Lost in Technicolor

Dinner with the King

"Hey," Damien's cold voice jerked her out of her dream, "come, on we're eating now." She bit her lip and shuddered at her dream. "Jade."

She opened her eyes fully to stare at him, half angrily, "What if I'm not hungry?"

"Then you eat?" He laughed as if confused.

"So, Jade is it," the King addressed her suddenly. Her eyes widened as she observed him more. She hand't noticed that his eyes were two different colors. "How was your little nap?"

She quickly glanced at Damien to check whether or not he cared that she had been so rude as to sleep right in front of the King at his luncheon, but she could only find a smirk on his downward faced head.

Nevertheless she felt as if she needed to apologize, "Forgive me I haven't been sleeping very much as of lately."

"I'm sorry," he said almost insultingly as he took a sip of his wine, "so entertain me. Tell me about yourself."

She glanced at Damien once more, but yet again his eyes were cast down at his untouched plate of food and he was laughing softly to himself.

"L-Like what?" She frowned, glancing at the other pairs of eyes that were now fixated on her. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Everyone there had three if not four more the times of an amusing life than she. What was she supposed to say?

"I dunno," the King yawned lazily, "something interesting."

"There's nothing about me that will amuse you," she shook her head, "not when I have these people as my standard."

Slowly Damien lifted his head to tilt it at the king, "What do you expect from a pathetic orphan I plucked up off the street?" He laughed. Pathetic?

"I dunno," the King repeated himself and then after a pause in which his eyes seemed to grab at every part of Jade in examination, "she has an interesting face though. Wouldn't you agree that she's very beautiful?"

Jade scowled inwardly at that statement, confused about what to do with it. No one had ever said things like that to her. She was flattered, but the idea didn't entirely consume her mind.

"Yes," Damien replied coolly completely devoid of emotion, but not in an unusual way. He turned to look at her himself, "She is, but," he laughed, "I don't think that she is quite aware of it though." He threw on a sarcastic face, "Probably never had access to mirrors."

"I wasn't homeless," she growled, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Beauty is within not without," the woman who had been fighting with her husband the entire afternoon spoke bitterly.

"Thank you love, but that's not what we're talking about here," Damien smiled cruelly.

"I think that she's right though," the thin and lanky supposed genius declared, "I mean she slept through half of the luncheon. That's rude and rude is not beautiful."

"He's right," Cornelia smiled at Damien from her place about six seats down from him, "because if she was beautiful then so would you be."

Everyone seemed to nod at that. Damien rolled his eyes with a sigh but then a smile played with his lips as he reopened them, "What about Petra De'Vore then?"

"Beautiful," all of the men seemed to answer almost mechanically, even the king, while the women scowled at the name. Damien laughed hard at their reaction, covering his mouth with his hand at his complete joy, but through Drake's eyes Jade could see a strange falseness in it.

"Yes, I wish we were still on good terms. I'd have brought her with me. Then my dear King, this little luncheon of your's really would be interesting," Damien smiled to himself, picking up his glass of water and taking a sip of it.