Then, he pushed him down onto his chair, with just the tip of his finger,
so that Damsel looked down on him.
silence.
Then he opened his mouth again, seeping the words through.
"Princes above Knights, and Knights under princes."
"That-" Damsel turned to smile at the rest of the table, "Is, and has been the order of things since centuries ago."
A heavy silence settled over them, thicker then the uneasy tension in the atmosphere. Unsettled eyes glanced unceremoniously around and tried to avoid catching other glances that passed by. Some shifted uncomfortably in their seats and others grasped their sweaty, nervous hands under the tables, and others shuffled their feet against the carpet of the floor.
Darren let out a slow controlled breath and attempted to loosen his body movements. He was sat like a clockwork soldier and that was no way to be in a meeting. It was a decent effort, enough to fool the casual observer, but for the onlooker with a keen eye, he was a walking advert for tension. He had to control his breath, just remembering the way Damsel looked down at him as he pushed him to sit, it wasn't hatred, nor anger, yet it was something that made Darren feel embarrassed about himself, it was a look that degraded him onto his knees with consent, like he had deserved the humiliation. It was a look that seemed as though it were looking at the most repulsing thing in the world. It was also a look of pity, as though he were pitying a disgusting animal.
It was the way that Damsel looked down at him, that made goosebumps spread across his arms. It gave him disturbing feelings that he didn't want to acknowledge, like how he didn't necessarily mind being looked at like that, like he wanted to be degraded without words, just by those pretty honey eyes instead. But it was also the way Damsel's eyes looked at him, and how the skin above his lip folded and set a sneer on his face, that Darren wanted to utterly ruin him, to the point he could only hate him with those spiteful eyes, and not be able to do anything else. He wanted to corner him to the point Damsel couldn't even raise a finger at him, nor make a sound, a state where fluttering those eyelashes was all he could do, and have his eyes glare at him as the younger's skin flushed red.
Ah, he was in a meeting.
Carter bit on his nails, a bead of sweat slithering down his right temple as his eyes waved,
"Now now, you need not be so serious, young man, we were simply joking around!" he began, his attempt to keep things light already waning.
Damsel gave his shoulders a flex and lolled his head in a circle, let his stride slacken to a more casual pace as he cracked his neck, with a sly grin forming on his lips. That sounded like anything but joking around, damsel wanted to scoff, but he simply kept his cool and hummed along with the story Carter pulled from his butt.
But a little away from Damsel, Darren had watched his thoughts scatter across his face, his arrogance was present in the way he talked, and more evident in the way he talked, his conscious was practically gluing itself onto everything Damsel did. That sly grin on Damsel's pretty face ruined the perfect picture, but it also lured in thoughts Darren had never had before.
The narcissism Damsel had always portrayed annoyed Darren to every degree before, but now his confidence was-..
attractive.
Darren's eyelids lowered when Damsel grabbed the bottle of water reserved for his seat, the way he twisted the lid off as he kept his eyes on Carter, when it was raised to Damsel's mouth, Darren found himself licking his lips instead, his eyes observed the boy as though a lion was hunting it's prey before pouncing.
With each gulp, his adam's apple bobbed violently and the liquor drizzled from both sides of his weathered lips,
Yeah,
Damsel was definitely attractive.
Darren's gaze darkened as they concentrated on a trickle of water that leaked from the corner of his pretty lips.
sexily attractive.
A voice cut in.
"Of course, sir, we were also just joking, nothing serious,"
This time, it was Matthew who jumped into the light, Damsel set the water bottle down as he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his suit, he turned around to look at his former bestfriend who was now standing up with a playful grin.
Fuck off, now you're on my side?
"You didn't take our threats seriously, did you?" Matthew held his eye, as if signaling 'try me' at the middle aged man.
Words left Carter. At one side he was met with a challenging glint from Matthew, who was staring right into his soul with those trying eyes, and on the other there was Damsel, who didn't fail to hide the anger boiling in his eyes, yet both murderous pairs of eyes of the two were paired with dangerous smiles, of course the knight's alpha couldn't will his lips to move.
"Now then," Damsel clapped his hands together, meeting the eyes of those cowering elders,
"It's my turn to talk."
"As I was saying, carter, since it was an ambush, or so you say, we're willing to keep our word and compensate as written in the contract, and if this marriage is really what you're so desperate to latch on to, then so be it."
The storm had ebbed to nothingness, now the silence was as pure as the wintry blanket outside. Every creature was sheltering, the birds had either flown south or had better things to do than sing, and there wasn't another human for miles.
When he looked at carter, he saw the way the color drained from his face, as white as a slice of bread, as white as a ghost, and a little smirk tugged at the end of Damsel's lip from seeing that reaction. He had beat his morale down to that point,
"But I'd like to add some conditions before this marriage takes place." Damsel eyed Carter down, and when he stayed quiet, he took it as his queue to continue talking,
he held up 5 fingers, quickly changing it to 4 though,
"4 months, until a month after my birthday, if either Darren or I meet our fated mates, this marriage will be canceled." he said, "Just a month after my birthday, that's all that I ask for."
When he finished his sentence, the room was silent for a few seconds, but it wasn't long before the whispers in the room skyrocketed, and faces turned to mingle and gossip to eachother, Chattering elders were talking among themselves, some were scoffing at his condition, and others were holding back chuckles. It was the reaction he had expected afterall, talking about finding a mate within less than a year was clear mad-talk.
"If we don't, then consider it as our pack surrendering and we'll have a peaceful marriage with no blood shed." He added on.
The elders talked among themselves, some not believing in the easy condition of his words, how could a teenage boy lay everything on the table for a mere chance at finding his mate;
but the more they talked, the more it made sense in their heads.
Their theory was believable, he was a young boy who knew his pack was going to have to give up in the end, but wanted a chance to find his mate atleast; so he wouldn't regret anything later in his life and could be able to say that he had tried nontheless.
It was respectable, actually, since a mate was 2nd on the list of a wolf's treasures, after his pack.
"That's all..?" Carter said.
"Of course, this is in your favor, the chances of either of us meeting our mates in merely a month? This gamble is worth to take."
"Then why are you so keen on having a single month if you know it's unrealistic?" Carter furrowed his eyebrows, speculating that there was a hidden agenda in the whole thing, and it was good that he was so on guard, because there really was a hidden agenda.
Damsel's eyes darkened, but he still smiled, of course Carter wasn't one to blindly trust an enemy's obvious word without thinking twice, but it still annoyed him.
"I'm sure you understand how important mates are, if I don't even try to look for them, that guilt is going to weigh me down for the rest of my life," Damsel pat his heart, figuring he needed something more to get Carter on board, and he came up with that one thing.
"Although me and Darren are enemies and are opposites to every extent, we're both wolves weak to our mates, all I'm asking for; is a chance, a chance to be able to seek them out."
When Damsel mentioned Darren, he saw the way that Carter's face muscles softened for a split second, and at that, he tried not to smirk obviously,
Carter seemed to ponder,
a few minutes had passed actually, Carter had to go chat to the elders for a bit to make a decision, the condition was faely easy to give, but there was so much suspicion over it, most of the elders passed it off as just a young boy's fruitless yearning, but there were still some that doubted.
Carter made his way back to Damsel, glaring at him, before opening his mouth.
"Alright."
"Then-" Damsel was about to continue-
"Only if Darren agrees with these terms."