A Dinner From Hell

[Sky]

As Sky listened to his mother's words, which he knew were dripping with nothing but pure insincerity, he struggled to keep his face void of any emotion. What she was doing was wrong, but he should have known that this was what it was going to be like; he should have known better than to bring Christine here. He had been in the wrong this time - he had been wrong to ever imagine that his parents could possibly welcome Christine into their home without being condescending and superior.

Gritting his teeth, Sky put a polite smile on his face as he asked, trying to divert the focus away from Christine, "So tell me, mother, what have you been spending your energy on lately?"


Riannon lightly dabbed at her mouth with her napkin as she replied, "As a matter of fact, I have been planning something that I am sure will interest you, Sky, dear. As you know, summer will be approaching shortly and so I thought it would be wonderful to do some traveling - the three of us, you, your father and me. I haven't planned out yet what places we should visit, but I assure you, it will be absolutely wonderful and refreshing." Turning to Christine, Riannon furrowed her brow as she said as if she had just realized it, "Oh, but I suppose that that means Sky won't be able to help you with your research for that law class of yours; I feel absolutely terrible about that. Well, have no fear; I'm sure there is someone around this place who will be able to assist you." Raising her glass of wine to her lips, Riannon arched a brow as she said softly, "It just won't be Sky."

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine was completely calm and collected while inside she was bristling with anger. How dare this woman judge her because of her bloodline. In an effort to calm her nerves, she mentally recited a recently studied speech in Latin. Latin always seemed to calm her.

"I understand," she said politely. And she had a feeling that the countess would be joining Sky's family on vacation.

[Sky]

"I am very relieved to hear that you do not mind, Christine; of course you can't blame me for wanting to spend time with my son, can you?" With a laugh, Riannon waved her hand lightly as she said, "With Sky being gone for almost nine months out of the year, well, I simply feel like I hardly ever get to see him anymore. Even though nothing can make up for our time lost together, I suppose three whole months of family time will make me feel at least slightly better. But in any event," Riannon continued, shifting topics completely, "isn't this food absolutely divine? I shall have to give my compliments to the chef."

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine normally would have agreed with the queen but with her appetite barely there, she had been just picking at her food, barely touching it. At the faintest prick of pain, she placed her fork down, in the correct manner, and placed her hand over her stomach where her injury was. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to weather that twinge of pain, hopefully it wouldn't draw too much attention to her.

[Sky]

At the sound of silence that greeted her, Riannon set her glass of wine down and looked around the table. In a voice that possessed a slight hint of strain, she asked, "Is there something wrong with the food? Aldrich? Sky?" As they shook their heads in the negative, Riannon nodded as she said, "All right then," before she caught sight of Christine out of the corner of her eye. "Oh for heaven's sake," she exclaimed as she laid her fork down. "You are ill." With a sigh, she called out, "Mrs. Craikheart; Mrs. Craikheart, come in here at once, please."

At the queen's call, a middle-aged maid entered the dining room and gave a short curtsy. "You called, Madame?"

Gesturing at Christine, Riannon said, "I think she needs to lie down; please help her to one of the guest rooms upstairs." Turning her attention to Christine, Riannon said, "Go rest, dear; we'll call you down in an hour, in time for dessert and drinks in the drawing room."

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine barely heard what the queen said, her mind was trying to stamp down the pain. She opened her eyes and glanced up at Sky, tears sparkling in her eyes. She was wishing she never agreed to this. Her blue eyes closed tightly again. The pain had to stop, didn't it?

[Sky]

Concern clear on his face, Sky stood up from his seat despite his mother's protest and walked around the table so that he could crouch down by Christine's chair. "Hey," he said softly. "What's wrong? What happened? Do you want to lie down?" Furrowing his brow, Sky wondered worriedly if it was her injury acting up again - although he had thought that by now a suitable amount of time had passed for her to heal; otherwise, he never would have suggested that they travel to Eraklyon to have this dinner.

[Chris Strongheart]

"It hurts," she whispered quietly. Her blue eyes opened and looked at Sky. "It's where I was injured." She closed her eyes tightly and whimpered very softly. "I think I better lie down. That's what Doctor Sterling said to do when the pain got bad."

[Sky]

"All right," Sky said doubtfully, his features still displaying his concern. "Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor? I'm sure my father could send for our family physician right away, if you feel that it's necessary."

[Chris Strongheart]

She whispered quietly to him, "I don't want to give your family any more ammo to use against me. Bad enough I'm not of the right bloodline and your mother had to show me what you should have." She thought. "But if you think it's a wise idea to have a doctor see me, I'll follow your advice. You are my team leader."

[Sky]

Rising to his feet, Sky looked over at Aldrich as he asked, "Father, do you think it would be possible to ring for Dr. Witherspoon? Christine isn't feeling well and I think it would be best to make sure that it isn't something serious that is ailing her."


Aldrich nodded shortly as he motioned for the maid to send for the doctor. As he too rose to his feet, Aldrich said, "Knowing Witherspoon, he'll be here within a quarter of an hour. In the meantime, Mrs. Craikheart will help Christine upstairs while you, your mother, Countess Winfield and I will retire to the drawing room for drinks." With a faint smile, Aldrich said, "I suppose it is safe to say that dinner is officially over."


At this, Riannon protested, "Darling, I hardly think Christine being ill means that the rest of us should go hungry for the rest of the nigh-"


Fixing his wife with a look that clearly said she had better be quiet, Aldrich said shortly, "I said, it's over. We'll have drinks now." Turning to Christine, Aldrich inclined his head slightly as he said, "I am very sorry that you do not feel well, Christine; however, Witherspoon is a highly trained and professional doctor - he will have you in perfect shape in no time; I guarantee it." With that Aldrich strode out of the room, a clear sign that everyone else should follow suit.

As the room emptied, Mrs. Craikheart smiled kindly at Christine. "Don't you worry, m'lady; I'll have you upstairs in no time at all."

[Chris Strongheart]

"Thank you, Mrs Craikheart," Christine said quietly, trying to offer the woman a smile. It was a weak, pained smile, but it was a smile, nonetheless. "This wasn't the impression I had wanted to make..."

[Sky]

"Nonsense," Mrs. Craikheart replied as she helped Christine out of her chair and out of the dining room. "You were a perfect lady and there wasn't a thing you could have done differently to please them." As they approached the stairs, she continued in a low voice to avoid being overheard by any other nosy servants, "To be honest, I don't know why Her Majesty was acting the way she was; I mean, she was being just dreadful to you; even I could see tha-" Mrs. Craikheart stopped suddenly as she gave Christine an apologetic smile, "Forgive me, lady; I shouldn't have gossiped like that. I only did it to distract you from your pain while we climbed the stairs - and see? We're here now." Pushing open the door to the room, Mrs. Craikheart helped Christine over to the large bed. "Now you just rest your eyes for a while and when the doctor arrives, I'll send him up to you." Then without another word, Mrs. Craikheart exited the room and quietly shut the door behind her.

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine lay down, and slowly drifted off to sleep. Not exactly peacefully, but she was asleep. Of course, she wished she was back in Red Fountain, surrounded by her dearest friends (besides Sky) and not in a place of filled with strangers.

And a small part of her wished a certain person in a certain form would sneak in and let her cuddle against his furry form. She always felt safe when she was around the wolf.

[Alice]

Feeling as though she was somehow more of a burden than a guest at the current moment, Alice did her best to appear pleasant as she took her seat on the drawing room sofa beside Sky. Across from her, the king and queen sat on another sofa, their drinks held tightly in their hands, their faces strained as though they had had an unspoken argument. Wishing she could somehow break the ice, Alice inwardly groaned when the only idea she seemed to have at the moment was to suggest a tour of the palace - but somehow, she had a feeling that now was not the proper time to bring it up. In fact, if she did, she'd probably receive two withering stares from the king and the prince - although, she could almost bet her life that the queen would jump to her feet and say 'what a delightful idea.' Even after only an hour in their company, Alice knew perfectly well that the queen did not like Sky's female friend and that she was determined to put an end to whatever relationship they had.

Taking a delicate sip of her drink, Alice's eyes wandered to the grandfather clock that was loudly tick-tocking. With a quiet sigh, she knew that this was going to be a long night.