Work Text:
"Check."
The black steel rook slid sideways on its own, castling with the king to remove it from danger once again.
Not unlike the struggle between myself and Adrienne, Emma mused as she slid the ivory bishop across the board into the opening moves of yet another gambit to capture the king.
Of all her siblings, only Christian, sane, ordinary, Christian, had ever refused to play the game. Her father, her mother, Adrienne, Cordelia, they all schemed, rivaling and jockeying for supremacy. And for what? The entirely mundane control of the family's company and fortunes. as a child, it'd left Emma as cold as the family's last name. Now all it raised was a vague sense of weariness and disgust.
"Distracted, my dear?" Her opponent asked urbanely as a black bishop took out one of her pawns and positioned itself to inevitably take out her rook on the next move.
"Only by your devastating good looks, Erik," she quipped back, a bit more of her irritation coming out than she'd intended.
Idiot girl, she cursed internally. Accepting both the pawn and rook as lost causes, she tried to return her concentration to the board,moving her queen into a defensive position to counter the attack she could see coming.
It never paid to let one's mind wander when in the company of a man who was as astute an observer as Erik Lehnsherr. She had to respect him. He was as good at playing people as he was chess. But then, it was to be expected of someone who'd spent as much time around telepaths as Erik had. And then there was his childhood.
At least I'm in good company when it comes to having a messed up family. Had there been a telepath there to hear it, the thought would have been as sharp as her diamond skin. Sharp enough to slice the mind. Thin enough to slip between the ribs and pierce the heart.
She missed Christian. Poor confused, manipulated, ordinary Christian. He'd been the only one who gave as much as her received, who'd always the truth, who'd loved her without any strings attached. The rest of her family was incapable of such simplicity. Perhaps it was written in their genetics right there alongside the factor that had made so many of them mutants.
"Checkmate."
Emma blinked. It was as much of a reaction as she'd concede to the unexpected defeat. She hadn't seen it coming. But then that was true of a lot of thing in life. Including Christian's death.
Poor Christian.