Criss Cross: Remnant Tails

Viscera Major

I breathed out heavily, trying to hold myself together with my one arm. If agony was a job, this was it. Now I knew why Manna hated her first job.  

Collin snickered and I turned even further away from him.

"Try not to look so bored and I won't laugh," he whispered over the loud chatter. "Sentries aren't supposed to look like they'd rather be in bed."

I heated up a bit at his comment.

It's not my fault this is a dire bore. Honestly.

I always imagined the parties the upper-class put together were exuberant bashes filled with pleasures and merriment. Not mundane gatherings filled with treacherous rivalries and the crass flaunting of money. They did nothing entertaining, and watching them brag made keeping my wits about me and my back straight a challenge.

Sorry, Mom, my etiquette is slipping.

When I wasn't hopping foot to foot I slouched, more hunched over than the oldest man. I yawned every other breath and fidgeted when I became too fed up. A week of listening to "Oh, Angel, how darling you look," and then, "Did you see the head on that tacky corpse. And to think..." followed by "Well, I did purchase the...."

Ugh! I complained, because guess what I just heard. Who buys an entire duitra band?

It was scandalous how people who despised each other so much met up and associated with one another without business. The little get-togethers I've been to in my short life were paramount compared to this. I just wanted to get back to Dory.

"My, don't you look lovely," a heavily accented man dressed in a frilly suit lied to me. I was dressed for play, not for royalty. "Won't you honor me with a dance?"

He was the fourth one in six days. I wasn't allowed to acknowledge him so I didn't. I merely glanced past him and then away. I've never seen a man in frills until I came here, and it wasn't one of those new things that caught my fancy.

I don't understand any of this?

I felt another yawn coming, but this man was persistent. He grabbed my hand.

"Stubborn little vixen, but I'm used to getting what I want. Tell me the name of your superior. I've been meaning to get someone like you for my personnel." His hand went for my chin and I really wanted to bite. "I think I'll make your master an irrefutable offer."

This was something new. He thought I was a slave that could be brought on a whim. When no one else did anything I let out the growl my soul-self was working up to. It merely made the man smile.

Emare! Stand down! Collin warned as Ever made his way over.

It was so easy for him to say because all the froth in the seven kingdoms weren't bothering him. Just the tacky, but he seemed to enjoy it.

Even so, I tamped down my soul-self.

The man turned to Ever and smiled.

"Ah. It must be you. Your master, belay this message for me. 2,000 rujees for the demon-eyed servantess, benevolently offered from Eorl Carsid."

I flicked my eyes to Ever.

If he even thinks about relaying that message I'll yank his hair!

Ever crossed his arms, and with a glimpse of what I thought was a smile, he addressed the eorl.

"I speak for my master when I say that offer isn't nearly generous enough. The girl you hold may well be worth eighty times that amount. And I mean to only warn you when I say you should unhand her. The only thing worse than her disposition is our master's control over her, and she bites. Unrelentlessly, I've been told."