After an evening spent with Ronin, Nephthys returned home feeling.. no better than she had when she'd left, much to her dismay. His company had been enjoyable and the sex had been nice, but it wasn't anything she couldn't slink into Alaric's den and get as well. Sex was sex. Sex was nice. It paled in comparison to what she had shared with Bhaskar, however, and she wondered if that time of her life was over. Used and dried up by age three. Glory days long behind.

Nephthys didn't bother disguising her scent as she slipped into the territory, aiming for her den with a slow jog. It wasn't like she couldn't deny knowing Ronin's relationship with Slaine and Alaric. She easily could have said he told her nothing except he was a former member, so she didn't feel particularly concerned about it.

Besides, Ronin had been right when he said she'd done it partly for Alaric's attention. Not that he wasn't giving her as much as any other member, of course, just that she was a woman who demanded more. Always.

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OOC: Is it okay for Sláine to smell Ronin on her? Please let me know if not and I will change those parts of the post! <3

She had lingered near to the edge of Ecrosian borders for some hours. Waiting for a wayward yearling daughter that had decided to go walkabout. Part of Sláine worried that Iona might not come back at all, in which case she ought to go and find her. But she was reluctant to trail after her growing child for fear of seeming overbearing. When all that might be required is space and time, a little freedom perhaps to discover the lands surrounding the swamp. Great in theory, but the mother could not keep all of her worries at bay.

As she idled, rather impatiently, by a large rock. Sláine caught sight of @Nephthys as she slipped through the jungle. Not unusual in itself. But the red coated woman seemed to carry a different scent along with her. A most familiar one to the blue lioness. Though it took her several long gulps and a few more seconds to register exactly what it was.

The Scot rose to her paws and moved to follow and catch up to the other lioness. There were many questions on her mind. How do you know him? Why is his scent so entwined with your own. "Is he... is he okay?" Is all she can get out, furrowing her brow.

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Nephthys was a smart woman in some ways, but when it came to emotional intelligence, she was severely lacking. There was enough evidence of that in her checkered past, sadly enough, and there seemed to be very little growth heading her direction. With all her love affaire, however, there had never been another woman -- nor had aforementioned woman come slinking up to her when she clearly smelled of sin. Nephthys wanted to laugh in @Sláine's face when it came to her question, but the scarlet lioness could only frown and ask: "would you be?" Because at the end of the day, she had been the one to hurt him. It was too late to pretend like she suddenly cared enough to ask after his well-being, at least to her. Neither she nor Ronin were in relationships, so what business was it of the sovereign what her ex-husband did on his evenings alone?

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Stopping to stand in wait before her pridemate, she realized how pathetic she must seem. Accosting a relative stranger in her desperation to hear news of her husband. Ex-husband.
Anxious heart hammered loudly, straining in her chest as her mind ticked over, wondering at all the possible reasons that this woman would have Ronin's scent so thickly laid upon her fur. There is of course, one answer that unfailingly flags up, time and again. She tried to squash down the immediate, all-consuming jealousy as it snaked through her body and conveyed itself so readily across her otherwise usually calm expression.
"Nae(no), I wouldnae be." She replied with a sad shake of her sculpted face. It's clear enough that @Nephthys was in possession of at least some of the facts of their breakup.
The Scot queen had never claimed to be an innocent or 'good' woman, if her actions in the Mire had been thus or made her seem it, if Alaric or Ronin had thought her so, then that had been simply what they had wished to see. Her devotion to family and her lovers had been the driving force behind all of her actions it was true. But Slaine had never made any attempt to disguise that she was a woman who would, in most circumstances, put herself first.

The red woman was beautiful, so much so that it drove Slaine to couple anger with her rising jealousy. Had Ronin's heartbreak sought another body so quickly? Was this sultry creature to be the new home for his love?
"Are you his, then?" She asked with a little bite to her tone, squaring her gaze upon the other. It was unfair and absolutely none of her business. But that wouldn't stop her.

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Part of her did find the whole thing pathetic. @Slaine had another man to warm her bed, so what did it matter what Ronin did in his spare time? He could have been plowing his way through Amaryllis and it still wouldn't have been her business. Slaine had been the one to pull the plug and Nephthys had been the one to watch the aftermath, of the anger and gnashing of teeth and tears in his eyes. She felt immediately protective of him because she understood his pain. In a way, she also knew she was Slaine if Bhaskar were ever to return. He would show up dumbstruck by how she had changed, how many others she had filled the void with; and frankly, she didn't care. He had chosen to physically leave her. That was on him.

Nephthys kept her gaze even as she studied the woman, doing her best to properly size her up should a fight erupt. When it came to matters of the heart, things often took a turn for the worse.. and she didn't trust Slaine not to immediately throw herself at Nephthys with fang and claw.

The question came as a surprise and it showed on her face with the furrowing of her brow. "If there's anyone here I belong to, it's Alaric." She shrugged a bit halfheartedly. "But if you're asking whether or not we fucked, the answer is yes. That's what happens when two lonely strangers meet when emotions are high." His emotions had been, at least. Nephthys' hadn't been quite so volatile - at least in the beginning. Ronin had certainly gotten under her skin quickly enough, however. "At the end of the day, I belong to no one."

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Shoulders rolled back as her tightly wound body unconsciously prepped for a physical altercation, an instinctive reaction to the warrior's tense state. Slaine had no intention of lashing into a member of the pride, let alone another woman, all for the sake of a lion. Even though Ronin was not just any lion.

As @Nephthys's brows fell into a frown, Slaine's own would lift in surprise. Of course, Alaric. Pale lips threatened to break into an awkward and pained smile. Slaine supposed there wouldn't be a lioness in the pride he hadn't taken underneath him. A fact she ought to remind herself of. "Ye try tae hurt me with a claim upon the king? I ken(know) what he is. His heart is nae fer ye." She huffed, irritated by her own uncertainty of her words.

But the lioness could do little to cover the deep hurt that came from the admission that the red lioness and Ronin had made love. Or 'fucked' as the woman called it. Which is perhaps only marginally better for the Scot to cope with. Ronin had always been faithful to her, the thought of his body coveting another brought her to anger and raging jealousy. Nose wrinkled, unable to contain the emotional pain as it displayed across her features.
"Ronin is different. He doesnae sleep with women as Alaric does. Ye will be good tae him?" It is an unexpected question that spilled out from her broken heart.

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Nephthys could only sign as @Slaine declared the king's heart was not for hers to take. "I never said his heart," she muttered, shrugging. "But he certainly left some marks on my skin from when we fucked. If he sees me as anything, it's a possession. Also, what the hell could I possibly gain from trying to hurt you? I don't care about who has your heart and who doesn't." Nephthys knew Alaric didn't love her, but it was amusing to see the woman flounder as she was. Oh, she was just trying so hard not to let the cracking show.

"You don't know Ronin, then. Not after he's had his heart broken, at least, because that's exactly what happened. He needed it. I needed it. There's nothing to it deeper than that." Nephthys frowned, irritation creeping across her face. "You have a lot of nerve to be protective of him and demand I pick up your slack. I didn't know about any of this before we fucked," she said with a defiant snort. It was a bit of a lie, though. "Do you hear yourself? The two of us are both heartbroken and lonely. We sought comfort in each other. You need to let go of him. He's not your concern anymore."

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The red woman twisted and writhed with words in a way that Slaine could not compete. This language was not of her own and @Nephthys's ability to bend meaning is not a trait that the warrior shared.
Words dripped out from the lioness, coiling around Slaine's chest and constricting until she felt as foolish as surely was intended. It was suffocating, maddening, and the Scot felt herself bristle, hairs along her spine standing on end as her tail flexed out to the side.

"I didnae suppose that ye cared. Only that, oddly, ye seem tae seek tae wound where ye can, or where ye think ye can. Perhaps just my wee misunderstanding o' yer sophisticated assumptions." Slaine had not said that Alaric's heart was her own, only that the lioness before her would not have possession of it.

Lips flashed, struggling to hold her body still and unchallenging, purely clinging on by the thread of the trappings of politics that Alaric has chained her to. "Aye." She pressed on, letting a sigh and a nod slip between her tense lips. "Ye are right. I hae alot o' nerve tae question ye and ask ye tae care fer him when I cannae." Her mistake, to expose herself so openly. To admit to anyone other than herself that it was not so easy to let love go entirely without looking back.

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"I assure you," the Tollaire began, "that I could not care less about trying to 'wound you where I can'. How I talk is how I talk. What I do is meant to serve myself." If Slaine thought Nephthys cared enough about her to orchestrate some elaborate scheme by hooking up with her ex-husband, she was mistaken. It did strike her as odd, however, that it had somehow happened; but that's how it always went, didn't it? The other woman was blamed over the man that consented to the arrangement. "He's handsome. He was crying and angry and lonely. I have no idea what you want me to say here."

Nephthys' eyes narrowed slightly unsure if the queen was mocking her or not. "I'm glad you understand then, that you don't get to break someone's heart and then demand someone else take care of it." What sort of martyrdom was she looking for? "And I mean, shit, did you even consider asking them to be in a polyamorous relationship? Alaric is polygamous, isn't he? Why not you?" Nephthys shrugged. The damage was already done, unfortunately.

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Slaine (perhaps wrongly) did indeed believe that @Nephthys was the type of lioness with a need to shock and spin a situation to her benefit or to make others feel small. The blue queen might have envied the skill, were it not so directed toward herself at the moment.
Though the red woman certainly had a point, it was no longer Slaine's business what Ronin did or who he spent his time with. She had thought him dead and grieved for the loss. She had allowed her loneliness to couple with Alaric's grief and she had allowed her long felt feelings to surface. Feelings that had led her on a path she could not reverse, not even for a man she still loved. Like Ronin.

"I ken tha'. I probed ye because I am jealous, because I cannae bear tha' I cannae hae him." She began, not exactly wanting to expose herself more to this relative stranger but feeling that if she did not allow herself to be vulnerable, she might act on the unreasonable anger that brewed within. "If ye ken (know) them, ye ken tha' it was never an option tae hae both." She shook her head a little, as if the possibility had crossed her mind. "And so I had tae make a decision between two men tha' I love."

As if she had come to her senses, the queen took a step back. "I apologise fer my intrusion, it was unkind and improper o' me. It will nae happen again."

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