I can't believe Nico called me, "my prince". I'm used to being called that, of course, but hearing it from him was different. The way he let his strange foreign accent I had noticed before slip and become more clear. He rolled the "R" in "prince". He also used a long "i" instead of a short one. The strange, playful look in his dark eyes. The smirk on his pale lips made it obvious the words were purposeful.

I felt my face heat up a bit as I replayed the words in my head. Damn night prince. I sighed, following after noticing how far ahead of me he was. I then realized he had his dagger with him still. The reason I remembered this is because he had taken it out and was holding it with the blade facing down and the tip of the blade resting on his fingertip. One day he was going to cut himself really bad. He treated that dagger like a toy and that was dangerous. My eyes widen as I watched him pick his nails with the tip of the blade. Oh lord.

I ignored him for the rest of the walk. He was just making me nervous. We walked side by side, my eyes looking everywhere but where he was. We arrived to the throne room again, seeing it empty. The guards informed me our families were in the dining room. I couldn't help but sigh. More awkward walking with Nico. I gave the younger boy a quick glance, he was running his finger over the crooked bends in his dagger and watching his finger move up and down as he does so, and grunted to get his attention. I then started in the direction of dining room. I was glad to hear his footsteps behind me.

I entered the dining room, seeing Nico's family fill in the normally empty seats in the table. Since we had a small family, the large table wasn't ever full. It still wasn't now, but it felt weird to see more seats filled. Nico slipped into the room from behind me, plopping down next to his sister who was staring in confusion at an apple. Nico leaned over, questioned her, and joined in with giving the fruit a strange look. Poor apple. I sighed and plopped down between Kayla and Austin, waiting for the actually food to be served as our families munched on the fruits and other small appetizers that covered the tables.

Nico's sister had devoured two apples and was working on a third while Nico was stuffing his face with grapes. Their parents were munching on carrots and bananas. My family were eating small cookies and butter covered rolls. Nico's family was.. Healthy. Once the main course came, our parents began discussing our family going to the night kingdom. I sighed through my nose, not looking forward to that. I watched as Hazel piled mash potatoes on her plate and Nico covered his pork chops with applesauce and potatoes. They eat like they've never had a meal like this before. I scan over the family, noticing our thin all of them were. Have they had a meal like this before?