Page 14 of Nightingale

Rabbit flank coated in a honey drizzle with thyme, chicken roasted with butter and cream, and cow cooked in a sweetsesame sauce that contained peanuts. He added lettuce with a raspberry dressing and candied pecans, tossing a fresh roll atop the pile and finally setting it before her before starting on his own plate.

Which he doubled the amount of food on.

Vrea waited for him to take a bite of everything, which he did- most likely to show her that it was safe to eat. She’d previously waited for the others as well, only allowing herself a small morsel to keep her stomach from rumbling.

Rian must have seen that, because he’d only added the exact same items to his own plate and took a bite out of everything first before nudging her shoulder with his elbow and motioning for her to begin eating. He cut his steak and devoured it within the span of five minutes, moving onto the two rolls and following it with the roasted chicken.

Vrea poked at the rabbit, slicing away piece after piece and allowing her ravenous hunger to take over as she cleared her plate, section by section.

As dinner and a creme-coated tart dessert passed, there was no sign of Castil anywhere. She half expected to see him in the blurry darkness of the chamber like a shadow demon but hated that she even looked for him.

Women danced with small bells on their low hips as they jiggled back and forth, men played the lilting lute alongside a pan flute, whispering ancient melodies that made her want to sing with them. She longed to join them in harmonious matrimony and let her voice ring out. Her mother had given in to her wish to learn how to sign after a year of begging. Which was something she never did elsewhere.

But it was something that Vrea was glad for because she loved to do it. It was something that she still dipped her toes in whenever it was late enough at night that most of the castle would be asleep. Almost every night, she sang to herself.

It was soft lullabies for a child to fall asleep to, or bawdy tunes that the occasional tavern played. The only reason she knew of those was because of her brothers, who would return home after a couple more drinks than they should have had, and sang them back to her in horrible replication with burps following. She would hum music that had no lyrics, remembering the tune well enough to carry out the long notes and high pitches without the sentences of most ballads.

Vrea missed singing for someone, most of all.

Watching their reactions as they sat in silence and listened to her, occasionally swaying with the melody or joining in.

There was no one to do that for her now.

“You’re distracted,” Rian uttered from beside her as the plates were cleared away by passing servants. They reached in between them all and took them, one by one as they stacked them high enough to be a tower.

“I’m not exactly in my element, now am I?” Vrea muttered, feeling uncomfortable by the empty chair to her left, where Castil would have been. “For three nights now, your family has dragged me out of the one thing I know and forced me to be this… thisdecorationfor the sake of pleasing your sentries.”

“Pleasing our sentries?” He asked.

She jerked her thumb towards the dancing women who had stopped, instead using their bodies to wriggle up against some of the men who’d jumped out of their seats to join them.

“Ah,” He nodded, “I see what you mean. Believe it or not, it’s completely up to the women whether they’d like to join the men in their beds or not. We don’t force that kind of thing on anyone here. Even if you think the opposite of us, even if you think we’re savages.”

“Savages are far superior than you.” She retorted, prickled by the intimate act that one of the men had begun. His hands ran up and down the woman’s sides, lifting her skirts and rubbing backand forth at what lay between her legs.

Vrea felt the heat as it entered her bones, slinking across her core and causing a wetness to begin. She shifted in her seat as the man’s fingers skimmed her stomach, disappearing beneath the band of her skirt.

“Oh?” Rian lifted a brow. “Then what are we?”

The man dragged her into a shadowed area of the room, hidden from most prying eyes. Rian seemed to see where her attention was and adjusted her chair in order to allow her to see better, to see itall.

“Dogs.” She breathed as her chest constricted, her breasts heavy and aching. The woman let out a moan as he bit down on her arm, arching her back into him even more as he moved her skirt out of the way and removed his glistening fingers.

With a swift plunge, he was inside of her.

And Vrea felt like she was burning up.

“Dogs don’t do that.” The Golden Prince whispered in her ear as she couldn’t help but watch them. She couldn’t tear her gaze off as he thrust into her, grabbing at her breasts and riding her hard.

Vrea felt the warmth of Rian’s breath against her prickled skin. She shivered and he honed in on it.

“Dogs fuck even harder, even worse.” He murmured and leaned in closer until she sensed the briefest kiss of his skin on her stomach. “I’m sure you’d be horrified to witness an act like that.”

He skimmed across her torso, toying with the band of her skirt. She couldn’t think straight, couldn’t focus on anything but the brush of him on her and the sight that started it all.

“I’m sure,” Vrea’s mouth was insanely dry, as wetness gathered in other parts of her. Rian didn’t stop caressing her, didn’t stop playing with the leather flaps that concealed her aching sex.

He lowered a kiss to her neck, her ear, her cheek.

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