S
imo’s compliments elicited an odd tingle along the girl’s pale cheeks. It was not as if flattery was a novel thing to her. No, they were much too common, offered countless times in countless occasions; and what a bother they had been to receive. Compliments came with their own set of strings—a web of intricate coils, as elusive as spider’s silk yet as suffocating as a constrictor. Messalina had always received them with more apprehension than pleasure, a delightful smile stretching her lips wide as she swiftly reflected the flattery back again, an extra dollop of nauseating sweetness coating her words in honey gold.Because that was what those shallow men had sought all along; their loosely tossed flattery was meant to serve nothing but their own egos in the end.
Sincerity, then, caught her wholly unprepared. As the boy’s words rolled off his tongue in a manner that demanded nothing but her flushed cheeks in return, Messalina found it unusually difficult to keep her composure. With a mighty effort, she succeeded—partially. The remaining tinge was certainly due to the heat of the sun.
As ivory tipped ears flicked forwards at his words, she could not help but wonder if his painted coat would leak flowing rivulets of sterling silver, if Solis’s rays continued to cascade him in such scintillating showers of light. Solterra. It was then that the girl realized he had to be from the court of Day, for the sun to love him so.
As her stack of golden coins sat solemnly between them, she hastily wondered if it was excessive. Never once had Messalina bought anything for herself before fleeing the castle, never once had she even set foot inside a market. Consider the girl aptly clueless in material prices—and it was utterly miraculous that she had yet to fall into the clutches of a greedy, cunning merchant.
And it seemed that her worries proved true, judging from the peculiar look she detected in Simo’s clear gaze. He must think me hopelessly sheltered, she sighed. She would not blame him in the least if he did. Not able to keep from glancing away in momentary embarrassment, only the boy’s lighthearted comment stirred her from her woes.
Oddly, that conclusion affected the slender dancer more than she thought possible.
frozen hearts growing colder with time
this thread is so cute >u< and messa's naivety entertains me to no end xD
