Page 25 of A Queen's Game
He laughed again. “Like a dog.”
“Excuse me?”
“Dogs are obedient, but the last time I checked—” he leaned away from Elyse, his stare roaming her body “—you are nothing like a dog.”
“Such a wonderful compliment, coming from a male who couldn’t get his own date.” She regretted the words as they came to her mouth, her gaze darting to her father.
“I judged too quickly,” he teased, bringing his face in front of her, his eyes on her pouting lips. “You bark like a dog, but now I wonder if you bite like one.” He flashed her a wicked smile.
She let out a long breath, locking eyes with the emissary. No, he was nothing like her father’s other friends, who only told her how beautiful she was.
Without breaking eye contact, she threw back the rest of her drink. Brynden’s brows lifted with amusement. As a servant passed, Elyse replaced her empty glass with a full one.
“That’s your fourth since dinner,” he commented, grabbing his own.
“Kind of you to notice,” she said in a honeyed voice, offering a sweet smile.
“And you hardly ate anything.”
“I don’t eat meat.”
Brynden’s mouth tilted up on one side again. “And you didn’t ask for something different?”
Her eyes darted to her father once more. “I wouldn’t want to cause any trouble.”
“But you’re causing trouble right now,” Brynden said, drawing Elyse’s face back to him, confused. “Here I am, trying to have a nice evening with my lovely date, but she’s more preoccupied with checking in with her father every two seconds.” He tsked with a mocking pout.
“My apologies. I didn’t realize my company was causing you so much misfortune,” Elyse said with mocking wide eyes.
“My misfortune indeed,” he teased, flashing a smile. “Tell me something interesting. What do you do when you’re not entertaining your father’s friends?”
“Nothing worth sharing.” She took a sip of wine before adding, “Tell me about your work in Chorys Dasi.”
“My friends say I talk way too much about myself, and I’m trying to change that.” Brynden leaned into her. “You wouldn’t want me to regress to my selfish ways, would you?”
“I would do whatever you asked of me.”
Brynden rolled his eyes, turning away as he dropped her arm. “Obedient indeed.”
Elyse didn’t even need to look to know her father watched. Shit—she needed to pull him back in. “I like to read. And I sometimes sing,” she said, her voice hushed so only he could hear in the room crowded with nobles.
Brynden looked down at his drink, then back at her. “That’s hardly nothing worth sharing. I bet your sultry voice is beautiful when you sing.”
She ignored the compliment as heat crept over her cheeks. “They’re things I’m forbidden to share,” she said, her eyes wandering over the room. “My father believes I should be silent and ill-read. I can’t go around telling his friends that I’m neither.”
Brynden’s hand reached for her own, his thumb rubbing against her skin. “There’s a risk in sharing it, yet you exposed it to me. Was it my irresistible charm?”
A laugh escaped her as she smiled, glancing down at her glass. “You do talk highly of yourself.”
“Now you sound like my friends,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s find something fun to do. This ball is too boring and predictable.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing—predictable.”
“What if it is? Why have the same boring experience when there’s the possibility for fun all around us?” Brynden hooked his arm on her, steering her in the opposite direction of her father. “Fresh air would do us some good, don’t you think?”
“I think not,” she said, a hint of a smile to her lips.
Brynden’s head whirled to her, confusion melting back into amusement. “Oh, she can joke! Blessed by the gods, I must be!”
