<div class="floatleft">(https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/002/442/653/large/oscar-acosta-rivera-noir-elf.jpg?1461787851)</div>It was the first time Ingram saw significant emotion in Arash. He noted the incident, amused and intrigued. You can learn something about a person from the things that make them angry, happy, frightened. But you can learn the most from the things that make them embarrassed. It cannot be feigned, and allows much to be inferred – how they feel about something, and how they feel about feeling that way. Embarrassment means you have struck upon a truth.<br/><br/>He locked eyes with Kirion and smirked. Ingram might have tried to make him redden deeper, but he took the flash of a smile from Arash as a plea for mercy, and he restrained himself.<br/><br/>“Cheers,” he said, drinking. The taste wasn’t getting any better, but he would lift a glass to Qaizel’s cock any day.<br/>He mulled over Arash’s assessment of him. “Huh,” he said, tilting his head in his direction. “Genuine. That might be the closest anyone’s ever come to calling me honest.”<br/><br/>It shouldn’t surprise him, that Kirion was drawn by his interest, Arash by a measured sense of practicality. But then again, there was much about the pair that<em>did</em>surprise him. Kirion’s brashness. Arash’s…discipline.<br/><br/>A suggestive hint lay latent in Kirion’s words. “What can I say.” He brushed the bottom of his lip subtly across the edge of his goblet. “I always aim to please.”<br/><br/>He heard a commotion to his left, and turned to face the disturbance. Qaizel, cock and all, burst inside, looking frantic. Immediately Ingram went on edge. He had grown relaxed, unobservant, stupid. Now he read the room, looking for the subtle words or movements that would tell him precisely where he shouldn’t turn his back.<br/><br/>He didn’t know who or what Daragon was. However, he could take a guess at what might occur if the man holding up the city were to drop it. It seemed that those around him had the same inclination, judging by the chaos erupting around him.<br/><br/>Damn it. And he hadn’t even managed to get any of the food. And the food looked good, too.<br/><br/>He leaned in toward Kirion, voice calmer than he felt. “So in your expert magical opinion – what happens to us if the prince gets it?”<br/>