Page 15 of Depths
I focused on the scar on his chin as I nodded. “It’s quite the catchy tune.”
“Yes, it’s a traveling ditty that soldiers sing. I prefer ‘Amala.’ Tune’s better. Lyrics are a bit crude though. It’s about the woman that traveled with the soldiers and, you know ... serviced them.”
The smile froze on my face. “Oh.” I stopped moving my head and bit my bottom lip awkwardly.Thank you, Sahar. You sent over another winner.After three awkward conversations in a row, I was nearly ready to call it a night.
The man with the scar said nothing else, just stared at me without a smile or any sort of expression on his face. It was awkward, but I’d learned silence could be far less awkward than words with some of these men.
Why couldn’t I get a break this evening? Was every man in this line besides Keelan destined to have an awkward interaction with me? Or was Sahar deliberately punishing me? She’d promised me a bad egg after Keelan. And oh, had she delivered. The sexist pomposity of the bastard that had followed was like the stench of sulfur. I’d had a normal man or two after that. A rather sweet shy one. But she’d taken a brief break, and this was the fifth guy in a row to be deliberately idiotic.
I was beginning to hate my insistence on this tournament. I was a fool. My eyes darted over to Declan, who’d stood annoyingly close and no doubt had overheard all of these horrid conversations. I felt like a fighter in the ring, facing round after round of horrid, face-melting conversations. My brother-in-law smiled smugly and raised a glass toward me, toasting my downfall.
Sard it.
I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of believing he was right. I would salvage this conversation come hell or highwater. “Your name, sir?” I asked, blinking in a way I hoped was coquettish.
“Tavetti,” he replied with a bow, reaching out to kiss my hand. “I must say, you’re quite beautiful. I was worried that you’d look”—he leaned in sheepishly—“more human. Blech.” He shuddered and reached out a finger to trail it over the iridescent scales that lined the outside of my right arm.
I tried not to stiffen when he said that or when his fingers drifted up toward my neck, but it was hard to fight my instincts to recoil.
“May I ask, do you have a third nipple? Lopsided breasts?”
Shock.
Utter shock pervaded my system, and I temporarily lost the ability to speak. Had he really just asked me that? In public?
I cleared my throat, giving myself time to answer. My eyes darted to the side. Declan was outright shaking with laughter, that turd. At least Felipe, my guard, had lowered his spear a bit threateningly, as if the question had offended him as well.
I turned my eyes back to Tavetti, who seemed to realize that he’d offended me.
“I apologize,” he sputtered. “But why else would you cover them?”
Cultural differences,I chanted in my head.Cultural differences.I tried to keep my voice smooth and calm as I replied, “Where I was raised, a queen is valued for her mind first and foremost. Though I’m hosting a tournament for my hand, I wanted to emphasize that those who win will be joining their minds with mine.”Does that line of bullshite sound good?I wondered after I’d spit it out. It sounded better thanI don’t want to show my boobies in public because only trollops did that where I grew up. Another solution came to me.Could I just hit him for being rude? One little smack?
I held still, studying Tavetti’s giant black eyes, a feature that was prominent in most squi-shifters. He blinked a few times as if I’d surprised him, but then a smile lit his face. “Of course. That makes complete sense.”
Finally.
“But you still didn’t answer about the third nipple,” he added. “So it’s a yes, then?”
He was going straight to the bottom of the list. Back of the line. He could ride on the whale’s tail for all I cared, and I hoped the damn thing went up for air and then flicked him off. My wrist flicked slightly as I imagined smacking him as hard as Bloss actually would.
Thankfully, Sahar came up and escorted him away with an apology in her eyes before I could find the nearest object and bash him over the head with it. Not that I’d really do that. It was more of a Bloss move. But I imagined it in detail, and would at least five more times tonight.
The next siren swam up, circumventing the line while Sahar dealt with the last ass. The new man’s fingers interlaced with an attractive woman’s. Was he just an attendee? Here to congratulate me? I smiled at the couple, who turned to one another, radiating excitement, and shared a quick peck on the lips before untangling their interlinked fingers.
The siren swam a bit closer. “Majesty, this is my mother Sabina. And I’m Saburo, her son.”
Mother and son? I froze my facial features so that shock and disgust couldn’t weave their way across my lips like they wanted to. Bloss had always complained about this part, the fakery. But damn. It was difficult.
“Ohh, stand together, let me look at the pair of you,” Sabina squealed and clapped.
Saburo moved faster than a flash. One second he was in front of me, and the next second he was next to me, hand patting my ass as he posed by my side. I deftly moved to cover his hand with mine and slide it back to my waist.
Make that six assholes in a row.And I needed at least five husbands out of this damned competition.
This tournament idea of mine was very possiblydoomed.
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