It was fun.
The present is well received, to his relief. He knew it was best to stay in her good graces, which was easier with gifts than words. It does not escape his notice how her lips brush over the golden petals-- he hopes it escapes hers how he swallows the lump in his throat. If they were playing a game, he was most certainly losing.
(a poem begins to take shape in his mind. It has no words yet except one: scarlet--)
Mateo casually pours himself some tea. It is a welcome distraction from the thought of her lips. When he looks up again she has tucked the gift behind an ear and is piercing him with that golden gaze that was just as deadly as her antlers. "So, outside of unwittingly looking the part of a knight here to rescue a princess," he grins, green eyes gleaming, but continues to listen. "... have you heard about that absolutely humiliating debacle in the Day Court?"
He takes sip of tea before he replies. Something... stronger would be nice, but the sun had barely just come up and he could hardly ask the lady to get drunk on barley wine at this hour. Well, of course he could, and she might even oblige him if he was clever enough in how he asked... but he did not trust himself to drink with Llew, at least not behind closed doors. He could not risk ruining their game, which he so enjoyed.
These thoughts all come and go in the space of a few seconds. "Of course," he says, thinking briefly of that green-eyed Solterran girl and where she might be now. She smelled of sun. He had never associated the sun with a smell before. It felt odd to be speaking of foreign affairs that felt so far away from them-- Solterra might as well be an entirely different world-- and for the first time actually knowing someone who would be directly impacted by them. It makes him take this matter more seriously than he would have been a few months ago. "Surely we will have refugees flooding the city soon. I heard the new king has enacted heavy food and water restrictions." His words are heavy with distaste. "It's absolutely barbaric, even by Solterran standards." Which, to be fair, were greatly elevated by the previous regime. (he sends a silent prayer skyward-- Rest in God's hands, Seraphina)
The tea is warm and comforting. He pours another cup. "Have you heard our Regent has left to Denocte?" He keeps his tone casual, not yet sure if he wants to reveal that Po had asked him personally to be the Regent's eyes and ears.
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@Llewelyn <333
