at Miriel who turned away from the larger Elf, instead looking over at the hugely interesting opposing wall.

"Ive seen rhe fire. I just dont know if Im capable of bringing it to the surface without greivous bodily harm." He shrugged his muscular shoulders carelessly.

He would try though.

Perhaps tonights dinner would convince the boy to st opp hiding behind that meek attitude his mother adored.

"You don't know if you're capable? My my, such a defeatist attitude you have Marcus."

Of course Marcus could find a way other than harming the boy to excess to get a reaction out of him.

"If you managed to tame me, you can unleash him."

Sigil wasn't so much tamed as he was quelled, he used his ferocity in other ways, when the time called for it, but he could still play civil when the need arose.

Marcus snorted. "I have never once managed to tame you and in the event that I do ijndee tame you, I feel I would need a medal."

Sigil was untameable and that was just how Marcus liked him.

The three exited the castle and begn through the city towards the barracks and training area.

Sigil gave a casual shrug.

"At the very least I stopped plotting to kill you."

Instead of trying to tame the beast Marcus had befriended it and now it was loyal to him and ready to attack on command in order to defend him.

A dark purr rumbled in Sigil's chest as he saw the training area, the thought of wielding a weapon again was definitely something he looked forward to.

"Did you really?" Marcus didnt believe that.

He was certain that Sigil still plotted his death. He jus believed that the Elf had stopped his attempts at killing him.

"I think I will cheer if this little mouse attmpted to kill me," he hummed.

Now that made him snort a laugh.

"I'd be quite impressed if he tried to killed you, I do wonder how he would try, clearly not strong enough to take you out physically, perhaps poison?

It's a ladies weapon so it suits him perfectly."

Miriel stood there pouting and ignoring them as they walked, he wasn't accustomed to being teased like this so openly.

Marcus nodded.

"Yes perhaps. Though im sure my mother would give ghim anything he would need. Perhaps even aid him."
He was expecting his mother to plot his assassination soon. He was deliberately pushing her as much as he could right now, looking to see if she would retaliate. At four hundred years old he was finally having his real rebellious phase.

"You suspect so? I think she is still clinging to the delusion that you will sit on the throne one day. i doubt she will kill you unless she has another son who is more suited to it."

If the Queen popped out another little monster then perhaps Marcus would need to worry.

At that a small little smile graced Miriel's lips which he promptly tried to hide when Sigil glanced at him.

"What are you smiling about?"

"No one is more suited to the throne than I.." he had been groomed to be the prrfect king.

He knew that Cierra would not have a child as great as he.

With an amused hum he turned his gaze back to Miriel too. "He was smiling? Tell me what you find funny."

"Nothing is funny."

He replied, looking up at Marcus with his usual meek expression.

"I wasn't smiling."

He wasn't about to go blabbing to the Prince about the Queen's plans, no matter how much he intimidated him.

"I smell bullshit in the air."

Marcus span around and bent to glare the boy in the eyes.

"Wont you tell me what made you smile?" He crooned.

Miriel jumped back a step as Marcus span around, shocked by the sudden movement.

He chewed on his lip and shook his head, making sure he didn't give anything away in his expressions.

"It was nothing."

"Brave," the prince murmured, his blue eyes sharp as they pierced the youndg Elf.

He had asked a question and expected it to be answered.

"His clothes are rather creased are they not?" He asked Sigil, not glanccing back at the younger Elf. "I dont much like a scruffy slave. Would you remove them from his person, Sigil?"

Marcus stood straight and turned to carry on walking.

Perhaps now with Sigil starting towards him, he would think to give him an answer.

"No!"

He protested as Sigil tried to undress him, clinging to it. He didn't want to lose the only item of clothing that had been given to him, more than that was the fact that he would be naked walking into the barracks.

He had seen what the soldiers had done when they got their hands on slaves, at least the robe gave him a small chance to cover himself from their gaze to stop any sinister ideas.

After a moments struggle Sigil managed to get the fabric away from Miriel, who stood there looking even more tiny now that he was naked.

His lips pursed together as he glared down at the ground, angry at the both of them for taking him away from the comfort and security of the pantry.

The only person he could really be angry at was himself. If he hadn't have spoken up, he wouldn't have caught Marcus' attention.

"Are you ready to tell me what you found funny?" he called over his shoulder.

The barracks were in sight now; some men lounging around or training outside the large building.

Miriel debated his options for a moment, glancing over at the men standing outside the barracks.

He needed his robe back...

After another failed attempt at snatching it back from Sigil, who held it high in the air where he could no longer reach it, he relented.

"I just...it was amusing that you thought she isn't already attempting to replace you."

Miriel knew quite a lot about the Queen, he had been sat in her lap for a great deal of private conversations and hadn't forgotten their contents.

Marcus' brows shot up. That had taken him by shock. "Of course I know she's attempting."

Did the Elf think he was stupid? "She has been attempting to replace me since I realised that I didn't want the throne." Almost four hundred years. Of course she was trying to replace him.

He wasn't thick enough to believe that Cierra wasn't trying desperately to replace him.

He just new any attempts she made would be useless. She wouldn't find anyone better suited to the throne than he was.