Arthur
“I look foolish,” I grumbled, adjusting the collar of my jacket. Black beads shimmered through the lapel in an ensemble Piff had shoved me into after a long bath that did nothing to quell my unease.
My stomach crawled up my throat, my heart shredding with each passing minute, well aware of what waited for me this night.
Where once I’d been a miserable soul, living each day like the last for thirteen years, now my future held nothing but gray days and memories of her.
Where once Reshina had been a distant light, something to hope upon and never grasp, merely written on a page, I now knew her lips, her smile, her way of weaving her authority and power into her words, never demanding much, knowing she’d always get it, so why bother?
Now, I knew what it was to fall.
And right at the point of this realization, she’d be leaving me. For good.
“Master, not like that!” Piffle grew two sizes too large, towering over me and ducking his head to miss the ceiling. Enormous hands adjusted my cravat, fixing whatever mess I’d done to it in nerves and heartbreak.
He shrank back down to his usual size with a satisfied grin on his face.
“That was excessive,” I grumbled, checking in the mirror at his work.
“I’ve been practicing that one,” he said with pride, darting around my rooms, picking up books and stacking them on tables. “How else will I reach the edge where the ceiling meets the walls in the corridors to hang the tapestries?”
“Tapestries?”
He nodded, picking up the black leather shoes he’d found for me to wear for the evening. “Mistress requested them. Said they’d bring color to the halls while she is away.” He looked up at me with a raised brow. “Said they’d remind you not to lose hope.”
“You know she’s leaving, Piff.”
“Yes.”
“And she’s not coming back.”
With a slight shrug, he continued his work, placing the shoes down beside the bed where I slipped them on. “Dinner is about to be served. I must excuse myself. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No. Thank you for watching over me, Piff. But most importantly, for watching over her.”
He made an aggravated grunt before I heard a thunk. “Perk up!” The words came from a little golden clock set on the table by the fire, its pendulum swinging back and forth dramatically.
I frowned in deep annoyance, ignoring his antics and adjusting my cuffs.
The clock didn’t stop there, however. “You’ve pined after this Goddess for so long, and yet you let her poison you and leave?”
“I’m not forcing her to stay here.”
“Then stop moping about it and spend your last minutes with her!” He pointed to his own clock face. “Look at the time, man! She’s there in the dining hall already, waiting for you, and yet you are here, fretting over your collar! If it is she who you want, let it be known!”
I stood in a heavy sigh. “I can’t tell her what she means to me. I won’t be the cause of any guilt she might feel in leaving.”
“By the Goddess, Arthur, you are a martyr of your own making, through and through! First with your mother, then with that business in Havenshire, now this! Do not let her go without telling her why she should stay!”
I left the bedside, shaking my head at a clock telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. “One last time I’ll sacrifice my needs.” I swept through the room and headed up the stairs, listening to my one friend scramble behind me. “One last time I’ll sacrifice them for her.”
I stood in the archway of the dining room, ready to sink into the stonework.
Reshina busied herself around the table, her back to me with glorious black wings tipped in silver.
She wore one of my favorite gowns so far with long black layers in the skirt that pooled at her heeled feet.
A beaded cape of sorts hung at her shoulders, detailed with intricate patterns on each of her arms and shimmering black beads hanging from one shoulder to the other across her back.
I understood my own attire now, a compliment to what Piffle had sewn for her.
Her long black hair was pinned at the top of her head, the silvery branches of her crown catching in the candlelight.
She was adjusting our plates, I finally realized, taking the silverware from my setting and adding them to the space next to hers.
She finished with my glass before turning to pick up my chair.
“Arthur!” she cried, facing me with a blooming flush to her cheeks.
I was wrong. This gown was my favorite.
The black bodice curved to her figure, shaped over her breasts with an ample ode to the voluptuous nature of them. The beading at her shoulders hung around her neck, leaving free the small pinpricks of teethmarks at her collar bone.
“You are stunning,” I praised, leaving the archway to take her hand and bring her knuckles to my lips.
“Thank you. I see Piffle has dabbled in matching att—”
She gasped as I turned her wrist, placing a light kiss at the bite marks along the underside. Instant heat filled the room, present in my stare, in the way her chest began to heave and her skin flushed red.
TAKE HER.
I agreed with the Beast’s demand, but managed to remove my mouth, pulling her chair out for her instead.
As soon as we were seated side-by-side, the telling squeak of Piffle’s cart sounded in the hall behind us. He wheeled it in, practically giggling in delight.
“Dinner is served, Your Majesties.” Removing the domed lid over a large platter, he revealed a single pie, steaming through the long ovals cut into the crust. He lifted the platter, squeezing in between our chairs with hardly an excuse me and settled it between our plates.
“This is certainly unusual,” Reshina laughed, sniffing over the golden crust.
“Piffle,” I said in a humorous tone, “what are you up to?”
“Why, I’ve prepared your dinner, sire! You’ll not be needing these,” he said, swiping the knives from our settings. “Nor these,” he added, taking our plates.
“And how are we meant to eat this…pie?” I asked.
Picking up our forks, he took each of our hands, setting the silverware in them before closing our fingers around the silver stems. “With these of course! Oh! And one more thing.” He jumped at the same time he yelled, “DECANTER!” shifting into a golden glass pitcher full of red wine.
I eyed Reshina as he filled our cups. She bit down on her lips, desperately holding in a laugh that was on the verge of shaking her entire body as it built. I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Thank you, Piff. We’ll meet you in the library when we’re finished here.”
With a short pop, he bowed at the waist, wheeling his cart as he backed out of the room.
Reshina’s laughter burst from her lips as soon as he was out of earshot. I joined her, shaking my head. “I should have guessed he’d do something like this.”
She poked at the flaky crust. “What is he doing exactly?”
I sighed longingly, looking her over as she bent her head, inhaling the steam. “He’s forcing us to eat this together. To get us closer. In a more…intimate dinner.”
Her head snapped up with clarity. “You mean we take bites out of this together?” She glanced down at the table. “With nothing to cut into it and no plates to serve it on?”
I clinked the tines of my fork against hers. “No plates, no knives. Just two people sharing a meal the closest we can.”
She took her glass, raising it in the air. “To Piffle.”
I clinked her glass with mine. “To Piffle, and to the cleverness of the Changlingfae.” We took our drinks and dug into the meat pie between us.