Hello Maiev

[moonshadows]

“Hello, Maiev.”

She looks up dully through tangled hair, then her eyes widen and her lips stretch into a rictus of agonized rage. “You! You bitch, you harlot! Back to gloat after you ruined my life?” She scrambles to her feet, grips the bars with dirty fingers and presses her face as close to mine as she can.

“I didn’t ruin anything. You did it all by yourself. Illidan did nothing that deserved ten thousand years of torture, rape, and abuse. If you’d treated him with any kindness, he might have been yours willingly, and you might today be in the good graces of Malfurion and Tyrande. But you just couldn’t bring yourself to do that…”

“It’s all his fault!” she screeches. “He went and got himself kidnapped!”

“And so you turned to the Night Warrior, away from the lighter face of the White Lady. You became a creature of darkness and vengeance.”

My calm words enrage her. “Justice! It was justice!”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “This is justice. What you did was cruelty unmatched by anything my father’s people have done – and believe me, that’s not easy to do. Congratulations are in order. Maiev Shadowsong, you are one of the few non-Nathrezim to be  praised and respected among my father’s people.”

“Demons,” she hisses. “What would they know of me?”

“They know what you did to Illidan,” I say sharply. “The state his mind was in when I found him, and what it took for me to fix him, are now a matter of public record on Nathrezene. In a way, I suppose I should thank you – you’ve made both of us minor celebrities. And, of course, if you hadn’t tried to break him so thoroughly, I never would have had a chance to win his love by fixing him. But I won’t.” I take a step back and smile. “You were right, I’m here to gloat.” My hands run up my no-longer-quite-flat stomach. “I’m bearing his child.”

Her face goes slack with horror. “No! That’s not possible, he can’t-”

“You think that just because his seed never took root with you, he’s as impotent as your rage? No, he’s quite virile. I expect we’ll have half a dozen before he’s satisfied. On the other hand,” I say with silky menace, “Malfurion and Tyrande seem content with just the one she’s carrying.”

“Tyrande….carrying…”

“…if that’s just one child, of course,” I continue blithely. “She’s getting awfully big. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were bearing twins. It does run in the family, you know.”

Judging by the inarticulate frothing Maiev’s doing, she knows.

“It’s been an absolute joy,” I chirp cheerfully at her, “but I have to go now. Illidan is waiting for me. He doesn’t like letting his pregnant wife out of his sight, but he said he’d seen enough of you to last ten thousand lifetimes, so he and Jarod are chatting up above.”

“Brother!” she wails as I turn away, and I can’t help but smile. With all the fuel I’ve just given her unbalanced mind, it will be years before she calms down and I’ve likely just undone any progress she’d made towards being stable and balanced.

Not bad for half an hour’s work.