James knew what it would be if he tried to interfere with the deal brokered between Lane and Fiora. It was the only reason why he didn’t try to interfere with the two women, even though now his heart thudded hard against his chest and he was trying his hardest not to look panicked. Or like he was ready to murder the bitch that now smiled like a child across from them, her hands clapping together.<br/><br/><br/>Something like the sound of glass breaking could be heard around then, followed immediately by, “Sorry to keep you all waiting. Are you ready to order?”<br/><br/><br/>It was the server come to wait on their table, a smile on her face that soon faded as she noted the tension at the table from all but one of their party. “If you need a few minutes, I can come back,” she said cautiously. Only it had already been a few minutes, and her lips were still blue, her skin goose pimpled and too pale. She just didn’t know that she had been frozen in place by the fae woman who gestured around the table.<br/><br/><br/>“No, no, I think we are ready now. I’ll have the chicken parmesan,” she chirruped, then motioned to Remy to order. Shaking his head with a wild look in his eye, he sat heavily in his seat behind Lane. He didn’t really have any interest in ordering food; his stomach felt too hollow, his insides gutted.<br/><br/><br/>“I’ll have a bowl of minestrone soup,” James said, when it was his turn to order, sounding like sawdust. His attention remained between Fiora, Lane, Remy, Pace, and Nora instead of bothering to look at the waitress who stood awkwardly as they went around in a circle and placed their orders. She was all too eager to whisk herself away from the table.<br/><br/><br/>“Fine, they can meet the child,” Fiora answered, her tone bored, once the waitress had disappeared to put in their orders. For the time being, her attention went back to the dwindling breadsticks at their table, then even more flirtatiously to Remy, who was looking more than a little uncomfortable when she placed her hand on his thigh and looked at Nora, then back to him. “He likes you, my Remy,” she said, just as casually as ordering her chicken parmesan. As if she were discussing the weather. Then, to Remy, “Do you wish to fuck her, stoneman?”<br/><br/><br/>Pace cleared his throat and lifted a brow, fighting an urge to clasp a possessive arm around the woman in question now that the fairy queen’s attention had moved away from Lane and Mia for the time being. James had the decency to roll his eyes, but the stoneman averted his stare and forced a smile on his face, “Now, Fiora, what did we discuss about inappropriate topics whilst being in the human’s world?”<br/><br/><br/>The Queen rolled her eyes at the question, as if it too bored her. Then ignored his suggestion. “Does the Guardian fuck well, then?” She asked Nora, then slid her attention over to James and Lane, “And you act like you do not want to fuck Gideon. What did he do?” Her face lit with a delighted kind of amusement. “From what I hear, he used to be most vigorous. Did you know that one of my sisters had him as a pet, a very long time ago?”<br/><br/><br/>“Jesus Christ,” James rumbled, his hand moving to wrap around the untouched glass of water and bringing it to his lips just to have something to do. Then his voice softened, “Mia, where is she now, Fiora? Please, for fuck’s sake - since that’s apparently all you want to talk about - tell me she is not anywhere beyond the veil. And can you tell me why Amata has done what she has?”<br/><br/><br/>There was pain in his voice, barely veiled, that reflected in his eyes. Whatever his relationship with his daughter, he either regretted or had been deeply wounded by it. “Then can we please.. Do what it is we all need to do?” That time, his voice cracked, stifled by him taking another drink of water.