“Get down,” Orion growled, his eyes flaring at me and my cheeks blazed as I didn’t get his backing in this.
“Get up here with me,” I countered. “Tell them the truth.”
He shook his head and Tory and Darius shared a glance while Geraldine pulled at her hair and looked around the room in alarm.
“All praise the eloquent way my lady speaks!” she cried suddenly. “How passionate her plea is, how heartfelt and…beautifully put. She glimmers like a starstone on a moonbeam with her passion and prose!”
Several people clapped at that which was worse because now they were just applauding the way I’d said it, not the words I’d spoken at all.
Muttering was starting to break out and Seth whined in discomfort for me, the sound making my skin burn with embarrassment.
I climbed back down from the table, sinking into my seat and Orion reached for my hand under the table, but I snatched it away, unable to believe he hadn’t fought his corner, hadn’t stood up there with me and shown the world who he truly was.
Everyone in the room hurriedly turned their backs on him again, and my throat thickened.
“Why won’t you tell them the truth?” I whispered to Orion and he looked to me with confliction in his eyes.
“Because it will make no difference. I’m sorry, Blue.”
Those words chipped at my heart and I stared down at my hands in my lap, feeling like a complete idiot for being left hanging like that in front of the whole room.
Washer drifted closer, trying to use his Siren gifts to get a feed on my emotions.
“Well if you have any concerns and need to get things off your breast – er chest, my dear, do come to me,” Washer purred and Orion snarled.
“She won’t be coming anywhere near you, Brian,” he hissed and Washer forced his eyes onto him.
“Now, now, I didn’t want to cause a hullabaloo. In fact, I come bearing gifts.” He turned, gesturing to the large suitcases behind him. “I have brought all of the Vegas’ things from the academy. I’ve up and quit, see? The academy has gone totally downhill and if I’m being entirely honest, I’m fairly sure Elaine was planning to have me murdered, so here we are.” He beamed at me and Tory. “Oh and I have an extra surprise for you! I handwashed all of your little knickies and knackies so they’ll be silky fresh for your royal behinds.”
“You did what?” Tory snapped.
“Please tell me a knickie and a knackie isn’t what I think it is,” I murmured.
“You really must take better care of your delicates, girls. G-strings and thongs can get a teeny weenie bit frayed if they aren’t rubbed down regularly with a good soap. I use a gentle foamy white soap that I make myself, I’ll give you a sample sometime. I call it Washer’s essence.” He winked.
“What the fuck are you saying?” Darius growled, smoke pluming between his teeth and I grabbed Orion’s arm to stop him from getting out of his seat, though maybe letting him go psycho Vamp on Washer’s ass alongside Darius wasn’t the worst idea.
“I’m saying it’s a secret recipe, silly boy. Cheery chow!” He headed away towards Catalina and Hamish, embracing them and his ass wiggled back and forth with each hug.
Ergh, great, I thought I’d seen the last of that creeper.
I noticed everyone was still working hard to keep their eyes away from Orion and my shoulders fell with dejection. “I don’t understand why they won’t stop this Power Shaming shit.”
“Because Power Shaming is more than law, Blue,” Orion said, his eyes falling from mine, showing me he was ashamed of it too, and that broke me more than anything. My anger with him melted a little because I could see that this was something I didn’t really understand, but it still hurt me. “It’s cultural and people don’t want to be associated with it. And it isn’t something that can be undone. I am grateful for what you were trying to do, beautiful, but commanding the world to acknowledge me won’t work.”
I sighed, hating this crap. What was the point of being a ‘true queen’ if they weren’t going to listen on something that mattered this much to me?
“Yeah, just you sitting at our table is bringing us down like a thousand cool points,” Seth said with a sigh. “But that’s okay, bro, we wanna be your friend, don’t we Cal?” He elbowed him and Caleb glanced at Orion with a hint of a growl on his lips.
“No thanks,” he muttered as Orion straightened at the challenge in his eyes.