“Yet, I don’t see anyone else being inappropriate besides you,” she snickers, making Axel chuckle under his breath.
What is it with this kid? I might like his spunky attitude, but I’m still his Godsdamn superior.
Before I can come up with a clever answer, a knock resounds from the door, before Nella enters the room.
“You called for me, Blaise?”
She scans the room quickly, greeting Mattya and Axel with a quirk of her brows before landing her gaze on Sariah.
“Milady,” she says as she bows.
“Oh, pish posh,” Sariah exclaims, jumping from the desk and taking two strides toward Nella. She grabs her hand firmly and shakes it twice. “What is it with all this formality around this place, Blaise?”
She glances over her shoulder at me, her sun-spun locks swaying with the movement.
“I know you vampires are old as dirt, but I wasn’t expecting you to be antiquated as well.”
“I—I don’t—argh,” I throw my hands up in frustration. I’ve never been this tongue-tied or dim-witted, and it’s starting to piss me off. My reaction earns me a few chuckles from Axel and Nella. Even shy Mattya is fighting a smile of his own.
“What Blaise is failing to communicate, milady, is that it’s not a formality thrust upon me by them. I just prefer to show my respect when addressing a guest.”
“Nonsense,” Sariah says with the biggest smile. “Nella, I am Sariah, and you will call me by my name and nothing else. I must insist.”
“She is Aimee’s best friend,” I interject, having gathered my wits about me once again.
Nella’s eyes soften with kinship.
“That makes sense then. Aimee is also against me calling her milady, although I am her lady-in-waiting.”
“Of course she is. Females support each other; we shouldn’t encourage social ranks among ourselves. Our belief system should dismiss any hierarchy. I am no more deserving of respect than you are, Nella.”
Nella’s eyes bulge out comically at Sariah’s words, but there’s a curious glint there also, swimming in her baby blues.
“So, you mean to say we should be considered equal?”
“Yes,” Sariah nods fervently.
Nella gulps audibly before asking her next question, her eyes trained on us.
“Even to them?”
“Especially to them,” Sariah answers in a voice filled with glee. She throws an arm around Nella’s shoulders, squeezing her affectionately. “Oh, new friend, we’re going to have so much fun together. Come, if you show me what room I can claim as my own, we can spend all afternoon debating in how many ways we areso much betterthan them.”
“Not so fast, moonlight!” I say, quite amused by her antics. “I still need to ask Nella a few questions, then you females can go talk shit about us as much as you wish.”
“Always assuming you’d be the one I’d be talking about, pretty boy.”
That gets another round of chuckles from my warriors, and I stare at them pointedly until they shut up. Even timid Mattya is loosening up around Sariah. All at my expense, of course.
“You can go now,” I tell them. “If I need you again, I know where to find you.”
Mattya scurries away in his typical manner, while Axel throws Sariah one last lingering gaze before exiting the room.
I have half a mind to go looking for him later and tell him to stay away from the little pixie, but she would probably hate me for it if she ever found out I tried to stake a claim on her. And I’m already on shaky ground as is, uncertain how to impress the female.
“Right, where were we?” I try to focus on the task at hand. “I need your help, Nella, to establish a timeline of events, from when Killian received the letter from Reweroth until they disappeared. Try to think of any details, no matter how small. Anything could be important.”
The petite human hums, tapping her finger against her chin for a moment.
