- Ψ Φ 𝐑𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐜𝐞 ───────────────────────────────────────
[ house royce . location: red keep courtyard . tags: wyllam . mentions: daena, torr ]
- Tells had a tendency to be subtle, slippery little things that only a trained eye could catch. Some people blinked, or their lips might part ever so slightly, others fidgeted or stuttered their words without meeting her eye, but they always had something that gave them away. Rohana had taught herself to read people, and had even begun to find some pleasure in seeing the lies and moments where the truth finally came out. Wyllam was no different, she had found his weakness in asking what had brought him to stand there next to her. He has no idea, she purred to herself as the slightest bit of a smirk trying to pull where her lips joined together. The loss of that feline smirk on his face was enough to bring a swell of pride to the surface of her chest, the warmth from it flooding through her veins and sending out shivers of delight across her skin. Something about seeing Wyllam Hightower unsure of himself was enough to create an overbearing hubris in the handmaiden, one that hinted at the subtlest glow of life returning to that which had for so long been dead.
This game; it made her feel alive again.
The first real move was made by Wyllam, his voice low as he practically hummed how he was taking pity on her by joining her, seeing as no one else had made the move to do it before himself. Rohana did nothing to hide how her aquamarine irises rolled back in her head with a very precise movement, or how she only took another sip of her wine to hide the blooming grin that came from his acceptance of her challenge. It was so refreshing to have someone who not only had skin of steel to take her appraisals, but teeth and talons he was unafraid to use. She might have been impressed by him. Might. Instead she allowed herself to bask in the warmth of an opponent worthy of the air they breathed. That was the most benefit she was willing to give to the lordling though, at least his presence was not suffocatingly dull, and he had some sort of fight in him.
It was his next assessment that drew her thick eyebrow to arch, however, the slightest start of an impressed expression tried to fight its way onto her pretty features. Unfortunately even that lost to her iron will and it was impassive boredom that remained the patron look on her face. Rohana had little desire to give Wyllam any more indication he could phase her further than the moment of weakness he had been able to draw while weaponizing Auster against her. Never again. He would pay for those comments, rather dearly if she had her way with it, and there was very little standing in her way. Knowing that there was something still able to be twisted and warped into something that could control her was a dangerous thing, and the sooner he left - or was driven out - the better.
“How charitable of you,” Rohana crooned, giving a theatrical pout of her lip while giving him a sidelong glance. “Though that was by design, Hightower. You see I do not wish for company, as they all seem to understand, which would make you the fool.”
Lightly she bit down on the rim of her goblet while pretending that her attention was not completely on him but instead something else entirely.
“Oh yes, I bite as well so you might wish to take a step away,” she droned sarcastically, allowing herself another brief look to ensure he was still looking only at her. He was, some strange expressing in those annoyingly handsome eyes, which even more frustratingly gave another flutter of that pride that came from having found his tell.
The question was not unreasonable, though it was coming from him and she simply had to express that. Letting out another obviously nettled sigh, the dark haired lady dropped her nearly empty chalice to her side while her free hand found a place to rest against her hip. What do you do here? Perhaps he was daft, or his mother had dropped him as an infant, or there was always the chance he was simple as dumb as he was handsome. Whatever it was, Rohana was growing exasperated at the constant barrage of idiotic questions that had such obvious answers.
“When not completely miserable I find myself rather intrigued in the arts of torture and poison. They prove to be rather useful when presented with ungrateful little lordlings who have their swords shoved up their...well...you know,” the lady purred before tilting her head to the side and then up to meet his gaze. “If you do not like girls who are smarter than you, Wyllam, I fear we will have a rather strained relationship in your time here. Though I can promise you that I will refrain from adding anything to your food that might upset you, seeing as I am quite good at my job.”
With the same delicacy as a lioness circling her prey, Rohana stepped to the side so she was fully looking at Wyllam, but was still able to see Daena out of the corner of her eye. Slowly, deliberately, she drew her gaze from his face down his body and then back to his eyes, her expression not changing once even as she definitely lifted her chin.
“If it is a new handmaiden you are requesting I should warn you that most of them offer services of a quality far less than my own, but it would not mortally wound me to know you do not find my company as appetizing as an empty headed lady.”
