Alister x Nadia

Nadia had been undressing for the night, struggling to undo the ties from the back of her form fitting green dress. Hearing Alister's voice, she swept out into the main room and approached him before spinning around to expose her back to him, "Untie me," she asked of him, sweeping her long hair to one side and casting him an impish look over one shoulder, "Please," she added. She did not miss the concentrated look on his face and assumed he had come to speak with her for a reason, so she waited patiently, having an idea of what was on his mind.

Nadia shivered at his touch, allowing the dress to fall and pool at her ankles so that she was left in only a sheer dress slip. She turned in his arms and reached up to graze her fingers along his jaw line, studying his eyes, "I'm aware," she murmured, though she wished she could forget about the politics and drag him to bed, "The messenger from Tdjadmir," she said suddenly, as though reading his mind, "I spoke with him earlier. He insists that I am lying about Yasmin, though I gave him no reason to suspect such a thing. The guards are holding him in his room. He should be expecting you soon."

She slipped away from him then, flitting across the room to a window that overlooked the castle grounds, "His name Knox. I knew him from my childhood," she admitted, glancing back at Alister to observe his reaction. It complicated things, to some extent.

Were they close? Perhaps they had been at one point in time. But she hadn't seen him in many, many years. And the boy she remembered was brainwashed by the Royal Family, just as she had been before she met Alister, "Not really. I hadn't seen him since we were young." Nadia pursed her lips, studying him as she recalled their conversation, "I told him what we had discussed. That Yasmin had a difficult time adjusting to life here, and the massacre at her wedding pushed her over the edge and she committed suicide," she paused, expecting the guilt over her friend to return, but the feeling was growing weaker each time she retold the story. She recalled the way that Knox had insisted she was lying, as if he didn't have even a doubt in his mind, "He didn't believe me."

Nadia listened to his suggestions, but her mind was leading her in a different direction. It was something that she had thought of during her conversation with Knox- an urge to make him see the light, "We will not harm him," she agreed. Rather, she was intent on making up for her bad deeds with good ones; at least that was the way she saw it, "I want to convince him to turn his back on the Royal Family. If I can manage this, we wouldn't just be neutralizing the threat, but gaining an ally as well." She began to approached Alister again, gauging to see if he had any objections to her personal project.

At the mention of Bram, she stopped in front of him and frowned a bit, reaching up to straighten the collar of his shirt, "Who? Is there any purpose for this imprisonment?" she questioned, more so caring about the waste of time and resources than some random woman she'd never met. She gripped the front of his shirt and gave him a tug, "Perhaps you should be tightening the leash on your boys. We wouldn't want them thinking they had more power than you."

Nadia sensed his skepticism over her idea, but she didn't let it get to her. She confident enough to believe that she would prove herself to him soon enough. She reached up to snake her hands around the back of his neck, "Good." The more Alister asserted his power over others, the happier she would be. She arched up onto her tip toes and planted a lingering kiss on his lips, "And what of the werewolf?" she questioned. She admittedly did fear the stranger after what they'd witnessed, and she wondered why Alister had yet to put him down.

Nadia studied him as he explained the situation, feeling curious over his decision. She, of course, thought it was best to put the beast down before he struck again. But she liked when Alister surprised her. She could see now that he'd put thought into this, and perhaps had a history with the man who's life was on the line. It only made her more eager to learn everything about the King she loved, "Very well." Her lips brushed his one last time before she pulled away, "You should speak with Knox soon. Let me know how it goes," she insisted.