Sun Queen

♛ Forty ♛

At first, the conversation is quite boring. Everyone is being falsely pleasant and on edge. Only Nikolai looks truly comfortable. I'm happy to sate myself with food while I wait for opportunities to make myself annoying. At least I'm distracting the Darkling.

I watch from the corner of my eye as he causally glances to me, then away, then back. As the appetizers go on, the Darkling grows more and more confident and relaxed. I can sense his hands wavering towards me. Eventually he touches the small of my back, his fingers too low for my comfort.

I jerk towards him and my cheeks blush. I whisper under my breath, "What the hell are you doing?"

He raises his eyebrows. "Nothing."

But when I turn back he touches my back again. I think it's like a game for him. I can feel the leather of his gloves wherever they move. My back arches whenever he touches a sensitive spot and I can almost feel his smirk burning into the back of my head. I try not to focus on them too much, or the dreaded feelings that come with it.

You hate him, you hate him, you hate him, you hate him, I scold myself, clearing my throat and shifting in my seat a little.

So I start a game of my own. Every time he touches my skin, I take a long sip of my wine. The Darkling's frown deepens as more glasses gather by my plate. My face starts to grow blurry, my eyes low and drunk. Even Nikolai looks warningly towards me, but I shake my head to brush away his concerns. I know what I'm doing.

All I have to do is keep the Darkling distracted so Nikolai and the other generals can get through the dinner. So as the wine keeps pouring, the Darkling's gloves hands continue to swirl and trace shapes around my back. It's a test to see who will break first.

One of older generals, his navy coat especially heavy with medals, turns towards me and grins jovially with yellowed teeth. "So, Sun Summoner, what do you think of our little camp?"

I laugh a little too loudly, alcohol making my head woozy. "I would hardly call it little, General...."

"Braknoor." He reaches his hand over the table to me, looking once to the Darkling.

I take it strongly and smirk as the Darkling glares at our interlinked fingers, his hand stopping at the middle of my back. When I release from the handshake, the servants pull away our plates, replacing them with a dish of steaming meat and whipped potatoes. I pick at the food a little, the wine making my appetite disappear.

The conversation varies from Fjerda and trade routes, mostly of their tones are boring and stiff as if they practiced the words. The Darkling is aware of this effect he has on the group and he relishes in it.

Suddenly, his hand slides a little towards the slit in my dress, briefly touching high up on my thigh.

I flinch away, my leg burning. I can't do this anymore.

My chair screeches as it backs up, drawing the attention of the room. I give a hard stare to the Darkling before walking slowly to Nikolai's side, a plan forming in my mind to cut the dinner short.

Nikolai looks pleasantly confused as I kneel beside his chair and face the table. I grab his fork and steal a piece of meat off his plate. The entire table watches me as I eat, so I make it last. My teeth scrape against the fork as I pull the tender meat off. I would normally hate the intense attention, but my thoughts float away quickly from the wine and my consciousness has drunk itself away.

Nikolai and the others look nervously at me and I watch them as I slowly lick the meat sauce off the spoon. "I just wanted to see if Nikolai's meat was as good as mine."