Tributes

Chapter Twenty One

"Fixed for now," Luke explained before collapsing on the sofa in between Julia and Chris. He threw his an arms around the two of them and kissed Julia's cheek. "So tell me about yourselves," he grinned, looking between the two of them, eyelashes fluttering and a slightly mischievous look on his face. Julia chuckled, relaxing into the hold, her cheeks slightly pink.

Chris glared unimpressed at Luke and removed the arm but nodded at him in greeting. "My name's Christopher," Chris said sounding distinctly unhappy. "Call me Chris."

"I'm Julia," Julia smiled considerably warmer at Luke, who grinned back.

"I love your hair," Luke commented, stroking it gently. "Are you from one of the northern villages?" He asked. Luke had forgotten much of the mortal realm now but he still knew the northern villages were more likely to have curly hair for some reason. It was one of those strange facts which had remained with him despite not living  there for a hundred years or so.

"Yes," Julia nodded, her blush increasing slightly. A lot of people teased her about how curly her hair was. It was unusual for someone to declare they liked it. "Can I ask someting?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Of course," Luke smiled charmingly.

"What does the crest mean?" Julia inquired, pointing to a symbol on his jacket. Both Airean and Heilan had them too, but none of them did. She had assumed only servants wore them but Luke had one too. Heilan's and similar to Luke's in that the stitch surrounding it was gold while Airean's was silver. The crest its self was a war hammer surrounded by a bed of flowers and bones. In the centre of the hammer, a small wolf head was embroidered.

Luke patted the crest and hummed, looking at them both a little closer. "Well spotted. I don't suppose you lot have been fitted yet for your uniforms... The crest is Lord Tyreol's mark in the otherworlds. It shows that I have a relationship with him even if I'm not serving for him at the moment. It's proof I'm still part of his court. Though this one is actually Fiear's crest. Tyreol's doesn't have the flowers. Not that Master cares one way or another. His mark is the centre after all."

"Fiear?" Julia asked, blinking as she realised the difference.

"Lord Fiear Fangtooth of the otherworlds. He's the oldest of us. Well, no. He is fifth of the fifty but I've never met the older ones," Luke shrugged. "He's a lesser lord in the otherworlds now. Fiear tends to use his power to protect other tributes so we can wear either and its accepted by the courts as official."

"So he's powerful," Chris commented with a strangle tone in his voice.

"Very," Luke smiled oddly, not sure what to make of Chris's observation. "But enough about him, which region do you hail from Chris?"

"It doesn't matter," Chris shook his head.

"Sure it does handsome," Luke winked at him. "Where you are from is your home. That doesn't change just because you are here now," he said rather matter of factly. "Have to hold on to what makes you, you."

Chris glared at him darkly, before standing up and walking into his room. With a sharp bang, Chris closed his door leaving just Julia and Luke in the room. Luke blinked and looked at Julia sheepishly. Julia just smiled awkwardly, eyes glancing over to the door with a concerned look.

"Something I said?" Luke asked softly, not sure what had caused that reaction.

"Chris is weird when it comes to talking about what happened before he was here," Julia shrugged. "I think he's still a bit against the idea of having sex with Tyreol as well," she admitted, patting Luke's hand which was still around her. "You may have pressed a few too many buttons by flirting." Luke pulled a face and grimaced, clearly not impressed by that answer. Luke's group had not included anyone who was against the idea of sleeping with Tyreol. A few who had been nervous but none who were against it for uncertain reasons. A over a hundred years of being in an environment where most things slept with anything they fancied had also removed some of Luke's mindset for why some humans cared.