AURIBUS TENEO LUPUM.

MARCUS II KING OF HUNGARY. i found rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.

[duchess-of-florence-deactivated]

“ Is that so? What might lead you to believe that true. Seeing as to how I don’t have much to be secretive about. ”

[hungcrian]

        { ‘ ––––– Then you are encouraged to come forth. One finds no pleasure in the shadows, ‘ladyship.’

[wallenstedt-blog]

“Your Majesty, the Princess Kamille will find a warm and welcoming home in Sweden. I imagine that the love the Swedish people have for her will only be surpassed by that of her betrothed.”

[hungcrian]

      {   ‘Such felicitous tidings you bring unto my person with your dissemination, Chancellor. ‘Tis a burden of mine that I have not yet conversed with the Swedish King upon my arrival, ergo I have not heard word of the amiability betwixt my sister and His Majesty in his own delineation.’

[farnsworth-hq]

”I have wine at the ready, and am about to start a game of chess. I would get no enjoyment out of playing on my own…. Care to join me?”

[hungcrian]

      { ‘ ––––– It would be mine honour to indulge Your Majesty in chess. I only wonder if the criterion of such a game has altered across the pelagic sundering Russia and Hungary –– though such is of little import.’

[dracocoronumpromo]

          ‘If I was to be discreet, mon cher frère, you’d not know the contrariety between myself and a subtle summer’s breeze. I sought you to inquire of my sister and how she fares in your keeping. I foresee the conjecture she is receiving no less than what she merits.’

[hungcrian]

        { ‘ ––––– Your sister is duly endowed whatsoever she covets, by megrim or ardent desire; and is, ad infinitum, feted by her children, leisurely accommodations, and a most deferential husband. Should such gospels fail to assuage your pique, dearest sister, you are more than welcomed to inquire the Queen of her Majesty’s own complacency amidst mine realm –– however, I shall be lief if you were to accept my invitation to a chalice of vino. There is much in desideratum of discussion.’

[belxvedmargxt-blog]

“If you truly took stock of my feelings before speaking, you would recall my jealousy, Marcus, dear. We muss not speak of any other women or their beauties unless it is mine. While I do agree that there are many great beauties spawned from our Valois tree, we must agree that I am the most lovely of all. Unless you intend to spurn my feelings once again?”

[hungcrian]

   {  ‘Dear Margot – you yourself forget that the jealousy you speak so stoutly of is one of few transgressions indited upon the Ten Commandments; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour. Punishable by damnation, is it not? –– And, with consideration to mine own wife and daughter, children of the Valois lineage, I shall choose to not pass my judgement upon your stipulation. You may presume that I concur with you ; yet betwixt you and I, you would be duly mistaken.’

[hungcrian]

         { ‘ ––––– You are not half as discreet as you aspire.’

[wallenstedt-blog]

“Ah, yes  — my sojourn from my paper-laden desk in Sweden is to be spent at a paper-laden desk here in Rome, it seems. His Majesty has been quite BUSY since we last spoke.”

[hungcrian]

  {   ‘That I am gladdened to hear, ‘Chancellor. I foresee a prosperous future for my sister and His Majesty, given the lucrativeness of the realm. Tell me, do the Swedish people welcome our foreign alliance?’

[genevieve-valois-blog]

She shook her head at the suggestiveness of his words but a knowing smirk formed on her lips nonetheless. “Such afflictions may not have been apparent when we found ourselves unaccompanied in that dreary cabin. Your manner of…distraction are unparalleled. However, the wooden walls of the ship did little to provide much in the ways of privacy. Stone walls and heavy wooden doors with sturdy locks are far more preferable.” 

As they reached their chambers, Geneviéve gave direction to her ladies and the children’s nurses, making clear her reluctance to be disturbed for the remainder of the afternoon. The woman scurried off, no doubt wishing to be far from the king and queen’s rooms for the nonce. The queen herself released a sigh of reprieve as the door closed behind them. Their chambers were luxurious and quaint, every bit as ostentatious as her rooms in the Hungarian palace, only dominated by Roman taste and architecture that she found rather stimulating. Stepping out of her shoes–which had the tendenc to pinch her already delicate feet after long strolls–she stepped through the large windows on the opposite side of the room and onto the balcony. The view of the city–all marble and cobble and stone–was breathtaking and awe-inspiring and the gentle breeze that whispered past gave her a feeling of calm, the likes of which she had not known since they departed for Rome.

“Come, mon chéri,” she said, letting her eyes fall closed for a brief moment. “I crave your propinquity.”

[hungcrian]

      { Marcus strung behind Genevieve as she perambulated into her Queenly dormitories, footing no less fleet or capable than her own; a marital eagerness swelling within the chambers of his torso as he remained abreast with her strides en route to the placid retreat of their chambers, seclusion preforming as manumission from the interference of his council and her cortege of nominated ladies, as well as an opportunity to well tranquility within his person. A phlegmatic grin curved the corners of his lips upward in an askew assessment of charm as they crossed the threshold of her apartments, duo of sentinels fastening the doors in the King’s formidable shadow.

He permitted himself to be summoned upon the balcony with little quibble, acquitting his person of all cumbersome, gilded chains adorning his chest, placing them upon the table in an effort to unbend afore coming beside his wife to relish in the warmth of the leaden sun. He placed his palm on an ivory, Greek-inspired baluster, gazing into the horizon, spangled with tiled roofs and the imposing heights of many a cathedral, as a content sigh encompassing his frame.

He turned to his Queen, eyes falling upon the velveteen skin peeking from beneath her elaborate décolletage, hues rising to the soft inclination of her neck. ‘Come, near. Let us relish in what little seclusion we may be afforded with. It feels as though an age has passed since I last touched you... last had you.’

[andsowewalkalone-deactivated202]

Charles Brandon gifsets [ 19/ ? ] 

[ofluxembourg-deactivated2017011]

          ‘—— And now what do you propose I do with this?’

[hungcrian]

      {  ‘Kill it, if it be Your Highness’ will. ‘Tis of negligible consequence to me, for the creature is as good as dead.’

[genevieve-valois-blog]

The ship they had boarded on Hungary’s coast promised the advantage of speed over the more traditional horse-drawn carriages, but the queen had not been found of the way the ocean’s waves had tossed them about–the captain had assured their utmost safety but Geneviève’s fears and discomforts were not tempered–nor the illness which at first was reminiscent of the sickness she endured in the early weeks of pregnancy. The only solace she found had been on the ships deck when the waters were still–or in her private cabin wrapped her in her husband’s embrace. 

Her smile returned, though not in full force as it had before, at his compliance, only to be lost once more at the mention of the underlying fears which haunted them both. The birth of their son had been joyous and celebrated but only for a moment, it seemed. He was a smart child, already learning to read at the age of three, but he remained sickly throughout. His condition–while not dire–had prompted the king and queen to bring him to the Vatican and be blessed by the new pope. “Let us not entertain such thoughts, for they only serve to fuel our fears. Marcus is young still–and your son besides. He will find his strength, of this I am confident.”

Taking her husband’s arm, she nodded. “Yes, of course. I would like to settle in our apartments for the nonce. We were too long on the ship–too close to others for my comfort.”

[hungcrian]

     { Her words were undergirded with the net of a transient candor, presumably to turn on a volte-face upon the next bell toll given the caprice nature of a young boy’s enfeebled composition. Marcus had been bereaved of illness in both youth and manhood, a sheathe of fine-fettle sentineling his robust frame; but in contingencies had good-health evaded his only son, promoting a bitterness to ferment within his father though seldom bubbling to the surface if not coaxed by jasper spirits. However authentic Genevieve’s words were, the King was far more inclined to trust in the bidding of the sacerdotal and refined slew of Hungarian physicians shadowing their sons’ every step; clinching his deathward passing in spite of the treasonous undertones of their conviction and the optimism Rome’s sacrosanct locale promised in no uncertain terms. And thus, oft cajoled by the aforementioned liquor, a gnawing inclination grew within him, as though foul weeds in a courtyard, to renege the responsibility that he placed on his son’s shoulders and endeavor betwixt the berth of his wife’s succulent thighs for a far more thewy result. One he could lock the prosperity of his country within. 

      Resigning himself from such woebegone woolgathering, Marcus subjected a tentative grin unto his Consort, and apprised their caucus of their resolve to embark otherwhere. Though he ambled in the hopes that his party would not bother him within the sanction of his apartments. They would find him anywhere, beseech him in the midst of any intimate moment. 

‘Truly? I do not recall you being afflicted by the close quarters... though ‘tis must be a result of my failing memory.’ The King smirked as he spoke, chin dipped low to mutter his words in the Queen’s vicinity. 

[hungcrian]

They walk in awful splendor, regal yet, wearing their crimes like rich and kingly capes.

David Morton (1886-1957)

[bianca-calabrese]

“Never? Not even if a lady were to inquire very nicely? I have the good fortune to call this city my home, Your Majesty. You may thank me for my excellent lineage, if you wish.”

[hungcrian]

   {  ‘You’ll find that I’ll not be so facilely cajoled by amiability –– not of the ilk which is so lackluster in utterance.’

[amancanfly]

The Tudors: Charles Brandon

Episode 104

[genevieve-valois-blog]

“You speak to me as if I had not the slightest knowledge of our son’s afflictions,” she countered, head held high as she fell in step with her husband The smile her infant daughter had so recently placed upon her face dissolved almost instantaneously as he dismissed her effervescent words. Keeping to a cheerful disposition when the king was so determined to do otherwise was oft tax all its own but years of marraige had given her the experience required for it. 

“The stress of the long road and our troubles prior were not lost on me, amoureux. Far from it, in all candor, but I do not wish to let such unpleasantness sour our short residence in Rome. The city is a wonder all its own–take a moment to enjoy it as such. You will be far happier for it.” As will I, God willing.

[hungcrian]

      { Engendered from his wife’s tender words did a commiserative light cast over the embbowned contemplations teeming within a disconcerted cranium brimful with thoughts of premature demise, momentarily tucked away for the benefit of his disposition and the attitude of his consort ; arm thereafter outstretched to clasp a palm over the rigid blade undergirding her shoulder in an implicit, yet mayhap evanescent, armistice. ‘You are right. I only could not bear it if our efforts were futile... or belated. I had begun to suspect they were.’ A vestige of weakness displayed upon his person for an ephemeral instant. ‘Shall we venture indoors? My head complains undyingly of vertigo from the trip.’

[bianca-calabrese]

“What right have we mere mortals to offend Him, hmm?” Bianca flashed a faux-innocent smile and took his suggestion, replenishing her supply of wine. “Tell me, my lord…who taught you to be so gracious?”

[hungcrian]

    {  ‘A King never divulges his secrets, madam ; lest the premonition he wishes to imbrue upon a lady resembles hauteur. But you must tell me to which purpose I must thank for having happened upon you at such a time ––– what brings you to Rome?’

[belxvedmargxt-blog]

“Careful, your majesty. You may injure my feelings if you continue thusly. You mussn’t pretend as though my presence is so abhorrent,” she replied back with a small chuckle. While he was not a blood relation, she did adore family. “There are worse genes to acquire. And I believe my own Valois genes have served me quite well. Unless you disagree?”

[hungcrian]

    {  ‘You wound me to presume that I fail to take your feelings into consideration, Duchess. I am well aware of your many sentiments, and do oft pride myself on encroaching upon the very best of them.’ As though his eyes were freshly meeting her, the King made a quick assessment of Margot. ‘I suppose you are right. Should my daughter share any of her mother’s blood, she will be a handsome woman. Do you not agree?’