Queen Of Glass

Book 2 Chapter 7

"She's gone mad."
"She's not mad, she's just in need of another drink."
"Luca, one more and she'll be throwing up whatever's in her stomach all over the place."
"Her hands are still shaking! She needs another drink to strengthen up a little. Come on now, Elentulyai, just have anoth—ow! You bit me!"

Celaena snorted and then let out a giggle that sounded more like a gargle. Luca looked at her incredulously. "Your...hand...was in the way of the cup," she said with a wry smile.
"That's it," Stephaenya scolded. "You've gotten her drunk. I will not be a part of this!"
Celaena shook her head, and then found herself to be very dizzy. "I'm not...drunk. It's too early for...for that sort of thing." She couldn't think about those...things that lived here. It was too much. It had taken them ten minutes to get her to leave the bedroom, and a further five to get her into the kitchen; but not surprisingly, it had taken them no time at all to get her to drink the glass of brandy that Luca shoved into her hand.
Stephaenya gave Luca a murderous glare. "I told you to give her tea. Nice. Hot. Tea. But no! Any excuse to drink, any excuse to break out the alcohol..."
"You're very uptight for a young woman," Celaena said, cocking her head to the side. "Perhaps you should...do something."
"What?" Stephaenya snapped, blushing. "You're not making any sense."
"Well," Celaena said, leaning forward onto the table and giving her best attempt at a serious face. "Maybe you should get a new hobby other than cooking...things. Maybe you should take up something relaxing, something exciting, something—"
"Like what? Fishing?"
Celaena shrugged her shoulders. "If that's what floats your boat, then sure."
Luca muffled a laugh into his shoulder. Celaena, unable to resist, joined in on the laughter, not bothering to hide it.
Stephaenya looked from Luca to Celaena and frowned deeply. "I think you both are horrid," she said, and stormed out of the room.
Luca stopped laughing immediately and stood up. "Stephaenya!" he called after her. "Stephaenya, don't be like that! Come on—it was just a joke! Come on—come back!"
There was a distant cry of "No!" from the hallways beyond, and Luca sat down again.
"Women..." Celaena said, clucking her tongue. "They're so touchy, aren't they?"
Luca didn't look so amused anymore. "She's very sensitive about working here, you know."
Celaena scoffed at his seriousness. "I'd be too—if I had this lousy job for the rest of my life," she grinned. "So this is only temporary?" There was an edge to his voice that she felt more comfortable ignoring.
She laughed and nodded her head. He didn't smile.
"You know," she grinned, eager to change the subject, "you're very good-looking! For a young man, that is." His frown faltered a little and some color crept into his cheeks.
"...Th—thank you," he mumbled.
She let out a wordless exclamation and cackled. "You're embarrassed! That's so precious!"
Luca gave her a foul look.
"What?" She said, putting her hands on her chest. "Don't you hear that often? It's nothing to be embarrassed about... being good-looking, that is. Why, I'm quite proud of it."

"That's because you're as vain as a swan."
"Me? Vain? Hardly! Why, I had to work in the..." she stopped herself then, grabbing a hold of the alcohol that was working to undo her disguise.
"Yes?" he crooned. "You had to work in the..."
She straightened up. "Well, working for the Crown Prince..."
He rolled his eyes. "Ah, yes. Working in the finest palace in the world must have been very dirty work."
"In a mental sense, it sometimes was," she snarled. A thought suddenly burst into her mind, which she shoved away with a swig of the brandy in front of her. She couldn't think about it—about them—about those creatures that were all over the place here.
Luca raised an eyebrow. "Tell me about working in Adarlan," he said, sounding interested. "What's the Crown Prince like?"
Even the two glasses of brandy that she had downed couldn't restrain the painful throb of her heart that arose from thinking about Dorian DeHavilliard.
"He's like most royals in Adarlan," she said dismissively. "Spoiled, arrogant, and completely in love with himself." It was a bit of a stretch—but it was what Luca wanted to hear. It wasn't a complete lie, she told herself, because Dorian had acted that way when she had first met him...when he had freed her from the salt mines of Endovier.
Just focus on the bad points of his character...
"He spends his days in the kennels with his thousands of ridiculous hunting dogs. He has them breeding day in and day out, and the ones that don't please him, he gives to someone worthy of such an honor."
"Do you have one of them?"
Another aching pang in her chest. "Yes," she said, somewhat more quietly, "I do. Her name is Fleetfoot. And she's as damn fine and fast as any of his hounds." She laughed to herself, remembering the night when Dorian had walked into her room, seen the size and strength of Fleetfoot, and began to curse violently at himself for believing that she was doomed to be a runt all her life.
"So that's all he does? Play with dogs all day?"
Celaena snorted with amusement. "No, no—he does other things. Like...play pool. And read. And sleep with the ladies of the court."
"Those aren't very princely things to do."
"This is Adarlan we're talking about."
Luca chuckled. "Go on, tell me more."
She scanned her memory, and bit down on her lower lip.
Just think about anything other than those...monstrosities that are all over! Maybe if you don't think about them, they won't appear and attack you again...
She unconsciously touched her front strands of hair, as if to make sure that the Berryeater was gone.
"Well," she said, "he likes to hunt. They have a game park on the castle grounds—I know, it's ridiculous—but I don't recall him ever using the park when I was with him... Oh! And he likes to fence and play with weapons too."
"So he's not a push-over?"