[Durelin]

It did not take much to bring the anger out in this man, to get him to show his true colours. He had met her eyes as she drew close to him and she saw the desires in them, his skin had squirmed underneath her touch, and she felt she could see his mouth growing moister though his teeth were clenched. Jord held all of his attention for one moment, and it was just another victory. Between their carnal needs and desires, mortals would do anything, and their weak, impressionable minds could be molded to turn that anything, and eventually everything they did into what she wanted. What Morgoth wanted. What Morgoth commanded.

Uldor’s words were filled with emotion that was wasted on Jord’s ears. She was deaf to almost everything he said now, out of choice. His words did not matter, and they certainly bored her when he started repeating himself. His attention, his mind was secured: that was all that mattered.

“With your lips you would kiss me and promise me wealth and power, and with your left hand you would trust a dagger into my heart and give my blood to Morgoth. You would rather see me crawl at your feet than be an honorable man…”

He may have been delusional, but he was quite right about her. The man knew it, and yet he could not resist her or her promises. The more often she put the plate in front of him, the more tempting it would be for him to gobble it up. And nearly every last Ulfing knew how bad Prince Uldor was at resisting temptation, when he even bothered to try. Perhaps he had a few more wits about him now that he knew that his father could only do so much, particularly in the state the old man was in. An honorable man, though, Uldor son of Ulfang had never been and never would be. Honor required sacrifice, and this boy was all about himself.

“I will stand on my own - without your help.”

It was just another thing he had never grown out of.

Jord watched Uldor storm off with something close to glee, though it soon passed. As he made his way back into the city she examined her wrist and the light red mark he had left around it. It would stand out from the rest of her skin for a little while yet. Was she to think herself lucky to have a body with such smooth, milky skin that the hand of a lecherous dog would leave a mark on her? These women were weaker even than that man, all of them, in body and spirit.

She had learned in her stay that not only did they allow themselves to become “wives” and serve fools they called “husbands” as if there were loyalty involved, but were to desire this. Apparently, they even believed they required…protection. Apparently, in the little world of mortals, regardless of how many toys they were given or found to play with, from swords to fire to thrones and shiny objects, they would always fight amongst themselves, to the point that man and woman became different, when all would be but corpses in a blink of an immortal’s eye.

Apparently, women were the weaker sex in this world of mortals. But in the body of one, she would be responsible for the destruction of so many beings, mortal and immortal, that the carrion birds would block out the sun for days.

Smiling, Jord returned to her chambers, her amusement only encouraged by the way everyone she passed by in the dusty roads turned to look at her. They muttered to each other biting rumours, a common side effect of the human disease, which could only help her cause. Most had seen her, and seen her with Uldor. They knew what sort of man he was, and so it was commonly assumed that her position was a mistress likely of uncivilized origins. Perhaps if enough simple minds around him believed it, the little prince would be convinced of it himself.

“Ah, my dear Brodda,” she said, the words rolling off her tongue with smooth delight as she closed the door to her bedchamber behind her. The rough looking man lounged on her couch, and though she spoke to him, she did not spare him a glance. She did not like acknowledging his presence more than she had to. He was useful, but was only decent to look at even by the standards of his people. And she did not like the thought of any mortal pig making himself comfortable in her bedroom.

“Did you enjoy the company of Elves in the court this morning?”