Moving Day (Henry)

[henry]

Henry sat back and watched Elina's reaction closely. She didn't react quite like how he initially expected. She slowly set her fork down and stared at him, but he could see the anger beginning to smolder in her eyes. He nearly cringed. He could see that she was about to blow her top and he took a moment to examine the question he'd asked like he'd failed to do before he'd asked it. It probably wasn't his smartest move, now that he thought about it. There was plenty for her to be angry about and he knew it. But still, he'd expected her to point out the facts and his hope was that would help her to not be quite so angry about it anymore, but it looked like the emotion was going to get the better of her.

He watched in silence as she picked up her knife and fork again, but all she did was start cutting on the chicken like she'd rather be cutting his manhood off. He wasn't entirely sure that wasn't what she was imagining. Henry shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the mental image that created. Bracing himself, he listened to Elina's tirade in silence, but he never took his eyes off of her. He struggled to process everything she was saying since she was speaking so fast, but he managed to catch most of it. Basically, she hated the fact that they were being shoved in a marriage together, the fact that she'd been moved into his suite, the fact that he lived a rather promiscious lifestyle, that she had so little time to plan the wedding, and the fact that she was expected to share a bed with him.

Somewhere deep down, he was beginning to understand her frustrations. He shared a few of them but not for the same reasons. She slowly started to calm herself down and he let her do so without comment. After a moment, she looked up at him and her anger was still there, though banked down a bit. Damn it. Why did he want to make her feel better? He should be glad she was angry with him. After she asked if he had any more questions, he looked at her for a moment, gauging her overall mood. Sometimes it was really difficult to judge what a woman wanted. Most of the time, it seemed they wanted multiple things at once, and practically all of them completely contradictory. Especially in this case, he knew he was walking a fine line.

Henry slowly put his fork down with a sigh, finally taking his eyes from her as he did so. Either this would get him brownie points in her book, or she was going to really use that knife on his manhood. He slowly stood and walked to her side where he knelt next to her chair, setting back on his heels so that she was at a higher eye level than he was. Looking up at her, he took one of her ridged hands in his own. "If you want me to be honest, I have tons of questions. But I want you to know that despite all outward appearances, I'm just about as frustrated as you are. I don't want to get married, I don't want a wedding, and while the orchids are a nice touch, I would really rather not have you here. I don't say that to hurt you, but because you obviously don't want to be here and I have never in my life forced anything on a woman. Not even small talk." He didn't know what he was trying to accomplish, but the words just came out of him. "If you want me to stop asking questions, I will, but don't take your anger out on me when none of this was my idea." He kept his tone soft, but he meant what he said.

[Baroness Elina Cali]

Way to lay on the guilt. Could he be any more of an ass? Really. In her defense, his question was stupid. It was pretty obvious why she was so angry. Or at least she thought it was. He was a man then again...they were usually pretty oblivious, and she could only imagine how much more oblivious Henry was considering he never thought about anyone but himself. She was not hurt by his words at all. Nope, not one single bit. If anything they only pissed her off more. She was suddenly not in the mood to put up with his selfish, childish games.

"If you'll excuse me...I'm no long hungry." She stood up abruptly from her chair and slapped the napkin on the table before swirling around. It was a lie. She did want to finish her meal, but since he had such a mind to be an ass perhaps she would just sneak out once he was asleep and raid the kitchen. She stopped halfway to the kitchen exit and looked over her shoulder. "Oh, and the fact that you're a selfish ass is another reason I'm so mad." She stomped off out of the kitchen, hips swaying angrily as she made her way across the suite to the bedroom.

It took all her control to not slam the damn door. She paced angrily, grumbling very vile and unpleasant things about him for a moment before she finally worked herself down. She looked around the large bedroom for a moment before looking to her skimpy night clothes. Why would the servants lay that out? Especially if the servants were from her suite. They would know better than to put pajamas out for her. She didn't wear pajamas to bed. She slept in the nude. She had a tendency to get hot if she had any clothes on. That's when it clicked. "Mother... Luna bless you." She murmured softly before she went over to the neglige and started to change from her tempting clothes to her even more tempting clothes. This was probably definitely not what her mother had planned when she set out the sexy clothing, but it was time to put Henry in his place, even if it was just for a few minutes. She took her time changing into the sexy black chemise and matching panties, both of which barely covered anything up.

Oh yes... this was going to be fun.

[henry]

"If you'll excuse me...I'm no long hungry." Henry blinked and was nearly run over when Elina threw her napkin down and stalked off toward the bedroom. He stood up and glared at her unfinished meal when he heard her yell over her shoulder. His anger flared hot at the remark. Who was she to call him an ass? He turned and watched her retreating back, half expecting her to slam the door, but she didn't. She was certainly mad enough and Henry was getting there. How had he been selfish so far? Seriously! He could have been a much bigger dick than he was being, that was for sure.

Henry paced beside the table a few times, his thoughts rolling over each other. He grew more and more angry with each step. Most women were confusing. This one was confusing and infuriating at the same time. She understood absolutely nothing and she seemed to see even less. Perhaps he'd been wrong about her cunning mind. Before he knew what he was doing, he marched to the bedroom door. He didn't knock, but he didn't enter either. There was no need.

Standing outside his own closed bedroom door, he shouted through the wood, his anger breaking through the surface. "You call me selfish? I was going about my business when I get sidelined by an engagement. All of your stuff gets moved into my personal space--about which I say nothing, by the way--I concede to your wishes and give up my own bed so that you can sleep in it without me, then I even go so far as to cook you dinner which you promptly don't eat after basically blaming me for all of your problems! How in the fuck is that selfish!?" He punctuated his speech with a punch to the wall that cracked the plaster and he turned and walked away from the door, still fuming.

His bedroom was taken and he was locked in his suite with nowhere to go to get away. For a lack of anything better to do, he flopped himself down in the chair in front of his half eaten food, resisting the urge to throw the plate across the room. He was riled up in every sense of the word and he knew he could handle himself better than he had, but he didn't want to. Since birth he'd had to be the prince. Never just Henry... always the prince, always in the public eye. He'd had to always watch what he said and what he did, even so far as to study body language so that he didn't accidentally offend someone. That was half the reason he'd removed himself from court proceedings and he'd be damned if he was going to censure himself in his own rooms. He grabbed the bottle of wine, knocking over the glass in the process and not caring one whit about the stain it would leave. The rest of this bottle had his name on it tonight.

[Baroness Elina Cali]

She looked up when she heard him through the door. She was a little surprised at the loud thump and crack against the wall. She growled a little at his words, suddenly forgetting she was going to go out there, frolic about in her sexy negligee and seduce him. However, things had quickly changed. She wasn't stupid. She knew very well that he had some little plan baked up when he so willingly fixed her food. He had been up to something. She realized that much. She just hadn't known what. Now, she knew very well what.

She growled again and swung the door open so she could see his face while she chewed his ass out. He may have been the Prince of the Lycans, but she didn't give a rat's ass. He was really starting to seriously piss her off. She swore she could have murdered him right about no probably. "Why do you think we're engaged you idiot! Because you have shirked your duties as Prince and dumped them all over your brother. Because you don't know how to keep it in your pants for more than five minutes! Because of you and your selfish, childishness, Vaan picked me to be your wife. Why? I don't know because I can not stand you. But I know one thing, because of you, the life I wanted, the husband I would choose myself, and the life I would have with him is gone... So since you seem to think I should be so grateful for your thoughtfulness about dinner... thank you. " The words were practically snarls as she shoved at his chest in anger. And it was pretty obvious by the harsh sarcasm of her words that that "thank you" was not a real one. She was pissed with him. He had no room to speak like he did. He had no right at all! The man "I had nothing to do with this arrangement so stop taking it out on me! Maybe if you would have grown up and done what you're supposed to do, your father wouldn't have arranged this marriage. You want to go around bitching about it then go complain to your damn father! It was all his damn idea to begin with. All he had to do to get my father to agree with say 'I want your daughter to marry my son!'" She didn't wait for any sort of reply. She just slammed the door in his face and locked it to make a clear point. None of this was her fault. And it hurt for her to admit that her father thought of her as nothing but something he could trade out loud. And to admit that to Henry only made her feel worse. It made her feel dirty as a matter of fact. Like she was nothing more than some piece of meat for him to trade for money. The highest bidder, Vaan in this case, wins.

She leaned against the door and looked down at her lingerie, suddenly not in the mood to drive him mad. She laid a hand over her throat, which was growing sore from all her yelling and arguing with Henry. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, allowing her body to go lax for a moment before she went and flopped on the bed. What right did he have? Making himself out to be the selfless one. When he ran around with every other woman on the island and left his brother out to dry with all the paperwork. At least half the paperwork Richard did was Henry's responsibility. Elina was starting to question Vaan's decision in Elina for a wife to Henry. It was obvious that the two of them didn't get along. It would be only a matter of time before Elina murdered Henry at the rate they were going now.

She climbed into the bed, not bothering to get undressed and curled up under the covers, just staring at the wall she was faceing, unable to sleep, but wanting to so badly.

[henry]

Henry hadn't been sitting down for ten seconds when the bedroom door burst open, and he bounded to his feet, intent on tossing her inside the room and locking her in there if that's what he had to do in order to get some peace and quiet. He was halfway to her before he noticed what she was wearing. Or not wearing, rather. The black strips of cloth didn't leave much to the imagination and involuntarily, his mouth watered. She was gorgeous. His eyes roamed their way up to her face. And she was pissed. Of course, he knew that already, but a small part of him hoped something had changed. He knew his words hadn't been kind at all, so he didn't know what he had expected, but the hope was there.

His own anger had faded somewhat, although he was still irritated and frustrated beyond all belief. Elina's, however, seemed only to have grown. Well, people always said he knew how to push buttons. Apparently he'd found hers and pushed hard because she looked like she could absolutely murder him without a second thought. Henry couldn't keep himself from flinching when she opened her mouth. He was in for it and he knew it. His anger safely banked below the surface, he stood and listened with his hands on his hips, not even flinching when she shoved him. More and more, his amusement grew. He didn't want to laugh at her and he struggled to keep his face impassive. It was just her, standing there in that... thing... called lingere, berating him for all she was worth. Barely four hours alone together and they were already fighting like a couple who'd been married for centuries.

He managed to keep the grin off of his face until after she'd fled back into the bedroom and locked the door behind her. He shook his head and gave a soft chuckle, even though most of her words were true. Most, but not all. Still, he felt bad that he'd shouted at her and he wanted to apologize. He stepped on the urge. He didn't want them to get along. He wanted her to hate him. So why did he want to say he was sorry? Damn this entire situation. She made him want things he really shouldn't want. Instead of apologizing like he sincerely wanted to, he flopped down on the couch, snuggling the pillow that still held Elina's scent. He thought about the things she'd said. Did she really think that about him? He scoffed to himself. What did he care what she thought? None of it mattered. They'd be married no matter what either of them thought of the other. It really was a shame that he admired her so much. He settled back into the couch cushions, knowing that sleep would be hard to come by.