Dragon Blood [Alonia's Queenslayer #2]

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A deep black tunic hung around Eli's body loosely as she sat on Ril's right, across surrounded by both human and elven nobles on all sides. Ril was sitting next to the elven queen, who sat next to the elven king. The humans on the other side mimicked their seats, and Eli was sitting across from some noble human girl who looked as uncomfortable as one could feel wearing the largest, most elaborately designed dress Eli had ever seen.

"My friends are seated all the way there," Eli whispered, pointing to the far end of the table.

Ril shrugged, his shoulder bumping into hers. "You sat all the way there the first time you came here," he commented.

Eli nodded. "Surprised you remembered that," she joked, and Ril grinned.

"As much as you try to keep to the side, you still always manage to catch my eye." He seemed absent-minded for a second before continuing: "Well, I guess wearing your dragon rider insignia into Linos in the middle of a war wasn't exactly you trying to keep away from-"

He was interrupted by Eli smacking his arm lighty, to which he just grinned.

"I thought it might come in useful! And it did, I got to see you," she said, resisting an urge to wink. Her stomach felt like it was on fire. Was she really flirting with Ril? It was fun, she reasoned, although they could never really be anything more than friends.

Ril smiled down at her, his purple eyes getting a genuine sparkle of happiness. "I guess bringing it along turned out to bring you good fortune, huh?" He grinned when Eli blushed. "By the way, how's those clothes?"

"I barely managed to lace up the shoes," Eli said, looking down at the boots she was wearing. She thought they looked incredible, as she had never seen anything quite like them before. "But I love them. And the tunic's really comfortable, and so are the pants."

"You wearing all black to match with me?" Ril asked, grinning down at his own clothes. He was wearing a black-and white outfit which made Eli's look simple and common.

"Well, I am your shadow, basically, being your guard and all that."

"So does that mean you'd take off your clothes if I took off mine?"

Eli felt heat rush into everywhere, especially her face, her mind going blank for a second. "Ril!" she managed to whisper harshly, to which Ril gleefully chuckled. Eli sneaked a look to the people around them, hoping nobody had noticed, but the uncomfortable human noble was looking at them with wide eyes and a deep blush on her cheeks.

"It was an innocent question," Ril reason, to which Eli blushed again.

"You're such an idiot, Rileigh."

"Oh, using my full name? Have I offended the calm and collected Eli, or rather, Elindil?"

"I'm not offended, you're just an idiot," Eli said, trying desperately to calm her heart down. What was even going through Ril's head?

"How about a drink to calm down?" Ril asked, waving over a servant carrying wine and grabbing two glasses off the tray. "You did drink before, right?"

"Of course!" Eli said, swiftly grabbing a glass from his hand. She brought the liquid up to her nose; it had a rich scent, unlike the watery wine Eli used to drink. "In fact, I bet I can drink this faster than you."

Ril snickered, bringing the glass up to his face. "You're on."

They each brought the wine to their lips and began drinking. The glasses were quite large, and Eli took gigantic gulps, not allowing the sweet texture to distract her as she swallowed it mindlessly. Once the glass was empty, Eli, sure of her victory, grinned at Ril, only to realise he was done long ago and was grinning down at her victoriously.