Celestial Fragments

Awkward dinner

Unlike the corridors, the room was fairly warm and comfortable. It was lighted warmly by multiple candles and a large fireplace that was burning brightly . But, despite her expectations, the room was not empty. A long table, filled with countless sorts of foods on it, held no less than ten people around it, which all stopped as soon as Angelique stepped inside. Her heart threatened to stop from the sudden panic and anxiety she felt rising within her.

Of all the new strange faces, only one seemed familiar. Purple eyes, elongated and shielded by thick white lashes, with sharp edges, but with black tattoo lines decorating it in a similar way to the being that trashed the facility. The facility...

Aellioah pushed his chair back and walked over to welcome her. Her eyes peeled from him to the other guests all sitting in silence, their expressions hinting at annoyance. Her eyes moved over them, trying to pinpoint who was the damn King of Kunvanus that was so eager to meet her.

"I was starting to worry that our short trip here was a little too much too handle for you." Aellioah's voice pulled her attention back on him.

Now that he was standing in front of her, Angelique realized that this was not the same Aellioah she met just a few days ago. This man was standing so tall she had to lean her head back to look at him. She was barely reaching the height of his stomach even with her heels on and never had she felt this small before. Her stomach twisted and churned as their eyes met and Aellioah offered her a wicked grin as he noticed her scanning his new form without hesitation.

"I hope you like what you're seeing." he whispered as he leaned down, tucking a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, his warm fingers tracing the line of her jaw, to her chin, where they stopped for a moment, his eyes lingering on her lips before he pulled away slowly and rested a gentle hand on her back, guiding her to the table.

To her utter shock and horror, her chair was incredibly high, since everyone around the table had a similar height to Aellioah and they needed a bigger table and, somehow, unsurprisingly, it did not fit her. With gentleness, Aellioah aided her on her chair, while Angelique tried her best to avert her eyes from everyone else who seemed to still look at her like she was some sort of mutant.

"Play along if you want to have a comfortable stay here." Aellioah's voice echoed over her own thoughts, making her jump in her chair, turning sharply to look at him. But he was just smiling at her, the same wicked and perverted smile of his.

Aellioah took the seat right next to her, while on her other side there was plenty of space left between her and the next guest.

"Since the princess has joined us, from now each of you will be required to switch to English, since it would be extremely rude to have her around while we talk gibberish nonsense to her ears." Aellioah announced as he sat down and gestured to the table filled with food.

"Our talk about recent events has not come to an end," someone across from Aellioah growled in a low raspy voice, sending chills down Angelique's spine.

She turned to look at the speaking guest, their English almost flawless. But what she found had her cower in fear. Right across from Aellioah sat a crimson-skinned being, with large horns bending back and curling similarly to a ram. Their eyes were golden and their face held similar features to a humanoid, but with wide angles and broad nose similar to a bull. Their neck was thick, most likely even wider than her own thigh. And they wore leather armor, just as elegant as the one Aellioah wore, but in a pitch black color.

"We will finish debating on our next move tomorrow, Lord Kugvu." Aellioa simply spoke, pulling Angelique's attention back to him.

But someone else grabbed her attention. Beside Aellioah, another male stood. His features were oddly similar to those of Aellioah, with a sharp structured face, and sharp angled eyes. His hair was raven black and just as long as Aellioah's, while his eyes were a shimmering caramel color, with two joined pupils in one, clearly pointing out that he was far from being human. His face held a mirroring tattoo design but with white lines instead of black and something told her this might be his brother. But how could that be? When she knew well enough that Aellioah was the last An'ekd....

Just as this thought crossed her mind, the man sitting across from her, turned to look at her, their eyes joining. They narrowed slightly in unspoken disgust before averting from her face again, to look at Aellioah.

No one seemed to have anything else to say. Everyone started dinning in silence, while Angelique stared at the strange food on the table. It resembled nothing even remotely close to food on earth and she was afraid to touch any of it.

Aellioah and the raven-haired man were, as well, with an empty plate in front of them. Aellioah held a glass of what seemed to be wine and was occasionally sipping from it, his eyes focused on the woman beside him.

"Are you not hungry?" he questioned in a rather curious voice. "You haven't eaten since you arrived." he added, before taking a small sip.

Angelique's breath stopped for a moment. She turned to look at him with waryness, unsure of how to address him at this point. Everyone seemed so stiff and obedient that she was afraid of being sassy.

"And what am I supposed to eat?" she eventually spoke, her voice low but confident enough to be heard.

For a short second, everyone seemed to stop and wait. Aellioah's smile returned to his lips. He set the glass down and leaned forward, picking a few items from different plates and setting them on her plate.

"You'll find these similar to what you were accustomed to." he spoke without any hint of annoyance, despite everyone's expectations.

"Great..." whispered Angelique, poking one of the items with her fork, unsure of actually trying it.

Dinner went on without any unnecessary introductions or any sort of small talk. No one seemed eager to engage with her, despite their insistent stares and glares, some stranger than the others. Angelique eventually got a few bites in her stomach, still unsure if she should eat such strange-looking food, but the hunger rumbling in her stomach forced her to.

As soon as everyone's plate was clean, they started to leave one by one after bowing their heads shortly to Aellioah, whose full attention was on the woman who simply refused to engage with him right now. Eventually, the room had emptied to the point where even the food had been picked up and everything had been cleaned from the table, but Aellioah and his strange companion with raven hair remained at the table.

Silence set back over the room as the last servant exited the room, leaving the three alone.

with newfound courage, Angelique turned to look at Aellioah ,then at the Raven-haired man who sat silent throughout the whole meal, barely moving or taking his eyes off of her and Aellioah.

"Right." she muttered and got off her chair, pushing it back and smoothing her dress out. "Lovely meal. Please don't ever put me through such torture ever again." she faked a smile and offered it to the both of them, starting for the door.

Angelique barely got to walk around the back of Aellioah's chair, when his arm extended and his hand grabbed her arm, stopping her. His eyes moved to look at the other male, and without a spoken word, he asked him to leave them alone.

Without anything to say, the man got up and walked right past Angelique, giving her one last disgusted glare before exiting, making Angelique want to shove her scepter up his ass. As soon as the door closed behind him, Angelique freed herself sharply, huffing and puffing.

"You kidnaped me!" she suddenly turned and yelled at Aellioah, anger now visible on every inch of her face.

The sudden change in mood struck Aellioah with confusion. His eyes rounded and his lips pressed together. He had expected her to be happy about getting away from Earth, since when he promised to take her with him, he definitely read hope in her eyes.

"Not the thank you I expected..." Aellioah muttered, grabbing his glass and downing it without effort.

"And what did you expect?! Hm?! getting on my knees and blowing you?!" she hissed at him, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Would have appreciated it more." Aellioah replied, giving her his signature wicked grin.

Despite her anger, Angelique could feel herself slip away from it just at the sight of that promising smile of his. His eyes held unspoken needs and that beast that lurked under her skin wanted to unravel them all.

But she rolled her eyes and dropped her arms in frustration, turning around and walking away from him, towards the fireplace.

With her heart heavy and mind troubled, she stared into the flames. So close to the fire, the warmth started to spread better and she slowly peeled away the fur from her shoulders, setting it on the armchair. Her patterned skin now visible for Aellioah to stare at. Oh, how delightful he found those scaled patterns, and how inviting and delicious her skin looked in that dress-

"Where am I?" She asked, pulling Aellioah away from his thoughts for a moment.

"I think Kephri already told you." he spoke calmly, pouring some of the wine into another glass, then filling his and getting up from his spot, making his way towards her. "You're on Kunvanus. A planet I like to call home." he added, handing her the glass of wine.

Angelique took the glass with both her hands, avoiding his eyes. She could use a drink, especially with such a tormented mind.

"And you're king here." she stated what seemed to have been the obvious.

"Something like that," he replied, sinking into the armchair behind her, enjoying the view of her in front of the fireplace.

"I have so many questions-" she sighed after a moment of silence, sipping from her drink.

"I know you do." Aellioah agreed.

There was a strange fascination he started to hone for Angelique. Even if his younger self never wanted someone by his side, as time passed, he found his loneliness unbearing. Loss and suffering had once carved out his beating heart, and lately he wanted to find it again. And this small, fragile and beyond strange woman seemed to have just the tools to light his heart ablaze again. And not just that...

"but you are not very willing to answer too much tonight, are you?" her voice broke the silence that set over the room.

"Not quite so." the man agreed with her, setting his now empty glass away, and offering her an inviting hand.

Angelique watched him with a raised brow and laughed. "Not drunk enough for this, big guy." she cheered with her glass and sipped once again. "Is this your real form then?" she asked, walking to the opposite armchair and falling back in it, pushing off her shoes and crossing her other arm over her chest in a defensive way.

"Not quite so." he repeated his answer, dropping his hand and offering her a mischievous smile.

"Then the big one that trashed the whole facility ?" she continued to ask.

"I have many forms. My kind was one of skilled shapeshifters and it has been too long since I took my original form." he spoke with the same wickedness as before. "Does this one intimidate you?" the smirk returned to his lips.