Magda needed Rian too—in oh, so many ways.

It was strange how things happened. Five years ago, she lay immobilized on a hospital bed, begging Kennet for salvation. And when that salvation was granted, Magda had committed herself in faithful service to the crown. After all, that was what would save her. What would bring her enough power to ensure she would never, ever have to beg for someone’s mercy again. That she’d be her own woman at last; accepted in the eyes of Nevermere and lauded for her contributions to her kingdom.

In that, she’d been terribly, terribly wrong. Magda was an outsider still. Who she was, while useful, was still repulsive to them—to Kennet, namely. The night before her wedding, Cassian had called Magda an invaluable asset. And then, with just a wrinkle of Kennet’s nose, she was deemed a terrible disappointment. In her insistence that Magda ‘do better’, Kennet made clear what Magda had suspected for some time: she didn’t fit in Nevermere. Not anymore. Coheed was the only place that had embraced her with open arms. That gave her freedom and power instead of dangling it just out of reach. She would have Coheed for herself—before Nevermere twisted it beyond all recognition.

And there was one man who would be the ally in her cause.

Magda didn’t know when it started. Perhaps it started years ago, when her playful torturing of Rian Cyrilson became far more enjoyable that it ought to be. He’d grown close without the ring’s dreadful poison; the only man in her orbit she could claim knew her without the rosy haze of persuasion. Magda didn’t know just what fate had in store, but she knew now her and Rian’s trajectories were irrevocably tied together. At another time, it might have frightened her, but now it gave her comfort.

She was dressing for dinner when she heard Rian’s voice drift up the stairs. Despite Kennet’s warning, Magda was still dressed as a woman of Coheed. No doubt Kennet’s own little spies were whispering reports back her way, so in Magda’s mind, this seemed a harmless enough act of rebellion. His nickname—or whatever it was—summoned a broad grin and a dark sparkle in her eye.

Magda would wait for him to find her. When he entered the bedroom, she’d be leaning against the bedpost, smiling.

“You’re filthy.”

His searching would lead him to the most obvious space when he didn't see her immediately. And because he had not seen a fire in his-their backyard. Which meant that their bedroom was where he would start his search. Upon opening the door, it was also where his search would end. Watching the way her lithe body leaned against the bed post as if she had been expecting him had his blood start to warm up.

"You're filthy."

A smile lifted his face. One that was wicked and all knowing as he stepped into the room and kicked the door shut with one swift move of his leg. "Do you expect anything else?" He asked her, finding himself really leaning into the 'Coheedsman' label that he was constantly reminded of. Especially after talking with Kennet. "Are you readying for something?" He asked, looking over her dress before he moved for a towel that was in their room to wipe himself down with.

Magda liked that smile. It reminded her just why Rian had caught her eye in the first place. She may not have known it then, but she saw her own wildness reflected back at her; the hunger for freedom and the drive to take it.

She was starting to regret having dressed in the first place.

“Dinner,” Magda said nonchalantly. She’d quickly move to intercept him at the towel and snatch it up. If she was successful, she’d put behind her back, demanding a kiss before surrendering it.

A dark brow arched up as she snatched the towel, only because he allowed her too. The strength he had alone in the arm would have ripped the material with just his fingertips. A small huff of amusement leaving him as she leaned back a bit, arching her neck up in a way that told him exactly what she wanted from him. And he only gladly gave it to her, looping his arm around her waist and dragging her to his chest, lowering his mouth to hers in a surprisingly soft kiss.

"Dinner with who?" He asked, pulling back enough that his eyes remained closed but his lips had separated from hers.

Rian made her feel safe. Magda leaned into that safety like a warm fire on a cold night, burning away past insecurity to leave a promise of a new future. She kissed him back, melting in his arms until their lips parted.

“Hassan Kalderson and two of his wives,” Magda responded matter-of-factly, pushing on Rian’s chest a little before she backed away. She took up her place against the bedpost again, watching him with her dark eyes as he dried and changed. “Hassan has expressed discontent with the current state of Coheed. Mostly with Nevermere’s presence and Coheed’s…questionable leadership.”

Her last two words rolled gently in Rian’s direction. They were test balloons, ones that had Magda watching her husband carefully for his response.

She didn’t get very far on the first push, his arm tightening around her and dragging her back to his mouth as he kissed her deeper then. A small rumbling growl sounded as he finally released her to take place at the bed again. He no longer cared on dinner or any other parts of it. Instead, his eyes traced her figure as she positioned who she was meeting with. A reluctant drag of cloth over his face and chest when she landed the final two words.

Those sharp blue eyes flashing up to her as he paused for a moment, studying her as she studied him. Then resumed cleaning himself. “Has Hassan been speaking with Kennet? They seem to have the same idea.”

“Same conclusion, different concerns.”

Magda’s eyes level with his, her heart skipping a beat as they did. At that moment, she decided that distance from Rian suited her ill. When he broke her gaze, she’d slink closer like a moth drawn to a flame.

“I’ll smooth things over,” Magda said easily enough, though there was a hint of hesitation in her tone, “I’ll say whatever he needs to hear to keep quiet…but I’d like to assure him you’ll be playing a bigger role in Coheed’s affairs moving forward.”

He didn’t have to look at her to know that she drew closer. He could feel her presence and smell those oils of hers that she put on. The same conclusion. They wanted Kaalim out of power. And listening to Magda speak, it was the second woman that hinted at him being the one to call the shots. Isn’t that what had just happened when he met with Kaalim?

He lifted his eyes towards her as he tossed removed his pants and continued with cleaning himself, trying to gauge her and what her plans were behind all of it. Was it try for Coheed? He didn’t quite think so. But it was for her, and for him. Which if it was for him, it was for Coheed.

“Make sure you do.” He gave a nod and finished washing up before he tossed the towel on a chair and turned to stare at her. “Magda,” his said her name almost like a question, doing mental Olympics before he finally decided to just say it. “I love Kaalim. I love Izen. I love my children and Coheed…” he leveled her with an even look for a long moment. As if he was looping her into that category without saying the words.

“I need you to trust me… and have my back. No matter what. I need your support, because if I need to lead Coheed like I think I do…” his eyes never fell from her. “I need a someone here to help guide those here when I am in Nevermere… and Cambria.”

Magda's heartbeat quickened, her eyes meeting his with steady certainty. It was true she wanted Coheed for herself. So that this land, this life she'd come to relish might be spared from the clean lines and rigid expectations of Nevermere. But she realized now that she wouldn't have to spin a tale to Rian to get it. She wanted Coheed for them. Rian saw her, what she was in all her twisted glory, and wanted her still. There was a reason she'd married him; Kennet didn't understand it, and Magda hadn't herself--at first. But she was starting to.

Magda crossed the room to Rian, kissing him as if that were all the answers he needed. Still, when she parted from him and her eyes met his again, she nodded. "I do, and I will."

It was then Magda tilted her head, a smile creeping onto her face. "So you're to bring the Cambrians into the fold, then?"

Magda crossed the space and Rian spared one a small pause before he wrapped an arm around the small of her waist and lifted her off the ground as they kissed. Holding her to him as she parted and met his eyes but never letting her feet truly touch the ground. A slow grin filling his face.

“That’s the plan,” he murmured as he brought his mouth to hers once again. “Let’s hope I can convince them…” he stole another kiss and moved towards their bed. His hands grabbing at the material of her dress and bunching it as he started to lift it up her legs. “I need you,” he mumbled against her lips. “But I can remember my training you brutally put me through if you must really run off to dinner.”

“Oh I’m sure you’ll find a way…” Magda purred, kissing him back. Whatever dinner plans she had were taking a back seat to the here and now. To the warmth of Rian’s hands and the rumble of his voice. Magda wrapped her legs around him as he took her towards the bed, grinning against Rian’s lips as she kissed him.

“Far be it from me to deny my chieftain what he needs…” Magda hummed with delight, pulling herself closer.

‘My chieftain,’

Something about that made him stare at her with wonderment. Why did he like that as much as he did? Why was it when she smiled up at it he was willing to lay it all before her feet just to coax another smile out of her? But he’d have to bury that for now. It was too complicated to unpack now. “Your chieftain huh?” He angled to push her back onto the bed while holding her legs around his waist, smiling to her.

“Does that make you my Chieftess? Or…” he leaned over her, hands placed on either side of her head. “Does that make you my Queen?”

Magda squirmed in anticipation under him, panting with bright eyes and a wicked smile. “I quite like the sound of Chieftess…” Her voice was a low murmur, full of desire and malevolent glee. Coheed. Theirs. Rian may love Kaalim and Izen as his brothers, but Magda’s loyalties were far, far fewer. She’d glimpsed a vision of her and Rian at the high table over the feast, ruling as a chieftain ought. He would be there. Magda would see it so. And nothing, no one was going to stand in her way.

“But either way,” Magda added, fingers tracing the muscular contours of his chest, ”Yours.”