Sonya and Damien

"No." 1

"What do you mean no? How can you refuse?"2

"Would you like a lesson on how to refuse ludicrous offers? Because as much as I would love to give it to you, I have more pressing matters to attend to."3

"Yelling at my servants does not qualify as a pressing matter, Sonya," Damien retorted dryly, placing a hand on the small of her back as they walked down the hall.4

"Oh, on the contrary... I find that it relieves generous amounts of stress."5

"Are you suffering from stress, my dear?"6

"Coincidentally, yes. Would you like to know what is causing it?"7

"Well, although I'm sure that that would be the most enlightening comment to ever pass those beautiful lips of yours, I find that I don't really want to know." Damien reached up and pushed on the heavy oak door they had walked to, a loud creak interrupting Sonya's response. She continued as they sat at the table.8

"All the better then, because the source of my distress isn't a thing, but a person, and he just so happens to be sitting right in front of me." Damien chuckled.9

"Oh look at those lovely eyes. You'd like to kill me, wouldn't you?"10

"How did you know? I'm ashamed that I'm unable to hide such feelings." 11

"Your eyes tell it all, darling. Though that knife you're holding also gives everything away."12

"This? I never walk around unarmed... These are dangerous times, m'lord. Besides, how am I to eat my meat if I do not cut it up?"13

"You do sport a lovely set of teeth, if I may say so myself." 14

"You jest! Surely you do not mean to say that I can simply bite through this?"15

"Of course not. That would be preposterous."16

"Indeed it would be. Although it would not be that much of a stretch to say that you may be able to do what I cannot."17

"Naturally, my dear, naturally."18

The servants smiled to themselves as their master and mistress continued to playfully tease one another across the dinner table in a loving conversation that would extend through dinner and possibly late into the night.

---