Chapter 39 Our Date
AUDREY
Maids walked up to us, saving me from whatever embarrassing reply I would have come up with. One of them held in her hands a basket and the other three had their hands filled with covered plates. The plates were placed tentatively around the table, the biggest of the dishes sat between Darius and my plates. Utensils were nearly kept beside us, a few goblets accompanying them. I noticed the maid with the basket had dropped it and retrieved a bottle of wine from it. She came up to my goblet, pouring some of the sweet foreign smelling wine into my cup.
"Please taste it and tell me if you like it your majesty. If you don't I'll bring another" she quietly spoke.
I turned to Darius with furrowed brows. He seemed to catch onto my question because he gave me a nod to go ahead. I slowly wrapped my fingers around the cup, taking my time to bring it to my lips. The warm liquid hit my mouth, sliding down my throat effortlessly. The sweet taste lingered on my tongue longer later getting an almost honey-like taste to it. I couldn't help but hum in approval, it tasted nice. I expected wine to be bitter and sour for some reason but for my first taste of it I loved it.
I directed my gaze to Darius to find him already staring at me, his eyes held a swirl of emotions so strong I could read them. They held a twinkle of adoration and utter bewilderment. "I-its sweet" I nervously said immediately regretting it. No one asked, why did I just say that!??
But before I could apologize or blush like a tomato Darius spoke up with a smile, "That's good". He turned to the maid who had the bottle in her hand, "Drop the bottle. You can take the rest away, thank you" he dismissed the rest of the maids and they walked off with amused expressions on their faces.
Darius got up and walked over to my side with a smile on his face. He lifted the cover from one of the bigger plates to reveal a beautiful strawberry pie with little berries scattered around it and a strange cream on it. He picked a knife and carefully sliced me a piece. Holding my plate in one hand he carefully placed the cake on it and that was when it all clicked. I shot up from my seat, my hand shooting out soon after to grab his. He turned to me, a crease between his brows as he stared confused at me. "What's wrong love?"
"You're serving me" I stated the obvious. He looked at me innocently, not understanding my statement.
"Yes?" He asked like it was a normal thing to have the king of our king of the empire serving you breakfast, doing the job of a maid or a lady in waiting. "What's wrong Audrey?" He asked sensing my troubled expression. He put down the plate, turning his full attention to me.
"You shouldn't be serving me. I can do it or I'll call someone. You're the king, you shouldn't be serving me" I argued
"Audrey-"
"Darius-"
He walked closer, cupping my cheeks. Immediately tingles ran across my face, making me blush a bright pink tinge. I got lost in his eyes, all the air in my throat getting caught. "Audrey, understand. You are my mate and I am yours before I am a king. I don't mind serving you my love, you are more important. You are my mate Audrey and nothing will ever come before you. Okay?"
It was like his eyes had put me into some hypnotic haze where I couldn't look away, no I didn't want to look away. I couldn't. I found myself wordlessly nodding, my cheeks tingling and my knees threatening to give out at how intensely he was staring into my eyes.
"Okay" he smiled letting go of my face. My cheeks didn't cool down as he finished placing the cake onto my plate and dropping it in front of me. He served himself as well and took a seat after making sure I had sat back down as well.
I couldn't keep my eyes off him, I kept staring at how determined he looked as he poured the wine into our cups. The crease between his brows and the tightness of his lips. He looked cute, his gold tendrils were pulled back into a slick ponytail, not even a strand escaped the band. His eyes finally met mine and I realised I had been staring too long. I shyly averted my gaze, feeling my cheeks getting warmer by the second.
Oh goddess, how was I going to get through this?
I decided to focus on my food, at least I couldn't make a fool of myself with that. Picking up the fork I cut into a piece, bringing it up to my lips I couldn't help but miss my mouth when I noticed Darius's smoldering gaze directed right at me. As a result some of the cake's cream smeared across my lip making me cringe. Sugars, I had messed this up too!
Before I could reach down to my lap to get my napkin Darius had gotten up from his seat. Reaching across the table he drew his thumb slowly across my bottom lip, wiping off the cream from it. I felt my eyes widen at his actions and my cheeks burned furiously. All the air had escaped my slightly parted lips.
He settled back down, bringing his thumb- that was now coated with the cream from my lip to his and licking it clean. "Delicious" he smirked, looking back at me.
If I thought I was red before I was certainly burning now. I stared at him shocked, the tip of my ears red as well "Uh t-thanks? I never knew? " I breathlessly replied, feeling stupid for it already.
A deep chuckle tore through the silence making me stare in amusement. Darius was chuckling, his lips stretched out widely, his white pearl teeth on full display. His cheeks sunk in, revealing very cute dimples. I stared at him, it was the first time seeing him laugh and it sounded so genuine and refreshing it brought a smile to my face.
When he calmed he looked back at me apologetically for his outburst, "Sorry love, t's just you're so cute when you're flustered. Your blush is so adorable"
And yet again his words made my cheeks flare even more. "T-thanks. You're laughter is beautiful, you should laugh more"
Now it was his turn to go speechless. He stared at me with a strange look in his eyes. I thought I had maybe said something wrong due to the prolonged silence. It gave me enough time to calm my cheeks down but they were still warm enough for me to look pink, I blame my pale skin for exposing me so much.
"I-i'm sorry if I off-"
"Thank you" he said, his voice a shell of a whisper.