Interlude 2
She had had the decency not to slap him until they had some privacy, but whist thought the crack of skin on skin was probably loud enough to be heard by the patrons walking outside of the small hallway they she had pulled him into. He grimaced and straightened himself slowly rubbing his reddened cheek.
"Right…let's not make this a habit, shall we?" He said through his clenched teeth. Blink sat somberly by his feet, completely lacking his usual energy. He whimpered softly as Li'ain's fist clenched, she and Whist were standing across the narrow passage, Li'ain glaring hard and cold and Whist's face apathetic and impassive.
"Seriously, what's wrong this time?" Whist grumbled, rubbing his jaw.
"You didn't have to do that." Li'ain hissed.
"Do what? Win?"
"You had already won, Whist. She's just a teen-aged girl. You didn't have to break her spirit like that—"
"Li'ain, I know her type, and trust me, she's treated plenty of people just as badly."
Li'ain folded her arms, her expression making the slightest shift from anger to disgust. "You're a sick man, Whist. That dog of yours has more of a heart than you."
Whist shrugged. "I don't doubt it."
Li'ain's lips quivered with the desire to shout at him, to yell at him until his ears bled, but she knew sheer volume would never get through his thick skull. Still, it would have been nice for her own sake, to finally just let loose and scream his obnoxious little head off. But being a princess had taught her nothing if not restraint. So, instead she took a step forward staring unwaveringly into his eyes with as much disgust and hate as she could muster.
"You were wrong, Whist, no one is as ugly as you." She spat, and then stalked off again.
Whist felt the sting of that, but worse was when, upon looking down at Blink for some denial of her cold statement, his dog merely whimpered softly, gave him a somber look and then loped after Li'ain.
Whist trembled as he watched the beast turn the corner out of the passage, and leaned back against the wall as Death by Chocolate's voice echoed down the corridor's of the mall, making a booming announcement Whist would have to pay attention to eventually. But for now, he felt rather lost.