If anything the dark man looked almost expectant when his gaze settled on Acton’s, and while the buckskin was not surprised he did feel a pang of disappointment. This he hid behind his grin; he’d known from the beginning that this was no pigeon to be plucked or spitted, but a falcon. The question was where those agile wings carried him, and why.
Of course, Acton could never just ask.
“Hmm,” was the only answer he gave, at first, quelching the urge to roll his eyes at talk of natural-born agility. Acton was a prime example of red-blooded male, and his arrogance was as provocable as a cat’s. He, too, turned his attention back to the wares, all the things that Denocte citizens – his king included – seemed so fond of. Never himself, though; Acton could never bear to be constrained, even by a braid, and a decorative chain was still a chain. He would not be caught in one again.
So he laughed, just a chuckle under his breath, when the silver-eyed stallion spoke again, all smooth vowels and clipped syllables that Acton knew were bred nowhere in Novus. “Oh, I don’t know,” he said, so lazily it was almost a drawl. “I have a real weakness for theatrics. Far more than finery.” Almost, almost, he makes one of the little ear-cuffs vanish – but again he restrained himself. This was not about him.
It was why, all things accounted for, Raum probably made a better Crow – while the Ghost had his own brand of vanity, it was far from one of his vices.
Instead, Acton stepped back from the stall, tossing his cloud of black mane as a group of market-goers were forced to scatter around him, muttering. When he spoke again, airy and bright as a magician’s scarf, there no hint of a threat in the words. “But if you’re looking for something – a gift, perhaps? – let me offer my help. I know these markets very well.”
Better than you could ever dream of, promised the glint in his eye.
@Caine well I think I found out why Acton has no non-Crow male friends xD
whatever you feed me I'll feed you right back
