i'm gonna lure you into the dark , my cold desire
Returning to Solterra hadn't been on my agenda in a while. It feels foreign to me now, like something out of a dream, when in reality, I have probably only been gone a year or less. The desert sands welcome each footstep, despite my heart aching more and more for the song of the sea. I find myself hating land the more I spend time on it. I am a predator beneath the water and there are less creatures to challenge me there unlike here. But what they don't realize is that I'm a predator here too.
This is how it feels when I step into the dining room of some Solterran noble. I never kept up with the names when I lived here because it didn't matter to me. I stayed as far away from the Court as I could and all that mattered was getting paid. I have since broken my ties with Vendetta and the job (which I'm sure she wasn't too happy about, but I don't really care) so I had no reason to come back, until now.
There had been an advertisement for dating- a pretty pathetic one at that. It read like something a desperate man had written in a rush. That's probably why I couldn't resist putting my name in the pool just to see how terrible the outcome would be. I figured if whoever I was paired with for a "date" was irritating enough, I'd just lure them to the sea and be done with them there. Of course, there's always a small chance that fate could actually pair me with someone worth my time, but that chance is very small.
All I have is a note with a name on it, but the name already escapes me when I see a man by the bar of this party. He stands out among all the lavish decorations of this noble house, but somehow still blends in among all the gold. He is not who I'm supposed to meet tonight, but he's someone I'd much rather meet with. I drop the piece of paper on the floor and walk over.
"Hello traveller," I say, my voice sweet like the wine I can smell in the air. I remember his name, but I also remember our last conversation. The way he spoke of monsters and his search of myths among his travels. I am so tired of meeting those who live in Courts because they are all the same. Not Torix- I can tell he does not belong to a Court and makes his own code. I'm dying to know what that code is.
Without asking for permission, I take the seat next to him and study the menu for a moment. Perhaps I'm the one out of place here, but I do not show it. I order a drink that promises a smell of spices but tastes sweet. "Have you been alone here long?" I can't deny he has some handsome qualities, so it would be sort of a shame if he didn't have a date this evening.
(Lu picked drink #1!)
