[ He watches in silence as both her expression and poise adopt an impenetrable aura of tranquility. Her posture, her smile, the way she dares to step near him unafraid and unperturbed, steadfast in her rejection and swift in her execution, causes him to remain silent. She is confident and calm, flawless and vicious at once. The content of her words asides, she delivers another unspoken truth in that very same moment: he has no power over her here. (He never had power over her.)
Kinslayer.
Fitting, in more ways than one. Not only for his brother, but for the Prophecy that Somnus himself has upheld. He had passed down the Ring. He had watched his son, his grandson, great-grandson, and every king and queen thereafter die to it or daemons, as necessary for the world. He had perpetuated the sanctity of the revelation to all kings who came into the Ring after himself, daming them to watch, just as he did, as the rest of their family perished. Had he known this was the fate to which he would condemn his family? No. Had he enjoyed any moment of watching his descendants suffer in life and then in death, their souls jailed to the hostile magic of the Ring? No. But there had been no choice, and to deny it means one would believe their Star is less valuable than a single life-- or a single family, as it were. To defy it means to forfeit the world itself and invoke the Bladekeeper's wrath.
The True King is neither Somnus nor Ardyn, but rather the last of their family. The True King sits the throne. His brother will have the satisfaction that there will be no more kin, none of the Lucis Caelum line. He will know rest. This is all that matters.
Kinslayer is accurate. As for the rest, he needn't prove if he is worthy or not of his family's name, and he has already said he has done as the gods bade for millennia. No defense is needed, as he received his calling as soon as he ascended. Thus, he only has three words for her: ]
On your knees.
[ This is spoken without drawing a breath, the equivalent of sheathing a blade without making a sound, because they are done here. He expects her not to obey, of course, but he means to emphasize how inconsequential her words are to the prophecy. ]
no subject
Kinslayer.
Fitting, in more ways than one. Not only for his brother, but for the Prophecy that Somnus himself has upheld. He had passed down the Ring. He had watched his son, his grandson, great-grandson, and every king and queen thereafter die to it or daemons, as necessary for the world. He had perpetuated the sanctity of the revelation to all kings who came into the Ring after himself, daming them to watch, just as he did, as the rest of their family perished. Had he known this was the fate to which he would condemn his family? No. Had he enjoyed any moment of watching his descendants suffer in life and then in death, their souls jailed to the hostile magic of the Ring? No. But there had been no choice, and to deny it means one would believe their Star is less valuable than a single life-- or a single family, as it were. To defy it means to forfeit the world itself and invoke the Bladekeeper's wrath.
The True King is neither Somnus nor Ardyn, but rather the last of their family. The True King sits the throne. His brother will have the satisfaction that there will be no more kin, none of the Lucis Caelum line. He will know rest. This is all that matters.
Kinslayer is accurate. As for the rest, he needn't prove if he is worthy or not of his family's name, and he has already said he has done as the gods bade for millennia. No defense is needed, as he received his calling as soon as he ascended. Thus, he only has three words for her: ]
On your knees.
[ This is spoken without drawing a breath, the equivalent of sheathing a blade without making a sound, because they are done here. He expects her not to obey, of course, but he means to emphasize how inconsequential her words are to the prophecy. ]