Grasp upon this realm seemed wavering at best, concentration upon the very woman before him becoming a much more difficult feat as time ticked by. It was an unusual sensation yet no matter the growing unease which festered beneath the surface he would not speak of it lest he was asked. Even then it may be brushed aside under assumption that it would all come to pass. However, one could not help but to begin worrying over the underlying cause. Two glasses hardly enough to bring about all this. He’d never felt both body and mind betray him so readily from drinks alone, thought which brought fingers to curl ever tighter against plush fabrics in forceful steadying of shaken limbs.

Lips parting in hopes of capturing Helayne’s attentions once more only to find pause as the creak of a door sounded. Bleary gaze flickering yet barely able to make out the familiarity of the figure that stood upon the threshold. She wasn’t exactly a face he’d hoped to see so soon though neither would he deny her company, after all, he supposed they did need to talk. Unknowing of just what she may have heard. The lies so easily spread upon the tongue of gossips, the assumptions each crafted to feed the rumor mills so many clung to as a source of entertainment.

Many of the tales they’d spun before were those he cared not to deny. Why care for an image already tarnished? For something so unimportant? No matter what was done it would only add fuel to those fires.

Swallowing back whatever he’d wished to say to Helayne alone those phrases shift, hushed in his staggered address, “Give us a mo-moment? You’re free to look at what… whatever you wish. I only ask that you not leave the study.” He didn’t want her to especially when another conversation would - hopefully - bring only temporary interruption to the plans they attempted to make, “Find me again after bit?” Augustus waited for her answer, allowed the distraction of all the decorated room had to offer before sights would once more settle upon a supposed bride.

Rosen gaze unfocused in the ways it hoped to hover, to fixate upon the features that apparently sought him out. “Let me guess… Cas-Castiel sent you this way,” lyrics rose in a struggle to remain clear. A tongue feeling heavy as if it may twist in ways unexpected. Forcefully slowed pace compared to all which had greeted her mere nights before, “You made it… v-very clear you wanted nothing to do with me.” Something he was still certain held to these very moments for even if neither she nor the expression worn could be seen crystal clear, the way those eyes bore into him could be felt. The swirl of emotion upon the air tangled with all else that battered dulling senses.

It was beyond difficult to focus, to truly behold all which twisted and colored her features behind the ever growing haze yet sight alone wasn’t needed to witness what radiated from her. A venom similar to what had tainted the air upon their first meeting to chase away enjoyment, shatter the easy going nature of their exchange once it’d been spoilt by a mere name. The truth of a bond neither desired but what brought her ire to fester so brightly now? The hauntings of her mind not known. She’d made it clear within the tavern and winter’s icy embrace… perhaps now would be no different.

Let her distaste be known to all who could hear of it while his lay drowned in schemes and the harshened taste of alcohol, apparently more than he had intended. Though one could not dwell on possibilities for bleary as sights may be they still captured the way a hand rubbed at her eyes. How a frame seemed to shake, though the latter could easily have been within his own head. A quiver of shaky vision, however, lips would part as features turned toward concern.

Droopy ears slowly swiveling before seeming to give up and fall back into place. “What’s wro-,” lyrics swiftly silenced by the sharp sting that greeted him in turn. Action senses had not registered until the connecting strike. Shaken grip finding partial release from the couch as fingers trailed over reddening mark. Wide eyes staring at none but she, or rather, where it was assumed she stood. Focus drawn by the anger, the sorrow which emanated from her very being and reflected upon wavering tones.

Confusion hardly an unknown notion in the muddlement of his mind and yet the words she spoke were piercing, injected through the fog. Enough to seek interruption despite how lungs may protest, “What are you t-talking about? I don’t care… about how you sp-speak.” Phrases jostled as the goat struggled to keep breath behind them. Rasping phrase as a hand unsteadily returned to the cushion before him in hopes of keeping balance, though he could not deny the temptation to keep it risen in hopes of blocking any other slap or jab she may hope to inflict. It wouldn’t be worth it. Reactions weren’t at their best right now.

“I’m not trying to sh-shame… you. I d-don't know what you heard… but there were rumors b-before you came along,” those whispered fascinations few could find acceptance with. Dalliances primarily held with men regardless of their social standing, perturbed behaviors according to the tongues which chastised. Tales woven over just what manner of work one engaged in, the tasks a goat may accept coin for despite the normalcy of a hired sword. Such things certainly wouldn’t be going away any time soon if the gossipers had anything to say about it. More no doubt added to their arsenal tonight after the witch had gone in a rather unexpected direction with her so called attempts at foiling an arrangement.

Maybe it would’ve been better if Eva had stabbed him. At least then it would have gotten him the hell out of here for some sort of treatment, put a pause on the whole affair until he’d been deemed ‘fit’ and steps were shooed back to the very altar he hoped to avoid. “You said you want-wanted out of this,” just as he did, “I’m sure… th-that hasn’t changed.” So what was with this request for a single day? Already she’d denied a chance to help her flee, to guide steps into the seclusion of Sanctuary or even the golden fields of Anderstel’s monstrous realm. All of it pushed aside because it was he who offered it, one sharing an intertwined fate. Destiny set in motion by another’s hand. Even now there was hope to pull away from what had been decided for them, however, she only brought further bewilderment. “So why swear to a day neither of us want? I don’t make pr-promises… I can’t keep.”

Hitching breath slowly pushed free as those softened lyrics reached him in rushed apology which only sparked his own to mutter more to himself than any other, “Don’t be.” While it had hardly been a pleasant sensation it did not hold the force he’d come to expect over time. It did not mirror Valerius’ far heavier hand. “I’m sure I d-deserved it,” but for what he did not know though such details had never truly mattered before, so why start worrying over reasons now. As long as she didn’t make a habit of smacking him it could be tolerated once or twice. For now what could be mustered of focus lay upon her fluctuating emotions, a cacophony of her anger and sorrow twisting into their own beast.

Only for her query to draw him away from fixing on what could not be seen, however, it made the presence of it all no less suffocating. A question weighing heavily. One he nearly thought to brush aside, play off as something none needed to worry over. He knew he was no drunkard. While the goat enjoyed a drink now and then he hardly ever let it steal away the mind and never to the point where motor functions themselves grew so faulty. He couldn’t. Not when another relied on him, would take example from the behaviors allowed to witness. And fumbling around like a delirious fool was hardly something Juliet needed to behold.

So why did he trip over words now?

Maybe because it was getting harder to breath as if a panic attempted to seize his chest and squeeze at his throat, that the drum of a heart was unsettling… if only one was able to grasp its faulty rhythm in full. Everything felt hot, that bleary vision threatening to dizzy an already struggling mind; an unfelt numbness only making the goat less aware of the way limbs trembled against their grip upon upholstery. However, such admittance was hard to find his tongue. Unsure of just how to grasp the words without stirring concern or even vextation from either who chould hear. It would pass. Whether it truly was alcohol running its course or creeping anxieties, it would pass. It always had.

“I don’t know… it’s just a bit di-diff-,” a frown tugged at his lips before lyrics shifted from the word entirely, “A b-bit hard to talk ri-right now.” To catch the very breath which wished to flee and dared to rasp at each pause where it refused to return to him, to halt the way a tongue slurred. Nerves? The strongest wine he’d never tasted? He could think of nothing else yet a mind teetered toward the potential veil of alcoholic content in the drinks. Surely any supposed ‘jitters’ would have hit long before now and he’d taken nothing else in.

It must have only just decided to sink in. A conversation with Helayne unmarred by this growing struggle, only the blurr of vision and teetered step. Nothing that twisted the very phrases he attempted to speak. Though he could not let that halt explanation, no matter what the woman before him may do - she deserved an answer. Something to potentially stave off the whispered rumors she had heard. They weren’t good but certaintly not the worst of them. “That was Lady Eva’s r-rather… p-poor attempt at st-stopping this. Sh-she’s not expecting any child.”

Okay, now he really wished she had chosen to stab him. Though even if the witch had been carrying his or any other’s young, it would not have been kept. A burden of life he knew she was not fond of, it would only put a damper on the lifestyle she currently held. “And Hel… Helayne and I were only t-talking,” though the prospect of ‘running off’ with her could hardly be denied yet not in the sense other’s tales my forge. However, whether his words were something she believed or not didn’t matter. In the end it would not change the truth.

“It hasn’t,” she would echo his sentiment, then why had she apparently promised to go through with an arrangement. Rosen gaze would narrow lightly at her pause, sense of unease plaguing what rose next, “If you d-don’t?” Was she in some sort of distress? “You know th-that if some…thing is wr-wrong you can t-tell me, right?” Even if she despised him it would not halt the silent offerance of help should she have need of it. He wouldn’t tell a soul. Just as he hadn’t ratted out her attempts of fleeing all those nights before. Whatever plagued the mind now would be no different.

Though whether anything more would flee her lips he could at least make one promise to her. “Miss… I cannot control wh-what others say of me or the c-company I keep. N-nor you for that m-matter,” whatever the public chose to believe that is what they would spread whether it held true or not, they would forge their own reality upon rumors. “But I will t-try not to feed the vul-vultures tonight.” More than they already feasted on anyways.

Assurance was all one could offer, an acceptance of the act committed despite the initial uncertainty held behind it. There had been no cruel intent harbored upon insult, no want to pressure nerves until they may snap and yet it seemed he had done just that with the ways she now shifted. How those eyes seemed to turn away whenever a passing moment of clarity lay granted beyond the haze. Stolen away with each unsteady motion, the slightest dance of his vision bringing back that curse of unsteadiness and an ability to find true focus no matter how he may crave it. With Helayne he’d felt fine if he ignored the wavering instability of his steps. Breath had come easy, a tongue did not grow heavy and twist in a fight for cleared phrase.

Now it did. Now it seemed as if his body wished for nothing more but to collapse in on itself. To give in to whatever sickness apparently seized hold. Yet there remained enough control to issue broken phrases, to snare rasping breath enough to speak. A throat not closed, lungs struggling yet still able to expand with each rise of his chest. It would be enough. Grant a way to slur out reasons to be twisted into assumed excuse if the woman’s temperament was anything to go off of and senses had hardly steered him wrong before. So he clung to them now even in their faltering state. Despite for some sense of understanding to remain over what transpired around him.

Only to find breath halting anew, fingers nearly releasing their hold upon the furniture in attempts to draw back despite knowing such would be a foolish decision. It would likely only end with him on the ground or clutching to the shelves behind him. Instead those digits coiled tighter as a sharp flinch echoed over his frame, bracing, half expecting that hand to find him in the same manner as before but as that touch landed the twinge etching over his features began to soften and fade. Daring to relax as a far gentler grasp beckoned a crown to turn fully toward her. Allowing one to behold that off kilter gaze. Wild eyes fighting for focus yet such was a hard thing to find - and ever harder to keep - as vibrant hues wavered. Rosen sights unsure of where to find fixation even when chasing the very presence of her touch.

What was she doing? Or, more importantly, what exactly did she want of him?

That hum a resounding note of disapproval in his ears, however, whatever she desired remained unclear in those moments. Lyrics choosing to rise in address of all else she’d asked of him rather than question intent. Try to avoid striking yet another nerve that would twist the grip upon him into something harsher. While violence had not risen until now it had set the idea of it in his mind, she was just as capable of lashing out of turn. Just like his father. Any budding seeds of trust uprooted in an instant, clinging on by nothing but a thread for there would still be chances given. Wrongs not always righted if it affected no other but he. Yet nearly as swiftly as she’d seized hold those fingers found release with a huff.

Bitterness radiating into the air around them. The click of teeth, annoyance. Well she certainly couldn’t make her disgust any clearly. She didn’t want his help: not then, not now, not ever. Though as much as one may wish to find acceptance in the matter he knew an offer would fall again in time. It was ingrained into the goat’s very nature, something which had yet to fade over his years as it only become further cemented. This alone would not be enough to twist his entire being.

So he clung to every word that pierced the fog of his mind. A promise made, remembrance of pieces she’d forgotten. Those which revolved around entire family members… and yet deceit did not twist such phrases. None that senses could grasp anyways, so August chose to believe her. It was far easier than casting unneeded doubt. However, features would scrunch upon the mention of money. A dowry needed to pay for treatment? Were they not already nobility? Creatures with wealth to spare, enough to keep their pockets and bellies full despite the famine that sought to strange more unfortunate souls. It just didn’t make sense. Unsurprising, for nothing truly did in these moments.

Perhaps they held hidden debts, sunk their gold into matters deemed more important, or perhaps they simply held an unwillingness to save their own flesh and blood. The woman before him had been sick before too, she’s said so herself all those nights ago in the tavern. It’s what had prevented her from knowing of the very lands she tread upon, what was likely a cause to the blockade within her mind… at least that is what lyrics had claimed. Now it was another who lay afflicted though whether her illness was of the same nature remained a mystery. Yet one thing was certain. Augustus knew his father was not so generous. There had to be something more to gain other than putting on a farce of what Valerius saw as normalcy. Something other than merely acquiring a wife for a son who did not want one.

August didn’t believe it was so simple. He couldn’t.
Yet like before, parts are not pressed. Nothing more than a slow breath escaping in strained sigh.

“Th-that is why you chose n-not to run,” even when she’d seemed so set on it before, going as far as to inquire over ideal destinations. Yet here she was caught in the whirlwind of another’s plan just as he was. Preventing another - preventing family - from meeting their demise a nobler reason for acceptance than the stakes others held in such arrangements. Though doubts are kept silent, locked within his mind as a different tune laces upon garbled tone, “If there is n-no wedding, no f-finalized ceremony… would they r-really just let your sister d-die? S-surely they have coin t-to spare,” or else Valerius would have never agreed to join them in name.

The pleas of saving another would have fallen on deaf ears, they would not have swayed the man in full for he cared only about getting what he wanted. Nothing else mattered. Whatever their price it would have been a small dent into a pile of dirty money.

Slowly horned crown would shake, motion regretted the moment it began as it brought a head to pound. Eyes squeezing shut, hidden behind the veil of dark lashes in hopes to stop his world from spinning. He had thought of fleeing, talked of it mere minutes ago with Helayne despite the internal conflict over it. Reasons to go, even more bidding him to stay… this was just another to add to ever growing categories. Another shaken breath as the goat reluctantly resigns to fate. He would not leave this night. No matter how he wished to. After a tick of silence rosen sights flickered open, attempting to find her own gaze in silent warning, “My f-father,” the word bitter upon his tongue, “Will pay their f-fee but will not ensure it g-goes to treat-treatment. That p-promise is for your f-family to keep.”

“I wanted to.” That much had always been clear to him, no efforts made of hiding such a desire even now despite all she gave way to in a steadied rush of lyrics. Reason as to why she had stayed. A sole purpose behind her agreement to this whole ordeal. To keep her sister from meeting her end and yet such a fate could not be guaranteed. There could be no promise of survival. No sworn word that whatever funds his father had agreed upon would truly go towards alleviating a sickness. There were countless medicines in this world, magic that could purify and mend if one merely knew where to look. Rather who to seek out, even if one held reluctance or disdain toward the idea of dealing with the damned they’d proven useful.

A number held close amongst the goat’s most trusted, creatures he held no fear towards. Those willingly indulged in yet upon the same breath there were those which terrified. Beasts he wanted nothing more than to tear away at… though such sentiments could easily be placed on any species that prowled this realm. Ever easier to lay upon himself whenever an accursed moon sank the glimmering puncture of wolven fangs to his skull. The mere thought of it twisted ears back. That haze only further enhancing the desire to sink within his own mind, to give up on holding focus to the room around him. Decoration he could not see in their usual clarity, faces blurred and figures shifting as if they had not been there to begin with.

Yet each sigh - breath tainted in another’s exasperation, sorrow, her anger - every emotion beckoning a rush of air kept a mind grounded just as it brought a heart to sink. Daring a mind to drift toward far darker outcomes. Spurred ever deeper when her own suspicions lay voiced. A sister may already be dead. Neither she or an assumed brother, Aethelos, had been allowed to see her. Risk of contagion? Or to keep a secret? Answers one may never have, answers she may never gain. “H-has anyone been allowed t-to?” Even if it were to behold a corpse. Surely her parents entered the room, visited her sickbed if they bothered to care for their own. If not they then doctors? Someone had to hold access if this girl was truly so ill.

He wanted to offer comfort, something more than words alone could grant, yet touch was something he knew was hardly desired. Even if it was there was no reliable way of closing the distance held between them. Little trust held in his own footing as the tremor of limbs implored him to sit, to release the vice still held to remain upright. Protests he did not wish to heed despite knowing something had to be wrong. It strayed from the twists of alcohol alone though neither was it like the divulgence of the moon. No blood coated his tongue, drowsiness did not hope to overtake him. Just a confusion, the jumbling of motor function, a twist to the very realm he attempted to exist in.

Shapes creeping at the edge of bleary vision, only to vanish should one attempt to glimpse into the mist. There was nothing. None but he, Helayne, and the very woman before him stood in this room. Writhing shadows forcefully ignored, placed upon whatever sickness sought to plague him tonight of all nights. Fragmented hiss tainted the sigh which fled next, “Is t-there any in the ho-house that could secure the f-funds?” Before a dowry exchanged hands at the very ceremony or arrived into her parents hands within the comforts of a home “Any k-keepers or attendants? Your b-brother even? If I know Val-Valerius,” and regrettably he knew the man very well, “He will n-not give a t-thing until getting… what he wants f-from all this.” Nothing until his stake in the bargain was claimed, whatever the truth of that may be in this case. There would be a short window to intercept all another granted in way of coin.