The Purple Eyed Girl

9. Wrecking ball

We had to wait for the maids who were getting the dining hall ready for this 'nice' lunch. Everyone had reluctantly agreed to the lunch, purely to prevent a literal fight from happening. I put in a request to eat in my room, but the look on Foxglove's face suggested he would eat me alive if I would do that. A couple minutes later, Mr. Anders told us the dining hall was ready, so everyone made their way there. I was the last one to leave the courtyard when a plane flew over.

I looked up to see it wasn't a plane from our air force. Strange, the airspace above the palace grounds was supposed to be closed off to other airplanes. I was snapped out of my thoughts by my father calling me for lunch. I walked to the dining hall and when I arrived the entire arrangement of the tables was changed. Multiple separated tables were combined to form one long table. Haimon was sitting in the head seat on one side and Foxglove was sitting in the other. Every other man had taken a seat as well, so I walked over to the last available seat, right in the middle across from my father. It was like we were the border between the vampires and the humans.

I sat down and observed the table. It was beautifully decorated with a red table runner embroidered with silver markings on it. It stood out against the black interior of the room. The plates were white, engraved with roses and next to it stood crystal wine glasses. The extensive lunch was on display across the entire table. Sweet, savory, hot or cold, it didn't matter, every kind of food you could think of was there. The only thing missing was the cutlery, which the maids, including Miss. Villin, were putting down now. They started at Foxglove's side to make their way over to Haimon. When they put it down on the napkin, which was an exact copy of the table runner, only smaller, my eyes widened a little. The cutlery looked extremely expensive. It was beautiful with handmade carvings of different flowers.

But most importantly, it was silver.

Had the maids forgotten that vampires apparently had a weakness for silver? Or weren't they informed in the first place? 

I wanted to stand up and stop them but it was too late. Miss. Villin was already standing next to Haimon, putting the cutlery next to his plate. I subtly placed my hand around my knife, this was going to be a disaster.

Haimon's eyes snapped to the cutlery, noticing it was silver and in a split second his hand was around Miss. Villin's neck. He held her up from the ground, choking her. She was gasping for air, struggling in his grip, trying to grab his hand and get it off her neck, but he wouldn't budge.

"How dare you." He hissed. "How dare all of you! Trying to hurt us like this, even though I tried to be civil. If it's war you want, then you can get it."

Foxglove stood up, holding up his hands in defense. "This wasn't done on purpose, during royal dinners it's custom to pick this particular cutlery. It was an honest mistake, no need to go to war over it. Now put her down."

"No, I don't think I will." Haimon said full of rage. "Maybe it's time I reminded you of your place."

He hardened his grip, Miss. Villin's face turning redder and redder, so without hesitating I lifted my knife and threw it at him. It flew so fast his men didn't have time to respond and it landed exactly where I intended, in his wrist. 

Every single person in the room froze. He screamed in agony when it made contact with him as the silver burned through his flesh and bones, releasing Miss. Villin in response who ran away in terror. He grabbed his napkin, pulled it out of his hand and threw it straight back at my face. Before it could stab me, I caught it so quickly it surprised everyone.

I stood up, flipped it in my hand and stabbed it into the table, making most men flinch. "Let's try that again, shall we?"

Everyone quietly nodded, even Haimon, who seemed impressed by my catch. I moved to sit down again but before I was able to, the door to the dining hall was kicked open with such brute force the hinges broke, it launched in our way and fell down before the table with a large bang. As a reflex, I grabbed the knife again.