[Music Recommendation: Song To The Siren ~ Rose Betts]
Oriana held her hand on her chest; she knew it was all just an act, but she was really getting nervous. When the veil was brought down, she was almost blinded by the bright light in the room, and this made her look confused for a minute. She finally got her balance and went to sit on the ground, waiting for her turn to perform.
Adric didn’t need to look at the crowd twice; he found Oriana in the crowd and sighed. He knew that hiding or staying low wasn’t Oriana’s strong suit.
"Wow, I like the girl with golden hair. Her skin looks soft," one of the men shouted, raising his cup.
It got to Oriana’s turn to perform, and she knew it was the end of her. She had never paid attention to her dancing class, nor did she practice hard with the harp Adric’s mother used to play. Now she regretted all of that. Looking around the room, she saw Adric staring back at her; though he had a hood on, she could still see the small frown on his face.
"If you don’t know what to do, move," one of the dancers pushed Oriana aside, going to dance in front of the men, who cheered her happily.
Oriana had an idea; she followed the other dancers, moving her body like she had seen them do. She went straight to where Adric was sitting, moving her neck to the side and swaying her waist left and right. She decided to dance only for her husband.
Adric watched as his woman danced in front of him; he couldn’t keep his eyes away from her even for a minute.
Oriana turned her body, going to hold Adric’s neck, then she leaned closer to his ear before moving back. As she did this, she grinned at the back of her mind. She wanted to seduce Adric and make him only think of her the whole night.
While Oriana was dancing, one of the girls who wanted to outshine her pushed her roughly. "Watch it! You dance like a duck!"
Oriana fell to her knees. She was going to stand up and return the girl’s favor when Adric held her chin up, looking at her straight in the eyes.
"Are you going to cause trouble now, little nightingale?" Adric’s finger pressed her chin gently. He was tempted to pull her body closer and kiss her until she was breathless but he decided to hold back looking at his little ball of happiness.
Oriana inhaled deeply, now looking straight into Adric’s eyes with her lips slightly parted. "I wasn’t going to cause trouble," she muttered. The name of endearment of being Adric’s nightingale made her smile.
"That’s what I thought too," Adric rubbed her chin before letting go. "It’s time for you to end this show. We should go home."
Oriana raised her brows, thinking Adric was now feeling the heat because of her earlier dance. She smiled, "Why? You can’t seem to get enough of me?"
The owner of the inn, who was watching all the girls from the corner, noticed the new girl and a strange man talking casually. She joined them with a bubbly smile on her face.
"Good sir, have you taken an interest in our golden girl? She’s new, and for the right price, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind."
Oriana wanted to laugh out loud at the thought that her husband was going to pay to sleep with her. She had never imagined she would want to do something so silly, but at the moment, it sounded like fun.
"Yes, madame," Oriana started, fondling her hair, "this man here told me that he wants me." She decided to complete the statement for Adric.
"He did? The maiden is willing to follow you. Let’s have four gold crowns; her beauty outshines most girls inside this room," the owner of the inn tried to bargain.
Oriana waited patiently, with a bright smile on her face. She couldn’t wait to have Adric pay and take her home with him when they were already married.
"I’m not interested."
Oriana was still smiling when she heard Adric’s words, and slowly it registered in her ear. Her smile fell, her hands dropping to her sides.
"What?" It was her voice asking Adric this time.
Adric nodded. "I won’t pay to have her spend time with me," he completed.
"But why?" Oriana raised her hand. She had felt so many betrayals, but none hurt like the one she was feeling at the moment. Adric was supposed to jump at the opportunity to take her away, but he didn’t want to?
The owner of the inn nodded. "That’s okay, still let me know when you change your mind. You go back to the stage and don’t question our customer."
Oriana wanted to rant and shout at Adric, but that would only blow her cover. She narrowed her eyes, fuming angrily as she stomped back to the stage. While she was walking, she almost knocked over a drink on a table, but she didn’t care or turn to apologize.
Adric smiled. From where he was sitting, he could tell that Oriana was clearly throwing tantrums, and that was what he loved so much about her; the way she showed how she felt, carefree about what others thought of her.
"Your Majesty," Malcolm, who was sitting beside him, started, "the men have started eating, and I think food will be served soon."
Adric nodded. He was going to deal with Oriana later. He knew that it was time to keep his eyes open and watch exactly what went wrong because the soldiers said they passed out after drinking.
Inside the kitchen, Madame Rosalie carried her tray of food, ready to go inside and serve the men, but she noticed that the women were fumbling with something. The woman waited behind to see what they were doing.
"Pour more of it; the last time, one of them woke up earlier," one of the women suggested.
Madame Rosalie cleared her throat and went closer to the women. She asked, "What’s that? It looks like it’ll have good taste."
"Your first day?" The woman who was adding the substance asked. "If you have any man you want to milk of his money, this is the food for it. Puts them to sleep like a newborn." Saying this, the woman added the substance to Madame Rosalie’s food and drink.
They all entered the room where the men were waiting, and they served them the food. Madame Rosalie carried her own tray. When she saw the only odd men in the room wearing a hood, she walked straight to them and started serving.
"It’s the women; they put something in the men’s drinks and food. That’s all I could find," she whispered as she served the food.
Adric tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the table. "Thank you, Rosalie."
Malcolm, who was sitting next to the King, eyed the plate of food that was served to them.
Madame Rosalie noticed this. She was going to tell the man that she added the substance because she wanted to gain the women’s trust, but then she remembered how the man had humiliated her in the past. A wicked thought formed in her mind.
"Don’t worry about this. I made sure it was clean. You can have a taste." Madame Rosalie nodded, pushing the food closer to Malcolm with an angelic smile on her face.
Malcolm stared at the food suspiciously, and after some time, he started eating.
Madame Rosalie almost grinned; she couldn’t wait for the man to pass out or even better, flirt around with women so he could come down from his high horse.
"I will now go back to the kitchen to get more information," she bowed before leaving the table, feeling a sense of fulfillment wash over her.
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