11-25-2021, 09:10 PM
“Must I, now,” she said drily, and laughed a little, watching as the city lights smeared past the window. Choice was rather the problem.
The tease loosened something in Natalie’s demeanour, if not her self-contained posture. Her legs were crossed, her back straight, with only her arms relaxed in her lap. She watched the scenery occasionally, but mostly she watched him. Adrian sat very carefully on that fence while he assessed risk. She wondered if it meant he was not born into money, but there was a signet ring on his smallest finger that suggested otherwise. The shadows swallowed its symbol. Not that she was likely to recognise it anyway.
“He’s smaller than you’d think, up close.” Her smile was sly. Amusement hovered, quite plain. He might find that impolite, scandalous, or simply foolish: to first disparage the city, and then the man who ruled it. Or, he might not. She didn’t mind; her reputation was not something she kept polished. To the contrary, really. And it was hardly treason.
“But I shall have to disappoint you terribly now, because I’ve nothing so decadent planned. It does seem to be what half of Moscow desires: to enter the Sphere, to get as close to the apex of the mountain as possible. I just wondered if that’s why you were here; why you left England.”
After a moment, she clarified; “You asked what I was seeking, before. I wondered the same of you.”
The tease loosened something in Natalie’s demeanour, if not her self-contained posture. Her legs were crossed, her back straight, with only her arms relaxed in her lap. She watched the scenery occasionally, but mostly she watched him. Adrian sat very carefully on that fence while he assessed risk. She wondered if it meant he was not born into money, but there was a signet ring on his smallest finger that suggested otherwise. The shadows swallowed its symbol. Not that she was likely to recognise it anyway.
“He’s smaller than you’d think, up close.” Her smile was sly. Amusement hovered, quite plain. He might find that impolite, scandalous, or simply foolish: to first disparage the city, and then the man who ruled it. Or, he might not. She didn’t mind; her reputation was not something she kept polished. To the contrary, really. And it was hardly treason.
“But I shall have to disappoint you terribly now, because I’ve nothing so decadent planned. It does seem to be what half of Moscow desires: to enter the Sphere, to get as close to the apex of the mountain as possible. I just wondered if that’s why you were here; why you left England.”
After a moment, she clarified; “You asked what I was seeking, before. I wondered the same of you.”