Wriothesely's POV
"Feeling better now?" I asked, somewhat amused.
I somehow ended up braiding Neuvillette's hair.
Well, trying to anyway.
His tail swishing back and forth was sabotaging my work.
"Hmm. All good now."
Mostly good would probably be more accurate.
But at least he had calmed down.
We have been down here for over half an hour at this point.
As I tied his hair, I prepared myself to ask the question that had to be asked before we went anywhere.
"Will you speak to Lady Furina?"
He stiffened, understandably so.
But please, Neuvillette. Don't push it down.
"I- I should. Even if I wished to frighten her, I went way too far. I should apologize."
I just smiled upon hearing his answer.
"Shall I accompany you?"
He turned around, his eyes shining with hope.
"You would?"
"Well, of course. There is nothing more important than accompanying my dear dragon to solve his problems."
He blushed and his tail began to wag even more enthusiastically than before.
He probably noticed the change as he quickly slapped his hand over the misbehaving limb, stopping it from moving.
"You should not call a dragon you own." He mumbled, breaking eye contact.
"Weren't you the one who started it?"
"When did I-"
"Don't you dare a hand on what's mine." I repeated his words back to him
He flinched.
"Dragons are very possessive..." He tried to explain himself.
"So I should be yours but you can't be mine?"
He stayed silent, probably not knowing how to answer.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but we humans are incredibly selfish and our possessiveness hardly loses to a dragon's, I can assure you."
A blush slowly made its way up his neck, but he still refused to look at me.
"You'll just have to get used to being mine, my dear dragon."
"Fine." He spat out almost instantaneously.
Oh?
"So I can call you mine?"
"Do whatever you want."
He was acting like he didn't care, but his twitching tail nearly escaped his hold.
Pfft!
"Neuv."
Another twitch.
"My Neuvillette."
And another.
"My beloved dragon."
And that seemed to do it.
Before I knew it, I was lying on my back, Neuvillette towering over me.
"Cease your teasing this instant, Wriothesely!" He hissed.
"Or else?"
"You do not wish to provoke-"
Why did he stop?
"Neuv?"
"Provoko... Provoke... Where exactly did you leave Furina?"
While I don't know where this came from...
"I didn't exactly leave her anywhere. She snapped her fingers and I was down here the next second."
"But she was still at the Opera Eclipse."
"Yeah. As far as I know."
"What about the Knave?"
"She was still in the hallway last time I saw her-"
Wait.
"You don't think-"
"Damn it!"
his hand came down next to my head, leaving a dent in the floor.
"Neuv-"
"We should go. Right now."
"Wha-"
"She tried to kill her last time!"
The next second I found myself getting grabbed by the collar and yanked up.
"Stand still for a moment."
And without having time to process, I was drawn into his arms and surrounded by boundless blue.
The next thing I knew we were standing right in front of the door of the room where we had our most unpleasant conversation with the Knave.
Well, I was.
Neuvillette was nowhere to be seen and the room was left ajar.
I pushed it open and was faced with...
"Neuvillette, wait!"
Lady Furina was sitting on the floor, looking frightened out of her wits as Neuvillette stood in front of her, holding the harbinger by her throat.
"What wait?! She tried to kill Furina!"
Yeah, I got that much from the fact that you're strangling her.
And you-
I glared at the harbinger.
Did you really have to try something like this right when I succeeded in calming him down?!
If Neuvillette wasn't strangling you already, I would have done so myself!
But right now...
"You cannot kill her."
"Oh, and why not? As mysteriously as she appeared in Fontaine, I can make her disappear just the same."
Good god!
I had never seen Neuvillette this pissed off.
His killing intent was so strong that even I felt like I was suffocating and it wasn't even directed at me.
"The cryo archon-"
"Are you suggesting someone like her could do anything against me?" His tone was full of fury, pride, and arrogance.
Suddenly, I didn't know how to answer.
Neuvillette apparently took that as a yes.
"Oh, trust me, Wriothesely, the conversation on comparing a Sovereign's power to an archon's is not one you would like to be having with me in this state."
A clear warning.
Say another word in that direction and you'll regret it.
So I went in another one.
"They will trouble Lady Furina."
"They dare?!"
Okay, wrong direction.
"A warning would be-"
"A warning would be a most fitting thing indeed. Ripping her apart and throwing her at the Tsaritsa's feet would be quite adequate."
This reckless homicidal dragon!
He's too pissed to think about the political mess that would come from killing a harbinger.
Or maybe he knows he just doesn't care.
Oh!
Maybe this...
"Neuvillette, your the Iudex fo Fontaine-"
"Well, maybe it's about time I retire."
Oh. My. God!
How the hell am I supposed to get it through to him that he shouldn't kill that harbinger?!
Screw it!
Seeing as how talking wasn't doing the trick, I decided to take action instead.
Do something shocking enough and he's bound to drop her, right?
So...
How should I go about this?
What have I done that shocked him before?
Pointing out his draconic features is one thing that does the trick, but he isn't so far gone that those showed up-
Oh.
Right.
That should do.
I walked up to him and with one swift action yanked his head slightly lower by his horn.
"Down."
"You-"
"Put her down, I said."
Two things happened as consequences of my actions.
One: The Knave was dropped almost instantly.
Two: Neuvillette retreated no less than ten steps away from me.
I was just about to apologize when-
"Not out in public!" He hissed.
Oh.
Oh wow...
I was not expecting that.
What a surprising yet pleasant development.
I had the urge to tease the flustered dragon, but he composed himself a little too quickly.
"Wriothesely, take Furina and stand outside for a moment."
A was going to protest-
"I won't kill her."
Really?
I cast a doubtful glance at him and he actually had the face to sigh like it wasn't him amidst a murderous rage just moments ago.
"I promise I won't kill her."
Is that supposed to make him feel more trustworthy?
"Just take her and go outside. I'll be right there in a moment."
Fine.
I'll trust you for now.
I knelt down next to the archon.
"Lady Furina? Lady Furina?"
She was unresponsive, just staring in front of her blankly.
Having no other choice, I looked up at Neuvillette.
"Would she mind if I-"
"Just carry her."
And I did.
I picked up the frightened archon and carried her outside, throwing Neuvillette another warning glance before closing the door.
~
Neuvillette's POV
I watched as the door fell shut with a small reassuring smile on my face.
A smile that faded as soon as I lost sight of Wriothesely.
Don't worry, my dear, I won't kill her.
She might wish she was dead by the end of it though.
The Knave was in a situation not so different from Furina, only she was still able to react to my movements.
I knelt down in front of her and spoke in a very soft tone.
"I promised Wriothesely that I won't kill you, so you will live. You will live to go and warn your archon.
You shall go back to Snezhnaya and tell her that should I see another harbinger within the borders of Fontaine, not only will they be ripped apart limb from limb, but I will personally deliver their remains to her doorstep.
Then, she will find out just what the consequences of angering one of the Seven Sovereigns are.
Understood?"
Silence.
"Do you understand?"
"Y-yes sir." She managed to say eventually.
Oh?
She can still speak?
She's quite the strong one.
Then I might be able to push it just a bit further.
I reached out and tapped my finger against her forehead.
"Enjoy those on your way back."
Nightmares even worse than the man who dared to try and touch what's mine.
As I walked towards the door I put on a more relaxed and pleasant expression.
I opened the door only to have Wriothesely trying to glance suspiciously over my shoulder.
"What did you do?"
"I just gave her a simple warning and told her to leave and never return." I smiled.
His brows furrowed for a moment but he eventually relaxed.
"If you say so. Fine."
Hmm?
Do I have this much credit?
He seems to trust me a little too much. Especially after what happened earlier.
"Here. Take your archon." He pushed Furina towards me.
"Technically, she's your archon."
"Just take her, will you." He groaned.
While the two of them were joking around, Arlecchino was left in a rather dire state.
Plagued by Neuvillette's warning as well as the flickering image of a gigantic creature with a pair of piercing blue eyes swimming within her mind, it took her quite a while to be able to move at all.
Eventually, it was Veleda who snapped her out of her daze, tapping her cheeks a few times till her eyes finally focused.
"Who-"
"You should leave. Get up and run as far away as you can before he changes his mind."
And that was the very last warning she got.
A warning from the melusines who had felt the dragon's pure rage and intent to kill.