Page 34 of Insurrection
Thankfully, Damien had been right when he said the salad was just the beginning. However, there waswaytoo much time between courses. For each course that was pulled from the table, we had entertainers come in for a set. The musicians played a beautiful piece with a small orchestra of people after salad plates were taken away.
Following that had been a bowl of some sort of vegetable broth, or soup, or whatever they wanted to call the watery substance. I had stuck my tongue out at it, grumbling under my breath when it landed in front of me, and I had received a gentle elbow to the rib from Drayven, accompanied by a "Behave."
I had passed on the soup, not wanting to make myself have to pee any more than I already did from the energy drinks I’d downed. The only liquid entering my body would be wine.
After all, my body was a temple…a temple filled with energy drinks and wine. The best kind of temple.
The after-soup performance had been a jester of sorts, but I had found him to be about as dull as the soup—though others had clapped for him. To each their own. I found the thoughts in my head to be funnier, so I had amused myself for the duration. Specifically, with the idea of pissing the House of Fallen’s king off more. Or throwing something across the table into Colt’s shiny blonde hair. My lips pursed as I looked around for something to throw. Unfortunately, soup wouldn’t cut it.
Pot stickers had been next, and I had devoured them like a shark, foregoing utensils and depositing them directly into my mouth and munching happily. Finias mouthed, "That's hot," to me, and I tossed him a saucy wink, trying not to blush at the memory of what he had done to my body the night before.
Nowthatwas hot.
Following the pot stickers had been a short play about the devil dramatically going to sleep and leaving the houses to rule in his absence.Yawn.We get it, the devil had decided this world was so boring that he didn't want to be awake for it anymore. Couldn't say I blamed the dude right now. I could happily have taken a nap through this entire process and woken up when the main entrees were delivered.
Finally, the real food arrived, and I wasn't disappointed. A large plate piled high with rice, noodles, and a combination of chicken and steak topped with a teriyaki drizzle was placed in front of us.
Groaning with delight, I picked up my fork and began to shovel it down, practically slurping up the long noodles as I went. My eyes probably rolled into the back of my head as the savory flavors of the steak hit my tongue. It was only then that I realized the room had gone completely silent. I looked around to see why…and found everyone staring at me.
Awesome.
The kings and queens from Fallen, Sin, and Runes wore blatant looks of disgust, while those from Shadows and Hellfire looked like they were trying to hide their amusement. Well, that made it fairly easy to tell who I would be friends with, didn’t it?
The heirs of each house didn’t have quite the same reaction as their parents. No, each one ofthemdisplayed a surprising amount of hunger and intensity. I didn’t really understand why they were looking at me like that, though.
Was it the food? Maybe they wanted my plate of food along with theirs. I mean, I couldn’t blame them—I was damn near ready to ask for seconds myself.
No, seriously. Why were they all looking at me like they wanted to eatmefor their main course? Not that I was complaining. It was nice to feel desired.
Hoping Drayven would be able to shed some light on this awkward situation, I turned to him and was shocked to find his expression matched that of the princes. I whispered to him, "Dray? Why is everyone looking at me?"
His adam’s apple jumped as he swallowed and cleared his throat before leaning in, his breath tickling my ear as he muttered, "You just moaned while eating your food. Loudly."
Oh, fuck.
"Whore," King Celorn scoffed in disgust, taking a sip of his wine, as if to rinse the bad taste of my behavior from his mouth.
Multiple chairs scraped against the floor as Drayven, Damien, and Finias all stood in a rush, each of them looking furious at his words. Were they defending my honor? Or attempting to? Well…that was surprising..and really attractive. I appreciated the gesture, but I wanted to handle this one on my own, since I apparently hadn’t gotten my point across before. I would not allow anyone to bully me.
I’d been playing nice for so long. For so damn long, I’d let people talk shit and spread rumors about me because I’d figured that it wasn’t worth it to do otherwise. Well, I’d finally decided it was worth it. This was absolute bullshit, and I wasn’t going to stand for being so disrespected simply because of how I had been born.
Celorn’s disrespect wasn’t just for me, either. It was a reflection on my house and more importantly, my father—andthat, I could not stand for. I didn't give a shit who it was. In fact, moving forward, I planned on putting an end toallthe bullying, even from my own house members. I was done trying to keep the peace, mind my manners, and not make waves.
No one deserved to be belittled and made to feel like there was something wrong with them just because they were different. Our differences were what made us unique, and in my eyes, that was true beauty.
If someone didn’t like that, then they could fuck off.Time to make some waves, Ama.
I raised my hands in the air and spoke in a nonchalant tone, "Thank you, guys. You can sit. He isn't worth your anger."
The subtle dig landed just the way I had intended it to, and I saw King Celorn stand, visibly vibrating with anger. I ignored him, inspecting my nails, which I had painted a deep red to match my pants and the bottoms of my heels. I knew it would have the intended effect of making him realize how little he bothered me—something that would, no doubt, enrage the asshole.
Celorn’s voice bellowed out with rage, "Why do we allow this hybrid scum to even sit at our table? We do not need to put up with her lewd behavior, and frankly, her presence at this table taints all of our titles."
Yawn.Honestly, I was bored by the unoriginal digs at my hybrid nature. People really needed to start getting new material if they wanted their words to have an impact on me.
Of course, there was an element of it that still stung a bit, but the more people said things like that, the less it hurt. Yes, it was slightly intimidating to stand up to someone as powerful as this asshole. But it was also clear that the man had a complex. Heneededto wield the power in any dynamic—including, I suspect, his own family— to fulfill his own sense of self-worth. That made him less intimidating. It was sad, really.
I nearly felt bad for Colt. Nearly. Especially because he was looking at his father with an expression I couldn’t fully place. Not surprised, or even upset, just...thoughtful.
