His Little Assassin [Archer2112 x MissHotCoco]

[MissHotCoco]

Name: Adriana Leslie DeMond
Nickname: Audrey
Age: 19
Occupation: Child of Death
Brief Personality: Audrey is a very determined spirit. She will do anything the convent of death tells her to do. She is extremely loyal to those who respect and honor her father. Usually very serious, it takes a special person to get her to show her true emotions. She wants to be the best and do her best at all times. Following her rules and keeping her honor are her most important things in life. She believes she is a pawn in her father's world and doesn't deserve a life of her own. She was made to follow and serve.
History: Sired by the God of death, girls born with a special birthmark used to be killed on sight by nonbelievers, unless the mother was lucky enough to get them to the convent of death before anyone found out about her tryst with the god resulting in pregnancy. Audrey is one of these girls but her mother didn't get to take her. She was aided by their neighbor, a simple farmer with the belief of the old gods. While her mother's husband beat her for the affair, the farmer stole Adriana away and took her straight to the convent. There she lived her life being raised by the sisters there, older daughters of Death. She was taught to read, write, mix potions, use all kinds of weaponry, slip through the shadows, and use the art of seducing a man. Since she was 16 years old, she's been on missions outside of the convent. Spying, killing, and gathering all sorts of information in hopes of gaining the ability to see Death's wishes on her own. For 3 years she had side missions, until her next task could change the future.

She's been assigned to spy in the Kingdom, mainly the King, the Prince, and all the royals. The perfect cover came in the form of being a Lady vying for the Prince's proposal. The King thinks it time for the Prince to marry and has sent out invitations for all high class women, even the princess of the warring kingdom. Her goal is to figure out who is against the King; report them or eliminate them as well as eliminating the marked. All while being under the disguise of a Lady wanting to become Queen.

[Archer2112]

Prince Julian de Wessex

Prince of Aradin

Age 21

Julian frowned as he walked through the grand archway of the palace, to meet the new arrivals. It had been carefully arranged of course as no one suitor could be favored with even a moment of his attention before the others. He would prefer to skip the pretenses if he could, but his father insisted on the pomp and circumstance. To be honest he would not truly mind, if it weren’t that his father was ignoring everything else that he should do. People were suffering, dying and his father was doing nothing to help them. Instead he was having balls, and trying to host a party for his son. It was vexing to him beyond the bounds of stubborn son and father.

But Julian could not openly defy his father, even in private the man practically ignored him. It was a troubling thing for him, to know that his father felt and thought so little of him that he could not even be bothered with his son’s opinions. All he could hope is that this would enough to distract his father from the executions he was fond of using as a means of quelling the outcries from their people. Even in the palace there were whispers of the revolution. The tragedy was that Julian sometimes wondered if it wouldn’t be better if the people did revolt. It was a terrible thought especially as it would certainly mean that his father would be killed.

‘Me too most likely,’ he thought grimly while walking along the corridor, his fine boots hugging his strong calves. Julian had not adopted his father’s habits of gluttony, sex and letting himself grow fat and lazy. Despite having no wars, the prince trained regularly with the sword master, he was rigourous in his training not missing a day, the movement within the hall was that of a warrior ready for action. There had been would-be assassins in the palace, though they were often just hungry men in need of coin. Julian hadn’t told his father about it. He had sent the man away with a few coins and sent him away.

He just knew that there would come a day when the assassin might not be stopped. He missed his mother, she had been the point that had kept his father grounded. Though he was certain that his father was having numerous affairs, his mother had never strayed. She had often tried to steer the king to the best affairs, but now she was gone, Julian was trying to follow her ideals even if his father had not. As he walked towards the great hall he paused by the door steeling himself to greet his guests.

Opening the door his face was the mask of political neutrality, even at the beginning he could not be perceived to show any favoritism to any of the ladies. “Greetings to all of you, I am honored to welcome you to the palace. I regret my father could not be here to greet you as well, but he was drawn away by affairs of state.” Julian had become quite adept at lying for his father’s benefit. It was one of his most practiced talents but he smiled at them.

“My attendants will see to your chambers and ensure that you have your needs seen to,” he didn’t need Reginald’s subtle prodding to remind him. The old many was always trying to remind him of protocol. He was not going to get out without meeting and greeting each woman individually. He began at the end of the line and smiled a bit wryly at the positioning of the women. Their chief rival, the  Princess Diana of Korrawyn, was first in line because the first had the chance of catching his eye before he had even heard the other women’s names.

“Greetings your highness, it is an honor to have you here,” he bowed and kissed the back of her hand. The fact was that he hoped to discus peace with her to at least end the war. His eyes glanced down the line curious at a woman at the end of the row. Something about her was different as he moved down the row greeting the other women in turn. Slowly he stood before her bowing and meeting her eyes.

“And you are?” He knew her of course, or suspected who she was. The order had notified him that he should anticipate their agent’s arrival. He had been given very little information but he knew the other ladies in the line. She was the only stranger in the line.

[MissHotCoco]

Adriana was headed into new territory, though her fear and anticipation did not show on her face. Not only would she be surrounded by a bunch of pompous women, but she would be meeting the man these women would be fighting over. The Prince was one she never thought she would be facing. Lords, Ladies and other lower royalty ranks were people she had met and, well ended or dined with or seduced. At least in this situation she only need to report to the Prince rather than hurt or seduce him. Though she had to act like she was trying to do the latter.

She had spent long hours the past week learning everything the Convent already knew about all the ladies who had been chosen as well as anyone else who was stationed at the palace. They made her practice her walk, her talk, how to dress, even though she had been taught it all since she was old enough to talk and walk. Things weren't that different in the palace than what she'd already learned just to take down some Lord's sons in a tavern. But now was the real test. She wasn't doing a quick in and out. This could take a while, so her skills needed to come into play now more than ever.

The castle was just as she imagined. As she exited her luxury carriage, she took in the beautiful scenery. This was a wonder she didn't have to fake. The Convent seemed so gloomy and claustrophobic. She made her way inside and allowed herself to be escorted to the ballroom where she would be greeted by the King and Prince. No one told her that the other girls were arriving with her, so she was surprised to see the other girls. They were all recognizable, especially Princess Diana of Korrawyn. Knowing her own beauty, Audriana figured that Diana was her only competition in that department. Although she was good at every kind of "womanly" hobby, she was supposed to choose the ones she should be quite terrible at.

She kept her head up as she entered the space, feeling all eyes on her. Being the odd girl out would definitely give her some unneeded attention. Lord Byron DeMond had many daughters, though it was rumored that none of them would be coming since the rumors said they were all ugly. The Convent paid Lord DeMond generously to allow Adriana to use his name and to play along if anyone asked if Adriana was truly his. The other girls whispered as Adriana made her way to the end of the line that was forming. Part of her wanted to be as far away from Diana as possible, for now.

The doors opened and the Prince entered, everyone fell quiet. Audrey looked him up and down, trying to figure out the way into his facade. He wore his politically royal face well and it looked like it could be real. She wondered if it was just a facade. He could be going down the road of being as mad or madder than his father. Not much was known about the Prince in the Convent because he wasn't paraded around much by the King. She watched him as he made his way down the line, using his royal greeting to all the women.

When he reached Adriana, she fought a blush. He was much more attractive than she heard, nothing like the fat and pompous lesser royalty that she was used to dealing with. This was all about business. She made eye contact with him as she curtsied. "Lady Audriana Leslie DeMond, Your Highness." The other girls were listening in and gasped as they turned to each other with 'I knew it' and 'I told you so'. Princess Diana seemed to be the only one that wasn't impressed. She kept a delicate smile on her face as she continued to talk to the Prince. "It is a pleasure. I believe that I can speak for all of us when I say thank you for greeting us, My Prince."

[Archer2112]

The prince looked at the woman, pleasantly surprised at the addition, he too knew of the Lord DeMond’s daughters and their...reputation. To find one who was not only passible but attractive was certainly a relief. He stepped back to stand equally center of the line and gave a fluid bow, “My ladies all, the palace is certainly brighter for your beauteous presence, if you will join me in short time within the dining hall we shall have a grand banquet prepared for your arrival.” Indeed it was all but prepared and had been for days. He knew that the party would be extravagant, his father was not one for subtlety these days, and he welcomed any chance to remind people of his power, ‘we’ll be lucky if there are not riots in the street.’ People were starving and his father was throwing balls.

He kept his face neutral, another necessary skill when dealing with a mad king, “I look forward to your company.” It would be a ball and that meant dancing, the ladies would have a fair chance to spend time with him personally. Once more he bowed and an attendant for each lady would come forward to take them to their rooms. The maids were quiet at first, they had become accustomed to quiet lest they earn the King’s fitful eye. Though the Prince was protective he could only do so much as Julian turned to make his own preparations. Princess Diana watched him go with a narrowing of her eyes, it seemed that she had expected much more from the prince due to her status. Well Julian was not going to give her a private audience unless it was to discuss the peace treaty, seeing nothing more the be gained she followed her maid as if spurring a horse.

Another meek maid curtsied before Adriana and spoke softly, “If my lady will follow me I will show you to your room.” She turned prepared to lead the lady away. Julian was already up a servant’s stairwell watching the women depart. He knew them all except for the strange one, her name identified her but there was something about her the piqued his curiosity. He wasn’t to show favoratism lest he start another war, it seemed foolish that his preferring one or another would be a cause for war, but then nobility was a fickle lot and he had to follow the rules. Even to his own heart. “Bah what a thing.” He muttered to himself.