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There was a weariness that had been rooted in her mind over the years. A doubt that made her question and a need to look deeper than simple words had been forged into her. She’d been burned, damaged, scarred by people and their guile… and those were by people who were supposed to feel affection for her, they were people she trusted and cared for. Those trepidations hadn’t been created in a single, short month. It was unreasonable to believe that they’d simply evaporate overnight with a promise of trust. He was a good one. She could feel it in very very marrow, but fears were never rational.
She could hear the displeasure in his voice at her questioning him and the calm but firm tone he took up in reminding her that he’d been nothing but honest. Her head dropped and she felt herself inwardly flinch. There was no doubt that in her mind that he was trying to be perfectly honest with her but in her mind questioned whether or not he’d feel that way the more he learned about her. When he knew the things she knew, would he still feel that way.
A chestnut strand of hair had fallen forward to block the conflicting emotions that flitted across her face and she was slow to brush it back behind her ear. He was so quiet usually, that she felt lost most of the time. She was usually at a loss for what to say and what to do. She struggled to balance his quietness with his abrupt words when he did speak. The truth was, outside of trusting him, she had absolutely no idea what he expected of their marriage. He’d never told her. He’d never explained really what had changed his mind except that he thought it would improve his life. He wanted openness from her but she was struggling to follow him.
‘I’m not.’ Tilting her head, she looked sideways at him. Her face carefully searching his. She bit the inside of her cheek and after a moment gave an unelaborated nod of her head. There wasn’t anything else for her to say to that.
‘Your family is not a deal breaker,’ Her jaw tightened at his tone. ‘People care much more about what your family does than what mine does. And I aim to keep it that way. Do not fear your family.’ She almost smiled at that. Words were so fleeting. They were spoken from someone who’d never been entangled in schemes or skeletons of her family. However, there was no way to argue that. Perhaps, you had to have your fingers burned before you learned not to touch the fire. There was a confidence in his voice. ‘Once you leave the Leventi name behind, you’re subject to me, not Lord Fotios. And I require very little except loyalty, which I have already seen you possess in abundance.’
Looking through her long, sweeping lashes at him with her rich brown gaze as his hand settled over hers. He had a point. And in that, she would concede. She would answer to him and there was nothing but relief in that thought. Her lips pursed as her eyes softly traced his face like her fingers would had they not been separated by the space between them. Evangelina’s free hand caressed his using the tip of her thumb gently stroke across his knuckles before setting over his and giving it a warm squeeze.
“Well, you scare me,” Her eyes had flickered down to her hand covering his before looking back up she offered a half-hearted, faint smile to him along with a shrug. “You manage to shake me all the way to my bones.” A small, disbelieving snort followed and she rolled her eyes a little. She couldn’t believe she was admitting that. He had no idea how much she wanted to curl into the nook of his arm and press herself against him. Her thumb stroked his hand again and she looked sideways at him again. “You’ve asked what I wanted from this marriage, but outside of you requiring loyalty and trust you have not told me what you want.” Her gaze lingered on his mouth for a moment before meeting his eyes and a sigh escaped, “What do you want…, not what do you require, but what do you want?”
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This character is currently a work in progress.
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There was a weariness that had been rooted in her mind over the years. A doubt that made her question and a need to look deeper than simple words had been forged into her. She’d been burned, damaged, scarred by people and their guile… and those were by people who were supposed to feel affection for her, they were people she trusted and cared for. Those trepidations hadn’t been created in a single, short month. It was unreasonable to believe that they’d simply evaporate overnight with a promise of trust. He was a good one. She could feel it in very very marrow, but fears were never rational.
She could hear the displeasure in his voice at her questioning him and the calm but firm tone he took up in reminding her that he’d been nothing but honest. Her head dropped and she felt herself inwardly flinch. There was no doubt that in her mind that he was trying to be perfectly honest with her but in her mind questioned whether or not he’d feel that way the more he learned about her. When he knew the things she knew, would he still feel that way.
A chestnut strand of hair had fallen forward to block the conflicting emotions that flitted across her face and she was slow to brush it back behind her ear. He was so quiet usually, that she felt lost most of the time. She was usually at a loss for what to say and what to do. She struggled to balance his quietness with his abrupt words when he did speak. The truth was, outside of trusting him, she had absolutely no idea what he expected of their marriage. He’d never told her. He’d never explained really what had changed his mind except that he thought it would improve his life. He wanted openness from her but she was struggling to follow him.
‘I’m not.’ Tilting her head, she looked sideways at him. Her face carefully searching his. She bit the inside of her cheek and after a moment gave an unelaborated nod of her head. There wasn’t anything else for her to say to that.
‘Your family is not a deal breaker,’ Her jaw tightened at his tone. ‘People care much more about what your family does than what mine does. And I aim to keep it that way. Do not fear your family.’ She almost smiled at that. Words were so fleeting. They were spoken from someone who’d never been entangled in schemes or skeletons of her family. However, there was no way to argue that. Perhaps, you had to have your fingers burned before you learned not to touch the fire. There was a confidence in his voice. ‘Once you leave the Leventi name behind, you’re subject to me, not Lord Fotios. And I require very little except loyalty, which I have already seen you possess in abundance.’
Looking through her long, sweeping lashes at him with her rich brown gaze as his hand settled over hers. He had a point. And in that, she would concede. She would answer to him and there was nothing but relief in that thought. Her lips pursed as her eyes softly traced his face like her fingers would had they not been separated by the space between them. Evangelina’s free hand caressed his using the tip of her thumb gently stroke across his knuckles before setting over his and giving it a warm squeeze.
“Well, you scare me,” Her eyes had flickered down to her hand covering his before looking back up she offered a half-hearted, faint smile to him along with a shrug. “You manage to shake me all the way to my bones.” A small, disbelieving snort followed and she rolled her eyes a little. She couldn’t believe she was admitting that. He had no idea how much she wanted to curl into the nook of his arm and press herself against him. Her thumb stroked his hand again and she looked sideways at him again. “You’ve asked what I wanted from this marriage, but outside of you requiring loyalty and trust you have not told me what you want.” Her gaze lingered on his mouth for a moment before meeting his eyes and a sigh escaped, “What do you want…, not what do you require, but what do you want?”
There was a weariness that had been rooted in her mind over the years. A doubt that made her question and a need to look deeper than simple words had been forged into her. She’d been burned, damaged, scarred by people and their guile… and those were by people who were supposed to feel affection for her, they were people she trusted and cared for. Those trepidations hadn’t been created in a single, short month. It was unreasonable to believe that they’d simply evaporate overnight with a promise of trust. He was a good one. She could feel it in very very marrow, but fears were never rational.
She could hear the displeasure in his voice at her questioning him and the calm but firm tone he took up in reminding her that he’d been nothing but honest. Her head dropped and she felt herself inwardly flinch. There was no doubt that in her mind that he was trying to be perfectly honest with her but in her mind questioned whether or not he’d feel that way the more he learned about her. When he knew the things she knew, would he still feel that way.
A chestnut strand of hair had fallen forward to block the conflicting emotions that flitted across her face and she was slow to brush it back behind her ear. He was so quiet usually, that she felt lost most of the time. She was usually at a loss for what to say and what to do. She struggled to balance his quietness with his abrupt words when he did speak. The truth was, outside of trusting him, she had absolutely no idea what he expected of their marriage. He’d never told her. He’d never explained really what had changed his mind except that he thought it would improve his life. He wanted openness from her but she was struggling to follow him.
‘I’m not.’ Tilting her head, she looked sideways at him. Her face carefully searching his. She bit the inside of her cheek and after a moment gave an unelaborated nod of her head. There wasn’t anything else for her to say to that.
‘Your family is not a deal breaker,’ Her jaw tightened at his tone. ‘People care much more about what your family does than what mine does. And I aim to keep it that way. Do not fear your family.’ She almost smiled at that. Words were so fleeting. They were spoken from someone who’d never been entangled in schemes or skeletons of her family. However, there was no way to argue that. Perhaps, you had to have your fingers burned before you learned not to touch the fire. There was a confidence in his voice. ‘Once you leave the Leventi name behind, you’re subject to me, not Lord Fotios. And I require very little except loyalty, which I have already seen you possess in abundance.’
Looking through her long, sweeping lashes at him with her rich brown gaze as his hand settled over hers. He had a point. And in that, she would concede. She would answer to him and there was nothing but relief in that thought. Her lips pursed as her eyes softly traced his face like her fingers would had they not been separated by the space between them. Evangelina’s free hand caressed his using the tip of her thumb gently stroke across his knuckles before setting over his and giving it a warm squeeze.
“Well, you scare me,” Her eyes had flickered down to her hand covering his before looking back up she offered a half-hearted, faint smile to him along with a shrug. “You manage to shake me all the way to my bones.” A small, disbelieving snort followed and she rolled her eyes a little. She couldn’t believe she was admitting that. He had no idea how much she wanted to curl into the nook of his arm and press herself against him. Her thumb stroked his hand again and she looked sideways at him again. “You’ve asked what I wanted from this marriage, but outside of you requiring loyalty and trust you have not told me what you want.” Her gaze lingered on his mouth for a moment before meeting his eyes and a sigh escaped, “What do you want…, not what do you require, but what do you want?”
She was like a high strung horse and he’d smiled a little, liking the effect his words had on her. The visible calm that settled over her as she looked down at his hand, answering by rubbing the pad of her thumb over his knuckles. The gesture was simple, but nice, and one he hadn’t experienced in quite that way in fourteen years. His first marriage had been fast, like this was turning out, but the partnership between him and his first wife had worked out well. He expected something along the same lines here, too. Evie gave his hand a squeeze, and then said, "Well, you scare me,", like they’d been in the middle of a different conversation. It took him a moment and he frowned just the littlest bit in confusion, but the small smile stayed in place, indicating that he wasn’t displeased by what she said. Just wanting to understand it. "You manage to shake me all the way to my bones." Without really elaborating on that, she rolled her eyes and snorted.
Gavriil’s smile broke into a grin and he shook his head. So ladylike. She’d kept hold of his hand and he didn’t remove it. His attention did move away to the trees, momentarily checking that all was as it should be. This forest was quiet but that didn’t mean that some predator couldn’t have gotten through. There could easily be bears or startled boar, or a lone, wayward lion. As unlikely as that was, Gavriil didn’t take chances. Tree trunks, gnarled roots, grassy, leafy underbrush, shafts of sunlight, twirling leaves, swaying branches, birds flitting from one place to another - all these things passed before him. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing amiss. He looked back at Evie.
He wasn’t going to make fun of her or tease her for that admission. Gavriil squeezed her hand in return, nodding. When she said ‘scared’, he assumed she did not mean that he induced true fear. What he figured she meant was some sort of awe or even a sense of not being in total control. Even if she meant something else, he was content to leave what she’d admitted right there; to over explain would be to dredge up potential misunderstandings, which he didn’t want to do.
They rode along for a few more moments with the thin veil of quiet between them until Evie spoke again. "You’ve asked what I wanted from this marriage, but outside of you requiring loyalty and trust you have not told me what you want."
He glanced over at her, taking in her mussed up hair. The way she sat on the horse, the hem of her dress pulled up over her calf, leaving a good deal of her leg and ankle visible. Not being an artist, he didn’t take in the fine lines and curves with a sculptor’s eye, but appreciated them nonetheless for their own sake.
"What do you want…, not what do you require, but what do you want?"
He considered her as she did the same to him, wanting to look elsewhere but choosing not to. “I want a companion,” he said finally. Marrying when the children were younger might have been easier, but he’d had Dorotheos, his brother, to help, which the other man had done in exactly the way a second father might. Gavriil had never, ever, wanted to replace Sibyl as a mother for his children and now he couldn’t be accused of doing so. All of them were too old to need a new mother and, with Iason moving on with Persephone, with Dorothea on the cusp of leaving home one way or another, and with Alexa getting old enough to not need or want her father around much, Gavriil found himself in a unique position to be surrounded and yet alone much of the time. He gave an uncharacteristic shrug and looked back at the trail. “I want someone to do things for, and who wants those things done in return.”
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She was like a high strung horse and he’d smiled a little, liking the effect his words had on her. The visible calm that settled over her as she looked down at his hand, answering by rubbing the pad of her thumb over his knuckles. The gesture was simple, but nice, and one he hadn’t experienced in quite that way in fourteen years. His first marriage had been fast, like this was turning out, but the partnership between him and his first wife had worked out well. He expected something along the same lines here, too. Evie gave his hand a squeeze, and then said, "Well, you scare me,", like they’d been in the middle of a different conversation. It took him a moment and he frowned just the littlest bit in confusion, but the small smile stayed in place, indicating that he wasn’t displeased by what she said. Just wanting to understand it. "You manage to shake me all the way to my bones." Without really elaborating on that, she rolled her eyes and snorted.
Gavriil’s smile broke into a grin and he shook his head. So ladylike. She’d kept hold of his hand and he didn’t remove it. His attention did move away to the trees, momentarily checking that all was as it should be. This forest was quiet but that didn’t mean that some predator couldn’t have gotten through. There could easily be bears or startled boar, or a lone, wayward lion. As unlikely as that was, Gavriil didn’t take chances. Tree trunks, gnarled roots, grassy, leafy underbrush, shafts of sunlight, twirling leaves, swaying branches, birds flitting from one place to another - all these things passed before him. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing amiss. He looked back at Evie.
He wasn’t going to make fun of her or tease her for that admission. Gavriil squeezed her hand in return, nodding. When she said ‘scared’, he assumed she did not mean that he induced true fear. What he figured she meant was some sort of awe or even a sense of not being in total control. Even if she meant something else, he was content to leave what she’d admitted right there; to over explain would be to dredge up potential misunderstandings, which he didn’t want to do.
They rode along for a few more moments with the thin veil of quiet between them until Evie spoke again. "You’ve asked what I wanted from this marriage, but outside of you requiring loyalty and trust you have not told me what you want."
He glanced over at her, taking in her mussed up hair. The way she sat on the horse, the hem of her dress pulled up over her calf, leaving a good deal of her leg and ankle visible. Not being an artist, he didn’t take in the fine lines and curves with a sculptor’s eye, but appreciated them nonetheless for their own sake.
"What do you want…, not what do you require, but what do you want?"
He considered her as she did the same to him, wanting to look elsewhere but choosing not to. “I want a companion,” he said finally. Marrying when the children were younger might have been easier, but he’d had Dorotheos, his brother, to help, which the other man had done in exactly the way a second father might. Gavriil had never, ever, wanted to replace Sibyl as a mother for his children and now he couldn’t be accused of doing so. All of them were too old to need a new mother and, with Iason moving on with Persephone, with Dorothea on the cusp of leaving home one way or another, and with Alexa getting old enough to not need or want her father around much, Gavriil found himself in a unique position to be surrounded and yet alone much of the time. He gave an uncharacteristic shrug and looked back at the trail. “I want someone to do things for, and who wants those things done in return.”
She was like a high strung horse and he’d smiled a little, liking the effect his words had on her. The visible calm that settled over her as she looked down at his hand, answering by rubbing the pad of her thumb over his knuckles. The gesture was simple, but nice, and one he hadn’t experienced in quite that way in fourteen years. His first marriage had been fast, like this was turning out, but the partnership between him and his first wife had worked out well. He expected something along the same lines here, too. Evie gave his hand a squeeze, and then said, "Well, you scare me,", like they’d been in the middle of a different conversation. It took him a moment and he frowned just the littlest bit in confusion, but the small smile stayed in place, indicating that he wasn’t displeased by what she said. Just wanting to understand it. "You manage to shake me all the way to my bones." Without really elaborating on that, she rolled her eyes and snorted.
Gavriil’s smile broke into a grin and he shook his head. So ladylike. She’d kept hold of his hand and he didn’t remove it. His attention did move away to the trees, momentarily checking that all was as it should be. This forest was quiet but that didn’t mean that some predator couldn’t have gotten through. There could easily be bears or startled boar, or a lone, wayward lion. As unlikely as that was, Gavriil didn’t take chances. Tree trunks, gnarled roots, grassy, leafy underbrush, shafts of sunlight, twirling leaves, swaying branches, birds flitting from one place to another - all these things passed before him. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing amiss. He looked back at Evie.
He wasn’t going to make fun of her or tease her for that admission. Gavriil squeezed her hand in return, nodding. When she said ‘scared’, he assumed she did not mean that he induced true fear. What he figured she meant was some sort of awe or even a sense of not being in total control. Even if she meant something else, he was content to leave what she’d admitted right there; to over explain would be to dredge up potential misunderstandings, which he didn’t want to do.
They rode along for a few more moments with the thin veil of quiet between them until Evie spoke again. "You’ve asked what I wanted from this marriage, but outside of you requiring loyalty and trust you have not told me what you want."
He glanced over at her, taking in her mussed up hair. The way she sat on the horse, the hem of her dress pulled up over her calf, leaving a good deal of her leg and ankle visible. Not being an artist, he didn’t take in the fine lines and curves with a sculptor’s eye, but appreciated them nonetheless for their own sake.
"What do you want…, not what do you require, but what do you want?"
He considered her as she did the same to him, wanting to look elsewhere but choosing not to. “I want a companion,” he said finally. Marrying when the children were younger might have been easier, but he’d had Dorotheos, his brother, to help, which the other man had done in exactly the way a second father might. Gavriil had never, ever, wanted to replace Sibyl as a mother for his children and now he couldn’t be accused of doing so. All of them were too old to need a new mother and, with Iason moving on with Persephone, with Dorothea on the cusp of leaving home one way or another, and with Alexa getting old enough to not need or want her father around much, Gavriil found himself in a unique position to be surrounded and yet alone much of the time. He gave an uncharacteristic shrug and looked back at the trail. “I want someone to do things for, and who wants those things done in return.”
His words were a confirmation of a belief she’d been begrudgingly holding onto and that stung just a little. She wasn’t surprised by his words or even angry by them. He wanted a companion. There was nothing wrong with that, although, perhaps a pet might be a better choice than a wife. Dropping her eyes, she smiled faintly and gave an accepting nod in reply to his words.
Evangelina was careful not to give away the tiny bit of disappointment that was chipping away at her. Of all the things he could have admitted to wanting, he’d set the bar fairly low. Everything that’d happened that day suddenly seemed so far over the line. She’d stuck her neck out and it felt a bit like Gavriil had chopped it off.
‘I want someone to do things for, and who wants those things done in return.’
He wanted someone to do things for and that needed things to be done. It sounded like he wanted to rescue a pet or a charity case or… Evangelina didn’t know, but what she did know was it a good slap in the face with reality. She’d never expected him to shower her with praise or promises of his undying love. Nevertheless, she’d been holding onto a little bit of hope that he’d wanted her as much as she’d wanted him… that she was more than just filling a space or a gap or a loneliness in his life.
She was slow to withdrawal her hand and slower still to detach herself from whatever illusions she’d been having about the two of them. The fact did exist. She was a bit of a charity case in regards to him. She needed him a lot more than he needed her. Swallowing, she glanced sideways at him and offered a faint smile, she didn’t have any quib remarks or further questions for him.
Letting the silence flow between them once again, settling deeper into her seat, the pint-sized Leventi didn’t want to think or to feel anything. She just wanted to meld into the horse and forget absolutely everything. It’d have been so easy to just disappear into the dappled shadows of the forest. It wasn’t the gentle sweeping landscape of Acharist, where she could get lost in the sea of grass and horses but the forest was offering her a bit of shelter and comfort.
Evangelina could have said quite a few things in that very moment but instead found herself biting her tongue and making the conscious decision to let sleeping dogs lie and make the best of what was looking like a very unhappy situation for her. Nikos had done quite a lot of damage to her self-esteem and her pride and if she was perfectly honest her heart but he’d never quite made her feel like she was beneath him. And she’d never had to beg for his attention or signs of affection. It had always just been what it was and she’d always felt like she could stand up and walk out of it with her head high and not owe him anything. He’d take as much as he’d have given, but Gavriil hadn’t mentioned taking simply wanting to give.
That left her unsettled and oddly uncertain if this was as good of an idea as she’d worked herself up to thinking that morning. No, he’d never abuse her or manipulate her or anything like that. Gavriil was a good egg but he seemed to have a way of inflicting pain on her without even knowing it. Shifting in the saddle she glanced sideways at him, he seemed so content here in the forest. Her lips pursed and she cleared her voice softly, “I hate to cut our ride short, my lord, but I should probably be returning.” It was at least a partial truth, there was enough gossip being spread about the two of them… but also the need to put distance between them was growing. She needed to be realistic.
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This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
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His words were a confirmation of a belief she’d been begrudgingly holding onto and that stung just a little. She wasn’t surprised by his words or even angry by them. He wanted a companion. There was nothing wrong with that, although, perhaps a pet might be a better choice than a wife. Dropping her eyes, she smiled faintly and gave an accepting nod in reply to his words.
Evangelina was careful not to give away the tiny bit of disappointment that was chipping away at her. Of all the things he could have admitted to wanting, he’d set the bar fairly low. Everything that’d happened that day suddenly seemed so far over the line. She’d stuck her neck out and it felt a bit like Gavriil had chopped it off.
‘I want someone to do things for, and who wants those things done in return.’
He wanted someone to do things for and that needed things to be done. It sounded like he wanted to rescue a pet or a charity case or… Evangelina didn’t know, but what she did know was it a good slap in the face with reality. She’d never expected him to shower her with praise or promises of his undying love. Nevertheless, she’d been holding onto a little bit of hope that he’d wanted her as much as she’d wanted him… that she was more than just filling a space or a gap or a loneliness in his life.
She was slow to withdrawal her hand and slower still to detach herself from whatever illusions she’d been having about the two of them. The fact did exist. She was a bit of a charity case in regards to him. She needed him a lot more than he needed her. Swallowing, she glanced sideways at him and offered a faint smile, she didn’t have any quib remarks or further questions for him.
Letting the silence flow between them once again, settling deeper into her seat, the pint-sized Leventi didn’t want to think or to feel anything. She just wanted to meld into the horse and forget absolutely everything. It’d have been so easy to just disappear into the dappled shadows of the forest. It wasn’t the gentle sweeping landscape of Acharist, where she could get lost in the sea of grass and horses but the forest was offering her a bit of shelter and comfort.
Evangelina could have said quite a few things in that very moment but instead found herself biting her tongue and making the conscious decision to let sleeping dogs lie and make the best of what was looking like a very unhappy situation for her. Nikos had done quite a lot of damage to her self-esteem and her pride and if she was perfectly honest her heart but he’d never quite made her feel like she was beneath him. And she’d never had to beg for his attention or signs of affection. It had always just been what it was and she’d always felt like she could stand up and walk out of it with her head high and not owe him anything. He’d take as much as he’d have given, but Gavriil hadn’t mentioned taking simply wanting to give.
That left her unsettled and oddly uncertain if this was as good of an idea as she’d worked herself up to thinking that morning. No, he’d never abuse her or manipulate her or anything like that. Gavriil was a good egg but he seemed to have a way of inflicting pain on her without even knowing it. Shifting in the saddle she glanced sideways at him, he seemed so content here in the forest. Her lips pursed and she cleared her voice softly, “I hate to cut our ride short, my lord, but I should probably be returning.” It was at least a partial truth, there was enough gossip being spread about the two of them… but also the need to put distance between them was growing. She needed to be realistic.
His words were a confirmation of a belief she’d been begrudgingly holding onto and that stung just a little. She wasn’t surprised by his words or even angry by them. He wanted a companion. There was nothing wrong with that, although, perhaps a pet might be a better choice than a wife. Dropping her eyes, she smiled faintly and gave an accepting nod in reply to his words.
Evangelina was careful not to give away the tiny bit of disappointment that was chipping away at her. Of all the things he could have admitted to wanting, he’d set the bar fairly low. Everything that’d happened that day suddenly seemed so far over the line. She’d stuck her neck out and it felt a bit like Gavriil had chopped it off.
‘I want someone to do things for, and who wants those things done in return.’
He wanted someone to do things for and that needed things to be done. It sounded like he wanted to rescue a pet or a charity case or… Evangelina didn’t know, but what she did know was it a good slap in the face with reality. She’d never expected him to shower her with praise or promises of his undying love. Nevertheless, she’d been holding onto a little bit of hope that he’d wanted her as much as she’d wanted him… that she was more than just filling a space or a gap or a loneliness in his life.
She was slow to withdrawal her hand and slower still to detach herself from whatever illusions she’d been having about the two of them. The fact did exist. She was a bit of a charity case in regards to him. She needed him a lot more than he needed her. Swallowing, she glanced sideways at him and offered a faint smile, she didn’t have any quib remarks or further questions for him.
Letting the silence flow between them once again, settling deeper into her seat, the pint-sized Leventi didn’t want to think or to feel anything. She just wanted to meld into the horse and forget absolutely everything. It’d have been so easy to just disappear into the dappled shadows of the forest. It wasn’t the gentle sweeping landscape of Acharist, where she could get lost in the sea of grass and horses but the forest was offering her a bit of shelter and comfort.
Evangelina could have said quite a few things in that very moment but instead found herself biting her tongue and making the conscious decision to let sleeping dogs lie and make the best of what was looking like a very unhappy situation for her. Nikos had done quite a lot of damage to her self-esteem and her pride and if she was perfectly honest her heart but he’d never quite made her feel like she was beneath him. And she’d never had to beg for his attention or signs of affection. It had always just been what it was and she’d always felt like she could stand up and walk out of it with her head high and not owe him anything. He’d take as much as he’d have given, but Gavriil hadn’t mentioned taking simply wanting to give.
That left her unsettled and oddly uncertain if this was as good of an idea as she’d worked herself up to thinking that morning. No, he’d never abuse her or manipulate her or anything like that. Gavriil was a good egg but he seemed to have a way of inflicting pain on her without even knowing it. Shifting in the saddle she glanced sideways at him, he seemed so content here in the forest. Her lips pursed and she cleared her voice softly, “I hate to cut our ride short, my lord, but I should probably be returning.” It was at least a partial truth, there was enough gossip being spread about the two of them… but also the need to put distance between them was growing. She needed to be realistic.
He’d have had to be a simpleton not to see that something was amiss. There was no way to know how deep it went, or what exactly was the cause because, to his mind, he’d said nothing wrong. She’d asked, he’d answered, and that was that. How she chose to interpret what he said, forever negative, he was not privy to. Perhaps if he could have read her thoughts, he’d have said things in a way that she wouldn’t take in such a skewed way. Or perhaps she still would have found the opportunity to cast his intentions in some ill light.
She withdrew her hand and he let her, but watched her closely, waiting for her to tell him what was the matter. But she didn’t. Evangelina kept silent and Gavriil did the only thing there was to do in that case, which was to keep riding. Instead of stewing on it, he let it go. If she was going to hedge, he wouldn’t pursue the issue for two reasons: one, if it was terribly important, she’d tell him. Two, he had no wish to pry into other people’s thoughts - the same way he didn’t like them to pry into his own.
He might have been disappointed if the ride was meant to be a day long excursion but it had only truly been meant to get the two of them out of the house. A house they were going back to, but it would be no matter. His daughters would be home, and his brother was a usual at the dinner table. Gavriil asked Evie if she wanted to stay and see how this sort of thing was done between the Dimitrou clan. Get to know her future family a bit. When she agreed, he nodded and didn’t say much else. Gavriil did not need to fill up the quiet with idle chatter.
His horse wasn’t overly thrilled about turning back so soon, but her only real indications of unhappiness was being ornery with the stable boy who took her from his lord. Gavriil peered into the stable, noting that his brother’s horse wasn’t there, nor Dorothea’s. Hmm. They would come soon, he suspected, and led Evie back into the house, where his steward handed him a letter from his brother - who, according to this, was going to be spending the night with someone he’d met at court. Gavriil sighed and carefully refolded the letter. “It looks like my brother won’t be joining us,” he said without revealing the ‘why’. They ‘why’ was that Lord Dorotheos’s reputation as a great lover of women wasn’t undeserved. Though, usually Dorotheos made it a point to keep such exploits confined to his travels but lately, he’d taken up with a woman whose name Gavriil didn’t know and hadn’t asked about. His brother was always extraordinarily careful to keep his affairs quiet, and so Gavriil had never met any of the women that his brother slept with, though Dorotheos brought plenty of his male friends around from time to time. He was pretty popular, as far as Gavriil could work out, and was around less and less, now that he was not really needed as a ‘second parent’.
Gavriil and Evie were in his study, where Gavriil was half explaining this oddity of his brother’s, this new habit of being unreliable to stay for the evening meal, when the steward came in to give Lord Gavriil another note, this time from Alexa: she’d been invited to stay with their aunt Myrto, which she’d known Gavriil would not say no to. And he now vaguely remembered some sort of mention of that earlier two days ago, but had forgotten that Alexa was to go tonight; and he hadn’t been home to see her off.
Growling under his breath, he sighed unhappily to himself. “I see it will be just you, me, and Dorothea-” he started to say to Evie, when yet another messenger came to say that Dorothea was staying with a friend that night; something Gavriil might have expected by that point. Not only because everyone else had bailed, what with Iason having the best excuse of being in Athenia out of anyone’s, but because his eldest was actively avoiding him if she could possibly get away with it. She hadn’t yet forgiven him for not allowing her to sneak off to Athenia with her brother to walk straight into the gods only knew what dangers.
For a moment, Gavriil nodded and leaned his hip against his desk, arms folded, looking down at his boots. Then, he glanced at Evangelina. “I suppose we’ll have dinner another time, then.” He’d eat in his study, he supposed, and moved around to stand behind his desk, reaching for the first small stack of papers without any real intent to do anything with them. A restlessness made him want to at least try to work, but he doubted anything significant would get done.
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He’d have had to be a simpleton not to see that something was amiss. There was no way to know how deep it went, or what exactly was the cause because, to his mind, he’d said nothing wrong. She’d asked, he’d answered, and that was that. How she chose to interpret what he said, forever negative, he was not privy to. Perhaps if he could have read her thoughts, he’d have said things in a way that she wouldn’t take in such a skewed way. Or perhaps she still would have found the opportunity to cast his intentions in some ill light.
She withdrew her hand and he let her, but watched her closely, waiting for her to tell him what was the matter. But she didn’t. Evangelina kept silent and Gavriil did the only thing there was to do in that case, which was to keep riding. Instead of stewing on it, he let it go. If she was going to hedge, he wouldn’t pursue the issue for two reasons: one, if it was terribly important, she’d tell him. Two, he had no wish to pry into other people’s thoughts - the same way he didn’t like them to pry into his own.
He might have been disappointed if the ride was meant to be a day long excursion but it had only truly been meant to get the two of them out of the house. A house they were going back to, but it would be no matter. His daughters would be home, and his brother was a usual at the dinner table. Gavriil asked Evie if she wanted to stay and see how this sort of thing was done between the Dimitrou clan. Get to know her future family a bit. When she agreed, he nodded and didn’t say much else. Gavriil did not need to fill up the quiet with idle chatter.
His horse wasn’t overly thrilled about turning back so soon, but her only real indications of unhappiness was being ornery with the stable boy who took her from his lord. Gavriil peered into the stable, noting that his brother’s horse wasn’t there, nor Dorothea’s. Hmm. They would come soon, he suspected, and led Evie back into the house, where his steward handed him a letter from his brother - who, according to this, was going to be spending the night with someone he’d met at court. Gavriil sighed and carefully refolded the letter. “It looks like my brother won’t be joining us,” he said without revealing the ‘why’. They ‘why’ was that Lord Dorotheos’s reputation as a great lover of women wasn’t undeserved. Though, usually Dorotheos made it a point to keep such exploits confined to his travels but lately, he’d taken up with a woman whose name Gavriil didn’t know and hadn’t asked about. His brother was always extraordinarily careful to keep his affairs quiet, and so Gavriil had never met any of the women that his brother slept with, though Dorotheos brought plenty of his male friends around from time to time. He was pretty popular, as far as Gavriil could work out, and was around less and less, now that he was not really needed as a ‘second parent’.
Gavriil and Evie were in his study, where Gavriil was half explaining this oddity of his brother’s, this new habit of being unreliable to stay for the evening meal, when the steward came in to give Lord Gavriil another note, this time from Alexa: she’d been invited to stay with their aunt Myrto, which she’d known Gavriil would not say no to. And he now vaguely remembered some sort of mention of that earlier two days ago, but had forgotten that Alexa was to go tonight; and he hadn’t been home to see her off.
Growling under his breath, he sighed unhappily to himself. “I see it will be just you, me, and Dorothea-” he started to say to Evie, when yet another messenger came to say that Dorothea was staying with a friend that night; something Gavriil might have expected by that point. Not only because everyone else had bailed, what with Iason having the best excuse of being in Athenia out of anyone’s, but because his eldest was actively avoiding him if she could possibly get away with it. She hadn’t yet forgiven him for not allowing her to sneak off to Athenia with her brother to walk straight into the gods only knew what dangers.
For a moment, Gavriil nodded and leaned his hip against his desk, arms folded, looking down at his boots. Then, he glanced at Evangelina. “I suppose we’ll have dinner another time, then.” He’d eat in his study, he supposed, and moved around to stand behind his desk, reaching for the first small stack of papers without any real intent to do anything with them. A restlessness made him want to at least try to work, but he doubted anything significant would get done.
He’d have had to be a simpleton not to see that something was amiss. There was no way to know how deep it went, or what exactly was the cause because, to his mind, he’d said nothing wrong. She’d asked, he’d answered, and that was that. How she chose to interpret what he said, forever negative, he was not privy to. Perhaps if he could have read her thoughts, he’d have said things in a way that she wouldn’t take in such a skewed way. Or perhaps she still would have found the opportunity to cast his intentions in some ill light.
She withdrew her hand and he let her, but watched her closely, waiting for her to tell him what was the matter. But she didn’t. Evangelina kept silent and Gavriil did the only thing there was to do in that case, which was to keep riding. Instead of stewing on it, he let it go. If she was going to hedge, he wouldn’t pursue the issue for two reasons: one, if it was terribly important, she’d tell him. Two, he had no wish to pry into other people’s thoughts - the same way he didn’t like them to pry into his own.
He might have been disappointed if the ride was meant to be a day long excursion but it had only truly been meant to get the two of them out of the house. A house they were going back to, but it would be no matter. His daughters would be home, and his brother was a usual at the dinner table. Gavriil asked Evie if she wanted to stay and see how this sort of thing was done between the Dimitrou clan. Get to know her future family a bit. When she agreed, he nodded and didn’t say much else. Gavriil did not need to fill up the quiet with idle chatter.
His horse wasn’t overly thrilled about turning back so soon, but her only real indications of unhappiness was being ornery with the stable boy who took her from his lord. Gavriil peered into the stable, noting that his brother’s horse wasn’t there, nor Dorothea’s. Hmm. They would come soon, he suspected, and led Evie back into the house, where his steward handed him a letter from his brother - who, according to this, was going to be spending the night with someone he’d met at court. Gavriil sighed and carefully refolded the letter. “It looks like my brother won’t be joining us,” he said without revealing the ‘why’. They ‘why’ was that Lord Dorotheos’s reputation as a great lover of women wasn’t undeserved. Though, usually Dorotheos made it a point to keep such exploits confined to his travels but lately, he’d taken up with a woman whose name Gavriil didn’t know and hadn’t asked about. His brother was always extraordinarily careful to keep his affairs quiet, and so Gavriil had never met any of the women that his brother slept with, though Dorotheos brought plenty of his male friends around from time to time. He was pretty popular, as far as Gavriil could work out, and was around less and less, now that he was not really needed as a ‘second parent’.
Gavriil and Evie were in his study, where Gavriil was half explaining this oddity of his brother’s, this new habit of being unreliable to stay for the evening meal, when the steward came in to give Lord Gavriil another note, this time from Alexa: she’d been invited to stay with their aunt Myrto, which she’d known Gavriil would not say no to. And he now vaguely remembered some sort of mention of that earlier two days ago, but had forgotten that Alexa was to go tonight; and he hadn’t been home to see her off.
Growling under his breath, he sighed unhappily to himself. “I see it will be just you, me, and Dorothea-” he started to say to Evie, when yet another messenger came to say that Dorothea was staying with a friend that night; something Gavriil might have expected by that point. Not only because everyone else had bailed, what with Iason having the best excuse of being in Athenia out of anyone’s, but because his eldest was actively avoiding him if she could possibly get away with it. She hadn’t yet forgiven him for not allowing her to sneak off to Athenia with her brother to walk straight into the gods only knew what dangers.
For a moment, Gavriil nodded and leaned his hip against his desk, arms folded, looking down at his boots. Then, he glanced at Evangelina. “I suppose we’ll have dinner another time, then.” He’d eat in his study, he supposed, and moved around to stand behind his desk, reaching for the first small stack of papers without any real intent to do anything with them. A restlessness made him want to at least try to work, but he doubted anything significant would get done.
Sensitive she was, but by nature she was not sulky. All things considered, Evangelina experienced life deeply, raw and intense; combining that with a difficulty to create boundaries and an inclination towards sentimentality it was a wonder that the little Leventi wasn’t more broken than she was. This was not the first time she’d had to suffer a bit of wounded pride due to her exaggerated expectations but that didn’t mean it didn’t sting as if it’d been the first time.
As she rode in silence back towards the Dimitrou manor, the scenery passed more in a haze that wouldn’t be remembered as she mulled over his words and sorted out the chaos in mind. She wasn’t entirely sure what expectation she’d worked up in her mind that she’d hoped she’d hear from him. His undying love confession would have startled her probably worse than his simple admission to having wanted just a companion that he could do things for. Every answer she could come up with in her mind as she mulled it over felt petulant, or irrational, or some shade of both.
She opened her mouth to apologize, not that he’d known he’d stepped on her tail a little bit with his answer but Gavriil was still very much a perplexity to her. He was such a closed book most of the time. He was hard to read. And, it infuriated her because reading situations was an ability that she’d trusted. He wanted to give but the fact remained that he’d not seemed as willing to take from her and it left her reeling. She had absolutely no leverage in this relationship and it rattled her. Closing her mouth, her brows furrowed at that realization. It bothered her that the scale of their relationship was massively skewed and she didn’t want to start this marriage out feeling like she owed him.
What he wanted and the things he’d asked of her… Those weren’t inconveniences for her. They were things that she wanted. She wanted all of that and more. Her head dipped and she chewed on her bottom lip as her mind shifted through a variety of ideas how to make him realize that he needed more than a companion, that he needed her. His offer to stay for dinner jarring her out of her own mind. Blinking she looked over at him, a lazy smile was generated and a soft agreement before she pulled her gaze away. She didn’t have a plan fully formed into her mind but the pieces were coming together slowly in her mind.
At the stable she slid off the back of the mare and gave her an affectionate stroke on the neck while the stable boy struggled with Gavriil’s temperamental redhead. She studied him silently as a letter was brought to him and he sighed, ‘It looks like my brother won’t be joining us.’ Passing Alexa’s mare off to the next free stable boy, she nodded her head softly in understanding. There were rumors about Gavriil’s brother… none that seemed like the sort of thing she should know of course, nor were they the sort of things she figured Gavriil himself hadn’t heard.
Surprisingly, Gavriil started explaining the oddity of his brother’s absences for dinner and she smiled softly again, nodding her head. She followed along as he made his way back into the manor and into his study where his steward greeted him with another note. Slanting a curious look at him at the frustration that seemed to be dripping off of him as he read the second note, ‘I see it will be just you, me, and Dorothea-’ She blinked as she registered that, but his words died as yet another note came. She smiled and let her gaze fall to the floor of his study. She could bet what that note said too, it’d just be the two of them for dinner then. Perhaps, that was a blessing in disguise?
Looking up at him from beneath her lashes, she paused at the discontentment that seemed to roll of him. That was three cancellations for dinner and he’d sounded so hopeful when he’d invited her. He leaned his hip against the desk of his study and stared down at his boots, seeming too focused on whatever was going through his mind. Had he sensed her gaze watching him? Raising his head he looked at her and something tightened in her chest.
‘I suppose we’ll have dinner another time, then.’ His words didn’t soothe her just then, in fact they did the exact opposite.
Her eyebrow raised and her head came slowly up to pin a curious look at him. Was he dismissing her? Not even going to bother to ask her to have dinner with him? Stiffening, her lips pursed. Without thinking she stepped up to him again and pressed herself comfortingly again him, her hands coming up rest on the fabric covering his chest.
“No.” He liked simple answers, that was a simple answer. “Unless you are resending the invitation and booting me out of your house, I will not accept that.” She paused to press her lips together before she added, “And so help me if you do that to me, I’ll come back and burn your curtains down.” Tilting her chin up at him, “I would like to have dinner with you tonight.”
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Sensitive she was, but by nature she was not sulky. All things considered, Evangelina experienced life deeply, raw and intense; combining that with a difficulty to create boundaries and an inclination towards sentimentality it was a wonder that the little Leventi wasn’t more broken than she was. This was not the first time she’d had to suffer a bit of wounded pride due to her exaggerated expectations but that didn’t mean it didn’t sting as if it’d been the first time.
As she rode in silence back towards the Dimitrou manor, the scenery passed more in a haze that wouldn’t be remembered as she mulled over his words and sorted out the chaos in mind. She wasn’t entirely sure what expectation she’d worked up in her mind that she’d hoped she’d hear from him. His undying love confession would have startled her probably worse than his simple admission to having wanted just a companion that he could do things for. Every answer she could come up with in her mind as she mulled it over felt petulant, or irrational, or some shade of both.
She opened her mouth to apologize, not that he’d known he’d stepped on her tail a little bit with his answer but Gavriil was still very much a perplexity to her. He was such a closed book most of the time. He was hard to read. And, it infuriated her because reading situations was an ability that she’d trusted. He wanted to give but the fact remained that he’d not seemed as willing to take from her and it left her reeling. She had absolutely no leverage in this relationship and it rattled her. Closing her mouth, her brows furrowed at that realization. It bothered her that the scale of their relationship was massively skewed and she didn’t want to start this marriage out feeling like she owed him.
What he wanted and the things he’d asked of her… Those weren’t inconveniences for her. They were things that she wanted. She wanted all of that and more. Her head dipped and she chewed on her bottom lip as her mind shifted through a variety of ideas how to make him realize that he needed more than a companion, that he needed her. His offer to stay for dinner jarring her out of her own mind. Blinking she looked over at him, a lazy smile was generated and a soft agreement before she pulled her gaze away. She didn’t have a plan fully formed into her mind but the pieces were coming together slowly in her mind.
At the stable she slid off the back of the mare and gave her an affectionate stroke on the neck while the stable boy struggled with Gavriil’s temperamental redhead. She studied him silently as a letter was brought to him and he sighed, ‘It looks like my brother won’t be joining us.’ Passing Alexa’s mare off to the next free stable boy, she nodded her head softly in understanding. There were rumors about Gavriil’s brother… none that seemed like the sort of thing she should know of course, nor were they the sort of things she figured Gavriil himself hadn’t heard.
Surprisingly, Gavriil started explaining the oddity of his brother’s absences for dinner and she smiled softly again, nodding her head. She followed along as he made his way back into the manor and into his study where his steward greeted him with another note. Slanting a curious look at him at the frustration that seemed to be dripping off of him as he read the second note, ‘I see it will be just you, me, and Dorothea-’ She blinked as she registered that, but his words died as yet another note came. She smiled and let her gaze fall to the floor of his study. She could bet what that note said too, it’d just be the two of them for dinner then. Perhaps, that was a blessing in disguise?
Looking up at him from beneath her lashes, she paused at the discontentment that seemed to roll of him. That was three cancellations for dinner and he’d sounded so hopeful when he’d invited her. He leaned his hip against the desk of his study and stared down at his boots, seeming too focused on whatever was going through his mind. Had he sensed her gaze watching him? Raising his head he looked at her and something tightened in her chest.
‘I suppose we’ll have dinner another time, then.’ His words didn’t soothe her just then, in fact they did the exact opposite.
Her eyebrow raised and her head came slowly up to pin a curious look at him. Was he dismissing her? Not even going to bother to ask her to have dinner with him? Stiffening, her lips pursed. Without thinking she stepped up to him again and pressed herself comfortingly again him, her hands coming up rest on the fabric covering his chest.
“No.” He liked simple answers, that was a simple answer. “Unless you are resending the invitation and booting me out of your house, I will not accept that.” She paused to press her lips together before she added, “And so help me if you do that to me, I’ll come back and burn your curtains down.” Tilting her chin up at him, “I would like to have dinner with you tonight.”
Sensitive she was, but by nature she was not sulky. All things considered, Evangelina experienced life deeply, raw and intense; combining that with a difficulty to create boundaries and an inclination towards sentimentality it was a wonder that the little Leventi wasn’t more broken than she was. This was not the first time she’d had to suffer a bit of wounded pride due to her exaggerated expectations but that didn’t mean it didn’t sting as if it’d been the first time.
As she rode in silence back towards the Dimitrou manor, the scenery passed more in a haze that wouldn’t be remembered as she mulled over his words and sorted out the chaos in mind. She wasn’t entirely sure what expectation she’d worked up in her mind that she’d hoped she’d hear from him. His undying love confession would have startled her probably worse than his simple admission to having wanted just a companion that he could do things for. Every answer she could come up with in her mind as she mulled it over felt petulant, or irrational, or some shade of both.
She opened her mouth to apologize, not that he’d known he’d stepped on her tail a little bit with his answer but Gavriil was still very much a perplexity to her. He was such a closed book most of the time. He was hard to read. And, it infuriated her because reading situations was an ability that she’d trusted. He wanted to give but the fact remained that he’d not seemed as willing to take from her and it left her reeling. She had absolutely no leverage in this relationship and it rattled her. Closing her mouth, her brows furrowed at that realization. It bothered her that the scale of their relationship was massively skewed and she didn’t want to start this marriage out feeling like she owed him.
What he wanted and the things he’d asked of her… Those weren’t inconveniences for her. They were things that she wanted. She wanted all of that and more. Her head dipped and she chewed on her bottom lip as her mind shifted through a variety of ideas how to make him realize that he needed more than a companion, that he needed her. His offer to stay for dinner jarring her out of her own mind. Blinking she looked over at him, a lazy smile was generated and a soft agreement before she pulled her gaze away. She didn’t have a plan fully formed into her mind but the pieces were coming together slowly in her mind.
At the stable she slid off the back of the mare and gave her an affectionate stroke on the neck while the stable boy struggled with Gavriil’s temperamental redhead. She studied him silently as a letter was brought to him and he sighed, ‘It looks like my brother won’t be joining us.’ Passing Alexa’s mare off to the next free stable boy, she nodded her head softly in understanding. There were rumors about Gavriil’s brother… none that seemed like the sort of thing she should know of course, nor were they the sort of things she figured Gavriil himself hadn’t heard.
Surprisingly, Gavriil started explaining the oddity of his brother’s absences for dinner and she smiled softly again, nodding her head. She followed along as he made his way back into the manor and into his study where his steward greeted him with another note. Slanting a curious look at him at the frustration that seemed to be dripping off of him as he read the second note, ‘I see it will be just you, me, and Dorothea-’ She blinked as she registered that, but his words died as yet another note came. She smiled and let her gaze fall to the floor of his study. She could bet what that note said too, it’d just be the two of them for dinner then. Perhaps, that was a blessing in disguise?
Looking up at him from beneath her lashes, she paused at the discontentment that seemed to roll of him. That was three cancellations for dinner and he’d sounded so hopeful when he’d invited her. He leaned his hip against the desk of his study and stared down at his boots, seeming too focused on whatever was going through his mind. Had he sensed her gaze watching him? Raising his head he looked at her and something tightened in her chest.
‘I suppose we’ll have dinner another time, then.’ His words didn’t soothe her just then, in fact they did the exact opposite.
Her eyebrow raised and her head came slowly up to pin a curious look at him. Was he dismissing her? Not even going to bother to ask her to have dinner with him? Stiffening, her lips pursed. Without thinking she stepped up to him again and pressed herself comfortingly again him, her hands coming up rest on the fabric covering his chest.
“No.” He liked simple answers, that was a simple answer. “Unless you are resending the invitation and booting me out of your house, I will not accept that.” She paused to press her lips together before she added, “And so help me if you do that to me, I’ll come back and burn your curtains down.” Tilting her chin up at him, “I would like to have dinner with you tonight.”
With his eyes on the papers that he was working on shuffling, he was only peripherally aware of Evangelina. Her physical body might have been small and petite, but her presence filled the room so completely that it was impossible to ignore her for long. Every intake of breath, every subtle movement, the way her hands fluttered to her sides as she walked around the desk towards him. He didn’t look up right at first, but the way she’d angled her body to get between him and the desk’s edge made it impossible not to look at her. And then, he realized he was hiding. Which was not something he did. Ever.
If Evangelina wasn’t here, the notes from his brother, or his daughters wouldn’t have been anything that bothered him remotely this badly. But she was here and their absence laid bare a secret that he’d been keeping from outsiders, friends, and himself. His family, it felt, was falling apart. Or, if not falling apart, at least changing in a way he did not and could not accept.
Alexa was growing up. She was all of fourteen now. In a year, she’d be fifteen and very likely interesting to someone at court, if he could angle it. Off living her own life. Iason was engaged and heading off into unknown dangers. Dorothea was distant, Dorotheos was practically non-existent except at societal functions, it seemed. They were all close. They did all love each other. But things were not the same. With all his heart, he wished his family to have full, happy, purposeful lives. In the face of this, though, it was only magnifying his own, heretofore unrealized problem: he was stuck. Stuck in the past, stuck being in love with someone who’d never come back. Stuck being used to his children needing and wanting him. His brother around nearly every day. Now? That wasn’t happening. And Evangelina was here to see it.
Her hands traveled up his chest and he looked into the fathomless depths of her earth brown eyes. "No. Unless you are resending the invitation and booting me out of your house, I will not accept that."
“It’s-” he began but her words traveled straight over his.
"And so help me if you do that to me, I’ll come back and burn your curtains down." He chuckled at that, despite his mood. "I would like to have dinner with you tonight."
Gavriil settled his hands on the small of her back and sighed deeply, but smiled wryly for her benefit. “I’d hoped to present a more united front…” he let the sentence hang and then pulled away, though he pulled her along after him. Sticking his head out of the door, he called for his steward. “Lady Evangelina will be staying for dinner,” he said to the man and then looked to her. He almost asked what had been wrong in the forest but ultimately didn’t, deciding that if it hadn’t impacted this moment, he probably didn’t need to know.
They were not left alone long. A servant came presently and led them from the study, through the hall, and through a large sitting room, finally depositing them into the dining room. It was like most greek homes, with a long, low table with cushions for seats. As in most rooms, antlers adorned these walls. A sculpture of Artemis, tailed by hunting dogs sat upon the middle of the table and was surrounded by dishes of sliced meat, a plate of bread, small bowls for dipping the bread into oil, a decanter of wine, plates of fish, grapes, figs, dates, apples, and rolls of boiled grape leaves, filled with seasoned grains. Enough for a family who wasn’t there to eat it.
Gavriil took his place at the head of the table but did not dictate where Evangelina was to sit, preferring to see where she would place herself.
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With his eyes on the papers that he was working on shuffling, he was only peripherally aware of Evangelina. Her physical body might have been small and petite, but her presence filled the room so completely that it was impossible to ignore her for long. Every intake of breath, every subtle movement, the way her hands fluttered to her sides as she walked around the desk towards him. He didn’t look up right at first, but the way she’d angled her body to get between him and the desk’s edge made it impossible not to look at her. And then, he realized he was hiding. Which was not something he did. Ever.
If Evangelina wasn’t here, the notes from his brother, or his daughters wouldn’t have been anything that bothered him remotely this badly. But she was here and their absence laid bare a secret that he’d been keeping from outsiders, friends, and himself. His family, it felt, was falling apart. Or, if not falling apart, at least changing in a way he did not and could not accept.
Alexa was growing up. She was all of fourteen now. In a year, she’d be fifteen and very likely interesting to someone at court, if he could angle it. Off living her own life. Iason was engaged and heading off into unknown dangers. Dorothea was distant, Dorotheos was practically non-existent except at societal functions, it seemed. They were all close. They did all love each other. But things were not the same. With all his heart, he wished his family to have full, happy, purposeful lives. In the face of this, though, it was only magnifying his own, heretofore unrealized problem: he was stuck. Stuck in the past, stuck being in love with someone who’d never come back. Stuck being used to his children needing and wanting him. His brother around nearly every day. Now? That wasn’t happening. And Evangelina was here to see it.
Her hands traveled up his chest and he looked into the fathomless depths of her earth brown eyes. "No. Unless you are resending the invitation and booting me out of your house, I will not accept that."
“It’s-” he began but her words traveled straight over his.
"And so help me if you do that to me, I’ll come back and burn your curtains down." He chuckled at that, despite his mood. "I would like to have dinner with you tonight."
Gavriil settled his hands on the small of her back and sighed deeply, but smiled wryly for her benefit. “I’d hoped to present a more united front…” he let the sentence hang and then pulled away, though he pulled her along after him. Sticking his head out of the door, he called for his steward. “Lady Evangelina will be staying for dinner,” he said to the man and then looked to her. He almost asked what had been wrong in the forest but ultimately didn’t, deciding that if it hadn’t impacted this moment, he probably didn’t need to know.
They were not left alone long. A servant came presently and led them from the study, through the hall, and through a large sitting room, finally depositing them into the dining room. It was like most greek homes, with a long, low table with cushions for seats. As in most rooms, antlers adorned these walls. A sculpture of Artemis, tailed by hunting dogs sat upon the middle of the table and was surrounded by dishes of sliced meat, a plate of bread, small bowls for dipping the bread into oil, a decanter of wine, plates of fish, grapes, figs, dates, apples, and rolls of boiled grape leaves, filled with seasoned grains. Enough for a family who wasn’t there to eat it.
Gavriil took his place at the head of the table but did not dictate where Evangelina was to sit, preferring to see where she would place herself.
With his eyes on the papers that he was working on shuffling, he was only peripherally aware of Evangelina. Her physical body might have been small and petite, but her presence filled the room so completely that it was impossible to ignore her for long. Every intake of breath, every subtle movement, the way her hands fluttered to her sides as she walked around the desk towards him. He didn’t look up right at first, but the way she’d angled her body to get between him and the desk’s edge made it impossible not to look at her. And then, he realized he was hiding. Which was not something he did. Ever.
If Evangelina wasn’t here, the notes from his brother, or his daughters wouldn’t have been anything that bothered him remotely this badly. But she was here and their absence laid bare a secret that he’d been keeping from outsiders, friends, and himself. His family, it felt, was falling apart. Or, if not falling apart, at least changing in a way he did not and could not accept.
Alexa was growing up. She was all of fourteen now. In a year, she’d be fifteen and very likely interesting to someone at court, if he could angle it. Off living her own life. Iason was engaged and heading off into unknown dangers. Dorothea was distant, Dorotheos was practically non-existent except at societal functions, it seemed. They were all close. They did all love each other. But things were not the same. With all his heart, he wished his family to have full, happy, purposeful lives. In the face of this, though, it was only magnifying his own, heretofore unrealized problem: he was stuck. Stuck in the past, stuck being in love with someone who’d never come back. Stuck being used to his children needing and wanting him. His brother around nearly every day. Now? That wasn’t happening. And Evangelina was here to see it.
Her hands traveled up his chest and he looked into the fathomless depths of her earth brown eyes. "No. Unless you are resending the invitation and booting me out of your house, I will not accept that."
“It’s-” he began but her words traveled straight over his.
"And so help me if you do that to me, I’ll come back and burn your curtains down." He chuckled at that, despite his mood. "I would like to have dinner with you tonight."
Gavriil settled his hands on the small of her back and sighed deeply, but smiled wryly for her benefit. “I’d hoped to present a more united front…” he let the sentence hang and then pulled away, though he pulled her along after him. Sticking his head out of the door, he called for his steward. “Lady Evangelina will be staying for dinner,” he said to the man and then looked to her. He almost asked what had been wrong in the forest but ultimately didn’t, deciding that if it hadn’t impacted this moment, he probably didn’t need to know.
They were not left alone long. A servant came presently and led them from the study, through the hall, and through a large sitting room, finally depositing them into the dining room. It was like most greek homes, with a long, low table with cushions for seats. As in most rooms, antlers adorned these walls. A sculpture of Artemis, tailed by hunting dogs sat upon the middle of the table and was surrounded by dishes of sliced meat, a plate of bread, small bowls for dipping the bread into oil, a decanter of wine, plates of fish, grapes, figs, dates, apples, and rolls of boiled grape leaves, filled with seasoned grains. Enough for a family who wasn’t there to eat it.
Gavriil took his place at the head of the table but did not dictate where Evangelina was to sit, preferring to see where she would place herself.
There was not much that was going to stop the pint-sized Leventi from saying what she needed to say at that moment. His attempt to interject was noticed but she wasn’t about to waver. This entire day hadn’t gone the way she’d planned. Not one tiny little bit of it was what she’d expected or planned in her mind for the two of them. If she was going to crash this, she was going to do it fighting the failure.
He chuckled at her warning about burning his curtains down, and the corner of her mouth crept upwards as a pleased smile formed. Her fingers flexed softly against the fabric. It was a silent reminder that he was there. He was real. And maybe she didn’t have the answers to how this was going to work between them but liked him and that was something.
It surprised her that his touch could warm her and make her heart race all while calming her. His hand settled onto the small of her back and she tilted her head a little and looked up at him sideways taking the small touch as a signal that he understood what she was saying and let her plea and threats end there. He couldn’t know how very badly she wanted to be a balm for that pain she was sensing from him. The smile he generated for her didn’t quite meet his eyes.
‘I’d hoped to present a more united front…’ His voice trailed off but he’d said enough for her to understand a lot more than the simple words he’d said. He had absolutely no way of knowing her own reservations regarding family dinners. A family dinner with the Leventis was not the sort of affair one hoped to be invited too. It was an opportunity for the family to be mocked, scolded, and be found short upon inspection of Fotios. The Dimitrou clan seemed different but there in the back of her mind that fear did exist, would she fall short of his family’s expectations? Something told her though it was something much deeper than simply appearing like a united front. He wasn’t the sort of man to be rattled by a shift of plans, but his mood seemed to have taken a swing from the man she’d found laughing heartily in the hallway at her misconceptions.
Her fingers loosened a little on the fabric and soothingly smoothed it out. Should she give him the space to work this out in his own way? She shifted about to step away from when he pulled away but instead of leaving her reeling there standing alone, he pulled her along after him. Not balking at getting pulled around a bit like a toy doll, she stood beside him as he stuck his head out into the hallway to speak to his steward, informing the man that she’d be staying for dinner. Her lips curled upwards on their own and she found her arm nestling her arms around his arm as she leaned her head against him.
Bumping his knee softly with her own, Evangelina turned her head a little to give him a side smile. Her soft throaty voice whispered quietly as the steward disappeared to tell the other servants, “Thank you for letting me stay for dinner.” The brown in her eyes were stoked with a soft warmth as she met his. He was far too observant for his own good. Inwardly sighing, she pulled her gaze away and hid it as she studied the floor as she let her mind be consumed with thoughts. He didn’t love her or really need her for much, but she could love him enough for the both of them...Wait, What? Her hands softly loosened their grip and her breathing paused.
She wanted to groan inwardly at that thought, was she in love with him? When did that happen? How had that happened? Taking a step away from him, “I should probably make some sort of attempt to make myself a bit more presentable.” A quick glance at him, and she looked away. He looked like he wanted to ask her something and quite frankly she needed him to just… do what he did best. Be quiet.
She needed a moment to internally freak out and him asking a question would disturb her moment. Letting go fully of him she turned and raked her fingers through the mess of chestnut hair, her fingers were going to be nimble enough at that moment to do a quick braid so she just worked the tangles out of it and left it down. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Oh, you are such a stupid little idiot… You haven’t known him long enough. A small sigh escaped her, and she glanced sideways at him again. She could argue that till she was blue in the face but it didn’t change that fact any at all that somewhere in all of this she’d become far too attached to him.
Her fingers fidgeted across the buttery yellow silk of her chiton as she pretended to straighten out a wrinkle when the silence between them was interrupted to let them know that dinner was prepared. Her moment was over. Pasting on a smile she’d perfected to hide her discomfort as she walked steadily towards the dining room. She paused for half a beat staring at the room. The antlers and statute stealing the glory of the food upon the table. The moment was enough for Gavriil to move to his spot at the head of the table. Her gaze flickered around, to see if there was a planned place for her to sit. Her pause was brief and barely noticeable as she moved to the seat on his right. She was a guest so she’d sit where guests were to sit at the right hand of their host.
Easing into her chair, she glanced at him and offered a smile, “I do believe it’s your turn to ask a question, my lord.” Waiting for him to start eating before she followed suit. Her dark eyes focusing on the food and placing it onto her plate. Dipping her small torn piece of bread into one of the dips, and poked it into her mouth slowly chewing it as she looked back to him waiting to hear him as she licked her a bit of the stray dip from her finger. Please just let it be a simple question...
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Check out their information page here.
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There was not much that was going to stop the pint-sized Leventi from saying what she needed to say at that moment. His attempt to interject was noticed but she wasn’t about to waver. This entire day hadn’t gone the way she’d planned. Not one tiny little bit of it was what she’d expected or planned in her mind for the two of them. If she was going to crash this, she was going to do it fighting the failure.
He chuckled at her warning about burning his curtains down, and the corner of her mouth crept upwards as a pleased smile formed. Her fingers flexed softly against the fabric. It was a silent reminder that he was there. He was real. And maybe she didn’t have the answers to how this was going to work between them but liked him and that was something.
It surprised her that his touch could warm her and make her heart race all while calming her. His hand settled onto the small of her back and she tilted her head a little and looked up at him sideways taking the small touch as a signal that he understood what she was saying and let her plea and threats end there. He couldn’t know how very badly she wanted to be a balm for that pain she was sensing from him. The smile he generated for her didn’t quite meet his eyes.
‘I’d hoped to present a more united front…’ His voice trailed off but he’d said enough for her to understand a lot more than the simple words he’d said. He had absolutely no way of knowing her own reservations regarding family dinners. A family dinner with the Leventis was not the sort of affair one hoped to be invited too. It was an opportunity for the family to be mocked, scolded, and be found short upon inspection of Fotios. The Dimitrou clan seemed different but there in the back of her mind that fear did exist, would she fall short of his family’s expectations? Something told her though it was something much deeper than simply appearing like a united front. He wasn’t the sort of man to be rattled by a shift of plans, but his mood seemed to have taken a swing from the man she’d found laughing heartily in the hallway at her misconceptions.
Her fingers loosened a little on the fabric and soothingly smoothed it out. Should she give him the space to work this out in his own way? She shifted about to step away from when he pulled away but instead of leaving her reeling there standing alone, he pulled her along after him. Not balking at getting pulled around a bit like a toy doll, she stood beside him as he stuck his head out into the hallway to speak to his steward, informing the man that she’d be staying for dinner. Her lips curled upwards on their own and she found her arm nestling her arms around his arm as she leaned her head against him.
Bumping his knee softly with her own, Evangelina turned her head a little to give him a side smile. Her soft throaty voice whispered quietly as the steward disappeared to tell the other servants, “Thank you for letting me stay for dinner.” The brown in her eyes were stoked with a soft warmth as she met his. He was far too observant for his own good. Inwardly sighing, she pulled her gaze away and hid it as she studied the floor as she let her mind be consumed with thoughts. He didn’t love her or really need her for much, but she could love him enough for the both of them...Wait, What? Her hands softly loosened their grip and her breathing paused.
She wanted to groan inwardly at that thought, was she in love with him? When did that happen? How had that happened? Taking a step away from him, “I should probably make some sort of attempt to make myself a bit more presentable.” A quick glance at him, and she looked away. He looked like he wanted to ask her something and quite frankly she needed him to just… do what he did best. Be quiet.
She needed a moment to internally freak out and him asking a question would disturb her moment. Letting go fully of him she turned and raked her fingers through the mess of chestnut hair, her fingers were going to be nimble enough at that moment to do a quick braid so she just worked the tangles out of it and left it down. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Oh, you are such a stupid little idiot… You haven’t known him long enough. A small sigh escaped her, and she glanced sideways at him again. She could argue that till she was blue in the face but it didn’t change that fact any at all that somewhere in all of this she’d become far too attached to him.
Her fingers fidgeted across the buttery yellow silk of her chiton as she pretended to straighten out a wrinkle when the silence between them was interrupted to let them know that dinner was prepared. Her moment was over. Pasting on a smile she’d perfected to hide her discomfort as she walked steadily towards the dining room. She paused for half a beat staring at the room. The antlers and statute stealing the glory of the food upon the table. The moment was enough for Gavriil to move to his spot at the head of the table. Her gaze flickered around, to see if there was a planned place for her to sit. Her pause was brief and barely noticeable as she moved to the seat on his right. She was a guest so she’d sit where guests were to sit at the right hand of their host.
Easing into her chair, she glanced at him and offered a smile, “I do believe it’s your turn to ask a question, my lord.” Waiting for him to start eating before she followed suit. Her dark eyes focusing on the food and placing it onto her plate. Dipping her small torn piece of bread into one of the dips, and poked it into her mouth slowly chewing it as she looked back to him waiting to hear him as she licked her a bit of the stray dip from her finger. Please just let it be a simple question...
There was not much that was going to stop the pint-sized Leventi from saying what she needed to say at that moment. His attempt to interject was noticed but she wasn’t about to waver. This entire day hadn’t gone the way she’d planned. Not one tiny little bit of it was what she’d expected or planned in her mind for the two of them. If she was going to crash this, she was going to do it fighting the failure.
He chuckled at her warning about burning his curtains down, and the corner of her mouth crept upwards as a pleased smile formed. Her fingers flexed softly against the fabric. It was a silent reminder that he was there. He was real. And maybe she didn’t have the answers to how this was going to work between them but liked him and that was something.
It surprised her that his touch could warm her and make her heart race all while calming her. His hand settled onto the small of her back and she tilted her head a little and looked up at him sideways taking the small touch as a signal that he understood what she was saying and let her plea and threats end there. He couldn’t know how very badly she wanted to be a balm for that pain she was sensing from him. The smile he generated for her didn’t quite meet his eyes.
‘I’d hoped to present a more united front…’ His voice trailed off but he’d said enough for her to understand a lot more than the simple words he’d said. He had absolutely no way of knowing her own reservations regarding family dinners. A family dinner with the Leventis was not the sort of affair one hoped to be invited too. It was an opportunity for the family to be mocked, scolded, and be found short upon inspection of Fotios. The Dimitrou clan seemed different but there in the back of her mind that fear did exist, would she fall short of his family’s expectations? Something told her though it was something much deeper than simply appearing like a united front. He wasn’t the sort of man to be rattled by a shift of plans, but his mood seemed to have taken a swing from the man she’d found laughing heartily in the hallway at her misconceptions.
Her fingers loosened a little on the fabric and soothingly smoothed it out. Should she give him the space to work this out in his own way? She shifted about to step away from when he pulled away but instead of leaving her reeling there standing alone, he pulled her along after him. Not balking at getting pulled around a bit like a toy doll, she stood beside him as he stuck his head out into the hallway to speak to his steward, informing the man that she’d be staying for dinner. Her lips curled upwards on their own and she found her arm nestling her arms around his arm as she leaned her head against him.
Bumping his knee softly with her own, Evangelina turned her head a little to give him a side smile. Her soft throaty voice whispered quietly as the steward disappeared to tell the other servants, “Thank you for letting me stay for dinner.” The brown in her eyes were stoked with a soft warmth as she met his. He was far too observant for his own good. Inwardly sighing, she pulled her gaze away and hid it as she studied the floor as she let her mind be consumed with thoughts. He didn’t love her or really need her for much, but she could love him enough for the both of them...Wait, What? Her hands softly loosened their grip and her breathing paused.
She wanted to groan inwardly at that thought, was she in love with him? When did that happen? How had that happened? Taking a step away from him, “I should probably make some sort of attempt to make myself a bit more presentable.” A quick glance at him, and she looked away. He looked like he wanted to ask her something and quite frankly she needed him to just… do what he did best. Be quiet.
She needed a moment to internally freak out and him asking a question would disturb her moment. Letting go fully of him she turned and raked her fingers through the mess of chestnut hair, her fingers were going to be nimble enough at that moment to do a quick braid so she just worked the tangles out of it and left it down. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Oh, you are such a stupid little idiot… You haven’t known him long enough. A small sigh escaped her, and she glanced sideways at him again. She could argue that till she was blue in the face but it didn’t change that fact any at all that somewhere in all of this she’d become far too attached to him.
Her fingers fidgeted across the buttery yellow silk of her chiton as she pretended to straighten out a wrinkle when the silence between them was interrupted to let them know that dinner was prepared. Her moment was over. Pasting on a smile she’d perfected to hide her discomfort as she walked steadily towards the dining room. She paused for half a beat staring at the room. The antlers and statute stealing the glory of the food upon the table. The moment was enough for Gavriil to move to his spot at the head of the table. Her gaze flickered around, to see if there was a planned place for her to sit. Her pause was brief and barely noticeable as she moved to the seat on his right. She was a guest so she’d sit where guests were to sit at the right hand of their host.
Easing into her chair, she glanced at him and offered a smile, “I do believe it’s your turn to ask a question, my lord.” Waiting for him to start eating before she followed suit. Her dark eyes focusing on the food and placing it onto her plate. Dipping her small torn piece of bread into one of the dips, and poked it into her mouth slowly chewing it as she looked back to him waiting to hear him as she licked her a bit of the stray dip from her finger. Please just let it be a simple question...
He’d been surveying the table but looked up as she came around, his eyes following her as she took up her place beside him. Though he’d been feeling as though this room had no more life in it, her presence made up for a good deal. Instead of the room being oppressively empty, it held a certain brightness to it. Gavriil did not spend much time looking at the empty seats that would normally be filled by his family members. He did not and would not spend time moping about things he could not have. It was not his way and it was an excellent recipe for unhappiness. He simply accepted reality as it was and if other feelings intruded, acknowledged them and let them go. This was why he was so able to accept that Evie was here and that this was now how their evening would be.
"I do believe it’s your turn to ask a question, my lord."
Gavriil glanced at her, raising one eyebrow. She still wanted to play this game? He’d assumed she wanted it dropped quickly, considering her last response. Rather than speaking immediately, Gavriil waited while passing her this plate and that, letting her take whatever it was that she liked. For his part, he took a little of most of it, liking to be able to at least taste everything that his cook had slaved so hard to make all day. Very probably most of this food would be saved for a day or so, but he rather suspected his servants would eat well tonight.
“What is the biggest mess you’ve made of things?” he asked. Everyone, absolutely everyone messes up in one way or another. He wanted to know what situation she’d made totally horrible, either through the wrong decision or perhaps she’d said the wrong thing? Or hadn’t done something she should have? Or perhaps acted when she shouldn’t have?
Pouring himself and her wine, he patiently waited for her answer. This wine was Condos wine, as most wealthy had in their homes, but it wasn’t amazing quality. Gavriil didn’t much care how fruity or sweet it was, so long as it was drinkable.
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This character is currently a work in progress.
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He’d been surveying the table but looked up as she came around, his eyes following her as she took up her place beside him. Though he’d been feeling as though this room had no more life in it, her presence made up for a good deal. Instead of the room being oppressively empty, it held a certain brightness to it. Gavriil did not spend much time looking at the empty seats that would normally be filled by his family members. He did not and would not spend time moping about things he could not have. It was not his way and it was an excellent recipe for unhappiness. He simply accepted reality as it was and if other feelings intruded, acknowledged them and let them go. This was why he was so able to accept that Evie was here and that this was now how their evening would be.
"I do believe it’s your turn to ask a question, my lord."
Gavriil glanced at her, raising one eyebrow. She still wanted to play this game? He’d assumed she wanted it dropped quickly, considering her last response. Rather than speaking immediately, Gavriil waited while passing her this plate and that, letting her take whatever it was that she liked. For his part, he took a little of most of it, liking to be able to at least taste everything that his cook had slaved so hard to make all day. Very probably most of this food would be saved for a day or so, but he rather suspected his servants would eat well tonight.
“What is the biggest mess you’ve made of things?” he asked. Everyone, absolutely everyone messes up in one way or another. He wanted to know what situation she’d made totally horrible, either through the wrong decision or perhaps she’d said the wrong thing? Or hadn’t done something she should have? Or perhaps acted when she shouldn’t have?
Pouring himself and her wine, he patiently waited for her answer. This wine was Condos wine, as most wealthy had in their homes, but it wasn’t amazing quality. Gavriil didn’t much care how fruity or sweet it was, so long as it was drinkable.
He’d been surveying the table but looked up as she came around, his eyes following her as she took up her place beside him. Though he’d been feeling as though this room had no more life in it, her presence made up for a good deal. Instead of the room being oppressively empty, it held a certain brightness to it. Gavriil did not spend much time looking at the empty seats that would normally be filled by his family members. He did not and would not spend time moping about things he could not have. It was not his way and it was an excellent recipe for unhappiness. He simply accepted reality as it was and if other feelings intruded, acknowledged them and let them go. This was why he was so able to accept that Evie was here and that this was now how their evening would be.
"I do believe it’s your turn to ask a question, my lord."
Gavriil glanced at her, raising one eyebrow. She still wanted to play this game? He’d assumed she wanted it dropped quickly, considering her last response. Rather than speaking immediately, Gavriil waited while passing her this plate and that, letting her take whatever it was that she liked. For his part, he took a little of most of it, liking to be able to at least taste everything that his cook had slaved so hard to make all day. Very probably most of this food would be saved for a day or so, but he rather suspected his servants would eat well tonight.
“What is the biggest mess you’ve made of things?” he asked. Everyone, absolutely everyone messes up in one way or another. He wanted to know what situation she’d made totally horrible, either through the wrong decision or perhaps she’d said the wrong thing? Or hadn’t done something she should have? Or perhaps acted when she shouldn’t have?
Pouring himself and her wine, he patiently waited for her answer. This wine was Condos wine, as most wealthy had in their homes, but it wasn’t amazing quality. Gavriil didn’t much care how fruity or sweet it was, so long as it was drinkable.
The candles that lit the room sent ethereal shadows across the table as she assessed her choices. She didn’t know if she’d sat in the right spot or where he’d wanted but since he’d not indicated where he’d preferred her to sit… she’d moved to the simplest place, the place of a guest. Sitting uncertainly in her chair, the Leventi family dinners had a strict structure to them. They were rigid and formal and tested your very strength of character to sit through without squirming. While Gavriil was not the most demonstrative with his feelings he also was not the most formal but she felt disconnected and uncertain, almost afraid to relax too much and disappoint him.
She probably wouldn’t have agreed to stay, except she’d thought she might have sensed an odd sort of loneliness from him. Perhaps he wasn’t living the concocted up idea from her mind of the lonely widower passing his days away living in the past. Maybe he wasn’t miserable… but there was one thing that Evangelina knew. He wasn’t utterly fulfilled and happy either.
It was true that the idea of a companion stung because she wanted something more, something deeper. Connections were important. He might not feel anything more than companionship now but she wasn’t ready to throw in the towel and write herself off as being unlovable. With that in mind, she chose an easy route for conversation… their game of questions.
She took a plate from him as she reminded him about the questions and smiled cheekily at him as he paused, raising an eyebrow at her. Taking a piece of the flat bread off the plate, she tore the bread and gingerly poked a piece into her mouth. Letting him think about a question, she followed by example and placed a few things of everything onto her plate. Tasting it occasionally after she’d placed it. The food was more rustic in appearance that her uncle served, but if she was perfectly honest it tasted a little better and was not half as intimidating to look at.
‘What is the biggest mess you’ve made of things?’ His question was delivered so innocently but had taken her by surprise.
Her bristly long eyelashes fluttered up and down a couple times as she blinked and then swallowed looking back at her plate for a long moment. Well, of course he’s curious about the biggest mess you’ve made of things! He wants to know just what sort of screw up you are. She inwardly stifled a groan before she continued chewing on the piece of cheese that was resting on her tongue and swallowed. The question did make her relax a little bit and settle back into her chair as she thought about it. Her dark eyes glazed over as she stared at her plate in thought. What was the biggest mess she’d made of things? Too bad he hadn’t narrowed that down into, ‘What was the biggest mess you’ve made of things… this week?’ Or something like that.
When the realization hit her that he was holding a glass out towards her she took it without a second thought and took a drink before setting it down onto the table near her plate. She played with the stem for a moment and sighed, drawing her gaze over to him she forced herself to stop fidgeting and answer the question, “The biggest mess I’ve made of things… that question would be a lot easier if you narrowed it down a little.” She smiled weakly, “Probably deciding to take my clothes off and swim in the ocean and not having a back up plan for when my clothes were stolen.” The wine or maybe the thought of the incident at the beach brought a faint pinkness to her cheeks.
Shifting in her chair, she felt like that answer wasn’t enough of an answer though. Her fingers found the base of her glass of wine again and gently drew circles as she fidgeted. She looked up just a little bit over his head because she couldn’t quite meet his gaze as she continued, “Seeing as you already are familiar with that particular mess though, there was the time I decided I was going to be a master painter and I left my paints down where my cat walked threw them…” She smiled, her eyes meeting his eyes again briefly, “There were cat footprints all over the house… I am still not sure they’ve all been found.”
“There was also another time, we were at a festival… I couldn’t have been more than seven and had this outrageous infatuation with Lord Nikos and he started over in my direction and before I could think properly I darted under one of the wine vendor’s tables.” She grimaced and shook her head causing a strand of her chestnut hair to loosen and fall down next to her face. “What I didn’t expect was my Uncle Fotios to see me dart under the table… Of course, Lord Nikos joined my uncle at the table, and my uncle demanded I come out from under it. When questioned about what I was doing under the table I didn’t know what else to say, so I told him I saw a rock I had to have… because I was collecting rocks. I was so mortified.”
She rolled her eyes a little up to the ceiling and swallowed an awkward laugh before she pressed her lips together before she added, “Or maybe, I should tell you about the time I was standing too close to the fire and I caught the back of my chiton on fire. My chiton was a little long and I hadn’t realized it’d gotten into some of the hot embers. Who knew silk burned so well? I wasn’t hurt but that dress was quite ruined.”
Sliding him a curious look as her cheeks pinkened again, “I’ll let you take your pick out of those for which you think might be the worst mess I’ve gotten myself into.” Dipping her head a little she tore another small piece of the flat bread and spread a little of the soft goat cheese onto it before she placed it into her mouth and chewed as she tried to imagine her next question for him. Licking the remnants of olive oil off her finger from the bread, she sat back in her chair and met his gaze again. A puckish little smile forming on her lips as she decided on her question for him, “What are three things that spark desire within you?”
It was a perfectly sensible question, especially if they were going to be married… Right? They should talk about it and get it out into the open. Or maybe, Evie was just hoping for a chance to see Gavriil squirm a bit?
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The candles that lit the room sent ethereal shadows across the table as she assessed her choices. She didn’t know if she’d sat in the right spot or where he’d wanted but since he’d not indicated where he’d preferred her to sit… she’d moved to the simplest place, the place of a guest. Sitting uncertainly in her chair, the Leventi family dinners had a strict structure to them. They were rigid and formal and tested your very strength of character to sit through without squirming. While Gavriil was not the most demonstrative with his feelings he also was not the most formal but she felt disconnected and uncertain, almost afraid to relax too much and disappoint him.
She probably wouldn’t have agreed to stay, except she’d thought she might have sensed an odd sort of loneliness from him. Perhaps he wasn’t living the concocted up idea from her mind of the lonely widower passing his days away living in the past. Maybe he wasn’t miserable… but there was one thing that Evangelina knew. He wasn’t utterly fulfilled and happy either.
It was true that the idea of a companion stung because she wanted something more, something deeper. Connections were important. He might not feel anything more than companionship now but she wasn’t ready to throw in the towel and write herself off as being unlovable. With that in mind, she chose an easy route for conversation… their game of questions.
She took a plate from him as she reminded him about the questions and smiled cheekily at him as he paused, raising an eyebrow at her. Taking a piece of the flat bread off the plate, she tore the bread and gingerly poked a piece into her mouth. Letting him think about a question, she followed by example and placed a few things of everything onto her plate. Tasting it occasionally after she’d placed it. The food was more rustic in appearance that her uncle served, but if she was perfectly honest it tasted a little better and was not half as intimidating to look at.
‘What is the biggest mess you’ve made of things?’ His question was delivered so innocently but had taken her by surprise.
Her bristly long eyelashes fluttered up and down a couple times as she blinked and then swallowed looking back at her plate for a long moment. Well, of course he’s curious about the biggest mess you’ve made of things! He wants to know just what sort of screw up you are. She inwardly stifled a groan before she continued chewing on the piece of cheese that was resting on her tongue and swallowed. The question did make her relax a little bit and settle back into her chair as she thought about it. Her dark eyes glazed over as she stared at her plate in thought. What was the biggest mess she’d made of things? Too bad he hadn’t narrowed that down into, ‘What was the biggest mess you’ve made of things… this week?’ Or something like that.
When the realization hit her that he was holding a glass out towards her she took it without a second thought and took a drink before setting it down onto the table near her plate. She played with the stem for a moment and sighed, drawing her gaze over to him she forced herself to stop fidgeting and answer the question, “The biggest mess I’ve made of things… that question would be a lot easier if you narrowed it down a little.” She smiled weakly, “Probably deciding to take my clothes off and swim in the ocean and not having a back up plan for when my clothes were stolen.” The wine or maybe the thought of the incident at the beach brought a faint pinkness to her cheeks.
Shifting in her chair, she felt like that answer wasn’t enough of an answer though. Her fingers found the base of her glass of wine again and gently drew circles as she fidgeted. She looked up just a little bit over his head because she couldn’t quite meet his gaze as she continued, “Seeing as you already are familiar with that particular mess though, there was the time I decided I was going to be a master painter and I left my paints down where my cat walked threw them…” She smiled, her eyes meeting his eyes again briefly, “There were cat footprints all over the house… I am still not sure they’ve all been found.”
“There was also another time, we were at a festival… I couldn’t have been more than seven and had this outrageous infatuation with Lord Nikos and he started over in my direction and before I could think properly I darted under one of the wine vendor’s tables.” She grimaced and shook her head causing a strand of her chestnut hair to loosen and fall down next to her face. “What I didn’t expect was my Uncle Fotios to see me dart under the table… Of course, Lord Nikos joined my uncle at the table, and my uncle demanded I come out from under it. When questioned about what I was doing under the table I didn’t know what else to say, so I told him I saw a rock I had to have… because I was collecting rocks. I was so mortified.”
She rolled her eyes a little up to the ceiling and swallowed an awkward laugh before she pressed her lips together before she added, “Or maybe, I should tell you about the time I was standing too close to the fire and I caught the back of my chiton on fire. My chiton was a little long and I hadn’t realized it’d gotten into some of the hot embers. Who knew silk burned so well? I wasn’t hurt but that dress was quite ruined.”
Sliding him a curious look as her cheeks pinkened again, “I’ll let you take your pick out of those for which you think might be the worst mess I’ve gotten myself into.” Dipping her head a little she tore another small piece of the flat bread and spread a little of the soft goat cheese onto it before she placed it into her mouth and chewed as she tried to imagine her next question for him. Licking the remnants of olive oil off her finger from the bread, she sat back in her chair and met his gaze again. A puckish little smile forming on her lips as she decided on her question for him, “What are three things that spark desire within you?”
It was a perfectly sensible question, especially if they were going to be married… Right? They should talk about it and get it out into the open. Or maybe, Evie was just hoping for a chance to see Gavriil squirm a bit?
The candles that lit the room sent ethereal shadows across the table as she assessed her choices. She didn’t know if she’d sat in the right spot or where he’d wanted but since he’d not indicated where he’d preferred her to sit… she’d moved to the simplest place, the place of a guest. Sitting uncertainly in her chair, the Leventi family dinners had a strict structure to them. They were rigid and formal and tested your very strength of character to sit through without squirming. While Gavriil was not the most demonstrative with his feelings he also was not the most formal but she felt disconnected and uncertain, almost afraid to relax too much and disappoint him.
She probably wouldn’t have agreed to stay, except she’d thought she might have sensed an odd sort of loneliness from him. Perhaps he wasn’t living the concocted up idea from her mind of the lonely widower passing his days away living in the past. Maybe he wasn’t miserable… but there was one thing that Evangelina knew. He wasn’t utterly fulfilled and happy either.
It was true that the idea of a companion stung because she wanted something more, something deeper. Connections were important. He might not feel anything more than companionship now but she wasn’t ready to throw in the towel and write herself off as being unlovable. With that in mind, she chose an easy route for conversation… their game of questions.
She took a plate from him as she reminded him about the questions and smiled cheekily at him as he paused, raising an eyebrow at her. Taking a piece of the flat bread off the plate, she tore the bread and gingerly poked a piece into her mouth. Letting him think about a question, she followed by example and placed a few things of everything onto her plate. Tasting it occasionally after she’d placed it. The food was more rustic in appearance that her uncle served, but if she was perfectly honest it tasted a little better and was not half as intimidating to look at.
‘What is the biggest mess you’ve made of things?’ His question was delivered so innocently but had taken her by surprise.
Her bristly long eyelashes fluttered up and down a couple times as she blinked and then swallowed looking back at her plate for a long moment. Well, of course he’s curious about the biggest mess you’ve made of things! He wants to know just what sort of screw up you are. She inwardly stifled a groan before she continued chewing on the piece of cheese that was resting on her tongue and swallowed. The question did make her relax a little bit and settle back into her chair as she thought about it. Her dark eyes glazed over as she stared at her plate in thought. What was the biggest mess she’d made of things? Too bad he hadn’t narrowed that down into, ‘What was the biggest mess you’ve made of things… this week?’ Or something like that.
When the realization hit her that he was holding a glass out towards her she took it without a second thought and took a drink before setting it down onto the table near her plate. She played with the stem for a moment and sighed, drawing her gaze over to him she forced herself to stop fidgeting and answer the question, “The biggest mess I’ve made of things… that question would be a lot easier if you narrowed it down a little.” She smiled weakly, “Probably deciding to take my clothes off and swim in the ocean and not having a back up plan for when my clothes were stolen.” The wine or maybe the thought of the incident at the beach brought a faint pinkness to her cheeks.
Shifting in her chair, she felt like that answer wasn’t enough of an answer though. Her fingers found the base of her glass of wine again and gently drew circles as she fidgeted. She looked up just a little bit over his head because she couldn’t quite meet his gaze as she continued, “Seeing as you already are familiar with that particular mess though, there was the time I decided I was going to be a master painter and I left my paints down where my cat walked threw them…” She smiled, her eyes meeting his eyes again briefly, “There were cat footprints all over the house… I am still not sure they’ve all been found.”
“There was also another time, we were at a festival… I couldn’t have been more than seven and had this outrageous infatuation with Lord Nikos and he started over in my direction and before I could think properly I darted under one of the wine vendor’s tables.” She grimaced and shook her head causing a strand of her chestnut hair to loosen and fall down next to her face. “What I didn’t expect was my Uncle Fotios to see me dart under the table… Of course, Lord Nikos joined my uncle at the table, and my uncle demanded I come out from under it. When questioned about what I was doing under the table I didn’t know what else to say, so I told him I saw a rock I had to have… because I was collecting rocks. I was so mortified.”
She rolled her eyes a little up to the ceiling and swallowed an awkward laugh before she pressed her lips together before she added, “Or maybe, I should tell you about the time I was standing too close to the fire and I caught the back of my chiton on fire. My chiton was a little long and I hadn’t realized it’d gotten into some of the hot embers. Who knew silk burned so well? I wasn’t hurt but that dress was quite ruined.”
Sliding him a curious look as her cheeks pinkened again, “I’ll let you take your pick out of those for which you think might be the worst mess I’ve gotten myself into.” Dipping her head a little she tore another small piece of the flat bread and spread a little of the soft goat cheese onto it before she placed it into her mouth and chewed as she tried to imagine her next question for him. Licking the remnants of olive oil off her finger from the bread, she sat back in her chair and met his gaze again. A puckish little smile forming on her lips as she decided on her question for him, “What are three things that spark desire within you?”
It was a perfectly sensible question, especially if they were going to be married… Right? They should talk about it and get it out into the open. Or maybe, Evie was just hoping for a chance to see Gavriil squirm a bit?
He was not ‘famished’ in the sense that he might have been if he was at home. Here in the city, it was difficult to get in the same amount of exercise and blissful exhaustion that he could get on his own estate. Rambling about the forests, guarded by evergreen boughs and swathed in green shadows, it was easy to lose all sense of time and to return close to dusk. To walk into a house bathed in candlelight, with the flickering shadows upon the walls from the large hearth offering its radiance, to a table laden with food and his family filtering in from their respective activities...it was all he lived for. The image of Alexa reading, her nose in a book as she blindly felt for her seat, of Dorothea still carrying her bow and laying it beside her chair, Iason looking as dirty as himself with his hair windswept and his face smudged just the littlest bit. Dorotheos, sauntering in from wherever he’d been, taking up his seat at the far end of the table, smirking at them all.
Gavriil looked down the table now, not seeing any of that. Clinking drew his notice and he watched Evangelina’s nails tapping the stem of her glass as she thought. His eyes swept up from her hands, along her arm, and up to her face. For a second or two, a troubled expression ghosted her features but she relaxed after a moment and sat back in her chair. The room remained mostly silent, save for the quiet steps of servants in rooms beyond. Someone laughed from inside the kitchens, prompting Gavriil to lean back in his chair as well. He could not trap time, much as he might like to. It was a selfish inclination, to want his family to stay the same and if there was one thing Gavriil could not abide, it was selfishness. Not in himself, not in others. He was not perfect and he fell prey to the feeling at times like everyone else did, but he tried to be self aware.
Pushing the feeling away, he focused on Evie again, watching her mind wander as she chose the words she wanted to use. "Probably deciding to take my clothes off and swim in the ocean and not having a back up plan for when my clothes were stolen."
“That’s your biggest mess?” he grinned and picked up his glass, shaking his head. He could think of a thousand examples in his own life. It was easy when you expected perfection of yourself; easy to pick out your own flaws and failures. She was right that he didn’t think it much of an answer, though he’d have let her off easy and not pursued the subject further. Gavriil was not one to pry when it was made clear that the subject was one someone didn’t wish to speak on. After all, he expected the same courtesy. He laughed a little at her admission about the cat. Alexa had done something similar with her cat, though paint hadn’t been involved. A vase Sybil had painted, broken and long gone now. That...that had been a day. Gavriil still thought on the shattered vase with contempt from time to time, not truly holding his daughter’s carelessness with her then kitten against her, but the result was still bitter.
As Evie continued from one confession to another, admitting that she’d had eyes for Lord Nikos, of all people, at one time, had Gavriil lowering his brows in incredulousness. Though, truthfully, one could hardly hold infatuations of the inexperienced against the young and naive. Many a youth found themselves attracted to outward appearance and for that reason alone, forgiving ignorance, stupidity, and cruelty. He wasn’t entirely sure how Evangelina had learned those particular lessons about Lord Nikos, but she apparently had or he doubted she would be in this house, rather than in a Condos one. She finished her story, looking every bit as mortified now as she had been then.
Her next story had him side eyeing her in some concern. He could only imagine how quick her dress had lit up and the fire roaring up the train to form a fiery death trap enshrouding her. Obviously she was fine and he knew first hand she’d suffered no burns. Due to their meeting at the beach, he knew perfectly well what she looked underneath her clothes. To his credit, he managed to keep his eyes on her face for the moment, rather than indulging that memory and looking a bit lower. As though reading those thoughts, she shot him a question in return.
"What are three things that spark desire within you?"
Gavriil’s sharp gaze never left her eyes but he did hide his grin behind his hand. “You go for the throat, don’t you?” he asked, regarding her in a long moment of silence. “Your interest goes a long way,” he said, thinking of the office where he’d definitely been toying with the idea of taking her in there. “Down at the beach when we kissed.” He’d thought about it there, too. “Your eyes spark desire - the way you seem to have ideas…” Ideas he’d love to show her if there weren’t as many reasons not to. He had less reasons to be good when he’d met Sybil. Not to mention he’d known less of the world then, less of consequences.
Holding her gaze, he lifted his cup and took a drink, carefully replacing it on the table. “And you? Same question.” Let her have a taste of her own medicine.
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He was not ‘famished’ in the sense that he might have been if he was at home. Here in the city, it was difficult to get in the same amount of exercise and blissful exhaustion that he could get on his own estate. Rambling about the forests, guarded by evergreen boughs and swathed in green shadows, it was easy to lose all sense of time and to return close to dusk. To walk into a house bathed in candlelight, with the flickering shadows upon the walls from the large hearth offering its radiance, to a table laden with food and his family filtering in from their respective activities...it was all he lived for. The image of Alexa reading, her nose in a book as she blindly felt for her seat, of Dorothea still carrying her bow and laying it beside her chair, Iason looking as dirty as himself with his hair windswept and his face smudged just the littlest bit. Dorotheos, sauntering in from wherever he’d been, taking up his seat at the far end of the table, smirking at them all.
Gavriil looked down the table now, not seeing any of that. Clinking drew his notice and he watched Evangelina’s nails tapping the stem of her glass as she thought. His eyes swept up from her hands, along her arm, and up to her face. For a second or two, a troubled expression ghosted her features but she relaxed after a moment and sat back in her chair. The room remained mostly silent, save for the quiet steps of servants in rooms beyond. Someone laughed from inside the kitchens, prompting Gavriil to lean back in his chair as well. He could not trap time, much as he might like to. It was a selfish inclination, to want his family to stay the same and if there was one thing Gavriil could not abide, it was selfishness. Not in himself, not in others. He was not perfect and he fell prey to the feeling at times like everyone else did, but he tried to be self aware.
Pushing the feeling away, he focused on Evie again, watching her mind wander as she chose the words she wanted to use. "Probably deciding to take my clothes off and swim in the ocean and not having a back up plan for when my clothes were stolen."
“That’s your biggest mess?” he grinned and picked up his glass, shaking his head. He could think of a thousand examples in his own life. It was easy when you expected perfection of yourself; easy to pick out your own flaws and failures. She was right that he didn’t think it much of an answer, though he’d have let her off easy and not pursued the subject further. Gavriil was not one to pry when it was made clear that the subject was one someone didn’t wish to speak on. After all, he expected the same courtesy. He laughed a little at her admission about the cat. Alexa had done something similar with her cat, though paint hadn’t been involved. A vase Sybil had painted, broken and long gone now. That...that had been a day. Gavriil still thought on the shattered vase with contempt from time to time, not truly holding his daughter’s carelessness with her then kitten against her, but the result was still bitter.
As Evie continued from one confession to another, admitting that she’d had eyes for Lord Nikos, of all people, at one time, had Gavriil lowering his brows in incredulousness. Though, truthfully, one could hardly hold infatuations of the inexperienced against the young and naive. Many a youth found themselves attracted to outward appearance and for that reason alone, forgiving ignorance, stupidity, and cruelty. He wasn’t entirely sure how Evangelina had learned those particular lessons about Lord Nikos, but she apparently had or he doubted she would be in this house, rather than in a Condos one. She finished her story, looking every bit as mortified now as she had been then.
Her next story had him side eyeing her in some concern. He could only imagine how quick her dress had lit up and the fire roaring up the train to form a fiery death trap enshrouding her. Obviously she was fine and he knew first hand she’d suffered no burns. Due to their meeting at the beach, he knew perfectly well what she looked underneath her clothes. To his credit, he managed to keep his eyes on her face for the moment, rather than indulging that memory and looking a bit lower. As though reading those thoughts, she shot him a question in return.
"What are three things that spark desire within you?"
Gavriil’s sharp gaze never left her eyes but he did hide his grin behind his hand. “You go for the throat, don’t you?” he asked, regarding her in a long moment of silence. “Your interest goes a long way,” he said, thinking of the office where he’d definitely been toying with the idea of taking her in there. “Down at the beach when we kissed.” He’d thought about it there, too. “Your eyes spark desire - the way you seem to have ideas…” Ideas he’d love to show her if there weren’t as many reasons not to. He had less reasons to be good when he’d met Sybil. Not to mention he’d known less of the world then, less of consequences.
Holding her gaze, he lifted his cup and took a drink, carefully replacing it on the table. “And you? Same question.” Let her have a taste of her own medicine.
He was not ‘famished’ in the sense that he might have been if he was at home. Here in the city, it was difficult to get in the same amount of exercise and blissful exhaustion that he could get on his own estate. Rambling about the forests, guarded by evergreen boughs and swathed in green shadows, it was easy to lose all sense of time and to return close to dusk. To walk into a house bathed in candlelight, with the flickering shadows upon the walls from the large hearth offering its radiance, to a table laden with food and his family filtering in from their respective activities...it was all he lived for. The image of Alexa reading, her nose in a book as she blindly felt for her seat, of Dorothea still carrying her bow and laying it beside her chair, Iason looking as dirty as himself with his hair windswept and his face smudged just the littlest bit. Dorotheos, sauntering in from wherever he’d been, taking up his seat at the far end of the table, smirking at them all.
Gavriil looked down the table now, not seeing any of that. Clinking drew his notice and he watched Evangelina’s nails tapping the stem of her glass as she thought. His eyes swept up from her hands, along her arm, and up to her face. For a second or two, a troubled expression ghosted her features but she relaxed after a moment and sat back in her chair. The room remained mostly silent, save for the quiet steps of servants in rooms beyond. Someone laughed from inside the kitchens, prompting Gavriil to lean back in his chair as well. He could not trap time, much as he might like to. It was a selfish inclination, to want his family to stay the same and if there was one thing Gavriil could not abide, it was selfishness. Not in himself, not in others. He was not perfect and he fell prey to the feeling at times like everyone else did, but he tried to be self aware.
Pushing the feeling away, he focused on Evie again, watching her mind wander as she chose the words she wanted to use. "Probably deciding to take my clothes off and swim in the ocean and not having a back up plan for when my clothes were stolen."
“That’s your biggest mess?” he grinned and picked up his glass, shaking his head. He could think of a thousand examples in his own life. It was easy when you expected perfection of yourself; easy to pick out your own flaws and failures. She was right that he didn’t think it much of an answer, though he’d have let her off easy and not pursued the subject further. Gavriil was not one to pry when it was made clear that the subject was one someone didn’t wish to speak on. After all, he expected the same courtesy. He laughed a little at her admission about the cat. Alexa had done something similar with her cat, though paint hadn’t been involved. A vase Sybil had painted, broken and long gone now. That...that had been a day. Gavriil still thought on the shattered vase with contempt from time to time, not truly holding his daughter’s carelessness with her then kitten against her, but the result was still bitter.
As Evie continued from one confession to another, admitting that she’d had eyes for Lord Nikos, of all people, at one time, had Gavriil lowering his brows in incredulousness. Though, truthfully, one could hardly hold infatuations of the inexperienced against the young and naive. Many a youth found themselves attracted to outward appearance and for that reason alone, forgiving ignorance, stupidity, and cruelty. He wasn’t entirely sure how Evangelina had learned those particular lessons about Lord Nikos, but she apparently had or he doubted she would be in this house, rather than in a Condos one. She finished her story, looking every bit as mortified now as she had been then.
Her next story had him side eyeing her in some concern. He could only imagine how quick her dress had lit up and the fire roaring up the train to form a fiery death trap enshrouding her. Obviously she was fine and he knew first hand she’d suffered no burns. Due to their meeting at the beach, he knew perfectly well what she looked underneath her clothes. To his credit, he managed to keep his eyes on her face for the moment, rather than indulging that memory and looking a bit lower. As though reading those thoughts, she shot him a question in return.
"What are three things that spark desire within you?"
Gavriil’s sharp gaze never left her eyes but he did hide his grin behind his hand. “You go for the throat, don’t you?” he asked, regarding her in a long moment of silence. “Your interest goes a long way,” he said, thinking of the office where he’d definitely been toying with the idea of taking her in there. “Down at the beach when we kissed.” He’d thought about it there, too. “Your eyes spark desire - the way you seem to have ideas…” Ideas he’d love to show her if there weren’t as many reasons not to. He had less reasons to be good when he’d met Sybil. Not to mention he’d known less of the world then, less of consequences.
Holding her gaze, he lifted his cup and took a drink, carefully replacing it on the table. “And you? Same question.” Let her have a taste of her own medicine.
At her admission that the episode at the beach had been her worst mess, Evangelina grimaced as he grinned and picked up his glass, ‘That’s your biggest mess?’ Her eyes crinkled and dropped to her plate as she softly shuck her head as her throaty voice dropped a little, “Every mess feels like my biggest mess at the time.” And they did. Every. Single. One. Trying to live up to the standards of her family’s expectations each and every time she botched something it felt like a direct impact on her family. It probably wasn’t. She hoped it wasn’t. But, it didn’t change the fact that it felt like she was a failure or a disappointment each time she made a mess of things.
From beneath her bristly, dark eyelashes she looked over at him again, “In retrospect, it was probably one of my larger mistakes if not the biggest. It’s not every day you face the prospect of either having to become a siren, return home without your clothing, or cause the poor hero who saved you to walk the streets back to his home without his clothing.” Evangelina’s cheeks pinkened a little and she regarded him.
A small smile flickered across her lips and she had to break the gaze before she turned some unnatural shade of red that couldn’t simply be blamed for the wine and the candlelight, “It seemed like a perfectly innocent idea at the time but the consequences could have been a great deal more vexing then they were, it doesn’t take away that if they’d not happened that they very easily could have happened.” Using her napkin, she dabbed her mouth and looked back at him. Just because she’d managed to land on her feet in that particular scenario didn’t lesson the gravity of the situation on a whole. There were many things Evangelina was opposed to but one of the biggest was exploiting the innocent. Sometimes there wasn’t any other way but… Her thoughts trailed off. It was okay that the gossips wanted to talk about her but to think she’d tossed him to the wolves simply because of her own thoughtlessness.
She lightened the moment with other messes. Relief teased her like flames at his small chuckle about the cat and paint episode, but the way his eyebrows knitted together and a moment of disbelief flickered across his face as she brought up her crush on Lord Nikos. An amused smile toyed on her lips, “Hey! Don’t look at me like that… He was charming and had all the right words.” The smile faded a little and she shrugged, “But that’s a story for another time.” Evangelina made an attempt to distract him with the mess regarding her and the start of her history with fire. She could feel the warmth of his gaze focused on her and shifted in her chair. So she fired her question at him. His gaze never wavered and she inwardly cursed him.
‘You go for the throat, don’t you?’ She paused in licking the oil of her fingers and smiled at him sweetly as he regarded her in his silence. He had the strangest effect on her when he stared at her that way. She pressed her knees a little tighter together and shifted slightly in her chair. Evangelina looked away, back down to the plate and smiled down at it. Sneaking him a look, the smile turning into an amused smirk, “Did I? I’d apologize but we both know I am not the least bit sorry.”
The pint-sized Leventi was about to lose hope that he was going to answer but after what felt like an eternity to her he spoke, ‘Your interest goes a long way.’ Well that wasn’t something she’d been expecting to hear. Her head came up and she found herself meeting his gaze without shame. Her interest. She found herself wanting to ask him more about that but that wasn’t how this game worked. Her lips pursed and he continued, ‘Down at the beach when we kissed.’ She felt her breathing hitch, rising and falling heavily. He’d wanted her on the beach, when they’d kissed? Did he think about it? Warmth was spreading up her neck to her cheeks again and she bit her bottom lip, she was frozen unable to move or pull herself away from the spell he was weaving on her. The last one just about undid her. ‘Your eyes spark desire - the way you seem to have ideas…’ There wasn’t any way to stop the flush in her cheeks. Was the room getting warmer? Had someone stoked the hearth and she’d not heard them?
He raised his glass and took a sip, ‘And you? Same question.’ She held his gaze for a few moments longer and smiled. So it appeared she wasn’t the only one who liked to go for the throat if the opportunity presented itself… Tearing her eyes away from him before she did incredibly stupid things to the man. Evangelina murmured as she considered her answer, “I do have ideas. Lots of them. Most of them are absolutely terrible ones.”
Evangelina paused and licked her lips, lifting her eyes upwards as she considered all of the things he did that sparked desire within her. There were so many choices. Lowering her eyes back to him, “When you smile… or when you laugh, it’s a treat. You light up the entire room. It’s like a special little gift and I find myself wanting to press myself closer to you and soak all of you in.” She paused, a slow smile formed, “Pressing myself closer to you seems to lead to kisses and I am fairly certain you could scorch my clothes off with yours. Yours are terribly lethal to all of my sensibilities.” Settling back into her chair again, her wrists resting on the edge of the table, “When you look at me like that… it’s like you are undressing me with your eyes. It’s like you see me. And your gaze lingers and it’s very near a caress.” Her gaze warmed, “I quite live for your caresses.” She ached for even the simplest of touches from him.
Growing quiet for a moment, the meal was forgotten as she searched his face to see if there was any sort of reaction to her words. Did they move him or were they the things that he already knew? After a few seconds, she pulled her gaze away and reached for her wine to take a sip, “I think my next question might be a little tamer or else there is definitely maybe a possibility that I’ll unclip the clasp of my chiton and crawl into your lap right here.” She threw him a slightly sheepish smile, “I don’t imagine that’s quite what you had in mind for our dinner. Sunrises or sunsets?”
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At her admission that the episode at the beach had been her worst mess, Evangelina grimaced as he grinned and picked up his glass, ‘That’s your biggest mess?’ Her eyes crinkled and dropped to her plate as she softly shuck her head as her throaty voice dropped a little, “Every mess feels like my biggest mess at the time.” And they did. Every. Single. One. Trying to live up to the standards of her family’s expectations each and every time she botched something it felt like a direct impact on her family. It probably wasn’t. She hoped it wasn’t. But, it didn’t change the fact that it felt like she was a failure or a disappointment each time she made a mess of things.
From beneath her bristly, dark eyelashes she looked over at him again, “In retrospect, it was probably one of my larger mistakes if not the biggest. It’s not every day you face the prospect of either having to become a siren, return home without your clothing, or cause the poor hero who saved you to walk the streets back to his home without his clothing.” Evangelina’s cheeks pinkened a little and she regarded him.
A small smile flickered across her lips and she had to break the gaze before she turned some unnatural shade of red that couldn’t simply be blamed for the wine and the candlelight, “It seemed like a perfectly innocent idea at the time but the consequences could have been a great deal more vexing then they were, it doesn’t take away that if they’d not happened that they very easily could have happened.” Using her napkin, she dabbed her mouth and looked back at him. Just because she’d managed to land on her feet in that particular scenario didn’t lesson the gravity of the situation on a whole. There were many things Evangelina was opposed to but one of the biggest was exploiting the innocent. Sometimes there wasn’t any other way but… Her thoughts trailed off. It was okay that the gossips wanted to talk about her but to think she’d tossed him to the wolves simply because of her own thoughtlessness.
She lightened the moment with other messes. Relief teased her like flames at his small chuckle about the cat and paint episode, but the way his eyebrows knitted together and a moment of disbelief flickered across his face as she brought up her crush on Lord Nikos. An amused smile toyed on her lips, “Hey! Don’t look at me like that… He was charming and had all the right words.” The smile faded a little and she shrugged, “But that’s a story for another time.” Evangelina made an attempt to distract him with the mess regarding her and the start of her history with fire. She could feel the warmth of his gaze focused on her and shifted in her chair. So she fired her question at him. His gaze never wavered and she inwardly cursed him.
‘You go for the throat, don’t you?’ She paused in licking the oil of her fingers and smiled at him sweetly as he regarded her in his silence. He had the strangest effect on her when he stared at her that way. She pressed her knees a little tighter together and shifted slightly in her chair. Evangelina looked away, back down to the plate and smiled down at it. Sneaking him a look, the smile turning into an amused smirk, “Did I? I’d apologize but we both know I am not the least bit sorry.”
The pint-sized Leventi was about to lose hope that he was going to answer but after what felt like an eternity to her he spoke, ‘Your interest goes a long way.’ Well that wasn’t something she’d been expecting to hear. Her head came up and she found herself meeting his gaze without shame. Her interest. She found herself wanting to ask him more about that but that wasn’t how this game worked. Her lips pursed and he continued, ‘Down at the beach when we kissed.’ She felt her breathing hitch, rising and falling heavily. He’d wanted her on the beach, when they’d kissed? Did he think about it? Warmth was spreading up her neck to her cheeks again and she bit her bottom lip, she was frozen unable to move or pull herself away from the spell he was weaving on her. The last one just about undid her. ‘Your eyes spark desire - the way you seem to have ideas…’ There wasn’t any way to stop the flush in her cheeks. Was the room getting warmer? Had someone stoked the hearth and she’d not heard them?
He raised his glass and took a sip, ‘And you? Same question.’ She held his gaze for a few moments longer and smiled. So it appeared she wasn’t the only one who liked to go for the throat if the opportunity presented itself… Tearing her eyes away from him before she did incredibly stupid things to the man. Evangelina murmured as she considered her answer, “I do have ideas. Lots of them. Most of them are absolutely terrible ones.”
Evangelina paused and licked her lips, lifting her eyes upwards as she considered all of the things he did that sparked desire within her. There were so many choices. Lowering her eyes back to him, “When you smile… or when you laugh, it’s a treat. You light up the entire room. It’s like a special little gift and I find myself wanting to press myself closer to you and soak all of you in.” She paused, a slow smile formed, “Pressing myself closer to you seems to lead to kisses and I am fairly certain you could scorch my clothes off with yours. Yours are terribly lethal to all of my sensibilities.” Settling back into her chair again, her wrists resting on the edge of the table, “When you look at me like that… it’s like you are undressing me with your eyes. It’s like you see me. And your gaze lingers and it’s very near a caress.” Her gaze warmed, “I quite live for your caresses.” She ached for even the simplest of touches from him.
Growing quiet for a moment, the meal was forgotten as she searched his face to see if there was any sort of reaction to her words. Did they move him or were they the things that he already knew? After a few seconds, she pulled her gaze away and reached for her wine to take a sip, “I think my next question might be a little tamer or else there is definitely maybe a possibility that I’ll unclip the clasp of my chiton and crawl into your lap right here.” She threw him a slightly sheepish smile, “I don’t imagine that’s quite what you had in mind for our dinner. Sunrises or sunsets?”
At her admission that the episode at the beach had been her worst mess, Evangelina grimaced as he grinned and picked up his glass, ‘That’s your biggest mess?’ Her eyes crinkled and dropped to her plate as she softly shuck her head as her throaty voice dropped a little, “Every mess feels like my biggest mess at the time.” And they did. Every. Single. One. Trying to live up to the standards of her family’s expectations each and every time she botched something it felt like a direct impact on her family. It probably wasn’t. She hoped it wasn’t. But, it didn’t change the fact that it felt like she was a failure or a disappointment each time she made a mess of things.
From beneath her bristly, dark eyelashes she looked over at him again, “In retrospect, it was probably one of my larger mistakes if not the biggest. It’s not every day you face the prospect of either having to become a siren, return home without your clothing, or cause the poor hero who saved you to walk the streets back to his home without his clothing.” Evangelina’s cheeks pinkened a little and she regarded him.
A small smile flickered across her lips and she had to break the gaze before she turned some unnatural shade of red that couldn’t simply be blamed for the wine and the candlelight, “It seemed like a perfectly innocent idea at the time but the consequences could have been a great deal more vexing then they were, it doesn’t take away that if they’d not happened that they very easily could have happened.” Using her napkin, she dabbed her mouth and looked back at him. Just because she’d managed to land on her feet in that particular scenario didn’t lesson the gravity of the situation on a whole. There were many things Evangelina was opposed to but one of the biggest was exploiting the innocent. Sometimes there wasn’t any other way but… Her thoughts trailed off. It was okay that the gossips wanted to talk about her but to think she’d tossed him to the wolves simply because of her own thoughtlessness.
She lightened the moment with other messes. Relief teased her like flames at his small chuckle about the cat and paint episode, but the way his eyebrows knitted together and a moment of disbelief flickered across his face as she brought up her crush on Lord Nikos. An amused smile toyed on her lips, “Hey! Don’t look at me like that… He was charming and had all the right words.” The smile faded a little and she shrugged, “But that’s a story for another time.” Evangelina made an attempt to distract him with the mess regarding her and the start of her history with fire. She could feel the warmth of his gaze focused on her and shifted in her chair. So she fired her question at him. His gaze never wavered and she inwardly cursed him.
‘You go for the throat, don’t you?’ She paused in licking the oil of her fingers and smiled at him sweetly as he regarded her in his silence. He had the strangest effect on her when he stared at her that way. She pressed her knees a little tighter together and shifted slightly in her chair. Evangelina looked away, back down to the plate and smiled down at it. Sneaking him a look, the smile turning into an amused smirk, “Did I? I’d apologize but we both know I am not the least bit sorry.”
The pint-sized Leventi was about to lose hope that he was going to answer but after what felt like an eternity to her he spoke, ‘Your interest goes a long way.’ Well that wasn’t something she’d been expecting to hear. Her head came up and she found herself meeting his gaze without shame. Her interest. She found herself wanting to ask him more about that but that wasn’t how this game worked. Her lips pursed and he continued, ‘Down at the beach when we kissed.’ She felt her breathing hitch, rising and falling heavily. He’d wanted her on the beach, when they’d kissed? Did he think about it? Warmth was spreading up her neck to her cheeks again and she bit her bottom lip, she was frozen unable to move or pull herself away from the spell he was weaving on her. The last one just about undid her. ‘Your eyes spark desire - the way you seem to have ideas…’ There wasn’t any way to stop the flush in her cheeks. Was the room getting warmer? Had someone stoked the hearth and she’d not heard them?
He raised his glass and took a sip, ‘And you? Same question.’ She held his gaze for a few moments longer and smiled. So it appeared she wasn’t the only one who liked to go for the throat if the opportunity presented itself… Tearing her eyes away from him before she did incredibly stupid things to the man. Evangelina murmured as she considered her answer, “I do have ideas. Lots of them. Most of them are absolutely terrible ones.”
Evangelina paused and licked her lips, lifting her eyes upwards as she considered all of the things he did that sparked desire within her. There were so many choices. Lowering her eyes back to him, “When you smile… or when you laugh, it’s a treat. You light up the entire room. It’s like a special little gift and I find myself wanting to press myself closer to you and soak all of you in.” She paused, a slow smile formed, “Pressing myself closer to you seems to lead to kisses and I am fairly certain you could scorch my clothes off with yours. Yours are terribly lethal to all of my sensibilities.” Settling back into her chair again, her wrists resting on the edge of the table, “When you look at me like that… it’s like you are undressing me with your eyes. It’s like you see me. And your gaze lingers and it’s very near a caress.” Her gaze warmed, “I quite live for your caresses.” She ached for even the simplest of touches from him.
Growing quiet for a moment, the meal was forgotten as she searched his face to see if there was any sort of reaction to her words. Did they move him or were they the things that he already knew? After a few seconds, she pulled her gaze away and reached for her wine to take a sip, “I think my next question might be a little tamer or else there is definitely maybe a possibility that I’ll unclip the clasp of my chiton and crawl into your lap right here.” She threw him a slightly sheepish smile, “I don’t imagine that’s quite what you had in mind for our dinner. Sunrises or sunsets?”
He had the sneaking suspicion that no matter how he answered her question, she’d have had the same shocked response. People tended to forget that widowers were once married and had the same desire everyone else did. He took her surprise as a sign that he was doing well in life. If she’d given him some sort of knowing look, like she might have someone with negative reputation, that would have told him he wasn’t as morally upright as he should have been. So this disbelief was a good thing. Not to mention he liked the look of shock. That she was discovering that he was, in fact, a person. Not some ideal that he could never hope to live up to. Gavriil had talents, faults, desires, dreams, flaws, just like everyone else.
With each answer he gave, her shock appeared to deepen, her cheeks turning pink. He could see her shallow breathing with the subtle rising and falling of her chest, as though she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to think about such a necessary thing like air. At least she smiled through what he took as slight embarrassment, this time. "I do have ideas. Lots of them. Most of them are absolutely terrible ones," she said as she looked away, up to the ceiling. Being on the receiving end of this question, he could see why she’d flushed the way she had. It was an odd thing, having to sit and listen to someone compliment you. The natural impulse was to wave the words away but he didn’t, instead choosing to sip his wine and watch her mouth move as she spoke.
Finally, she looked away from the ceiling and back to him. Her deep brown eyes searched his, roving back and forth in a clear quest for his thoughts. He felt, as he looked straight back at her that he really could see inside her soul. She was so open with herself in a way he never had been and probably never would be. But it was a trait he liked in her, just as she was drawn to what she didn’t know in him.
"I think my next question might be a little tamer or else there is definitely maybe a possibility that I’ll unclip the clasp of my chiton and crawl into your lap right here."
He sat back at that, considering her. What a dinner that would be. “Your parents would wonder where you were,” he took another long drink of his wine, warmth spreading from his middle to his head and out in his limbs. Another glass of this and he’d be more relaxed than he’d been in a while.
”I don’t imagine that’s quite what you had in mind for our dinner.”
“I’d believe it’s what you had in mind,” he countered, not actually answering that supposition.
“Sunrises or sunsets?" She asked, changing the subject.
“Sunrise,” he said immediately, thinking of the forests at home and how the mellow sunlight filtered through the trees, slowly waking up the woods that came alive with bird calls.
Now that it was his turn, and he felt that she very much wanted this game to continue, he thought for a moment about what question to ask her. “Tell me,” he began, blue eyes sliding away from her as random queries wandered through his mind. “What is the one thing you would be most disappointed about if you did not get the chance to experience it?”
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He had the sneaking suspicion that no matter how he answered her question, she’d have had the same shocked response. People tended to forget that widowers were once married and had the same desire everyone else did. He took her surprise as a sign that he was doing well in life. If she’d given him some sort of knowing look, like she might have someone with negative reputation, that would have told him he wasn’t as morally upright as he should have been. So this disbelief was a good thing. Not to mention he liked the look of shock. That she was discovering that he was, in fact, a person. Not some ideal that he could never hope to live up to. Gavriil had talents, faults, desires, dreams, flaws, just like everyone else.
With each answer he gave, her shock appeared to deepen, her cheeks turning pink. He could see her shallow breathing with the subtle rising and falling of her chest, as though she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to think about such a necessary thing like air. At least she smiled through what he took as slight embarrassment, this time. "I do have ideas. Lots of them. Most of them are absolutely terrible ones," she said as she looked away, up to the ceiling. Being on the receiving end of this question, he could see why she’d flushed the way she had. It was an odd thing, having to sit and listen to someone compliment you. The natural impulse was to wave the words away but he didn’t, instead choosing to sip his wine and watch her mouth move as she spoke.
Finally, she looked away from the ceiling and back to him. Her deep brown eyes searched his, roving back and forth in a clear quest for his thoughts. He felt, as he looked straight back at her that he really could see inside her soul. She was so open with herself in a way he never had been and probably never would be. But it was a trait he liked in her, just as she was drawn to what she didn’t know in him.
"I think my next question might be a little tamer or else there is definitely maybe a possibility that I’ll unclip the clasp of my chiton and crawl into your lap right here."
He sat back at that, considering her. What a dinner that would be. “Your parents would wonder where you were,” he took another long drink of his wine, warmth spreading from his middle to his head and out in his limbs. Another glass of this and he’d be more relaxed than he’d been in a while.
”I don’t imagine that’s quite what you had in mind for our dinner.”
“I’d believe it’s what you had in mind,” he countered, not actually answering that supposition.
“Sunrises or sunsets?" She asked, changing the subject.
“Sunrise,” he said immediately, thinking of the forests at home and how the mellow sunlight filtered through the trees, slowly waking up the woods that came alive with bird calls.
Now that it was his turn, and he felt that she very much wanted this game to continue, he thought for a moment about what question to ask her. “Tell me,” he began, blue eyes sliding away from her as random queries wandered through his mind. “What is the one thing you would be most disappointed about if you did not get the chance to experience it?”
He had the sneaking suspicion that no matter how he answered her question, she’d have had the same shocked response. People tended to forget that widowers were once married and had the same desire everyone else did. He took her surprise as a sign that he was doing well in life. If she’d given him some sort of knowing look, like she might have someone with negative reputation, that would have told him he wasn’t as morally upright as he should have been. So this disbelief was a good thing. Not to mention he liked the look of shock. That she was discovering that he was, in fact, a person. Not some ideal that he could never hope to live up to. Gavriil had talents, faults, desires, dreams, flaws, just like everyone else.
With each answer he gave, her shock appeared to deepen, her cheeks turning pink. He could see her shallow breathing with the subtle rising and falling of her chest, as though she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to think about such a necessary thing like air. At least she smiled through what he took as slight embarrassment, this time. "I do have ideas. Lots of them. Most of them are absolutely terrible ones," she said as she looked away, up to the ceiling. Being on the receiving end of this question, he could see why she’d flushed the way she had. It was an odd thing, having to sit and listen to someone compliment you. The natural impulse was to wave the words away but he didn’t, instead choosing to sip his wine and watch her mouth move as she spoke.
Finally, she looked away from the ceiling and back to him. Her deep brown eyes searched his, roving back and forth in a clear quest for his thoughts. He felt, as he looked straight back at her that he really could see inside her soul. She was so open with herself in a way he never had been and probably never would be. But it was a trait he liked in her, just as she was drawn to what she didn’t know in him.
"I think my next question might be a little tamer or else there is definitely maybe a possibility that I’ll unclip the clasp of my chiton and crawl into your lap right here."
He sat back at that, considering her. What a dinner that would be. “Your parents would wonder where you were,” he took another long drink of his wine, warmth spreading from his middle to his head and out in his limbs. Another glass of this and he’d be more relaxed than he’d been in a while.
”I don’t imagine that’s quite what you had in mind for our dinner.”
“I’d believe it’s what you had in mind,” he countered, not actually answering that supposition.
“Sunrises or sunsets?" She asked, changing the subject.
“Sunrise,” he said immediately, thinking of the forests at home and how the mellow sunlight filtered through the trees, slowly waking up the woods that came alive with bird calls.
Now that it was his turn, and he felt that she very much wanted this game to continue, he thought for a moment about what question to ask her. “Tell me,” he began, blue eyes sliding away from her as random queries wandered through his mind. “What is the one thing you would be most disappointed about if you did not get the chance to experience it?”
The candle lighting flickered casting an otherworldly glow over the room with a mixture of shadows and light. Admitting to having those ideas, and lots of them was an attempt at being daringly forward. Not that she wasn’t usually forward, she was but it was done differently. The person she was for most of the world wasn’t the person she was when she was around him. He had a way of making her feel like she was opening herself up and vulnerable to him. Like he could see past the person she wanted the world to see and he could see the things that she kept guarded. The things that meant the most to her. The things that could hurt her. He could hurt her. It was frustratingly terrifying. Horses knew her better than people did for a reason.
He’d asked her for trust in him and she was trying but it wasn’t easy. For Evangelina it might be one of the hardest things to be asked. Growing up she’d become too well versed in seeing manipulation, had seen it take many forms… some of them in the form of love and some of them in the form of doing what was best for someone. She’d seen her uncle manipulate her father, her mother manipulate her father, her father manipulate her brother… her brother manipulate her mother and that wasn’t including the schemes of her aunts, uncles, and cousins. She’d grown up with the idea that trust and love and the best of intentions didn’t always go hand in hand. Even the best of marriages in the Leventi family trust was only skin deep. So it was safe to say, asking for blind faith from her was a bit like asking her not to fight against the current.
But she was trying…
It was unnerving the way he watched her, like he could see everything she didn’t want the world to see. Everything she tried so hard to keep in control of fluttered away around him. He was a man who saw too much. Her admittance to having ideas, and lots of them wasn’t an easy thing to say, but she needed it said. Needed it out there and in front of him. It was a weight she didn’t want to carry alone. If he was going to stare at her that way, the least he could do was know that it gave her ideas.
He took a sip of his wine, and his eyes followed the mouth generating a deeper warmth in her. Her body silently hummed to life as the memory of his mouth and the places it had touched distracted her. It was a terrible thing to be so pliable to his memory. So she did the only thing she knew to do, she pressed the topic a bit more, unwilling wither under such an examination as he was giving her.
Gavriil sat back and seemed to consider her, the food less interesting than her words. Or she hoped that was the effect she’d had on him. After a moment, 'Your parents would wonder where you were.' She blinked and then smiled, her dark eyes flickering down to her food. It was definitely not as interesting as his conversation was.
“Mmm… You are quite mistaken.” Looking up at him from beneath her lashes, her mouth quirking upwards just a little. “My parents are still in Acharist for a few more days and Uncle Georgios and my cousin Imma are the only ones left at the manor both of which I am fairly certain are not that concerned where and what I am doing so long as it doesn’t interfere with their plans.” She leaned forward just a little, her smirk flashing into a dimpled grin as her eyebrows raised a little, “But that was a very noble attempt at dissuasion, I suppose I’ll have to give you some points for that.”
She simply smiled at him as he countered that he did believe that is what she had in mind and gave a small shrug and teased him a little, “I’ll never confirm nor deny if that was my plan. You, my lord… will never know.”
Steering the topic back to safer ground, she asked about sunrises or sunsets in which case he immediately answered sunrise and she smiled and nodded but didn’t ask him to explain the answer. It was what it was.
‘Tell me,’ His gaze drifted away and she lifted her wine and took a sip. What sort of question would he toss at her this time? 'What is the one thing you would be most disappointed about if you did not get the chance to experience it?' The wine rolled down her tongue as she swallowed and then she licked her lips, her mind already searching through the various things she wanted and which of those things were the most important to her.
The answer was an easy one but how was the best way to phrase it. The petite little Leventi settled back into her chair, her arms gently crossing over her middle and her fingers tapping her arm just above her elbow.
“The one thing I would be most disappointed about if I didn’t get to experience it…” Her lips pursed and she settled a curious dark eyed look on him. “That’s not an easy question. There are so many things but if I could choose just one… it’d be that singular moment in time when you look across a crowded room and the other person, your person, looks up and for that single moment it doesn’t matter where you are or what’s going on around you because you know that they’ve got you.” Evangelina drew silent for a moment and then sighed and smiled and shook her head, “Mmm… it’s a silly thought but you said it had to be just one thing, there are a thousand other things I’d be disappointed to never experience but they all seem small by comparison.”
Eager to deflect the attention off of herself she tilted her head and examined him as she offered her next question, “Your house is on fire and outside of family members who are all safe and outside you have the opportunity to grab one thing to save. What do you grab?”
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The candle lighting flickered casting an otherworldly glow over the room with a mixture of shadows and light. Admitting to having those ideas, and lots of them was an attempt at being daringly forward. Not that she wasn’t usually forward, she was but it was done differently. The person she was for most of the world wasn’t the person she was when she was around him. He had a way of making her feel like she was opening herself up and vulnerable to him. Like he could see past the person she wanted the world to see and he could see the things that she kept guarded. The things that meant the most to her. The things that could hurt her. He could hurt her. It was frustratingly terrifying. Horses knew her better than people did for a reason.
He’d asked her for trust in him and she was trying but it wasn’t easy. For Evangelina it might be one of the hardest things to be asked. Growing up she’d become too well versed in seeing manipulation, had seen it take many forms… some of them in the form of love and some of them in the form of doing what was best for someone. She’d seen her uncle manipulate her father, her mother manipulate her father, her father manipulate her brother… her brother manipulate her mother and that wasn’t including the schemes of her aunts, uncles, and cousins. She’d grown up with the idea that trust and love and the best of intentions didn’t always go hand in hand. Even the best of marriages in the Leventi family trust was only skin deep. So it was safe to say, asking for blind faith from her was a bit like asking her not to fight against the current.
But she was trying…
It was unnerving the way he watched her, like he could see everything she didn’t want the world to see. Everything she tried so hard to keep in control of fluttered away around him. He was a man who saw too much. Her admittance to having ideas, and lots of them wasn’t an easy thing to say, but she needed it said. Needed it out there and in front of him. It was a weight she didn’t want to carry alone. If he was going to stare at her that way, the least he could do was know that it gave her ideas.
He took a sip of his wine, and his eyes followed the mouth generating a deeper warmth in her. Her body silently hummed to life as the memory of his mouth and the places it had touched distracted her. It was a terrible thing to be so pliable to his memory. So she did the only thing she knew to do, she pressed the topic a bit more, unwilling wither under such an examination as he was giving her.
Gavriil sat back and seemed to consider her, the food less interesting than her words. Or she hoped that was the effect she’d had on him. After a moment, 'Your parents would wonder where you were.' She blinked and then smiled, her dark eyes flickering down to her food. It was definitely not as interesting as his conversation was.
“Mmm… You are quite mistaken.” Looking up at him from beneath her lashes, her mouth quirking upwards just a little. “My parents are still in Acharist for a few more days and Uncle Georgios and my cousin Imma are the only ones left at the manor both of which I am fairly certain are not that concerned where and what I am doing so long as it doesn’t interfere with their plans.” She leaned forward just a little, her smirk flashing into a dimpled grin as her eyebrows raised a little, “But that was a very noble attempt at dissuasion, I suppose I’ll have to give you some points for that.”
She simply smiled at him as he countered that he did believe that is what she had in mind and gave a small shrug and teased him a little, “I’ll never confirm nor deny if that was my plan. You, my lord… will never know.”
Steering the topic back to safer ground, she asked about sunrises or sunsets in which case he immediately answered sunrise and she smiled and nodded but didn’t ask him to explain the answer. It was what it was.
‘Tell me,’ His gaze drifted away and she lifted her wine and took a sip. What sort of question would he toss at her this time? 'What is the one thing you would be most disappointed about if you did not get the chance to experience it?' The wine rolled down her tongue as she swallowed and then she licked her lips, her mind already searching through the various things she wanted and which of those things were the most important to her.
The answer was an easy one but how was the best way to phrase it. The petite little Leventi settled back into her chair, her arms gently crossing over her middle and her fingers tapping her arm just above her elbow.
“The one thing I would be most disappointed about if I didn’t get to experience it…” Her lips pursed and she settled a curious dark eyed look on him. “That’s not an easy question. There are so many things but if I could choose just one… it’d be that singular moment in time when you look across a crowded room and the other person, your person, looks up and for that single moment it doesn’t matter where you are or what’s going on around you because you know that they’ve got you.” Evangelina drew silent for a moment and then sighed and smiled and shook her head, “Mmm… it’s a silly thought but you said it had to be just one thing, there are a thousand other things I’d be disappointed to never experience but they all seem small by comparison.”
Eager to deflect the attention off of herself she tilted her head and examined him as she offered her next question, “Your house is on fire and outside of family members who are all safe and outside you have the opportunity to grab one thing to save. What do you grab?”
The candle lighting flickered casting an otherworldly glow over the room with a mixture of shadows and light. Admitting to having those ideas, and lots of them was an attempt at being daringly forward. Not that she wasn’t usually forward, she was but it was done differently. The person she was for most of the world wasn’t the person she was when she was around him. He had a way of making her feel like she was opening herself up and vulnerable to him. Like he could see past the person she wanted the world to see and he could see the things that she kept guarded. The things that meant the most to her. The things that could hurt her. He could hurt her. It was frustratingly terrifying. Horses knew her better than people did for a reason.
He’d asked her for trust in him and she was trying but it wasn’t easy. For Evangelina it might be one of the hardest things to be asked. Growing up she’d become too well versed in seeing manipulation, had seen it take many forms… some of them in the form of love and some of them in the form of doing what was best for someone. She’d seen her uncle manipulate her father, her mother manipulate her father, her father manipulate her brother… her brother manipulate her mother and that wasn’t including the schemes of her aunts, uncles, and cousins. She’d grown up with the idea that trust and love and the best of intentions didn’t always go hand in hand. Even the best of marriages in the Leventi family trust was only skin deep. So it was safe to say, asking for blind faith from her was a bit like asking her not to fight against the current.
But she was trying…
It was unnerving the way he watched her, like he could see everything she didn’t want the world to see. Everything she tried so hard to keep in control of fluttered away around him. He was a man who saw too much. Her admittance to having ideas, and lots of them wasn’t an easy thing to say, but she needed it said. Needed it out there and in front of him. It was a weight she didn’t want to carry alone. If he was going to stare at her that way, the least he could do was know that it gave her ideas.
He took a sip of his wine, and his eyes followed the mouth generating a deeper warmth in her. Her body silently hummed to life as the memory of his mouth and the places it had touched distracted her. It was a terrible thing to be so pliable to his memory. So she did the only thing she knew to do, she pressed the topic a bit more, unwilling wither under such an examination as he was giving her.
Gavriil sat back and seemed to consider her, the food less interesting than her words. Or she hoped that was the effect she’d had on him. After a moment, 'Your parents would wonder where you were.' She blinked and then smiled, her dark eyes flickering down to her food. It was definitely not as interesting as his conversation was.
“Mmm… You are quite mistaken.” Looking up at him from beneath her lashes, her mouth quirking upwards just a little. “My parents are still in Acharist for a few more days and Uncle Georgios and my cousin Imma are the only ones left at the manor both of which I am fairly certain are not that concerned where and what I am doing so long as it doesn’t interfere with their plans.” She leaned forward just a little, her smirk flashing into a dimpled grin as her eyebrows raised a little, “But that was a very noble attempt at dissuasion, I suppose I’ll have to give you some points for that.”
She simply smiled at him as he countered that he did believe that is what she had in mind and gave a small shrug and teased him a little, “I’ll never confirm nor deny if that was my plan. You, my lord… will never know.”
Steering the topic back to safer ground, she asked about sunrises or sunsets in which case he immediately answered sunrise and she smiled and nodded but didn’t ask him to explain the answer. It was what it was.
‘Tell me,’ His gaze drifted away and she lifted her wine and took a sip. What sort of question would he toss at her this time? 'What is the one thing you would be most disappointed about if you did not get the chance to experience it?' The wine rolled down her tongue as she swallowed and then she licked her lips, her mind already searching through the various things she wanted and which of those things were the most important to her.
The answer was an easy one but how was the best way to phrase it. The petite little Leventi settled back into her chair, her arms gently crossing over her middle and her fingers tapping her arm just above her elbow.
“The one thing I would be most disappointed about if I didn’t get to experience it…” Her lips pursed and she settled a curious dark eyed look on him. “That’s not an easy question. There are so many things but if I could choose just one… it’d be that singular moment in time when you look across a crowded room and the other person, your person, looks up and for that single moment it doesn’t matter where you are or what’s going on around you because you know that they’ve got you.” Evangelina drew silent for a moment and then sighed and smiled and shook her head, “Mmm… it’s a silly thought but you said it had to be just one thing, there are a thousand other things I’d be disappointed to never experience but they all seem small by comparison.”
Eager to deflect the attention off of herself she tilted her head and examined him as she offered her next question, “Your house is on fire and outside of family members who are all safe and outside you have the opportunity to grab one thing to save. What do you grab?”
He’d been fairly confident that she would be missed, but with a succinct explanation, Evangelina destroyed that excuse. No. She wouldn’t be missed. At that, unbidden ideas did filter through his mind as he turned over the choices before him - them. She would stay if he asked her. He was positive of that. Their interlude in his office played over in his thoughts, the hilarity afterward forgotten for the time being. Life was like that; some moments were the defining ones and other moments, even those that happened at nearly the same time, were placed into different boxes and thought of as separate events entirely. Though, it had taught him that she was sensitive and she did not like to be laughed at. No one did, really, but she was lucky in that Gavriil did not often seek to find flaws in people. He did not usually find people’s failings funny. It was just that her worry had been so innocent and so wholly inaccurate that it caught him off guard.
“But that was a very noble attempt at dissuasion, I suppose I’ll have to give you some points for that.”
He’d raised his glass at that, a faint smile ghosting his lips in answer to her catching him in his attempt at putting up good reasons...because he was running out of them. She didn’t need to worry about being wanted. He was human and he did want her. She seemed like she was intentionally making it difficult to turn her down. The question he put next wasn’t as simple as sunrises and sunsets but it would tell him a bit more about her and he listened intently while she spoke.
She leaned back in her chair, her face taking on a contemplative expression as she tapped out the rhythm of her thoughts against her elbow. “That’s not an easy question.” she accused and he merely sat back, wine glass now on the table top, arms on the rests of the chair, watching her struggle with how to formulate her answer. Gavriil didn’t really like easy questions. They were too simple. He liked to sit and mull over a puzzle. Something he could think about for long, patient hours while he walked or sat in a tree perch, or went about the rest of his day. In this conversation, Evie was likely finding that out by now.
Her experience was one that made him tilt his head just the littlest bit, thinking about that. It was such a simple, deep want, and he broke it down further to himself into a single word: connection. Deep, abiding, loyal connection. Something she’d been craving likely her entire life. She’d been telling him through so many different avenues that she did not have it and it made him rethink her statement earlier about not being missed at all, so long as she didn’t interfere with anyone’s plans. That bothered him.
“Mmm… it’s a silly thought but you said it had to be just one thing, there are a thousand other things I’d be disappointed to never experience but they all seem small by comparison.”
Gavriil didn’t move for a second, and she went on to ask her next question but he didn’t answer it. He was trying to decide if he would give her what she wanted today or if he would have her wait until it was appropriate. To ask her to stay changed quite a few things, not least of which his own view points but it had been such a long time since he’d even been down this road. His late wife had been quick enough to sneak into the hedges with him but he was wiser now and saw more than he did then...or was he? Because he was seriously, seriously toying with the idea now.
“Stay.”
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He’d been fairly confident that she would be missed, but with a succinct explanation, Evangelina destroyed that excuse. No. She wouldn’t be missed. At that, unbidden ideas did filter through his mind as he turned over the choices before him - them. She would stay if he asked her. He was positive of that. Their interlude in his office played over in his thoughts, the hilarity afterward forgotten for the time being. Life was like that; some moments were the defining ones and other moments, even those that happened at nearly the same time, were placed into different boxes and thought of as separate events entirely. Though, it had taught him that she was sensitive and she did not like to be laughed at. No one did, really, but she was lucky in that Gavriil did not often seek to find flaws in people. He did not usually find people’s failings funny. It was just that her worry had been so innocent and so wholly inaccurate that it caught him off guard.
“But that was a very noble attempt at dissuasion, I suppose I’ll have to give you some points for that.”
He’d raised his glass at that, a faint smile ghosting his lips in answer to her catching him in his attempt at putting up good reasons...because he was running out of them. She didn’t need to worry about being wanted. He was human and he did want her. She seemed like she was intentionally making it difficult to turn her down. The question he put next wasn’t as simple as sunrises and sunsets but it would tell him a bit more about her and he listened intently while she spoke.
She leaned back in her chair, her face taking on a contemplative expression as she tapped out the rhythm of her thoughts against her elbow. “That’s not an easy question.” she accused and he merely sat back, wine glass now on the table top, arms on the rests of the chair, watching her struggle with how to formulate her answer. Gavriil didn’t really like easy questions. They were too simple. He liked to sit and mull over a puzzle. Something he could think about for long, patient hours while he walked or sat in a tree perch, or went about the rest of his day. In this conversation, Evie was likely finding that out by now.
Her experience was one that made him tilt his head just the littlest bit, thinking about that. It was such a simple, deep want, and he broke it down further to himself into a single word: connection. Deep, abiding, loyal connection. Something she’d been craving likely her entire life. She’d been telling him through so many different avenues that she did not have it and it made him rethink her statement earlier about not being missed at all, so long as she didn’t interfere with anyone’s plans. That bothered him.
“Mmm… it’s a silly thought but you said it had to be just one thing, there are a thousand other things I’d be disappointed to never experience but they all seem small by comparison.”
Gavriil didn’t move for a second, and she went on to ask her next question but he didn’t answer it. He was trying to decide if he would give her what she wanted today or if he would have her wait until it was appropriate. To ask her to stay changed quite a few things, not least of which his own view points but it had been such a long time since he’d even been down this road. His late wife had been quick enough to sneak into the hedges with him but he was wiser now and saw more than he did then...or was he? Because he was seriously, seriously toying with the idea now.
“Stay.”
He’d been fairly confident that she would be missed, but with a succinct explanation, Evangelina destroyed that excuse. No. She wouldn’t be missed. At that, unbidden ideas did filter through his mind as he turned over the choices before him - them. She would stay if he asked her. He was positive of that. Their interlude in his office played over in his thoughts, the hilarity afterward forgotten for the time being. Life was like that; some moments were the defining ones and other moments, even those that happened at nearly the same time, were placed into different boxes and thought of as separate events entirely. Though, it had taught him that she was sensitive and she did not like to be laughed at. No one did, really, but she was lucky in that Gavriil did not often seek to find flaws in people. He did not usually find people’s failings funny. It was just that her worry had been so innocent and so wholly inaccurate that it caught him off guard.
“But that was a very noble attempt at dissuasion, I suppose I’ll have to give you some points for that.”
He’d raised his glass at that, a faint smile ghosting his lips in answer to her catching him in his attempt at putting up good reasons...because he was running out of them. She didn’t need to worry about being wanted. He was human and he did want her. She seemed like she was intentionally making it difficult to turn her down. The question he put next wasn’t as simple as sunrises and sunsets but it would tell him a bit more about her and he listened intently while she spoke.
She leaned back in her chair, her face taking on a contemplative expression as she tapped out the rhythm of her thoughts against her elbow. “That’s not an easy question.” she accused and he merely sat back, wine glass now on the table top, arms on the rests of the chair, watching her struggle with how to formulate her answer. Gavriil didn’t really like easy questions. They were too simple. He liked to sit and mull over a puzzle. Something he could think about for long, patient hours while he walked or sat in a tree perch, or went about the rest of his day. In this conversation, Evie was likely finding that out by now.
Her experience was one that made him tilt his head just the littlest bit, thinking about that. It was such a simple, deep want, and he broke it down further to himself into a single word: connection. Deep, abiding, loyal connection. Something she’d been craving likely her entire life. She’d been telling him through so many different avenues that she did not have it and it made him rethink her statement earlier about not being missed at all, so long as she didn’t interfere with anyone’s plans. That bothered him.
“Mmm… it’s a silly thought but you said it had to be just one thing, there are a thousand other things I’d be disappointed to never experience but they all seem small by comparison.”
Gavriil didn’t move for a second, and she went on to ask her next question but he didn’t answer it. He was trying to decide if he would give her what she wanted today or if he would have her wait until it was appropriate. To ask her to stay changed quite a few things, not least of which his own view points but it had been such a long time since he’d even been down this road. His late wife had been quick enough to sneak into the hedges with him but he was wiser now and saw more than he did then...or was he? Because he was seriously, seriously toying with the idea now.
“Stay.”
Evangelina’s body froze with the single word reply he’d given her. Stay. It wasn’t an answer to her question and had it not been said with conviction she might have suspected that it was just another example of her imagination running away with her. She’d stopped breathing and focused her ever darkening gaze upon him although questions lingered there, questions for him. What had changed his mind? In the past weeks she’d thrown herself at him so many times and just as many times he’d sidestepped her and slowly started unraveling her pride with each of his refusals.
A glint of silver drew her eyes from his to her hand ever so slightly trembling with the fork still resting in it. She needed to breathe. He wasn’t baiting her. Evangelina knew he was not one to deliberately set a person up to hurt them. There were a handful of people in Evangelina’s life who were that way, but of all the things she was certain of… this was one of those things she was most certain of.
Forcing the small breath out of her she relaxed and gently let the fork settle onto the table. The sound of her chair scraping slowly against the hardwood of the floor filled the room. She didn’t know what she was doing but it felt right. Standing up, she stepped over to his chair as time and space seemed to stop for her as she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder for him to remain seated. The smell of horses and wine was mixed with leather and the woods. Not saying anything, she easily contorted enough to slip between him and the table though it put her setting on his lap.
Drawing her dark questioning eyes back up to him. Did he know her pulse was jumping with this? She wasn’t a brave creature at heart and perhaps her greatest fear was that she’d be rejected. What else did she have to lose though? Her free hand reached up to touch his cheek, “Are you asking for me?” Her thumb followed her gaze down as she gently reached out to brush it against the outline of his bottom lip, “Or for you?” Pulling her eyes slowly up, she looked up at him from beneath her lashes softly. She swallowed and pursed her lips, “If the first, I don’t mind waiting.” Her thumb drifted away from his lips to graze the soft line at the corner of his mouth. “If the second, I’ve already agreed to marry you so it’s not my ruination, you know?” At the word ruination, the corner of her lip lifted every so slightly as she met his gaze warmly.
Desire radiated between the two. Her hand that had been resting on his shoulder slowly shifted down to his chest where her fingers paused over his heartbeat. She bit her lip bottom lip and her skin flushed faintly. Evangelina's voice came out barely above a whisper as she asked, “Either way, am I wrong to say that dinner is decidedly over?”
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Evangelina’s body froze with the single word reply he’d given her. Stay. It wasn’t an answer to her question and had it not been said with conviction she might have suspected that it was just another example of her imagination running away with her. She’d stopped breathing and focused her ever darkening gaze upon him although questions lingered there, questions for him. What had changed his mind? In the past weeks she’d thrown herself at him so many times and just as many times he’d sidestepped her and slowly started unraveling her pride with each of his refusals.
A glint of silver drew her eyes from his to her hand ever so slightly trembling with the fork still resting in it. She needed to breathe. He wasn’t baiting her. Evangelina knew he was not one to deliberately set a person up to hurt them. There were a handful of people in Evangelina’s life who were that way, but of all the things she was certain of… this was one of those things she was most certain of.
Forcing the small breath out of her she relaxed and gently let the fork settle onto the table. The sound of her chair scraping slowly against the hardwood of the floor filled the room. She didn’t know what she was doing but it felt right. Standing up, she stepped over to his chair as time and space seemed to stop for her as she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder for him to remain seated. The smell of horses and wine was mixed with leather and the woods. Not saying anything, she easily contorted enough to slip between him and the table though it put her setting on his lap.
Drawing her dark questioning eyes back up to him. Did he know her pulse was jumping with this? She wasn’t a brave creature at heart and perhaps her greatest fear was that she’d be rejected. What else did she have to lose though? Her free hand reached up to touch his cheek, “Are you asking for me?” Her thumb followed her gaze down as she gently reached out to brush it against the outline of his bottom lip, “Or for you?” Pulling her eyes slowly up, she looked up at him from beneath her lashes softly. She swallowed and pursed her lips, “If the first, I don’t mind waiting.” Her thumb drifted away from his lips to graze the soft line at the corner of his mouth. “If the second, I’ve already agreed to marry you so it’s not my ruination, you know?” At the word ruination, the corner of her lip lifted every so slightly as she met his gaze warmly.
Desire radiated between the two. Her hand that had been resting on his shoulder slowly shifted down to his chest where her fingers paused over his heartbeat. She bit her lip bottom lip and her skin flushed faintly. Evangelina's voice came out barely above a whisper as she asked, “Either way, am I wrong to say that dinner is decidedly over?”
Evangelina’s body froze with the single word reply he’d given her. Stay. It wasn’t an answer to her question and had it not been said with conviction she might have suspected that it was just another example of her imagination running away with her. She’d stopped breathing and focused her ever darkening gaze upon him although questions lingered there, questions for him. What had changed his mind? In the past weeks she’d thrown herself at him so many times and just as many times he’d sidestepped her and slowly started unraveling her pride with each of his refusals.
A glint of silver drew her eyes from his to her hand ever so slightly trembling with the fork still resting in it. She needed to breathe. He wasn’t baiting her. Evangelina knew he was not one to deliberately set a person up to hurt them. There were a handful of people in Evangelina’s life who were that way, but of all the things she was certain of… this was one of those things she was most certain of.
Forcing the small breath out of her she relaxed and gently let the fork settle onto the table. The sound of her chair scraping slowly against the hardwood of the floor filled the room. She didn’t know what she was doing but it felt right. Standing up, she stepped over to his chair as time and space seemed to stop for her as she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder for him to remain seated. The smell of horses and wine was mixed with leather and the woods. Not saying anything, she easily contorted enough to slip between him and the table though it put her setting on his lap.
Drawing her dark questioning eyes back up to him. Did he know her pulse was jumping with this? She wasn’t a brave creature at heart and perhaps her greatest fear was that she’d be rejected. What else did she have to lose though? Her free hand reached up to touch his cheek, “Are you asking for me?” Her thumb followed her gaze down as she gently reached out to brush it against the outline of his bottom lip, “Or for you?” Pulling her eyes slowly up, she looked up at him from beneath her lashes softly. She swallowed and pursed her lips, “If the first, I don’t mind waiting.” Her thumb drifted away from his lips to graze the soft line at the corner of his mouth. “If the second, I’ve already agreed to marry you so it’s not my ruination, you know?” At the word ruination, the corner of her lip lifted every so slightly as she met his gaze warmly.
Desire radiated between the two. Her hand that had been resting on his shoulder slowly shifted down to his chest where her fingers paused over his heartbeat. She bit her lip bottom lip and her skin flushed faintly. Evangelina's voice came out barely above a whisper as she asked, “Either way, am I wrong to say that dinner is decidedly over?”