Vestal Venom - Part 2

While his king was a natural at mimicking genuine smiles, the cold gaze of the prince made Cele wonder if he saw past the facade. If he did, though, he said nothing of it, before flashing a marvelous smile.

"Thank you, King Vincente," His words were far warmer to the king than to the general. "You're so very kind, even going so far as to send your highly sought after general to gather me."

He took a seat without being offered it, and before the king himself, though it seemed so artless and innocent that Cele couldn't quite make out whether or not he had a motive.

But even if he did, Cele figured as he sat down beside the king once again, minor discourtesies like that might as well have been wind to Vincente's back.

"I hope you've found your quarters to your liking." He spoke, waving for the servants to begin plating their food.

"Quite satisfactory," The prince replied with an easy smile. He was able to keep a gaze with Vincente easily, which Cele admitted was no easy feat. "Though, while your beds are quite large, you gave us only one."

He gestured to the servant boy, who had taken a seat beside the prince without the command, which meant he wasn't simply a whipping boy. Especially if the prince allowed him to share the royal bed.

"It's actually quite humorous," His eyes were alight suddenly, leaning forward to Vincente, as if about to spill a scandal. "At first, I thought perhaps you changed my rooms last minute, out of spite, because I wasn't Alfie. Surely, you would have given him more than one bed - one room even - since he was likely to come with an advisor or two, and surely you aren't daft enough as the great 'Horned King of the South' to think they would send their youngest brother without an advisor, or at least the head of his guard."

Those jade eyes scoured over Vincente for a moment, glinting with what seemed to be provocation.

"But," he exhaled, sitting back in his seat with an easy smile. "Then I thought, no, the honorable King Vincente of Ilyos would never stoop so low. And anyway, it just so happens that I have come with no guard, and dear Baptist has no quandaries over sleeping beside his master."

"I see," King Vincente replied, turning to the red-haired servant with a soft expression. "Then to you I must give my gratitude. And apologies."

He brought up no inquiries regarding why a prince would allow such a young, beautiful boy into his bed at night, most likely because the answer was clear, though, Cele did sympathize for the poor child, since it was conspicuous to everyone in the vicinity that Vincente was not truly speaking to Baptist.

"I am surprised, however," He continued, raising his gaze back to the prince. "That you are without guard."

Prince Heiko watched a servant as he reached between him and Baptist for the silver goblet, and then again when a plate of marinated meats and steamed vegetables was placed in front of him.

"Have I a need for them?" He asked, picking up his fork and pushing the small pile of brussels sprouts to the edge of the plate, before looking up. "Surely there are no enemies here."

Cele wasn't positive which amused him more: the prince reverting back to a vegetable-reproving child before their very eyes, or the tactless comment that didn't land the blow it was supposed to.

"You're quite right, you have no enemies here, Prince Heiko."

The king was a better man than he, the general thought, for replying so earnestly. And before he could think of it a moment more, it was none other than Adele that went in for the opening. She was a sharp woman, always using her low status as a form of offense.

"Don't you enjoy vegetables, Prince Heiko? Even your cute boy is eating them as every good child should."

The Simonese prince looked up in genuine surprise, and even Cele could tell she should've stopped there, but Adele enjoyed the rush of pushing her luck.

"It's no wonder you're so slight. Shame on your elder brothers for not instilling the importance of a proper diet."

When Prince Heiko's hand was raised, Cele was not ashamed to say he had tensed for an altercation. But the elegant, pale hand descended, just as swiftly, to the fiery mane beside him.

"My Baptist is a good boy."

The words that seemed inconsequential to his master brought color to the young servant's cheeks, which were filled with food. His emerald eyes shifted from his plate to Adele. They were calm and steady, and if Cele didn't know any better, he would say full of pity.

"You, on the other hand, are plain in appearance and overly ornamented, almost garishly so." The prince's words were precise and cutting, the flow too swift for anyone to barr. "You look nothing like Princess Alessandra, nor her brother, His Majesty, and I know nothing of a third child anyway, which means you are not noble. You seem confident in that dull tongue of yours - a shortfall that likely wouldn't have outlived childhood if you were in any way related to General Celestino. So that leaves only-"

"She is my lady-in-waiting," The princess intervened with venom, rescuing her companion from any further lashing, and while Cele thought much of it to be inaccurate, it still hushed Adele in a way none other had before. Likely because none else had the audacity to cross Alessandra. "And she will not be the target of your words any further."

Prince Heiko arched his brow, displaying clear and disingenuous perplexity.

"Target?" He asked, his tone pitched with surprise. "Apologies if you thought that was my intent. I was under the impression that we were discussing proclivities, such as Baptist's obedience, and your servant's lack thereof."

Alessandra's nostrils flared.

"You overstep-"

"Certainly," King Vincente rose his voice above his sister's, straightening in his seat to draw attention back to him. "You understand one's fondness of their companions, Prince Heiko. My sister is like a bear when it comes to Adele. Do not mind her outburst."

If the princess was still a child, she would have reared angrily at the lack of aegis from her brother, but she was not. She had long outgrown her impetuous nature and into a force to be reckoned with.

"And as for Adele," The king turned to the court woman. "She overstepped. I apologize on her behalf."

The blush on her cheeks was not lost to Cele, nor to Prince Heiko, who was smiling wickedly.

"Think little of it."

His hand fell from Baptist's head and to his fork, which he used to transfer the uneaten brussels sprouts to the boy's plate. The servant reacted like a child being given a sweet, and eagerly went for them. An interaction that deflated Celestino's amusement. Adele had struck too soon and ended up chastised over vegetables. He would've found humor in it if she wasn't the princess' attendant.

Moreover, if the serpentine eyes didn't flick in his direction. He would tell no one that it elicited a skip of his pulse.

"General Celestino. Show me your hands."