Rolling my eyes, I reached for the buttons of my shirt again. The general looked away without being told, focusing instead on plucking a few grapes from the plate and stuffing them into his mouth. I let out a cry of disapproval but he only chuckled and went for the cheese.
"Give me the damn dress," I snapped, storming toward him and ripping the fabric from his hands.
I reached out and slapped his hand as he went for a berry for good measure and he grinned wickedly as he glanced up to find me standing before him in the absurd lace undergarments these royal humans apparently preferred.
"Does my role as your tormentor entitle me to make remarks about the state of your undress, little Corruption?" he mused, malicious intent gleaming in his ice blue eyes once more.
Apparently, all I had to do to see that spark return was stand around practically naked. I rolled my eyes. Typical man.
"Nothing would ever entitle you to make comments about my undergarments, General," I snapped in retort.
He chuckled darkly, popping another piece of cheese in his mouth and chewing slowly as his eyes roved over my skin once more and I fought with the zipper on the gown.
"I won't mention the fact that lace is not a very opaque material then," he mused.
My wide eyes darted to my chest where I could see everything through the accursed fabric. Blurting a string of profanity that would have sent my mother to an early grave, I stormed across the bedchamber and into the bathing room, slamming the door behind me as I went.
"Whyare you still here?" I shouted through the door, quickly stepping into the dress and pulling the straps up and over my shoulders.
"You haven't let me get a word in since I arrived," he called back. "You were so concerned about my seeing you nude—"
"So what do you want?" I hissed loudly through the door, hoping these walls were thick and whatever warrior of his was staying on the opposite side of mine hadn't heard their general shouting about my being nude around him.
"The king is going to have questions," he replied, voice lower, and it sounded like he was just outside the door now. "I need to ensure you're aware of how to answer them."
I wrenched open the door so that the force of it blew tendrils of hazel hair around my face. The general was right there, inches away. I glared up at him.
"I know how to have a conversation," I told him. "I'm not entirely helpless."
"Do you know how to speak to a king?" he asked as I pushed past him and made my way to the enormous mirror in the corner. "What to tell him, what to keep from him, how to appeal to him in a way that will win his armies to our cause?"
"I've never been very good at politics."
"He's going to seek you out. He's going to find a way to have a private conversation with you, one that keeps me and Zya and Kane and everyone else you know out of it. He's going to try to corner you, going to try to trick you into giving him information he doesn't already have. He's going to see how badly you want to save your home and he's going to use that desire against you. He may even bring Dante—"
I whirled to face him, glaring straight into his face as he stood, once again, too close to me.
"I can handle myself," I snapped. "Just tell me what it is you don't want him to know and he won't. Simple as that."
Gryfon frowned at me for a moment but then relented. Blowing out a breath of frustration, he began his list. It started with the exact location of Archi, with the members of the leadership in Prima's camp, the Zver and their riders, the size of the population they'd managed to build. Then it moved into theterritory of my power, the Darkness I wielded and the strange connection it had with his wall and the creatures the gods feared above any other. By the end of it, I'd come to the conclusion that I wasn't to tell the king of anything that had happened to me since I'd crawled out of the Underground and left my people behind.
"Any questions?" he asked with a frown once he'd finished.
"Just one," I replied, looking at him over my shoulder in the mirror. "Can you zip me?"
He sighed in irritation but I saw the brief flexing of his hand before he reached toward my gown, noticed the tension in his jaw as his knuckles brushed the bare skin of my back. A jolt of energy shot through me at that barest touch and I took a breath, quietly, hoping he didn't notice. But when my gaze flicked back to the mirror, my amber eyes met ice blue. He was still scowling, still frowning at me with the cold demeanor of the general, but there was a fire burning in his eyes which was entirely Gryfon.
"I—" I started, voice faltering at the intensity in his gaze.
A sharp knock on the door interrupted us. I jumped, blinking, as the general stepped away from me and turned toward the door with a hand straying to the sword on his hip.
"Come in," I called and then, with a pointed glance at Gryfon, added, "thatis how you knock."
A smirk graced his lips as the door creaked open to reveal Kane and Zya. They were both dressed in casual buttoned shirts and cotton pants of their own. Their eyes widened at the sight of me standing before them in a formal gown of liquid gold. I frowned, shooting a look at the general.
"I'm going to look like a fool," I growled.
He looked from me to my friends.
