It was almost startling really, how much he already seemed to know about her. Perhaps that was how a friendship meant to last for more than a few fleeting months was supposed to work, she wasn't entirely sure. After all, she'd never had a relationship that ran as deeply as it had with her childhood best friend of many years because suddenly everything came falling apart. What she did know was that it seemed there was no hiding anything from those near predatory hazel eyes that always seemed to be watching her own so closely. That ever-present curiosity comes to life in those eyes, illuminating those aqua hues as bright as a clear winter sky, as they lock with those that had become terribly familiar and wordlessly just one thing that she found herself increasingly fond of. She watches as Andras as he leans forward, placing those strong arms on the table between them, midnight tenor tones ushering teasingly and it only encourages that sweet smile of hers to grow a little more playful then. He did seem to enjoy teasing her, didn't he? She couldn't forget the bold comments that he had made at the tea party with their mutual friend and she finds that his almost mischievous words encourage something braver in her."I thought perhaps there would be time to ask that you indulge my ever growing curiosities" was the reply that she gives the dark fae man. There is only a sliver of silence between them before he satisfies that eagerness to understand just how it was that this amazing place worked and she listens with deep intent, the fascination only glowing ever brighter."That would explain where these clothes came from, then?", she inquires lightly, though she supposed perhaps it was a bit of a silly question but she had originally thought that perhaps they were Ida's."Who else lives here? I hadn't seen anyone occupying the other rooms down the hallway", she speaks once again, hardly drawing a breath between that first question and the one that tumbles effortlessly from her lips now. He'd done it now, opening those floodgates. If he was well enough to satisfy her one curiosity she hadn't even had to speak of, then surely he could further indulge the eager young woman?

She is quick to notice that slight shift in his posture that almost seemed to speak of relief when she assured him that she was well enough, certainly much more well off than she'd been upon arriving, smiling sweetly as he speaks of how more food and rest would help with the lingering pains and she trusted him â€" more than she would admit to for the time being until she figured out those pesky feelings that kept taking her by surprise. She wonders now how such a place even exists, recalls the brief hesitancy that had coated his words when he spoke of the inner workings to the magic that seemed to fill each and every part of this breathtaking place. She refrains from completely drowning him in those endless questions she could easily pluck from the countless others that filled her thoughts. She reminds herself then that he wasn't just Andras, that he wasn't just any fae, but a high lord. If she could remember anything from her high school days, it was that such titles were not to be taken lightly but in the very same moment she allows for her memories of that afternoon tea to bubble to the forefront of her mind and now she questions what she'd been taught then. Neither Andras not Dorian acted any different towards her simply because of what they were. So, was she being silly in these thoughts that she needed to be mindful of those manners her parents had instilled in her? They clearly hadn't prepared her for being in the presence of royalty, but thankfully the blue-eyed blonde was good on picking up cues. Her smile only grows a little brighter when he says that she could stay as long as she wished to recover, but it fades only slightly to be shifted into something more curious as she watched his gaze shift to those high ceiling and he gives that handsome head a shake. Clearly, she had missed something, but he does not speak on it and instead returns his gaze back to hers.

Andras gives pause, for what reason she wasn't entirely sure, at her question of how it was that he felt. He carefully places his fork on the stained mahogany table and with another sweeping motion of those callused yet knowingly gentle hands, two wine glasses and a bottle of red wine manifest just beneath where his hand had gestures. She'd had wine before on special occasions with her family, and she was nearly twenty-one so she saw no harm in happily accepting that drink. As she reaches for that glass, she watches him in that brief silence, swearing that she could see somethingdancing within those mysterious depths she so yearned to explore. Unbidden, she grows a little shy beneath that wink that he gives her to accent those words and she lifts that glass gently to blush-colored lips and takes a small sip as well, placing it beside her plate. He speaks once more, this time giving her that answer she had almost begun to become anxious over yet it is quickly relieved and then shifted as he offers that sultry smile not too unlike that smile that had etched into his chiseled features in the bedroom. Her cheeks grow flush again though it is only for a moment. How was it that he could so easily fluster her with that wickedly dashing, debonair smile? It almost wasn't fair. And why was it that while it caused the warmth beneath her cheeks, she couldn't help the shy smile that dances found its way upon those lips? Why did it stir in her those same fluttering feelings that sent her heart on a wild race within her breast when she'd found herself beneath him on that large bed by firelight? You know why. You just won't admit.... He places that wine glass beside his place as well and this time those satin words distract her from that inner voice of hers and the smile fades a little as those baby blues that don't waver from his own apologetic expression. She sits in silence for a moment as she figuratively taps lightly into what little she did remember."Fear. Pain. Cold. Shadows... His voice....", she whispers almost inaudibly as she is jolted momentarily back to that dark alleyway. She could almost hear the venom in her ears again, the icy of his tight embrace as he pressed her close to him... and the pain. She could never forget the pain that had electrified her slender frame."Then, you were there. I remember blood, your voice, how he fell to the ground. And then, the next thing I remember is you, your hand, and then darkness. Then, warmth and the next thing I see is you in that chair, in that bedroom...", she finishes softly, and at those final moments, there is a gentle smile on her lips. He had been the last thing and the first thing she'd seen. She'd felt safe.

He is silent as she tells him what it was she could remember, seeing little importance on returning to that single terrifying moment when she'd stumbled across the vampire in the dark of those shadows. As she lifts that fork to her mouth, baby blue eyes having yet to waver from his own, she notices his gaze looking away from her own, seeming to follow that carrot and yet she cannot quite decipher that look in that flickers only briefly and ever so faintly across those depths. Instead he brings his gaze to hers once again and there is something that gives those hazel hues a solemnness almost. He takes a deep drink of that red wine, his silence almost unnerving as she watches him intently but soon his baritones reveal to her something she hadn't considered before, knowing so little about the undead. So, she had been hunted then? She listens quietly to his explanation, those eyes darkening as he asks for her forgiveness. It was indeed a frightening thing to learn, that she had been hunted, and while she knew so little â€" nearly nothing, really â€" of this supernatural world she acknowledged as part of hers now, his words made sense. She should have perhaps been upset, maybe angry or fearful of the dark fae man knowing that he had been the reason she found herself in that near-death experience, but she doesn't feel any of those things. Instead, her gaze softens and she feels compelled to reach her hand out towards him, but she refrains."Well, everything happens for a reason, right?", she replies, not knowing what else to say before his words fall over his tongue effortlessly before she can say anything more, speaking now of that lecture he had given her and as he smiles, picking up his fork to finish the last of his food, but not without a remark clearly meant to fluster her (which of course it does, that flush beginning to warm those cheeks yet again). For reasons unknown, again that boldness grows in her smile. If only she could toy with him how he did her, this is the thought that dances silently in her eyes for a moment.

A dark chuckle is uttered from the dark fae man in wordless reply to her daring comment distracts her again, and his reply is ushered in sultry midnight tenors and she almost laughs lightly at his words when suddenly he is rising from his seat, wings folded nearly along the length of his back, and begins to make his way around the table, all the while those hazels hold baby blues and she turns in her own seat, baby blues widening."Oh n-no, that's not â€"", she stammers as she begins to answer his questions but now, with that wicked grin of his sending her heart racing as he is a breath away and bending to his knees, that red that had colored her cheeks is now nearly as bright as the fire that burned fiercely in the fireplace behind them. He places that strong hands (strong yet gentle hands) on her thighs, that soft touch electrifying and driving her to speechlessness beneath that sultry gleam in his gaze, nearly quivering beneath his hands. She could swear there was amusement dancing in those hazel depths of his that lingered upon her, and then there is a sudden boldness that rises from a place within her that she hadn't even thought to exist. So he wants to tease? Maybe I should try and give him a little taste of his own medicine if he wants to keep flustering me like this. After all, they were friends right? What would possibly come of it? Suddenly, she places a hand of her own on his, trying to ignore the pounding of her heart as that usually sweet smile becomes something a little more... mischievous as she feigns contemplation."Maybe, maybe not. I might just need a little more convincing to do so", she replies teasingly, impishly as she takes a slender finger and brushes the tip along the defined muscle of his forearm. What the hell am I even doing!? Trying to get even, whispers that bolder voice to that inner scream as she hold Andras' gaze with that daring smile upon those blush-colored lips as she does her best to be defiant against that sultry smile that melted her. She wanted to show him that while she was young, two could play this game â€" or so she wanted to try and tell herself she could.