Her Move

Darius

Tonight is painful. Callista won't stop talking, and because she is between me and Kellan, it means I have to talk to her because Kellan is focused on Elara.

Solely Elara, which means I have to deal with Callista alone, and my head hurts. While listening to her yattering, I am also trying to remember not to act too friendly with Elara.

I'm meant to be pushing her out, not caring, whatever.

Lyra's masquerade ball wasn't as painful as this. Sure, I spent most of my time with her, but we moved around the room. Constantly talking to people, new conversations. Away from her own agenda.

No, Callista keeps talking about how much she has trained for this. How she has practised her routines for situations the queen may find herself in.

Things like this are meant to be fun and relaxing. It is not so tense. Everyone else is laughing, so I can only imagine their conversations are better.

"It's amazing, Alpha Prime Darius. A perfect example of how a queen would help."

"I think my brother ha