Amazingly, his strategy seemed to be working. True, he doesn’t quite believe the thousand-watt smile she beams back at him, but it still fit in line with how that Dusk Court girl had responded. The unicorn had never realized how quickly females’ moods shifted when you gave them your full attention; it’s a lesson he files away with a little self-satisfaction. Even sweetheart doesn’t sting so badly this time, because he’s sure he has the measure of her, now. Inwardly he’s rolling his eyes, but the chestnut keeps wearing that debonair smile until their eye contact is broken and he’s walking away. Then, it fades and he has just enough time for a little breath of relief before she bounds ahead of him. Here was another little parallel to his meeting with Florentine; he can’t help but remember the way he’d walked ahead, just like this, and she’d flown overhead and cut off his path. Then had come the threat. This mare didn’t wear a dagger, but it seemed naive to think her words were the only sharp thing about her. Bexley. It leaps off her tongue like she just had before him, all golden and sure of itself, not the too-grand name his parents had saddled him with. In fact, she seems very sure of herself indeed, walking near enough he can feel the heat rolling off her golden skin, near enough he feels they are already touching. Delicately he edges away, and huffs a breath when she keeps the gap between them less than miniscule. Charlmagne has never yet considered whether he is interested in girls (his head has always been too full of other things), but he is alarmed to discover that they seem highly interested in him. It does not cross his mind that this might be as much an act as his own pretend confidence. He finds himself suddenly very warm, and very aware of everything their bodies are doing. It’s a strange thing; he’s never felt like an awkward walker before, but now he expects to stumble with each step, and tries to distract himself with answering her. “I never said I was lost. And no, I’ve never been to a desert before. I only left home this spring.” Quite determinedly, he does not meet her gaze, opting instead to focus on the dunes ahead. That is, until her second question hits him - then his green-eyed gaze flicks to her with a new sort of interest. This time, when her golden shoulder brushes again against his dappled one, he only barely notices (though once again he steers his body subtly away). “Shouldn’t be? Are those of other courts not allowed in Solterra?” @ |
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