Getting involved with Astarte had gotten him into a fine mess at the end of the day. Perhaps it had been a mistake to involve himself with her at all, but he did not regret the children that had been born from their union.

"My intentions veren't bad, Alaric," he says calmly, trying to keep his voice even. "I knew of you're connection to Erna. I wanted to seek a relationship vith you, but I did not know where zee Mire vas. Astarte was a means to an end." He had taken advantage of her status as a Mire lion. That was all, in the end, even if he had initially intended more. He had made room for Alaric's claim.

He knew the king had a lot weighing on his mind and had suffered more than his fair share of loss recently. Adalwolf had not wanted this....whatever this was. He had wanted them to grow strong together, @Alaric supported by the Rike and they in turn supported by Alaric.

Astarte had put a hitch in his plans with her lies about her cubs. With her desire for him over the king he had thought she had wanted to begin with.

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"Never heard of asking for directions?" There is sarcasm in his voice, but it lacks the bite of moments before. Alaric feels deflated, unwilling to fight for something (or someone) who had barely been his.

However it had happened was irrelevant, what was most frustrating was the lies that he had been told. It would take time to regain the trust that had been lost, though he knew that @Adalwolf was not the only one to blame. In fact he recognized that some of the blame rested on his own shoulders, for not asking more questions when they had first come and Astarte had been so clearly distressed.

"Did she tell you that she loves me?" He was curious, now, if Adalwolf had known what he was doing all along, and if he had ever thought to stop before taking one of Alaric's own. Officially or not.

"Isn't zat what I did?" he asked, complete innocence in his voice. Was that not how one asked for directions? Then again, the Rike man had never been so good at simply asking for things. It was not the way of his family. They took without thought to others. But in this case Adalwolf really had thought of @Alaric in the long run, even if it was merely to preserve whatever alliance might be had here.

Perhaps it was best to tell the whole story from the start. Perhaps it was best to show that he had thought of Alaric in the long run. "Vhen I met her ve fought - I von. I had zought to claim her for myself, but she ran away," he explained. "Eventually I came after her, but vhen I found her it was clear she belonged to you. I didn't know zat before, or maybe you claimed her after. I don't know. Instead of pushing my claim I used her to find you, and told her she vas free of me." Whether Alaric chose to believe the explanation or not was on him, but Adalwolf's words came out softer now, without the hard edge that was so regularly a part of his voice.

"She did not tell me vhat she vas to you - only tried to get me to be afraid of you," he added, and that was also true, though by then he had guessed the real relationship simply because of the way he had seen Alaric be before. "I lied because I vant this alliance to vork, vithout the tension of zis between us." He gestured his paw between the two of them symbolically.

And then the question that he hadn't expected. His gaze darted to the high sovereign, surprised that he would ask that, despite the lies. "No," he said softly, a shake of his head. "She did not tell me how she felt for you." In fact, she had hardly spoken of Alaric at all during the times they had been together. Certainly not the night she came to him to seek his favor.

"Do you love her, Alaric?" he asked, turning his head to gaze into the foliage surrounding them. "Because I cannot. I--" he broke off, not sure how to explain this at all. The Rike had beat it out of him long ago? There was nothing good in his heart? He simply settled for, "I don't know how."

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An ear flicks in irritation, but more so because he grew tired of this conversation. Tired of the roundabout way of talking about the situation that, truthfully, he cared little about. He had no emotional attachment to Astarte; more than anything he was annoyed that she had been so easily snatched away.

He was frustrated that he had been lied to, but his alliance with @Adalwolf meant more than any of that. "Do not lie to me again, Adalwolf, and our alliance will remain intact." In his mind that was the end of it; none of he rest mattered.

"I do not love her. I've.... lost a lot, recently." He hesitated over the words a little, frowning at the vulnerability he was displaying and instinctively shifting his gaze away from the Rike. "In time, perhaps, but clearly I do not move as quickly as she does." Fickle little creature she seemed to be, professing her love for him and then turning around to bed another in the span of such a short time.

The words that Alaric next said eased his mind a little. The alliance was more important to him than Astarte or her feelings was. The only thing that might be more important than an alliance with @Alaric were the children that she had given him. His heirs; the next generation of Rike here in Amaryllis. Soldiers.

"I feel I know you better now," he admitted with a shrug. "Before I vas feeling my vay around. Now...no more lies." Being a Rike with aspirations was dangerous. That was what he had been when he had come knocking on Alaric's door. Now he felt more sure, perhaps because of the new power he yielded.

Let that be the end of it, then.

But at the rest of what Alaric had to say it seemed that both of them grew a little uncomfortable. Alaric turned away and Adalwolf shifted his position. He was not an emotional creature. Most of his emotions were angry, possessive, or cruel. Love was a strange thing to him. "You've lost too much," he finally said with a sigh, the only thing he could think of that sounded...supportive. "She did not help." A statement on Astarte. Showing that he at least understood what Alaric was feeling at the moment.

Adalwolf was just as possessive as Alaric and normally held no care of who he stepped on to get what he wanted. But there was a part of him that did feel bad for the man, who had lost so much. Was that what sympathy was? He didn't like this feeling at all.

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"No more lies," he echoed, and it was a clear agreement. Moving forward, then -- how healthy of them. Much preferable to the fight to the death he would have suggested in his pre-Amaryllis days.

Possessive though he might be Alaric had at least learned to recognize when the fight was not worth it. Risking life and limb for a woman he did not love and only lusted for was simply... not worth. No matter what kind of potential there had been.

"No, she did not." A shrug, then, with a desire to end that particular topic.

Encouraging the conversation along he asked -- "is there anything else you wished to talk about?"

@Adalwolf

Some of the tension that had built up in his neck and shoulders as he worried over this encounter finally bled out when it seemed to be going his way. He needed this alliance. The Rike needed this alliance.

"I haffe no more news to bring to you," he said with a shake of his head. He was more than a little frustrated with the woman that had pitted them against each other - for the lies that she had told Alaric and the jeopardy she had put the alliance in - but he could deal with that later, without bothering Alaric with it.

When he said no more lies, that would include her, now that it seemed she would be his and his alone.

"Vhat of you? Is zere anyzing you vould ask of me?" An alliance worked both ways. If there were things that @Alaric needed from him, he need only ask.

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While Alaric wondered how long Adalwolf would stay here or if his ambitions would drive him to seek his own pride, he kept that question to himself for now. He didn't want to seem as though he was encouraging the man to leave -- he believed, personally, that it would be best for the Rike family to not sitting at the helm just yet. He wondered, too, if they would ever seek to truly squash the Sigrun, if they would bring about another war with heavy losses, but that he kept to himself, too.

Alaric wasn't entirely sure what he wanted, anyway. While he didn't support the sea-revering family he wasn't particularly fond of the notion of striking first. He had grown comfortable in the Mire, tucked away with his family, and while he yearned for a good fight he also didn't want to bring hellfire down on them.

"Not at this time," he said, instead, with a reassuring grin. For now they stood as allies, and Alaric was curious to see just how far that would take them. "I'm sure we will meet again soon." It wasn't exactly a huge pride, after all, and Amaryllis had a habit of changing... quickly...

"Until then," a nod and a lingering pause, to ensure that @Adalwolf had nothing more to add, and then the King was disappearing in the thick brush of his home.

-exit-

With assurances that an alliance would remain in place, Adalwolf was satisfied with how the conversation turned out, even if he was irritated with Astarte. He would have to deal with her later.

With that somewhat smoothed over, he could begin to think about other things. Namely finding the scattered members of his family and making plans for the Rike. It would be some time before they were strong enough to take on the Sigrun hoard that seemed to have burrowed its way into Amaryllis, but one day he was certain they would be strong enough.

Unlike last time, he did not intend to let the fight come to them, or the Mire. But those were plans for another day.

He returned @Alaric's grin with a smile of his own and a respectful dip of his own head. "Zis alliance is two-sided," he reminded the Mire king as he made to leave. "If you need anything from me, you haffe but to ask." And as Alaric disappeared into the foliage, Adalwolf also turned to leave their meeting behind, happy enough with the results of their chat.

/Exit Adalwolf

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