"King?" In the early days, the first month, perhaps, 'Queen' Anivia had lived in terror, fearing for her life. But... nothing changed. The new 'king' of the kingdom had demonstrated no urge to devour her, and had, in fact, completely ignored her. Beyond what was publiclly necessitated for their 'ostensible' marriage, and a few minor tasks the 'king' seemed to expect of her, she was unnoticed. Left to her own devices. Ignored. Of all the things, that truly stung the most. Though... This was certainly up there. With the dragon's characteristic casualness, she had simply demolished several of the palace's interior walls, and a floor. The use of brute force to completely remodel the ancient structure, home of the royal family for time immemorial... For Anivia to see her home, her familiy's home of generations,  rent asunder on the petty whims of... of this giant lizard... That was why Anivia's voice was no longer pleasant, no longer flaterring and fearing for her life,  and instead angry. Cold. Resentful.

And the dragon still seemed completely oblivious to her. Yet another insult upon injury.

“Ah. Queen.” The dragon seemed to be finishing up the remodeling, namely, passing over the stone walls of the castle, melting and shapingn sections with her fire breath. Several spots on the wall glowed brightly, evidently having recently received her attention. “What  do you have to report?”

“The nobles are cautious as always. Lord Donovan made inquiries after my wellbeing and your treatment of me. Lord Augustine and Lady Vel both made veiled assurances that they were doing what they could for me. Nothing indictable.” Anivia grated out, making only passable effort to be polite. Every court dinner, 'King' Darathaxyis honored everyone with her 'benevolent' presence for an hour or so, ate nothing, and departed early.  The first time it had happened, Anivia had been relieved immensely, to finally escape the presence of the vile dragon, to be without the feeling of enormous crimson eyes burining into her back.  She'd stayed for several more hours, eager to squeeze as much freedom as she could out of the event... And when she was finally forced to return to Darathaxyis' presence, she had been interrogated for hours by a creature that seemed to need only minimal sleep. It had been very emphatically hinted that it was a practice she should keep up, and after the fact, Anivia had realized that the nobles she spoke to almost certainly expected such. They said nothing of worth around her, beyond attempts to curry favor or prying for information about their new 'king'. Though recently, a few of the bolder ones had started approaching her as if she could ply the dragon's ear on their behalf.

As usual, the tone of her voice, the sharpness of her words, the dragon let all pass without comment. She seemed, instead, genuinely amused. A deep rumble and a small plume of fire, Anivia had learned, indicated the dragon's equivalent of laughter. “And what did you tell the good Lord Donovan? Did you spin him the tale he wanted to hear about the cruel dragon, and how she torments you so?”

“No.”  Anivia answered, taking perverse pleasure in the fact that Darathaxyis had asked the question. The opportunity to retor was... satisfying. Vindicating. “I told him that you completely ignore me, and most days, I exchange no words with you outside of the presence of the court. You saddle me with menial tasks any servant could perform, and use me as a... *decoration* in public!” Anivia spat, finally giving vent to the hatred that  had been bubbling away at ever more pressure over the past months. The dragon, damn her heart, didn't seem to be the slightest bit perturbed by the sudden outburst.

“You know, I thought that's what you would want. Free time. Get on with the things you Queens do. Tapestries, and whatnot. Or is it only princesses that do that..?” The overblown lizard does 'mocking' surprisingly well, and Anivia felt her cheeks flush with anger at such a response. The creature had always held the intricacies of the court in contempt, going so far as to demand /marriage/ to her- Her! In pursuit of some mockery of legitimacy. Or, Anivia suspected, merely in pursuit of mockery- the reptile seemed to take endless pleasure in mocking the nobility and their traditions, subtly or overtly.

Despite her anger at the smug lizard, Anivia was not so foolish as to continue her rant. She remained silent, returning only a thin, disgusted look at the dragon, the safest way she could express her thoughts to her so-called 'lord'.

Amazingly, this too, the dragon chose to acknowledge. “No? What possible offense could you hold against me?” The bitch was not atempting to hide her mockery in the silghtest, and for a moment, Anivia's much-put-upon temper wavered once more.

“You took my lands from my father, murdered him, have taken and begun demolishing my very *home*, demand my service as a- /errand-runner/, have forced me into this- this *mockery* of marriage, despite you being female and a /dragon/, no less, and have denied me any hope of ruling as is my right, denied me any hope of a true marriage-!”

“Mockery of a marriage? You wound me so. Besides, you would just have been married off to some noble your father liked anyway. Don't act as if I've denied you some /choice/ or something.”

“I would have been married to a *man*!” Aniva nearly shouted. She was full well willing to continue, but Darathaxyis cut her off again.

“Oh, a /man/. Of course. Is that a challenge?” Darathaxyis answered, sounding serious just long enough for an expression of horror to temper Aniva's anger.  Another small chuff of flame marked  Darathaxyis' amusemment, apparently no more fazed by this outburst than she was by the previous. “You humans and marriages. Marriages and tapestries. Look at it another way, I've given you an incomparable gift- just find someone who suits your fancy and take him to bed at some point. No one would dare accuse the queen, certainly not *my* queen of being unfaithful-”

“No one would dare cuckold a dragon, my 'king'.” Anivia retored with scorn, stamping one foot in anger. “Your mere presence isolates and damns me! The dinner was the first time I have had opportunity to speak to anyone but the servants all week, and they refu-!”

“Humans do stupider things all the time. Fear of immolation won't stop those pompous windbags out there from plotting against me, it won't stop some Casanova from trying to woo a princess. Hell, they'll try it at some point just for the bragging rights! I could care less. Provided you serve me, I'm content to let you continue to live your life of luxury... Unless you think you could make it on the streets- I'm sure there's great demand for those tapestries out there.” Darathaxyis' voice dripped with sarcasm.

“I could- Any family would take me in, I am the daughter of the king-!”

“And do you think you'd have any more freedom under them? Please, by all means, tell me how they'd take you in, foster you out of the goodness of your heart, allow you to marry as you please and depart when you will.” if anything, the dragon's words were even more scathing, and for the first time in months, held an undertone of irritation. “I tire of your entitled whining. Did you have anything else to report on?” Anivia wordlessly shook her head, angry, and unable to honestly refute the dragon's claims even if she were allowed to. “Fine. Dismissed.” the dragon stated, turning back to fusing the walls of the new, cavernous 'room' she had created.

The dragon spent nearly ten minutes meticulously fusing the stonework walls solid with her breath before finally turning back to Anivia, still standing before the Darathaxyis' bed of plunder in the center of the room. “Why do you remain, Pr- Queen?” the massive reptile hissed in annoyance.

“You have destroyed, among other things, the entire royal wing of my home.” Anivia said, trying to be cold but just managing bitterness. It was difficult to retain the emotion, once she let it out. She was still angry, but... it was just a background thing. She was tired. She was well fed. She was angry. She was now homeless in her own home. Just... a background feeling. “There.” she added aloud, indicating part of the second floor that the dragon had removed. For a moment, the dragon stared at it, as if startled herself, or thinking.

“I suppose the guest quarters are not appointed. Fine. Borrow a servant's room.” As Anivia's face slowly flushed with a newfound anger, Darathaxyis gave a remarkable mimic of raising an eyebrow. “Ah, of course. Death before indignity, etcetera. Right...” The dragon seemed to grudgingly relent, and turn away. When she turned back, it was holding a pile of heavily embroidered, golden sheets. The extravagantly-decorated royal quilt and bedding. It figured the dragon would have added it to her hoard.

“Here. Set yourself up somewhere.” Darathaxyis said, dropping the sheets on the edge of her hoard, in front of Anivia. “Or whatever you want. Even stay here, if you dare spend a night with your king!” the dragons voice was mocking again, and the compounded indignity drove Anivia to speak once more.

“I have far more right to this room than you, creature! This has been my home- my family's home, for generations! You are a murdering interloper-”

“Would you like to take it from me?” Though her voice was quiet, it carried well, and Anivia found herself temporarily quelled by the sheer menace in Darathaxyis' sinsiter threat and blazing eyes. She managed to summon the will to stand her ground, though, and did not give. It might be sheer spite, but she would not back down to the damn reptile again- Silence reigned for a long minute, before the dragon emitted another small chuff of amusement. The sight of the fireball did elicit a step backwards from Anivia, and she fumed at it. “Eke out your nest here then, Queen. I wish to finish my modifications, but by all means, if this room is so dear to you, I will not deny you its use.” Anivia almost gaped, completely surprised by what seemed like a sweeping concession from the dragon. It was with no little confusion that Anivia watched her 'husband' return to flameblasting the stonework walls. Eventually, though, she decided, she didn't give a damn. It was warm. She ahd the best bedding left in the castle, apparently. It might be a mockery, or a dare, or... whatever, but if the dragon 'king' was going to dare her to live in her own palace, by the gods above, she would. With the comfort of the luxurious bedding, and the pleasant warmth of Darathaxyis' 'remodeling', it was not long before Anivia found herself drifting off to sleep.

When she awoke, the warmth had long faded, the candles had burned out, and the room was completely dark. Dark and cold- She was shivering within the sheets. As her eyes adapted to the darkness, Anivia noticed but two sources of light- Two large, slightly luminescent, crimson eyes, staring at her from the darkness.

“Your shivering is keeping me awake.” Darathaxyis stated flatly, with a hint of annoyance. For a moment, Anivia considered offering to leave, or demanding that the dragon deal with it, but she got a chance for neither. In the darkness, a massive claw reached out to grab the pile of quilts and sheets upon which Anivia had been sleeping, and drag her closer to the glowing eyes. When the ride ended, Aniva realized she was right next to the massive dragon, practically ensconced against her bulk. And... To Anivia's surprise, she felt significant warmth radiating from her, like she was in summer's daylight simply by sitting next to her.

No more words were exchanged. Darathaxyis slowly furled a wing over Anivia's 'nest', and closed her eyes, apparently satisified. Anivia, effectively left alone in the dark,  felt her shivering depart almost immediately, but remained awake for a long while afterwards...