#templebones

“ Your Majesty. ”  

The title was used out of custom,  to please,  rather than true respect or conviction.  He did not have much of a liking for demons,  let alone their ruler.  Perhaps he would not have described his feelings as outright hatred so much as intolerance.  He did not experience sympathy for them.  Beings that had usually willingly permitted themselves to change,  permitted themselves to fall into such states of ruinous imperfection.

                                                                         uncertainty paints DELICATE features as she peers around the corner, where she’d have sworn the noise had come from. teeth graze her lower lip, fingers dragging ALONG the wall behind her with each step she takes toward the source. 

“-- I’m pretty sure you’re aware of that, anyway, but that was fucking awesome. You did great.” 

There was no way in hell a girl like Regina didn’t know of her own talents.

Getting engaged in an actual debate, with a girl who almost seemed to match his smart mouth and ability to make pretty damn good points? It was exciting, and definitely made up for all the annoying encounters with less than clever classmates he had suffered in the last couple of hours. 

No, Noah definitely didn’t mind being challenged in such a way. He loved a good debate, and as far as he could tell? Regina knew exactly what she was doing.

At this point it was hard to imagine a time where she hadn’t been friends with Regina - or hadn’t known the woman, for that matter. Gillian had grown so used to spending her time with her, or well, at least as long as her cousin didn’t claim Regina for himself.

Either way - Regina was fun to be around, and even though Gillian acted like she had to think about making time for Regina? That bright smile on her face gave it all away - of course her answer would be yes.

“-- I’m sorry, Madam Pince, I know it’s late, but we have a project due tomorrow and we were hoping we could do some more last-minute research. We only need twenty minutes, alright?” 

So Noah had hoped that no one would spot Regina and him on their way to ... well, it certainly wasn’t research that had led them to the library. The librarian was known for her lack of attention, and that was what he had counted on when sneaking into the library with Regina close behind, both of them a little bit too eager to have a plan B in mind.

Ah, well. Noah could come up with one on the spot - or a (hopefully) good excuse, anyway.

Madam Pince squinted at them, eyes scanning them head to toe - before she ended up nodding, to Noah’s surprise. 

“Thank you so much, Madam Pince! You won’t even notice us.”

Now they just had to find a well hidden spot where she actually wouldn’t notice them. 

               ❛ noah – noah ! ❜ wide grey eyes met those of her fiancé, reaching out for him, handcuffs glinting against her wrists in the low lighting. she grasped his hand tightly, her breathing uneven, everything about her speaking to fear and uncertainty – save for her steady, hard gaze.

              ❛ they arrested me on my way to work, i - i tried to tell them about you, they won’t listen, i…i don’t know what’s going on. ❜ she seemed to calm in his presence, holding his gaze as she looked up at him.  ❛ one of them said something about a queen. i don’t – i don’t know what that means. ❜ she swallowed hard, searching his gaze. ❛ you have to tell them i didn’t do anything wrong. ❜

Balancing his work and his fiancé’s ... activities had become rather stressful. This wasn’t an easy thing - he was supposed to keep an eye on the law and dedicate his morals to the NYPD, while Regina was ... well, doing her very own thing. Hell, if he didn’t love her as much as he did --

Either way, up until now it hadn’t become as much of a problem as expected - until his coworkers had handcuffed the woman with the heavy accusation of her being the Queen. Now that was true, of course, but this was his case, and, even more importantly, his woman, and Noah wouldn’t stand for this double betrayal. 

“-- What the hell is going on here? Let her go, right now. This is Officer Ribeiro, this is my case, and you’re just arresting my fiancé. Free her right now and I’ll let this mistake slip, or else you will have to answer to the Chief.”