Lovely (Ruby x Dyrroth)

eight

'So it's settled then,' announced Dyrroth with an air of finality. 'We'll attack the City of the Dragon as soon as we're ready. Can't give those humans a chance to escape once word of the Black Forest village's downfall gets out.' He prodded the old, large map of the Land of Dawn that lay spread out on the table, his gaze flicking over his abyssal allies who were listening intently to him. 'Any questions?'

All along the table, the demons murmured 'no' or shook their heads. 'No, Your Highness,' replied Selena with a charming smile, ever the confident elf she was.

Dyrroth blatantly ignored her. He often found Selena extremely annoying. 'Right,' he said, folding the large map into a narrow square. 'The meeting's over. All of you can go get some rest.'

One by one, the demons stood up to leave. They all seemed to be pretty exhausted, and Dyrroth wondered if he was supposed to feel angry at them for that. He didn't. All he felt was a hint of sympathy.

Selena wiggled her fingers at him, a flirtatious smile plastered across her face. Dyrroth resisted the urge to roll his eyes to the skies and waved back at her lazily. Goddamn annoying.

'That went fairly well,' remarked a wry voice from behind him. Dyrroth turned around, momentarily surprised, and saw Alice appraising him from under half-closed eyelids, a sly smile gracing her lips. He'd forgotten she was there. 'You're getting better at conducting meetings. Only several days ago, you were getting bombarded with highly inappropriate questions.'

Dyrroth shrugged half-heartedly. 'Nah, they were just tired today. They were displaying it very clearly.' He ran his claws through his light blond hair with a ragged sigh.

'You seem tired too,' commented Alice, a subtle curiosity in her voice. 'Of what, I wonder?'

He leaned against the wall beside his mom - although she didn't act like one - and craned his head back, resting his head on the cold stone. 'Oh, well, kinda like everything,' he answered.

For a moment Alice was uncharacteristically quiet. Then, with an inquisitive glance, she said, 'You told me you would try to find the hunter girl and get rid of her so she couldn't defend her village? Did you get to kill her?'

Dyrroth briefly contemplated whether to lie to her, but decided not to. Alice nearly always could detect a bluff when one was present. 'I couldn't find her. She ran off when I least expected her to, and she was really fast,' he said, adding a hint of shame into his voice.

That was a lie, which sort of defeated the purpose of not saying he'd killed her. Idiot, he told himself silently.

Alice was scrutinizing him wordlessly. Dyrroth knew he was being seen through just by that faint prickle of discomfort at the back of his neck. 

'If she's fast enough to outrun you, she must be skilled,' said Alice, quirking an eyebrow at him. 'What was her name?'

'Ru-' He practically bit his tongue to shut himself up. That one syllable had escaped his mouth before he could stop it.

Shit, shit, shit.

Something changed in Alice's eyes. Dyrroth didn't need to meet the sharp accusation in her gaze to know that he was in big trouble. Not that he particularly feared his mom. 'You seem to be very familiar with her,' said Alice wryly, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Perhaps she appeared to be taking it lightly, but Dyrroth knew her well. There was something hard and calculating in the stare she pinned on him that said otherwise.

'I - no, Mom. I'm not,' he responded with an indignant look at Alice. 'I just-'

'Somehow know her name?'