“Of course you can eat whatever you wish.”
As enticing as his attention is, I can’t help but feel not like a lover he is courting, a man he wants to marry, but like a pet, a feral cat he plucked out of the gutter and now wants to treat because it’s entertaining to him.
Still, I will indulge the prince, because I need to play my own game if I am to get out of here.
“What is this… soup?” I ask, grabbing the ladle resting inside an elegant bowl, as having something warm is my priority. After a moment of hesitation, I pour some of the burgundy liquid into his cup first, because I’m not a tactless animal.
“Vanasme. Made with fruit from my orchard,” Kyranis tells me, sitting right next to me, even though there’s more than enough space around the table. He picks up a smalljug shaped like a bird and pours thick black goo into my cup. He then picks up a silver spoon and fills it with the soup. I don’t dare move when he brings it to my lips. “Taste it.”
I hesitate for only a moment, because he wouldn’t poison me after putting so much effort into bringing me here. Our eyes meet over the spoon as I take it into my mouth. There’s something illicit about being fed by him, and I heat up.
The pudding-like soup is sweet, milky, and a bit tangy. In fact, its flavor does remind me of cherries, but I never had a warm compote like this, especially not with black… cream? Is it delicious? Hell yes. Now I can’t wait to try more of the food like the greedy peasant I am.
My diet is usually comprised of chicken nuggets, sandwiches, with a tomato thrown in from time to time so I don’t die of malnutrition, but that’s because I’m not a good cook, and I can’t afford much. One year, right after I left school and attempted to move out of Mom’s place, I decided to save money by only eating rice with spices. The doctor who later diagnosed me with scurvy almost laughed me out of his office, but I’ve gotten better and learned my lesson. Too bad it involved moving back in with my mother.
Given half the chance, yeah, I’ll gorge myself on fantastical foods even if I have to eat them from Kyranis’s hand.
I purr in approval. “It’s delicious!”
Kyranis laughs in a way that sounds almost honest and keeps serving me the food with the shell-shaped dainty spoon while his hand rubs my back in a way so suggestive I half-expect him to break protocol and marry metoday.
That, or fuck me over this table.
I should feel offended if he intended for the latter to happen, but how am I to deny a man this attractive? A man who isn’t embarrassed to express his interest in me in public, almost as if he’s… proud to have me. That’s definitely a new experience.
A large round fruit bursts with sweetness on my tongue as I bite into it. My eyes widen and I smile at him with my mouth full. My heart beats that bit faster, and I’m no longer cold. Only now I notice Kyranis hasn’t eaten, focused on my needs. I can only hope he isn’t trying to fatten me up so that he can feed me to a leviathan.
“I want to make sure you understand I mean you no harm. This might be sudden, but we are bound forever, and it will be a sweet duty,” he tells me with a smile ghosting across his features. The fruit in my mouth feels almost tingly as the Prince of Darkness leans so close I can feelhis breath.
Yep, he’s gonna fuck me here, and I’m not even mad about it.
With my heart in my throat and my eyes on his, I reach out to stroke his hair. It’s as silky as I envisioned. I already imagine it falling around my face and tickling my cheeks as he—
“Kyranis! At last! You’re back!” says a female voice as the woman bursts through the door without as much as knocking.
“Forgive me, Your Highness. Your cousin insisted…” Reiner pleads with his eyes from the door, and the elongated, reddish mark on his cheek suggests she did more than just insist.
Chapter 7
Luke
Iwatch the elven lady stuff a folded fan into an embroidered purse, and pull away from Kyranis with my cheeks on fire. Her hair looks like white gold poured over an eccentric wedding cake, with flowers and jewels adorning the various tiers of the updo as if she were cosplaying a gothic version of Marie Antoinette.
Her face is round, almost childlike, with a small, pouty mouth and big eyes the shade of violets in the spring, but her breasts, pushed up by her corset like two cupcakes, prove that she is indeed an adult woman.
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” she says with a wide smile, and sits right next to us without waiting for an answer. Reiner appears exasperated that she didn’t give him a chance to pull the chair out for her, but she pays him no mind.
“You are, Elodie,” Kyranis says in a voice sharp as steel. “We didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“You shouldn’t be shutting out family like this,” Elodie quips and helps herself to a small piece of food reminiscent of a sandwich. “We all want to meet your promised before you two wed. I’ve heard rumors that you’re being fast to avoid public courting. It’s tradition for a reason.”
“What is the reason?” I butt in, even though I haven’t been introduced, but Elodie doesn’t seem to care about rules, so I hope I’m not next in line for a slap.
She claps her hands, and the smile of her ruby red lips widens. “It speaks! It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen a human.”
I swallow this non-answer in frustration.
Kyranis sighs in defeat. “Luke, this is my first cousin, Princess Elodie Goldweed.”
