The peace that formerly reigned in Terra Nova has eroded, now little more than a memory. War ravages the continent. Disputes divide kingdoms; ideals divide families. The quest for power consumes absolutely and indiscriminately. None are immune to its allure.
Who will rise and who will fall? Only time—and ambition—will tell.
UPDATES
05.26.2023
2 month character creation hold for all existing members begins 6/5/2023. Ended 8/5/2023.
10.29.2023
Change in how times flows. Was 4 IC seasons, now only 2 IC seasons per 1 OOC year.
5 whole years of Heir Apparent goodness! When I started the site, I knew I was hunkering down for the long haul, but I never could have predicted the numerous twists and turns this roleplay site has seen. Hundreds of plots, characters, and members have come and gone, all leaving marks on the site. I am so very thankful for those who have invested. Because you keep coming back, keep getting on, and keep writing, Heir Apparent has the legacy it does today. Three cheers to us!
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Dec 21, 2023 11:46:27 GMT -5
If only Alys had been fast enough. Surely she would have swallowed her words and turned to leave the room. But Cassian was braced and ready, and when her hand reached for his the reaction it caused was too quick for even him to stop.
The hand she intended to ghost shot up to take hold of her, though she was already receding. Unless she yanked away, his grasp on her hand would be firm.
His eyes were unflinchingly on Alys’. They were alive. It wasn’t lust. It was a kind of passion, a form of recklessness usually only witnessed in the eyes of the wolf.
He said nothing. If she also didn’t speak then the moment would only last a second before he released her.
She never made it into her bow, nor out of the room. Not in that very moment as his hand turned on hers and grasped it. Leaving her to inhale sharply in surprise and her eyes to find his. What she found there had something deep in her response, the wolf who had been hiding rushing forward for the look of her alpha. Always her alpha.
“Please,” whatever it was that was there, whatever danced in his eyes, she wanted it. Her own beast needed it. Needed to be soothed by him. She shifted closer, wrapping her hand around his in return. In the past she would have taken this as a sign to move to him, to press her mouth to his, but now she waited with a hope building in her chest.
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Dec 29, 2023 3:49:01 GMT -5
Please.
Cassian didn’t know what to make of her plea. If she hadn’t tightened her grip he with have thought she wanted him to release her. She had spent the last half decade putting space and men between them. Somewhere along the way she had compartmentalization Cassian, surely, and forgotten that he was not the statue he so often imitated.
What did she want from him? He couldn’t have said. Certainly not anything only he could give her.
“Why are you doing…?” He asked softly, grip on her hand tightening a little. He want asking about her hand. It was a much broader question. Surely she knew that he was aware of what she had been doing in his castle of late—and what she had been doing when she left it. He didn’t understand her motive. He didn’t understand her anymore.
His question almost made her shoulders fall again. Why? She walked in there and told him already. She felt lost, replaced, forgotten. She wasn’t sure what her place was anymore with him, was she still his witch? Did he still look at her and find any sense of joy. Did he realize she had tried and always came back to him… and yet he asked instead of pulling on the beast that had surged forward just a moment before. Or was she so out of touch that she misread the look?
Alys’ hand remained wrapped around his, holding to him as if he was holding her to the ground. “I told you,” she said it as her shoulders dropped a little. “I tried to share it when I came in,” her chaos, her thoughts… This was what happened to her when she had lost her twin and mother all those years ago. Except then, she could fall into the ranks and lose herself in the rest of her mandated training.
Now? She was struggling to find her footing. Catching it here and there. Amongst others. Or so she thought. And it didn’t help that she didn’t trust Regan at all now. Someone who should have been a comfort for her, who should have been… friends? Alys reached out time and time again, only to wind up like she was. She focused on his hand, on the way their palms were pressed together. “Run with me. Anything.” She asked it softly, as if she was prepared for him to tell her no.
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Jan 10, 2024 12:44:02 GMT -5
Still so much was left unsaid. If Alys said more of what she was thinking and feeling then they might have been on the same page. She only spoke a few words, however, and Cassian was unable to read her.
At the very least, he heard her request. Run with me. But that wasn’t as simple as it once was. Dynamics had changed. Alys had changed. He wondered if she saw it the way he did. Did it matter?
“Sit with me.” He said. She had asked for anything. This was what he could offer now.
Disappointment would make her face fall a bit. But she wouldn’t turn away from the offer. In her grief, in her moments of needing someone, she had lost what she had cherished. What she held close to her chest, without even realizing it. With silver lining her eyes, she didn’t know what else to say. Constantly putting her foot into her mouth with him, whether she held back or poured it all on the table.
So she found herself picking a spot, not at a seat beside him, but sinking to the floor. To press her back against the table leg beside his seat. Facing her body towards him, but not looking at his face, maybe she didn’t deserve to anymore. She leaned her head forward, her forehead resting on her knees as they curled to her chest, one arm reaching to wrap her legs and her other hand reached for him. If he’d allow, she’d seek his hand once more.
“Thank you.” Her whisper came, and then she silently cried into her knees.
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Jan 21, 2024 13:13:48 GMT -5
Cassian took the outstretched hand, if for the sake of what they had once been and once had, though now he felt a tweak of confusion in him. He silently watched her cry into her knees, clearly a woman overtaken by her grief and depression. A woman in no state to do much of anything other than take time to heal.
It wasn’t ill will that compelled Cassian to reach his thumb towards the ring that was ever present on his finger. It was pity for his suffering subject that had him turning, that had him willing the suppressing magic upon Alys, his once most trusted companion.
Cassian suppressed more than one thing. He suppressed her memories of her intimacy with him. The stolen kisses in the halls. The lusty humping in his study. The heartache. The heartbreak. She had been loyal before any of that, and now she was left without it. No longing to return to what she and Cassian once had. Freedom from him.
He then suppressed her intimacy with Logan. Every shared look, every whispered word. He took the love, and with it he took the memories of why she ever loved him. In her mind, as they faded, Logan simply became her former Captain Commander, man she had been impregnated by and then subsequently married. A man whose death did not deal a staggering blow, but that actually granted her freedom. Freedom from him.
And lastly, he suppressed the werewolf. Not only her ability to shift into that monstrous form, but all memories associated with it. Memories of running with Cassian. Memories of shifting with the pack. Memories of Regan’s attack. She would be free of the wolf and free of her connection to Regan. Freedom from her.
The suppression was not permanent. It was like a switch turned off. At any point Cassian could flip the switch back on. Alys would have no memory of what she was missing, no phantom itch of what she thought should be there, feeling or otherwise. The magical suppression was powerful enough to trick her mind completely.
In a moment, she would go from a broken, suffering woman, to a whole, refreshed individual, as vibrant and promising as the day she was when Cassian found her in the garden.
One moment, she was crying, letting out whatever had been bottled for so long. For the change she had been a part of shaping but had also shaped itself so rapidly without her. And then…
Why were her cheeks so wet? There was a heavy fog at first, her mind scrambling to make sense of it… and then… warmth. Her hand was warm.
Lifting her head, she trailed her eyes from her shoulder to her hand, as if she didn’t recognize it as hers… but it was hers... then she saw the man’s hand wrapped around hers, and as she dragged that dark gaze of hers further up, she almost smashed her head into the table as she shot to her feet. No longer was Cassian before her.
The King. “Your majesty.” Her hand pulled from his, no longer understanding the intimacy of her hand in his. And why was she crying? “I… I am,” her back straightened as she looked to him. His witch… had she come here to… her hand came up to wipe the salty tracks over her freckled cheeks. “I apologize. What was… I saying?” Her eyes staring at the spot where she had just been sitting. Confusion pulling her brows together. Why had she been crying?
She clearly needed more sleep. Surely that explained it all. Even if something felt… empty. Something that would slowly fade as moments stretched before them. The King and his Witch. Nothing more. Nothing less.
“The border? The border curse.” She blinked, nodding. “I will send you the plan to look over. And the list of names I thought would be best to help with such a task.”
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Jan 22, 2024 3:01:39 GMT -5
Cassian couldn’t have placed the way something in his lurched when she ripped her hand away. His face said nothing of it. It was always set in a kingly state.
He beheld her, the Alys he had been familiar with, the one he had once loved deeply, and a budding sense of accomplishment washed over him.
“You have been working yourself to the bone.” He said sympathetically. “It is no wonder you are exhausted. Rest and write this plan up and have it sent to me.” He said with a nod, letting his eyes leave her and return to his food, as if it were far more important. His memories weren’t suppressed. He still carried what they had had. Relieving her of it all had freed her, but oddly he felt it had shackled him.
Dark eyes met his. For a moment, she knew they were not a plain brown, but a warm hazel. Flecks of color. But the thought faded, and as she bowed deeply, she thanked him. Always one for bows over curtsies. When she straightened, with his attention no longer on her, she knew it meant for her to take her leave.
One moment of confusion, but her back straightened and she turned to take her leave. The Alys that entered the room would’ve stopped and lingered in the doorway. Would have said one more thing in hopes he’d look at her and say something… anything to keep her to stay.
But the Alys now went to the door, managed a small glance to ensure he hadn’t turned to stop her exit, the polite thing to do for her King. But from the corner of her eyes, it seemed he hadn’t moved. So she left. Without another word, nonetheless wiser that he had suppressed so much from her. Not when her head gave a small throb, and she would take his advice. Some sleep, right here in her office.