It was weird seeing the new strange lines on my skin. It didn’t hurt as much as I had anticipated. One thin line ran from my wrist to my elbow, both on the inside and the outside of my arms. Lines traced the bones on the back of my hands and circles outlined my knuckles. I had tattooed rings around my fingers. Three under the first joint and two under the second.

She had been so precise with these lines. They were very crisp, clean and straight.

“You’ve done a beautiful job,” I said as I kept turning my arms, bending my fingers and looking at myself in the mirror.

“You were easy,” she replied and shrugged a shoulder as she dismantled the machine, cleaning off every bit of it, and wrapping the needles in silk. They were to be melted and dumped in the ocean. Something about no one being able to use my blood for any rituals.

“Will… Will I see you again?” I asked and met her gaze through the mirror.

“I’ll come back for the back tattoos in a couple of days.”

“I’m glad. I’ve… Enjoyed your company.”

She flashed a smile and packed up the rest of her stuff, shoving the case with the machinery into a leather satchel.

“I’m glad my company pleased you.” For the first time, she actually bowed at me. And I felt my cheeks heat up. I was used to people bowing. They always did. But her bowing to me, did something funny to my head and my stomach.

“Come by tomorrow. I’d love to have dinner with you.”

She smiled and offered me a nod before she left my chambers.

***

I was so nervous for Dy to come over. I had prepared everything down to the tiniest detail. It was an intimate and light dinner, consisting of bread, dried lamb’s meat as a topping, some dried whale meat and blubber, and then an array of cookies and cakes for dessert. All washed down with tea. I was hoping it wasn’t too… Bland. But this was the best I could do with such short notice.

A knock drew me out of fidgeting with the napkins, and I almost ran to the door. I opened it and looked up to meet the dark eyes of Dy. She smiled a little crookedly.

“Been waiting long?”

“No, no. Not at all,” I said a little frantically and stepped out of her way. She looked around before her eyes settled on the table.

“We’re getting bread? I love Andaheim bread. And the toppings. Dried meat is the best,” she said with a wide smile.

“I was afraid you would be underwhelmed,” I admitted and motioned her to sit down.

She dumped down in the chair opposite of mine and removed her green jacket. She rolled up her sleeves, showing off all of the amazing tattoos starting from her wrists and disappearing under her shirt by her elbows. And she was wearing these black suspenders. She looked amazing, to be honest.

“No, this is perfect. At night I’m not really that hungry. You guys sure do love a big lunch.”

I chuckled and nodded. Usually, you’d get a hot lunch here, consisting of potatoes, lamb, fish or whale meat. Sometimes veil or pork, but that was rare and expensive.

Dy spread some butter on the brown bread and happily put the pieces of dry lamb thigh on top of it. Then she reached for the salt and sprinkled that over, almost as if she was a native.

“You’re not unaccustomed to our cuisine, I see.”

“No, I just love food.” She looked up from her plate, and her cheeks darkened a little. “I mean… I like Andaheim food.”

I snorted. “I like food too. If I was allowed to eat all the time, I would. But apparently, no one wants a fat queen.”

Dy laughed and poured me some wine from the pitcher. “Gotta love the curvy women too.”

I bit down on my lip and smiled. “They make good cuddling mates don’t they?”

“Oh hell yeah, they’re so soft. I mean, I’m not the skinniest myself, so I can’t hate.”

She didn’t look like she lacked food, but she was definitely not fat either. Curvy was a good word for her, even though all of her limbs were sort of long and slim. She did have some thighs on her. And more. My eyes had been looking at her chest for a little too long, and when I met her gaze, she was smirking.

“Are you checking me out?”

I swallowed hard. “No, I’d never do such a thing.”

“Too bad. I was checking you out.”

My face felt like it had been dipped in lava. Instead of answering, I took a bite of my bread and swallowed hard. I didn’t mind her checking me out one bit.

“So, what do you do? Like on a daily basis,” she asked after a while of silence.

“I attend council meetings. Royal appearances. Act as an ambassador for the kingdom. I meet a lot of officials from other countries. I think I’m meeting with the leaders of the tribes in a couple of weeks.”

“And what do you do for fun?”

“I read. And I love listening to the radio!”

That perked Dy right up. “Which programmes?”

“The news, obviously. And Tina Talks. I love her interviews.”

Dy nodded. “Yeah, she’s amazing. I’ve never learned as much about Skyen as I did when she interviewed some locals there. That entire broadcast from Skyen was amazing.”

I nodded very eagerly. “Yes! I can’t wait for the one about Bursaaq next month. I know next to nothing about them, and it’s hard to gain information.”

Dy shrugged a shoulder. “They’re introverted as hell I can tell you that.”

“Oh, you know something about them? Them being your neighbours and all?”

“Not much.” It didn’t seem like that was the entire truth, but I didn’t wanna prod into that. The dinner was too nice to ruin with my curiosity. And I had plenty of time to fry her later.

“What do you do for fun, then?”

“I go out a lot. I love the bars here. You have a great party culture.” She smiled a little wickedly at me. “And you have more than four bars.”

I snorted. “Yeah, if there’s one thing the commoners love, it’s to party. I wish I could participate someday.”

“Ah, security risks.” Dy rolled her eyes a bit, and I had to agree. It was eyeroll-worthy. I wanted to go out too. Experience the actual culture of my country and not just see it happen from the windows of the stronghold.

“One day, maybe.” I tipped my glass at her and took a sip.

“To ‘one day’,” she said and tipped her glass back at me.