InkSkin

Crashing the Party

Alsuha stood behind LuSol's chair, along with forty other Companions. She had been standing (well, more like lounging) on the wall across from his bedroom door when he had opened the door, and her heart had literally stopped. Eyre had dressed him in a silver gray suit which matched the color of her dress perfectly, with an indigo undershirt and a royal blue and silver-gray waistcoat and boots. Belatedly, Alsuha noticed that they matched in more than color; his suit had the same patterns on it as her dress.

LuSol had been his cool, calm and collected self again. Gone was the stranger who had walked into her room and who had been a far cry from the Prince which stood before her now. It was a side to him she found herself wanting to explore.

Alsuha had fallen into step behind him, neither one saying a word. She had stood silently behind him as he had charmed and flirted his way through the social hour. She silently congratulated herself on her ability to effectively ignore the violent tendencies she felt towards the females who batted their lashes up at LuSol while they laughed at his jokes and flirted right back. She thought she had done a pretty good job of keeping her rather violent thoughts from her Prince.

She stood sedately and calmly as she weathered the waves of stares and whispers directed at her, some a little a little less discreet than others. She didn't understand why she garnered so much attention from the Lords and Ladies. Alsuha didn't realize the effect she was having on those present; she was the most radiant creature in the room. She was unlike any of the other Companions. She was not simply an ornament, and there was something wild and untamed about her that attracted and repulsed at the same time. She drew every eye causing more than one Lady's envy and the desire of nearly every man in the room. She elicited both fear and yearning from those around her and disgust as well, for she was Ink'd; she was not their equal.

The stares and whispers and her own instincts had her on edge all night. Her eyes never stopped traveling the expanse of the room, searching every shadowed nook and cranny for a threat her sense of preservation screamed at her was there. She almost seemed to stalk as she glided along behind LuSol.

'You look like a dangerous predator; a lion or perhaps a panther,' LuSol's voice, filled with humor, coursed through her mind.

'Forgive me; I know I am supposed to be anything but.'

'No, I rather like it.' Alsuha felt a small flutter of pleasure in her belly. She swatted it away.

'I have a bad feeling,' she confided to him before she lost her nerve. She felt his humor die as he abruptly turned away from the group of people he'd been conversing with.

She heard him murmur an hasty, "Excuse me," even as he was already striding away from them with Alsuha, as ever, right behind him.

"What is it that you feel?" He asked without preamble.

"I do not know," Alsuha responded as she prowled the hallway, her eyes searching.

"But it is the same feeling I would get in the Pitts right before I was attacked. There is danger. I can feel it, and it is directed at you." Alsuha shivered.

"Do you feel anything this very second?"

"What?" Alsuha asked distractedly. She stopped her pacing long enough to evaluate her feelings.

"I do but it is not as intense as it was inside." She tossed her head in the direction of the door they'd come out of.

"We must return to the party. No," he said as he held up a hand to stop Alsuha from interrupting him. "I know you're concerned for me and I trust you implicitly to keep me safe and alive, but if I leave now it may very well precipitate a war. I cannot afford to give offense tonight." Alsuha simply nodded at him and closed her lips around the words she wanted to say. Unexpectedly, she felt LuSol's arms close around her, drawing her into a tight embrace. She quelled the urge to shrug him off and was surprised by the... pleasure that unfurled in her belly as the scent of him filled her. Just as quickly as he had held her, he let her go. Alsuha inhaled sharply at the suddenness.