Dinner With The Duke

When Delaney and Vincent came into the dining room, the Black siblings were already waiting at the table. Ian had led them to the elegant room and told them where the Duke and Duchess usually sat, as well as himself.

Ilona hurried to take a seat beside Ian when she heard he sat across from the Duchess. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck sitting by the woman, although she didn't care for sitting across from her either.

That left Delaney Adair with the two younger Black boys sitting beside her. They both smiled pleasantly when she took her seat, and that annoyed Ilona. She felt if they were on her side, then they shouldn't be kind to the Duchess.

When the servers brought the food, Ilona glanced up at them, thinking about what Ian had said about the servants not wanting them there. When her plate was in front of her, she wondered for a moment if the food might be poisoned.

Apparently, the Duchess had told the servants they had to be nice to the pirates, so surely they wouldn't be brave enough to poison the food. Ilona rolled her eyes at herself and her silly paranoid thoughts before taking a bite.

The first half of their meal, they ate in silence. Ilona watched out of the corner of her eye as Delaney and Ian constantly met one another's gaze, and secret looks passed between them. He seemed uncomfortable though, and kept glancing at the Duke.

Vincent kept his eyes down, eating slowly. Ilona noticed the more his jaw moved, the redder the marks on his face and neck became. He had been limping when he walked in for dinner. She wondered again about the extent of the damage caused by the dragon.

At last, it was Nick sitting closest to Delaney, that spoke up. He looked at Ian and spoke in the pirate language.

"You should ask him what it was like to fight the enormous male dragon," he said eagerly, glancing at Vincent.

Ian frowned and shook his head, "Of course, I'm not going to ask that. Why would he want to talk about such a terrible time?"

"Maybe he likes talking about fighting dragons," Jamie shrugged, looking towards the Duke, "Have you ever asked him?"

"Of course not!"

Ilona frowned as she watched Ian getting defensive. Why wouldn't he ask the Duke about fighting dragons? That was the thing the man was known for. Why was he trying to avoid bringing up something so impressive and that the Duke was likely proud of?

She wondered if it was because of his love for the Duchess. Maybe he didn't want her reminded of how powerful her husband was.

"You should ask him for us then," Nick said, glancing at Vincent again and quickly dropping his gaze when he found the scarred man's eyes on him.

Vincent cleared his throat, cutting off Nick and Jamie as they started another plea.

"Ian, perhaps you should just tell us what they're saying."

"Oh no, it's alright," Ian answered quickly, turning a bit red, "They're just..."

"They want to ask you about fighting dragons," Ilona interrupted without looking up from her plate.

One part of her wanted a sort of payback on Ian for the way he'd talked over her earlier. Another part of her wanted him to be reminded of who the Duke was so Ian would stop shooting looks at the Duchess right in front of him.

Ian tensed as soon as the words were out of his sister's mouth. He clenched his fists under the table and took a deep breath. Ilona knew he wanted nothing more than to release his fury on her, but she trusted he wouldn't here at dinner with the Duke and Duchess.

"They... they do want me to ask about that, but I told them they shouldn't bother you," Ian tried to explain to Vincent quickly.

The scarred Duke's green eyes landed on his lovely wife for a moment before they moved on to stare at the boys.

"Why do they want to know about fighting dragons?"

Everyone grew still now and looked to Vincent. The boys didn't know what was being said, but they were hopeful. Even Ilona put down her fork and turned to Ian, wondering what he would say now. Would he openly say something about how impressive the man was?

Ian glanced at Nick and Jamie, "They're young boys, so I suppose they think it would be exciting and... and dangerous."

Ilona mentally shrugged. That was a reasonably accurate explanation about why the boys wanted to know about fighting dragons.

Vincent Adair stared at the youngest pirates and nodded slowly, "How old are they?"

Ian quickly asked his brothers for their ages in the language of the pirates, and they both hurried to reply.

"Nick is sixteen, and Jamie is fifteen."

It was quiet as Lord Adair considered them. He took a drink of his wine and looked down at the plate for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck. His scars were a warm red. At last, he looked up and met the eager gazes of Nick and Jamie.

"You can tell them that fighting dragons is in no way exciting," the Duke sighed, "Every moment you're within sight of one, you know you're only a breath away from death. You're scared constantly, and you can't sleep. You see your friends die or be maimed all around you, and there's nothing you can do to help them. Then for me, I killed the last male in the colony, and he sank his teeth into me and effectively ruined me. I can't move like I used to. I'm in constant pain. And I'm so hard to look at I scare strangers on the street."

Ilona was startled to hear that and only then realized why Ian hadn't wanted to ask. He had obviously already known the Duke didn't want to talk about his time fighting the dragons. It sounded like a harrowing subject for him. She had seen the hurt flash over the Duchess's face before she looked away.

Ian paused, looking apologetic, before turning to his brothers and quietly repeating what Vincent had said in their language. Once he was finished, the room fell silent again, and everyone slowly went back to eating.

Ilona felt guilty. This was her fault. The Duke was so kind to them, and she had accidentally done something very cruel to him. She needed to say something to make it better. She chewed slowly and thought.

"You're not ugly, you know," Ilona said after a time, not looking up towards Vincent, "As pirates, we value scars. Your scars tell a story of where you've been and what you have survived. The worse the scar, the more amazing you must be for having survived it. I don't think I could ever trust a man who didn't have some decent scars."

Ilona felt her cheeks warm even though she knew her words were true. When she glanced up, she saw the Duke still had his eyes down, but there was a smile pulling at his lips. Her heart felt lighter seeing it.

When she let her eyes move to the Duchess for only a moment, she was surprised to find the woman studying her closely with her own little smile on her lips. Her eyes weren't full of anger or disgust as they had been. Now she seemed almost pleased when she looked at Ilona.

Ian too, had gone back to eating but with a slight curve to his lips. Ilona's spirits rose. Maybe things weren't going to be that bad after all.