I Would Ask You To Dance (Mareven)

Part Ten: Part Five (Evangeline)

     The sound of laughing stole my attention from my novel. Elane had told me earlier that she was absolutely in love with the book, so I decided to read it as well. I turned my head to see, coming down the hall, outside of the dinning hall were Maven, Mare, Tolly, and Iris, all excluding the latter covered in water. It was quite possible that they went swimming, but Maven seemed to be happy covered in water. As their laughing got lounder, I turned back around, but I could tell they were nearing my seat in the dining hall. After a few seconds the laughter stopped, but I could tell by the metal rings Iris was wearing, that they were still outside the room.

"Well that was, surprisingly enjoyable," Maven's voice rang out.

I sighed in annoyance and set my book down, "Well no one expects a Burner King to enjoy a swim," Mare laughed, "It reminds me of our night in Notch," so I was right they did go for a swim.

"Will I be seeing you or your sister later today?" Maven inquired.

"I'll be there, Evangeline's busy tonight," I sighed, Tolly was right, I was busy tonight, but I knew that he would vote in Father's favor.

"Well then, I'll see you tonight," Maven answered.

The hall was quiet for a few minutes, but I knew Iris was still there. Eventually she spoke, "Unless you have anything else, I guess I'll be heading out," Iris' voice was quiet.

"Sadly, I have nothing else planned, nor the time to do anything else," sadly? Was my brother beginning to develop some sort of infatuation with the Princess.

"Oh," she also seemed saddened by news, "This was nice, I'll look forward to seeing you again."

"Indeed," Tolly responded.

    After a moment an idea popped into my head. I rushed out if the dinning hall and followed the trail of Iris' ring. As soon as she was in sight, I slipped the off her finger. I closed my eyes and hoped she hadn't noticed, but when I had the ring in my hand and opened my eyes, she seemed unphased. I smiled and gave a small laugh. All I had to do was wait a few minutes and then give Tolly the ring, claiming that Iris must have dropped it. Then Tolly would have to give Iris her ring back, and I would go to vote in Father's place. Normally, I wouldn't care if the Reds were, slaughtered, but now that one has given me the love of my life, I feel like there's more to them that meets the eye.

*****

    Precisely twenty minutes after Iris had left, I gave Tolly the ring. He rushed off to be her knight in shining armor, leaving me to go vote on Maven's bill. I headed back to my room to leave Elane a note. To my knowledge, she should still be home with her family explaining our marriage to them, but we planned on dinner when she got back home in an a hour or so. The Houses where meeting in a quarter of an hour, and I planned on showing up towards the end. As I suspected, Elane wasn't there, so I quickly jotted down where I was and that I'd be late to dinner. I went over to my dresser and and held my hands out. My intricate metal gloves slipped onto my hands and a few of my metal hair pieces fit their way into my hair. Then I slipped out of the clothes I was wearing and into a thin slip. Overtop the slip I decorated myself in metal, forming one of the metallic dress Elane loves. For the finishing touch I slipped into a pair of metal combat boots.

    After I was dressed I walked out toward the conference hall. My goal was to come in just as they were calling for my Father's vote. As usual, Father voted last so I would be able to make quite an entrance. When I made it in front of the door, I paused and pressed my ear against the door. From what Father's told me, there was still a few Houses to cast their votes. The sentinels outside the door looked over towards me, but I waved them off. Now it was time to wait. After ten minutes of with my ear awkwardly pressed to the door, I heard Maven call out my name.

"House Samos, your vote," his voice was audible from outside the room.

Again, "House Samos, Cast your vote now or forfeit your vote."

"It appears that no Samos are present, Your Majesty. Even though the vote is tied, you must have the majority for your bill to go through," I couldn't recognize the voice.

"It appears so," Maven agreed, "With no Samos to cast their vote, we will begin with the slaughtering of the ..." I don't give Maven a chance to finish before bursting through the door.

"Good afternoon Lords," I great overly cheerful, "I'm here on behalf of my father."

There were a few murmurs, "Lady Samos, I'm afraid that as a women, you aren't the head of your House. Only the head of the House, or their heir, can vote on behalf of their house, and Lady Samos, I'm afraid you're not either of those," the same voice from outside retorted.

I cut him a glare and turned to Maven for help. I could tell he was searching for any loophole possible, but Mare beat him to it, "After the attack on Lord Samos, he requested to go back to his estate and spend time with his wife. My betrothed and I informed him that we'd see to it the his children take his place in court. Neither my betrothed nor I specified which of his children would stand in his place," she smirked at me.

"Very well, Lady Titanos," he submitted to her.

"Well then," I smirked, "House Samos votes in favor of His Majesties' bill."

Word Count: 1003

So I know some of you were probably hoping to see the swimming scene with Iris, Tolly, Maven, and Mare. The scene doesn't appear in any of the other chapters, so if you would like me to write the swim scene drop a comment here and I'll get started on it.