COVID-19 RESOURCES
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

Claymore and Dagger Pt.2

Sitting back beside Julia, Brogan let out a sigh as Fiona disappeared. His facade of strength and ease fell away a bit and showed how exhausted and ill he really was. Between war, Kate and little Brogan's struggle, and the stress of change and violence all around Inverness and her allies, Brogan hadn't been well lately.
 
“It’s the right decision, Love.” Julia said softly as Brogan relaxed beside her, showing his true illness to no one else but her. “Not the stepping aside. You have to do that. Sam will be a great king who will make you very proud.”

Julia took his hand and held into tightly, looking into his exhausted dark gaze. “Would you feel up to an afternoon with our babies? I can go gather them all up.”

She knew Brogan took great pride in his grandchildren, from Danny all the way down to Little Brogan. When he was feeling unwell, she would gather them up to let him have some time away from the stress and strain.
 
Last edited:
"I think all I really want t'do is sleep fer a few months," he muttered, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "Don' know how Ma ever managed."
 
“She had the help of dear friends and a man whom adored her. You’ll just have to settle for me.” Julia teased as she kissed his cheek and stood. “Get some rest, love. I’ll be back with dinner and perhaps Heather and Ashelin.”
 
After sending out orders and receiving reports about his time away, Sam had briefly retreated to his room with Fiona simply to unwind for a moment. He wasn't so much tired as lost in thought as he sat on his knees with his head in Fiona's lap in his room, staring silently at the wall and thinking over the weeks to come.
 
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Fiona asked him softly as she stroked her fingers through his hair gently. “Because I know once you commit to being king, you won’t ever step down.”
 
"It's what I need t'do," he muttered simply, not moving at all. "An' no one else who's fit to do it wants it."
 
"Do you need to do it because you think your family expects it of you or do you need to do it because you know in your heart that this is where you belong?" Fiona asked softly, knowing that he was dealing with some very serious thoughts.
 
"They don' expect it of me. An' it doesn' matter if I belong in th'position. I'm th' only one willing tha' is able an' tha' anyone feels they can trust. An' Da needs t'step down fer 'is own sake, so it can't wait for Heather an' Ashelin, though I doubt they'd want it anyway. An' after tha', it'd start goin' around our cousins tha' don' have experience an' already 'ave families. I'm the obvious choice righ' now. An' so be it." He was thoroughly neutral on the entire subject, and it showed in the blankness of his expression.
 
"You know that I support you no matter what you choose." Fiona said softly, not moving as Sam rested in her lap.
 
Lifting a hand to place over her own on the arm of the chair, Sam closed his eyes and murmured softly, "Yer crazy. An' I love you."
 
"And I love you too, Sam." She said softly as he let her have that little gesture of love, letting he know in his own simple and silent way that he did appreciate her.
 
In the following days, a change came over Sam and Fiona was able to see it first hand. He would not appoint a new general, but he was quickly dividing up his workload to people he trusted, and taking on Brogan's. He proved to be a natural at law and policy, but not in the black-and-white way Fiona had once seen. Unless the letter of the law was clear and absolute, he would rule in favor of common good. Economy proved a challenge of strategy, but Sam treated it like a long war strategy and seemed more than able. It was the more social aspects that he seemed unprepared for, but that didn't ruin his composure in the slightest.

After only a week, Brogan was left with little work as king, his remaining responsibilities all to his own passions and family. Sam had quietly, efficiently, and suddenly taken over and become Crown Prince. His entire workload had changed and yet he seemed unbothered and if he did suffer frustration in the learning curve, he didn't show it for a moment. He kept Fiona near most of the time, letting her see how things were done if she was really to become his wife and a queen in time.
 
Fiona stayed at Sam's side, learning quietly as much as he was willing to teach her. She still tended to their drakes and spoke with the dragons, but her waking hours were with Sam. She didn't want him to feel as if he were alone for a single moment in any of this.

Julia worked with Sam as much as she could, helping his to learn the social side of things. She took his time in the late evening, going over all that he was willing to learn before he retired for the evening.

"I'm proud of you." Julia said softly as she looked across the table at her handsome son, giving him a soft smile as he looked up at her with those dark green eyes. "I know you don't like to show how you feel, but I know you've taken on something so large that it might be pressing down on you. I'm very proud with how you've handled all of this."

She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it tightly as she continued to look her son in the eye. "I want to help you pay for your wedding. Before you start to argue, your Gran left some money behind for everyone to have a lovely little ceremony. She adored love more than you can imagine and she wanted to take care of all of her babies."
 
Sam kept his mother's gaze as she spoke and for a long moment after, that unreadable and focused expression unchanged until he spoke and it softened slightly. "Tha's some ways off, Ma. No need t'worry about it now what with everythin' else goin' on."
 
"It'll be here before you know it, Sam." Julia said with a soft chuckle as he tried to deflect things once again. "How are things with you and Fiona? I know that you had a rough patch but I hope that the two of you are alright now. She's a lovely young woman who cares about you deeply."
 
"She proves daily tha' she means every word she's ever said about supporting me an' loving me... I'm jus' tryin' t'figure out how t'be half as good a man as she deserves. It's no' easy fer me t'be emotional."

Sam glanced down over the papers before them, and simply stacked them together and pushed them aside.
 
"Love, I don't think that's something that anyone can really teach you. It's something that you will have to figure out and be comfortable with." Julia said as Sam stacked away his papers, signaling an end to that part of their evening. "I didn't know if I was ever going to be able to love your father or if he was ever going to be able to show me that he cared about me. Our circumstance was much different, but it took a lot of work to overcome that doubt."

"Things always came easier for Rho. I've watched the two of you since the moment that you were born and I know that he had the easier time of making friends and being social. It was like the two of you were parts that fit together to make a whole person. He could never be as serious about anything as you can." She said with a soft chuckle.
 
"Either way... I won' lose Fiona over somethin' like tha'. I think we're alright now, even if she's always worried about me."
 
"I'm always worried about you too, love." Julia said with a chuckle. "That will never go away. You have the kind of soul that just cries out for someone to take care of them, even if you don't want it."
 
"It's a curse, I know. Your father reacts much the same way to me. He knows that I didn't have a good childhood and he wants so badly to give me everything that I want to make up for that." Julia said, squeezing Sam's hand. "I know you wish the same of Fiona. I think it's why you two are beautiful together. She wants to care for you and you want to care for her."
 
"But we both get frustrated when the other is too stubborn to accept." Sam looked down at his mother's hands, enveloping hers in both his own. "... I appreciate everything ye've done fer me, Ma. Even if I've pulled away most o' the time."
 
"Love, you have been an enigma in my life. I wished that I could have understood you better to help when you were younger, but I always wanted you to know that you were loved." Julia said softly as Sam thanked her for being there for him. "And now you have someone that can show you that in ways that I never could."

The silence between them stretched for a long moment before she spoke again. "I have already paid for a coronation gown for Fiona. I know there are other things on your mind, but you need her at your side. A king is only as strong as the woman at his side."
 
"Hm... I suppose tha' means I'll be a king before I'm a husband. I wasn' expectin' tha' jus' a few weeks ago." Sam still seemed entirely neutral on the whole idea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

HumanBean
Lenny and Candice, a 1x1 thread from "The Island"
Replies
15
Views
437
PennySaver
PennySaver
C
A Tale of Rogue Adventures (LitShark & Curious_Muse)
Replies
14
Views
333
Curious_Muse
C
DarkWarrioress
The Shunned (closed for LoganDarkHolme and DarkWarrioress)
3 4 5
Replies
116
Views
3K
DarkWarrioress
DarkWarrioress
SandyWhitlock
A New Lover(closed to SandyWhitlock and IARainman)
Replies
17
Views
766
Coinhunter51
Coinhunter51
Veroe
The Consolation Prize (V.2)
2
Replies
48
Views
1K
Veroe
Veroe
Back
Top