The white, cold sun of the mid-morning is shining through the many walls of glass of the palace as Alouette makes her way to Evie's desk, making her feel like she's walking inside a block of ice.
She ignores the little glances some people send her every once in a while; it happens more and more often the more Harry seems to find reasons to talk to her, and it makes her a bit uneasy. She doesn't want anyone to pay attention to her and fears they'll understand what she's after if they do.
She sees Evie walking ahead of her and she calls her loudly to catch her attention, and she stops and turns around, waiting for her to come closer.
"What do I need to do today?" Alouette asks her, but she gives her an odd look.
"The president gave you a free day today."
Alouette frowns. She teased him about it yesterday, but she really didn't think he'd actually do that. It's crazy to think he did. Is he trying to prove a point? What will she even do, now? Stare at the ceiling for an entire day?
"What?"
Evie nods. "Also, he asked for you earlier. He wants you to accompany him to a meeting, about," she checks the time on her phone, "now. The limousine is waiting downstairs, I'm suggesting you to be quick. He doesn't like waiting."
If Alouette was confused before, she doesn't even know what to think now. But there isn't much room for her to wonder, because Harry is waiting for her in that instant.
"Thank you," she simply says, walking to the lift.
She gets to the bottom floor as fast as possible, but she pauses right before opening the door.
What even is going on? Why does Harry want her to go with him? Is it just a follow-up on their conversation from yesterday, or is there something more? The more she thinks about it, the more she feels herself start freaking out.
This doesn't make sense. Should she even go at all? Maybe she shouldn't. What if something awful happens? What does he even want from her?
She closes her eyes and takes some deep breaths, not caring about the weird looks some of the guards walking past give her. She knows she must be looking ridiculous in that moment, but she can't help it. When she feels her heartbeat slow down to a more acceptable rhythm, she finally opens the door and walks out, spotting a long black car not too far away.
When she gets to the limousine Harry is already inside and waiting for her.
She feels a bit unsure but doesn't falter as she approaches the vehicle, knowing that he's probably observing her every action from the window.
The guard standing next to it opens the door for her, and she gets inside, sitting in front of Harry.
He's wearing one of his usual suits and he doesn't seem to be wearing any makeup, if not some lipstick. He still looks better than any other man she's ever seen.
"I thought you got lost for a second there, Lark," he comments, referring to her little delay.
"Your home has more corridors than it needs to have," she replies, just to go along with what he said. She can't certainly tell him she's late because she spent the last ten minutes freaking out.
He hums as the guard enters the limousine and starts it, the purr of the engine filling the silence that follows her words.
Alouette wonders if she's allowed to ask him where they're going. She probably isn't and she doesn't want to seem too curious, too, so she doesn't, even though it makes her a bit restless.
Harry looks like he's busy and is going through some papers, so she decides it'll be wiser to let him do his thing. He isn't shy anyway, so if he wants to chat, he'll surely let her know.
The drive takes under ten minutes, which is enough to tell her they're still pretty close to the palace when they get out again.
The guard opens a door for them and they walk inside, and she frowns when she realises they just walked into some kind of restaurant. Is Harry taking her out for lunch? She shakes the thought away, it can't be that anyway. It has to be something else.
They approach a table where a man is sitting alone, and Harry sits in front of him. She takes the seat right next to him, staring at the unknown man, feeling a little confused.
Harry flicks his hand, and only a matter of seconds later a waitress comes by and puts three glasses of water on the table. Harry doesn't touch his, but Alouette grabs hers quickly and takes a sip just to have something to do.
"The warehouse issue was fixed yesterday," Harry states, "have we gotten any reaction yet?"
The man shakes his head. "The Revolution is silent, sir."
Alouette chokes on her water at the mention of her own organisation and coughs loudly, earning the attention of both the men at the table.
"Does the Revolution scare you?" the man, which she supposes is some kind of guard or agent, asks her.
She finds the simple thought ridiculous. Of course it doesn't scare her, they're her family. She wishes she could be with them in that very moment. She can't tell them that though, not when Harry is staring at her like that.
"A bit," she replies, and the man laughs.
"You needn't worry, you're safe in the palace, they'll never get to you."
She gives him a nod and then glances at Harry, noticing he's still observing her with an unreadable look on his face.
"We've been hearing voices for the past few days, though. Something's coming," the man goes on, looking at Harry again.
"I was informed on the matter."
Alouette puts her glass down, trying not to look too interested while she attentively listens to their conversation.
"Some more warehouses were raided in the past few days, we have no reasons to suspect it's an inside job, though."
She widens her eyes at the two little words and shifts in her seat, her right hand falling off the table as she tries her best to cover up her reaction.
She notices Harry tense up behind her, but she doesn't think much of it until she feels his fingers wrap around her wrist. He puts her hand back on her lap while shooting her a dark glare, half way between anger and something very, very different, and her face heats up when she realises she accidentally put her hand on his thigh.
The conversation goes on for some more minutes but she can't even pay attention to what they're saying, her mind too focused on the embarrassment stemming from her involuntary action.
She put her hand on Harry's thigh. Harry's. She wants to disappear. What if he's mad at her now?
No particular emotion seems to cloud him as he interacts with the man in front of him, but she knows it doesn't necessarily mean that he isn't bothered by what she did.
After some more minutes Harry says his goodbyes and stands up, his glass still untouched on the table. She follows him as they get to the door, going out first when his guard opens the door for them.
"A devious little thing, aren't you?" Harry hisses in the second they step out of the building, wrapping his fingers around her arm and turning her around to face him.
Alouette stares at him, her eyes wide when she takes in the darkened look in his, and her breath stops in her throat when she realises something.
She inadvertently just found a way to get through to Harry— to shatter all his defences and get close enough to ruin him. But in order to do that, she has to play her cards right.
She's had her fair share of boyfriends at the Revolution growing up, but everything was so easy there. If you liked someone, you would be with them. But she's never met someone like Harry.
He likes the thrill of the chase, he likes to be teased. He's looking for a challenge, someone that will not let him take over so easily, she knows that.
And so she shall give him one.
Only some seconds go by between his question and her reply.
She pulls him closer by his tie, staring into his forest green eyes intensely. "I wonder what you might be referring to, sir," she murmurs, the honorific term leaving her mouth sarcastically, and he hums.
"You're killing me, Lark."
Alouette gets even closer to him, trying to keep the soft yet powerful smell of his cologne from clouding her senses. "I'm not sorry" she whispers into his ear before turning around and walking to the limousine.
Don't look behind you, she tells herself. It's only a statement if you don't give in.
It isn't easy to resist the urge from checking the effect her actions had on the man, but she manages to reach the vehicle without faltering. The guard opens the door, and she gets inside, sitting right opposite to the door.
Harry comes in as well only a matter of seconds after, and she clenches her teeth when she notices his tie is half pulled out and crumpled up.
He freezes her with a glance as he sits in front of her and unbuttons the black jacket of his suit quickly, fixing the tie and loosening it around his neck.
The door is closed harshly, and they stare at each other in the dim light inside.
He passes his fingers through his brunette curls and opens a little cabinet on her right, taking out two crystal glasses and putting them right on top of it. She observes him as he pours a golden brown liquid inside both, the smell of alcohol hitting her nose.
"Oh—"
He interrupts her, handing her one of the glasses, a sharp look in his eyes. "Indulge me."
Is it a test?
She takes the glass from him and gulps it down, not missing the humoured edge in his eyes as he sits back again sipping his, his lipstick leaving a mark on the crystal.
Alouette clears her throat and looks away from him, trying to escape his penetrating gaze.
He's looking at her as if he thinks nobody else is around them, as if he thinks he could do anything, anything his heart desires, and nobody would dare to stop him, as if he expects her to bow to his every desire—
Her cheeks feel so hot now, she's certain that if she put her cold hands on them, they'd go up in flames.
"I need more," she mutters, reaching for the bottle on the table and pouring some more of that alcoholic drink in her glass. She doesn't even know what it is since they never had much choice when it came to drinks in the Revolution, but she definitely doesn't mind its burning feeling down her throat right now.
He raises an eyebrow. "Getting drunk on the job? Rather unprofessional." He enjoys teasing her, she can see it in his eyes.
"You act like there's anything of professional about you, sir."
She doesn't know where that reply even came from, if from the alcohol or the embracing atmosphere in the car, reassuring just enough to allow her to let a just unearthed part of her mind speak.
"I bet you'd like to know."
She frowns. "Know what?"
He leans in, and she bites the inside of her cheek when she notices the black of his pupils has almost swallowed the green of his eyes. Looking at him is like staring down a black hole, ready to suck her in. A deep, dark hole, bringing her straight to hell.
"For your information, it's not beyond me to make you scream on that very seat you're sitting on, Lark," he reveals, "don't try me, 'cause two can play at that game."
She doesn't know what she brought to the light by putting her hand on his thigh in the restaurant, but she's starting to like it in the tiniest bit.
She never saw herself as the seductive type, but Harry is making her feel like she could incite never seen before reactions from him with only as much as a single word, and it excites her.
She takes another sip of her drink and then she puts the glass on the table, observing how its moving surface reflects the dim light inside the limousine for an instant before glancing up at Harry.
"I wonder," she starts, leaning in as well, "are you much of a player, sir?"
He wets his lips with his tongue. "Do you truly need me to answer that question, little bird?"
Alouette stares at him. He's waiting for her to reply, she knows that. He pushed all the buttons and is now staring her down from the opposite seat, expecting her to buckle at any second.
Like everyone else does.
But she's never been one to grant an easy win.
"Don't tempt me, Mr. Styles," she says, letting his name roll off her tongue with a deepened edge, and Harry leans back on his seat, a sarcastic smile on his lips.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
The rest of the drive goes by in silence and Alouette resorts to staring at everything but him, perfectly aware that he's sitting right in front of her, with his jacket unbuttoned and his hair messy, his legs spread.
She's about to go crazy.
Every time she lets herself glance at him, though, she finds him already staring at her. He doesn't look away when she catches him, on the contrary, he seems to enjoy the moment in which his eyes meet hers.
What has she just got into?
She isn't sure she knows enough to play that game with him, and it's obvious that, on the other hand, he's a very, very skilled player. She can see it in the way he seemed to light up in the very instant things took that turn. It's like he was waiting for that moment.
She knows it should scare her.
It should terrify her, because he's bad. Everything about him is bad, from his actions to that devilish smirk of his to his suits, because someone would have to be absolutely deranged to dress like that and look breathtaking while doing that, and she shouldn't have to be wondering what he looks like under those jackets and dress shirts, if he's as fit as he seems to be or if it's just a trick of the light.
She shouldn't be wondering what it'd be like to take him up on his veiled offer, because he's bad, bad, bad— he's everything she hates and yet she can't bring herself to hate him, because he's way too intriguing for her to.
She feels like Alice, quickly falling down the rabbit hole. The only difference is that she's sure no Wonderland is waiting for her on the other side, but a land of sin.
She could live with that. Maybe. Maybe not.
She's sure as hell gonna try, though.
This shouldn't be happening. But it's going to make it so much easier to get all the information she needs from him. She was warned against him. But Harry doesn't look as scary as she'd anticipated; and the longer goes by, the more Alouette believes she'll be able to carry out her task without him finding out.
And she might've just found the master key to his house of secrets.
"Tell me, Lark," Harry says all of a sudden, and her soul does a backflip in her chest. "Are you enjoying the free day I gave you?"
She purses her lips, trying to conceal her reaction. "I hardly believe it's free, considering I'm here with you."
He tilts his head. "And to think I thought you'd enjoy a drive out in the city," he comments, but he doesn't sound disappointed. "Maybe I should just leave you at the Palace next time."
Alouette moves to sit next to him, silently gulping when she can feel the closeness of his body to hers. "But where would the fun be if you did that?"
Harry looks her up and down, a magnetic look in his eyes. "In your bed, if you'd fancy that."
"Are you not even going to offer me a dinner first?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"On the contrary, I'm quite sure I've been offering you every dinner ever since you moved in," he tells her, surprising her. "I'll offer you as many more dinners as you want, though."
She takes his glass from his hand and takes a sip from it. "And to think you scolded me for not being professional earlier."
Harry breaks into a laugh. "You're one of a kind, Lark."
Alouette is stunned by the unfamiliar sound for an instant. She never heard him laugh before, she wasn't even sure he could do that at all. Such a humane reaction seems out of place, coming out of someone like him. She knows it's stupid, but it's odd to acknowledge he actually has feelings. Just like she does, just like everyone else around them does. She hadn't expected him to, though. Until now.
She puts the empty glass next to hers before sending him one last glance. "I've been told," she dismisses him quickly, hoping he won't see through that little lie.
She goes back to her seat, and the vehicle halts soon after.
The door is opened by the guard and she flees, getting into the building quickly and only stopping to call the lift. He'd surely notice it if she took the stairs, and she doesn't want him to think she's chickening out.
The lift comes and she steps inside, pressing the button to her floor and hoping she'll manage to go up by herself. She isn't that lucky, though, because just as the doors are about to close a hand pops up between them, forcing them to open again.
Harry walks inside and the doors stay open, so she presses the button again, staring straight ahead, trying her best to pretend he isn't there.
He has other plans, though.
In the second the doors close he pushes her against the side of the lift, trapping them with his hands on the metal on both sides of her body. She feels her heart beat a thousand times quicker as he brushes her hair to the side, and she can feel his breath on the nape of her neck.
"Maybe it's you that shouldn't tempt me, Lark," Harry murmurs into her ear. The name is hot as it leaves his lips.
"I..." Her voice fades away due to the unexpectedness of the situation. She can't see him but he's behind her, she can feel him, she can see his hands on the wall, and it all is getting to her head a bit too quickly.
"You think you can play with me? As you wish," he continues, "but just so that you're warned, I've never lost a game."
The doors open again and he's off of her just as quickly as he first came onto her, and she turns around just in time to see him walk away.
"My win will be so much sweeter, then, sir," she says, loud enough for him to hear.
She doesn't miss the glance he sends her way.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter x
Miki