End of the Beginning (Emilian/Adara/Artemisios)

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian raised his chin slightly, "She doesn't have to do anything you say." He was walking on thin ice, he knew it. He didn't want her to leave, though if she did, he wouldn't hold it against her, even if he would much rather she stay. His hands curled around the arms of the chair and he glared at the man with icy eyes. Her father had no right.

[Adara Snow]

Adara shrank reflexively at the harsh tone of her father's words, but still, she didn't go. She stood, giving truth to Emilian's words with her sheer inability to move and leave him to her father's anger. She still wanted to escape, but she knew what could happen if she was not there to watch, and that thought kept her feet firmly rooted to the floor, despite her instinctual fear.

[Artemisios Snow]

Artemisios rose to his feet, fury etched in every line of his face as his dark gaze blazed at Sota. "You have no claim over my daughter!" he hissed, all his anger coming out in his voice, even if it remained dangerously low. "She is still legally mine, and you can not control her!" His eyes didn't leave the boy's as he spoke to Adara, his voice remaining low all the while. "Go, Prinzessin.. Go now, und ich kann mich zurückhalten."

((Translation, for the curious: Go now, and I may restrain myself.))

[Emilian Sota]

In his mind, Emilian wasn't afraid, though his blood rushed and his nerves tingled at remembered blows and pain. "She may be legally yours, but in all other aspects, she doesn't belong to you." He had been about to say that she belonged to him, but Emilian wasn't willing to get in a battle of who she belonged to, to treat her like an object like her father did.

[Adara Snow]

Adara was near tears now, wanting to stay, to support Emilian, and still wanting to go, to just end this moment. Her hands twisted against one another, but she couldn't seem to move either way, to walk out, or to return to her seat. If she left, her father might take his anger out on Emilian, but if she stayed, would it be any better? The world began to fade at the edges, but she wavered on that as well. She couldn't welcome oblivion, not now.

[Artemisios Snow]

Adara still had not gone! Artemisios swung his gaze to her in disbelief, but before his lips could part to give another command, he saw the familiar far-away look in her eyes. That would do well enough. She would hear, but she would not move to interfere. She only needed a slight push to go the rest of the way, and then he and Sota would be, for all intents and purposes, alone.

"Wenn sie verlassen, wissen sie, was dem jungen geschehen kann," he said, his voice level again, nearly a monotone. "Ich kann ihn nicht töten, aber sie haben, wie viel er lebhaftdurchgehendes kann, haben sie nicht gesehen? Aber, wenn sie bleiben, Prinzessin," he continued, knowing that he was only confusing her further, "was ist Ihre Bestrafung? Und wünscht er Sie, sobald sie fertig ist?"

((Translation, for the curious: If you leave, you know what may happen to the boy, he said, his voice level again, nearly a monotone. I can not kill him, but you have seen how much he can live through, have you not? But if you stay, Princess, he continued, knowing that he was only confusing her further, what will your punishment be? And will he want you once it is finished?))

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian looked sharply at the man, wishing he knew what he had told Adara, but unable to understand. He glanced back at Adara and saw that look she sometimes got in her eyes, then he brought his eyes back to the man in front of him. His hands tightened around the edges of the arms of the chair and his jaw clenched, "It's impolite to speak in a language your guest doesn't understand," he stated.

[Adara Snow]

Her father's words had been the tipping point; Adara lost her battle against herself and slipped away into her private world, where there was no argument, but only distant, objective thought. She had tried to hold on, but the emotions had been too much to deal with, and so she had faded. Her last conscious act was to take her seat.

((You'll have to post without Adara for now. She'll listen to what she can, but most likely won't react at all.))

[Artemisios Snow]

Artemisios watched Adara only a moment longer to be sure his words had the effect he'd wanted. Then he swung his gaze back to the boy. "My abject apologies," he said coolly. "I was only giving my daughter leave to sit, if she wished it." A blatant lie, but one which would not be corrected.

Artemisios resumed his seat as well, willing his anger back and folding his hands against the blotter on his desktop. Adara was taken care of now, so he intended to begin again, to give the boy this one chance to rethink his words.

"The Lord's son loves my daughter," he said, taking a different tack this time. "He died for my daughter. I would expect nothing less from any man who made claim on her. Would you die for my Adara, junge?" Artemisios was not by nature a religious man, but he would make use of it for his own purpose.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian didn't answer immediately, though he already knew what his answer would be. His eyes traveled over to his Adara before he answered. "If it would save her, then yes." Then he brought his eyes back to her father's, a challenge in the cold blue. "Would you?" He tilted his head slightly, wondering if the man would have the same answer, though if he did, would it be the truth? Somehow Emilian doubted it.

[Artemisios Snow]

Artemisios's eyes narrowed again; there was no end to the boy's insolence. "For the good of the family, I would give my life and soul," he said. He had given his life, and his only regret was having listened to his weibchen of a wife and sending Adara to Hogwarts, ruining over a decade and a half of painstaking effort.

"Tell me, junge," Artemisios said, shifting the line of questioning away from himself once more, "how is it that you would die for my daughter, and yet you would let the world think her your whore? Your... relationship with her, whatever noble intentions you have convinced her may exist, reflects poorly on the Snow family, and on Adara herself. Have you thought of this?" Do you care?

[Emilian Sota]

"Anyone with any sense can see she isn't my whore," Emilian said, "She is more to me than you think she is." He felt that that needed said before he replied to the rest of the question. He thought carefully, honestly, he hadn't thought of how being with him hurt her family's name. He had never encountered anyone that cared very much about that, so long as a good marriage was made later on. "I don't see how it reflects poorly on her, or on the family." Adara had come to him willingly, if not with a complete understanding of what was going to happen.

[Artemisios Snow]

Artemisios did not respond to Sota's first comments. Rather, he proceeded with the boy's obtuse declaration of ignorance. "You do not see how Adara's leaving school for weeks at a time to live in sin and near-poverty in a half-burned building reflects poorly on her?" Artemisios asked. "You do not see how my daughter's... consorting with a known rapist reflects poorly on the family? Is it arrogance which makes you so blind, or stupidity?" The boy obviously had no grasp on politics beyond his center of activity in Hogsmeade.

[Emilian Sota]

"I don't know of anyone that has anything against her staying with me." At least not personally, the Prophet didn't exactly count. "And I haven't done anything to her without her consent. I could have, mind you, but I didn't," Emilian said, shifting in the chair and flicking a glance over at Adara. "You seem to be the only person I know with a problem." He could see where the man would consider it living in sin, but Emilian still didn't see anything really wrong with it, "And I can assure you we are not living in near-poverty."

[Artemisios Snow]

"In regards to anyone having anything against these issues, I might remind you that the Daily Prophet is read by many, and though a school gossip column might seem insignificant to one who cares nothing for the way society as a whole sees him, my daughter's reputation has suffered greatly for the ways in which her name has been featured. Her status and that of the family is at risk. Her future role in society is at risk. My daughter was raised for greatness, not to be dismissed by those who would be her peers.