Nico's POV:

I absent-mindedly picked at my half-eaten lamb chop with my fork, my head resting on my fist.

Dinner had come a lot quicker than expected, much to my disappointment.

Well, our disappointment.

It took a good moment for Khloe and me to separate ourselves and regain enough composure for us to join my family for dinner without causing any suspicions.

But that didn't mean that I could so easily just stop dwelling on it, it meant quite the opposite really.

Khloe's sudden boldness was really starting to become a problem.

Not a problem in the negative sense, it was very far from that, but a problem in the sense where it was so interestingly strange coming from her that I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I never would have thought that she would be the kind to actually ask for what she wanted, she always seemed like the type that would just sit by and wait until I initiated something.

Not that I was complaining. God, I wasn't complaining one bit.

Her straight-forwardness sparked something within me, like it was giving me a purpose to fulfill her wants whenever I kissed or touched her.

"Nicolas."

She reacted to me in a way that was difficult to explain.

It was like pleasing her was second nature to me. Like I already knew what she liked and what she wanted.

I learned a lot about her in during that time with all of the reactions she gave me.

Feeling her body tense against her will when I traced that certain spot on her collarbone with my tongue, and that spot just below her jaw.

Hearing every timid noise that spilled from her mouth, encouraging me more than anything.

"Nicolas."

Tasting her lips, feeling every little movement she made when I would make one.

"Nicolas!"

Feeling the warmth of her hands and fingertips through my shirt when she gained enough courage to touch and explore parts of my own body.

Courage... that was another thing she possessed that was very interesting to try to figure out.

"I think he goes by 'Nico' now, dad."

"What? Why?"

"I dunno. He's gone by 'Nico' for about 30 years now."

Despite her boldness, she was still a shy girl.

No matter how confidently she asked for my affection, once she got it, her timid nature would slowly return.

But, I found out how to work with it, whether it was purring to calm her down, or shifting my movements to get her to focus on something else.

"Well that's stupid."

"Honey..."

"What? We named him Nicolas so why the hell couldn't he go by 'Nick' or something."

"He used to go by 'Nick' right after we left, but then changed it."

It seemed to work. Especially when she almost completely shied away after her reaction to me grabbing her thighs.

I hardly registered the fact that my hand had tightened around my fork, or the rather harsh exhale that left my mouth.

I thanked many experiences prior in my life that strengthened my self-control that moment.

"Whatever he prefers, I'm not calling him 'Nico'."

"It doesn't look like it matters what you call him, dad. He looks so deep in his own thoughts that I'd be surprised if he can even hear us."

In all honesty, I cherished her shy side. It was a tender part of her that I wholeheartedly adored and wanted to protect.

It added an innocence to her that was impossible for me to ignore.

Well, everything about her was impossible for me to ignore.

I barely heard a growl from my father.

"Nicolas!"

I felt Khloe's hand nudge the side of my leg from under the table, causing my head to jolt towards her, then to the rest of the table.

Xander sat across from me at this unnecessarily huge rectangular table, both of us sitting in the center of the longer sides.

My parents sat at the center of the shorter sides.

Everyone had their eyes on me expectantly, even Doe.

"What?" I questioned.

Had I missed something?

Xander let out a quiet laugh, shifting his head down in an act to contain it while my fathers signature sigh rang in my ears.

"Something on your mind there, son?" he spoke, obviously annoyed.

I tried to fight back my glare, but I don't think it worked as much as I wanted it to.

I had nearly forgotten how much everything I did pissed him off.

I bet he'd just love to know what was on my mind.

"Ah. No, not really, I'm just tired is all," Which wasn't a complete lie, "I had to get up pretty early this morning to prepare for our leave."

My father's brows lowered as he thought over my response.

I think I made it obvious that my answer hadn't been the truth, but I couldn't really tell if I had done that on purpose or not.

Old habits die hard I guess.

"I see," He grumbled out.

"Is there something you needed from me?" I asked rather bitterly.

I was rather enjoying my thought process before I was interrupted.

I could feel a harsh tension in the air.

My brother and mother were silent as they always were whenever my father and I had... well, any discussion really.

Since basically every single one of them ended up like this.

Even the couple slaves that stood along the back wall while we ate stood motionless. I couldn't even hear them breathe.

I knew I annoyed my father with basically everything that I did, yet in some strange way, I thrived off of that spite.

Although I could almost feel Khloe's discomfort, so I backed off a bit, relaxing the tension in my shoulders.

"Nope. Nothing at all," he responded, and I swore I saw a hint of a smirk on his lips.

Luckily, my mother cut in before either of us could say anything else.

"If you're tired, Nico, you may be dismissed if you desire," She offered warmly.

My lips parted a bit at her words.

That's the first time I had ever heard her call me that.

I thought over accepting her offer. Id love more than anything to get out of here.

I glanced down at Khloe's plate, noticing how she wasn't quite done eating yet.

The good thing about her still the pet to a prince in the public eye meant that she got a lot more luxuries publicly than other pets.

That including a small seat next to me during meals with my family, and a much more flavorful and abundant meal.

The meal that I could tell she was very much enjoying and would hate to take her away from.

Plus leaving would make it seem that my father had won this little spat.

And I really didn't feel like letting that happen.

I sipped some blood from my glass.

"No thanks."

~~~

A/N: Hey yalls so I've been getting a lot of people asking me to read or review their books lately and as much as I want to help you guys, I don't have the time or energy to fulfill every single one of your guy's requests. HOWEVER, one thing that I am willing to give is writing advise. I know I'm no writing expert, but I must be good to some extent since you're all at this point in my series. I figured answering some of your guy's writing questions would be a lot more do-able for me and would be a good way to give back to you guys. So yea! Go ahead and private message me your guy's questions and I'll respond to them as soon as I can!