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I propped my arm on the high back and leaned forward until I was inches from the girl’s face. She was pretty enough, I supposed, with her full lips and rounded features, but that didn’t excuse her crime. “Excuse me,” I started pleasantly.
“Yes?” Her eyes scanned over me, covering the span of my entire body in under a second. She smiled.
“Get your ass out of my seat.” I returned her smile with a knowing grin of my own.
“You can’t be serious.” She chuckled.
“Sure the fuck am. Get up.” I let the voice I often used to give commands come through. Deep, powerful, and scary enough that she gave me an appalled look but scurried out of the seat, taking her small plate of food with her.
Happily, I sat myself down in it, making a show of cozying into the not-all-that-comfortable wooden chair. A feminine scoff sounded from down the table. I followed the noise, knowing it had been meant for me.
“Surprise, surprise, Milo intimidates and takes what he wants.” Red held up a near-empty glass of wine in salute. Her black hair hung like a curtain around her face, shiny and healthy. It helped soften the contrast of her slightly crooked features.
I slipped my hand around the full glass of wine that the Nymph next to me had resting on the table, lifting the glass to her. The Nymph, busy in conversation, hadn't noticed the small theft. “If you don’t take what you want, then you won’t get it. I’m done waiting for life to iron itself out.” Tart liquid flowed over my lips and filled my mouth. The dry wine went down smoothly as I drank half the cup.
She shook her head and stood up. People parted for her, more aware of her unhappy presence than they had been of mine. Perhaps they were snubbing Fae a little bit. I mean, I got it. I wasn’t nice to them so I didn’t deserve their pleasantries.
Her now-empty wine cup and stormy gray eyes appeared. She whispered something with a half-smile to the person seated next to me. They turned angrily, looking directly at the cup I had stolen before they plucked it from my hand.
“You’re learning.” I deadpanned as the other Nymph stormed off and Red took their seat.
“From the very best it would seem.” The scent of wine was heavy on her lips. “You get what you deserve.”
“Letting loose, I see?” I pretended that I didn’t see the roll of her eyes and pulled a plate from a small stack sitting amongst the trays of food laid out. Most of it had been picked over by these uncouth vultures.
“You wouldn’t know what that even means.”
“Oh, so you’re talking to me now? It means something, clearly.”
Red dragged her chair closer, taking a chunk of potato off the plate I was making and stuffing it in her mouth. Her shoulders drifted closer to me. “You are so full of yourself.”
“Am I?” I said, placing the plate in front of her and going for another for myself. “You should eat before your drunkenness gets out of hand.”
Her small eyes were nearly nonexistent as they slitted further shut. She set the glass down, picking at the food. Through her full mouth she replied, “I’m eating this because I’m hungry, not because you told me to. Just so we are clear.”
“Sure, okay.” I shrugged.
“Do you know how much I hate you?”
A few Nymphs glanced our way as Red’s voice carried over the table. Fae, and now Nymph, had told me plenty about how much they hated me already, so her words did little to faze me.
“The real question is, do you know how much I hate myself?” I cocked my head and shot a small grape into my open mouth. My teeth broke through it, sending the juices flowing over my taste buds.
“You won't get any sympathy from me.”
“Same to you. Which is why I don’t care that you hate me. Also why I don’t care how you feel about anything else.”
Her teeth ground her food together so roughly as she chewed that I thought I could hear her jaw snap together with every movement.
“All you care about is your stupid little mission. You aren’t even loyal to your queen. You’re only loyal to yourself.”
Not true,I thought.I did my best to be loyal to you in the situation we were both stuck in. I helped keep you alive. Technically, I helped bring you to your freedom too.
Others were definitely looking now. There were no queens in Stylica, not after queen Couley’s recent death. In their eyes, I was either a traitor to the Twinity Court, or they’d finally realized that I truly didn’t belong here. I never fit in anyway.
Tilting toward her, I let her drunken breath fan over my face so I could get near her. I growled roughly, keeping my eyes locked on hers. “And you’d do well to remember that.” My eyes bounced from her lips to her gaze again.
Red swallowed her bite and pulled away from me. She took one knee and curled it under her in the seat, facing me rather than the table. What else did she want to fight about? I could bitch at her all day.
