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“Oh, do you like the flowers on my desk there, Dante? I notice your gaze keeps flickering over to them.”
Dante Giovanni jolted a bit at being suddenly addressed, quickly returning his gaze towards Prince Raveena, whose green eyes were staring at him with cool and careful regard.
Phoenix, who only seconds ago had been eagerly gushing to Raveena about how beautiful the decorations for the upcoming holiday gala were going to be, was now staring at him and then the bouquet with owlish curiosity.
A feeling of sheepishness came over Dante at having been caught out, even for something so minor. He had thought Raveena and Phoenix to be so absorbed in their conversations regarding planning that his attention could stray the slightest bit without notice, but apparently not.
Truly nothing escaped Prince Raveena’s attention. Admiration stirred in Dante’s chest. He could only hope to be half as attentive as her in the future.
He quickly cleared his throat and gave Prince Raveena a small, apologetic smile before smoothly saying, “Ah yes. Pardon me, my Prince for being distracted, but those flowers are admittedly a little hard to miss over there.”
“I’d say!” Phoenix chimed in loudly. They strode over towards the bouquet curiously and picked it up, gently spinning the wrapped flowers around to gaze at them from various angles, their eyes wide. “This thing is humongous! I could probably hide from an enemy behind these if I wanted to!” Then, as if to demonstrate, they hid their face behind the bouquet. While of course, exaggerating a bit, the large display did hide most of Phoenix’s head and a sizable chunk of their neck.
Lowering the flowers down, Phoenix looked at Prince Raveena and said, “You can’t display these in a vase on your desk! No one would be able to see you at all if you sat down.”
“They do take up quite a bit of desk space,” Raveena admitted, “But the display is too pretty not to show off at least a little on my desk, at least until I can find a more proper place to put them.”
“It is a beautiful display,” Phoenix agreed, gently touching one of the flowers with their fingers. “You don’t see black roses used too often during holiday times, and the heart detail is super cute!” They angled the bouquet down in such a way so both Raveena and Dante could gaze at it fully.
Dante had to agree that the display truly was beautiful. The large bouquet consisted entirely of roses - some pure black, others crimson, and a few of them a beautiful combination of the two - like blood and night swirled together.
The flowers alone were beautiful but what truly made the piece unique was the way the flowers were arranged. Whoever had put the bouquet together was truly talented. The red roses were all clustered in the middle of the display, surrounded by the jet black ones, but they were put and pressed together in such a way that the red roses resembled a red Valentine’s style heart.
It truly was a beautiful and romantic piece, something Dante could imagine seeing in a gothic supernatural romance movie or the like. In that way, the display should’ve been almost tacky and cheesy, but he couldn’t help but find it lovely still, like something that should be preserved in an oil painting.
Though he always had been a hopeless romanticist at heart.
Phoenix raised the bouquet back up to smell the flowers, before grinning at Raveena and waggling their eyebrows saying, “Was this also from that secret admirer of yours?”
Dante glanced at Raveena with interest.
Everyone within Prince Raveena’s inner circle was well-aware that someone had been leaving the Prince various gifts over the past few nights, ever since the month of December began. Apparently the gifts were always left near the front of her office door on a table, with a note denoting that the presents belonged to her, but nothing indicating who the presents were from.
The gifts were always different. One night it was a set of red and black candles of varying scents and lengths. Another night it was a box full of expensive wine glasses. Two nights ago, it had both cologne and perfume. Last night it had been an expensive bottle of alcohol-infused blood, cleverly disguised as an obscure wine company bottle. High-quality stuff from what Raveena said.
Every night it was becoming a daily curiosity to see what this secret admirer would bring next and if they would continue their string of presents.
Dante was always curious of what Prince Raveena’s reactions would be to the various gifts, trying to see what would elicit a response or comment from her.
Nodding at Phoenix, Prince Raveena said, “I believe it is them, yes. At the very least had the same M.O. as all of the other gifts, both with being put on the desk outside and with the card.” Amusement graced her tone as she said, “It seems they haven’t tired of this little display yet.”
“Ugh! Now I am all jealous,” Phoenix griped, clutching the bouquet close to their heart as they emphatically continued, “I wish I had a secret admirer who wanted to shower me with all sorts of gifts and not expect anything in return! The last few partners I’ve been with wouldn’t know romance or subtlety if it bit them in the nose!”
“It is a pretty romantic gesture,” Dante confessed with a nod, “Like something out of a romance novel.” Nodding towards Phoenix, he said, “I don’t think I would mind having one myself.”
“Unsurprising, Dante,” Phoenix teased. “You always were like a Disney movie romantic.”
“Hey,” Dante protested, feeling suddenly affronted, a light blush dusting his cheeks.
The corner of Raveena’s lips twitched upward in amusement at the display, but she continued, “I almost wish they would just reveal themselves, though. Why the secrecy?”
“Perhaps they’re so ugly they think they will be executed if they delivered these to you in-person,” Phoenix giggled, setting the bouquet down back on the desk, seemingly bored of holding it.
“I should hope they would not think I am that cruel or trigger-happy,” Raveena said, sounding slightly dismayed as they gazed at Phoenix.
“I am just joking, my Prince,” Phoenix reassured, “You would never and I am sure they know it.”
“The anonymity is probably just part of the thrill of it all,” Dante said with a shrug. “Adds to the mystique if you will.” He could certainly sympathize with that. “Or maybe it’s like Phoenix suggested in a way. They’re afraid of inadvertently insulting you. I mean, you are the Prince of the Camarilla. Lots of pressure to make sure your gift is tactful and of quality-”
“Well they shouldn’t be afraid of me,” Prince Raveena said firmly, “And they need not worry about the quality of their gifts, either. Everything they’ve given me is very high-end.”
Phoenix and Dante both mumbled and nodded their agreement with that statement.
Shaking her head slightly, Prince Raveena went back to business mode. Gazing at Phoenix, she said, “We’ve gotten distracted. You said that the tables still need to be arranged and set up in the dining area, correct?”
Phoenix also went back to business mode. Nodding, they said, “Yes. We fell a bit behind schedule. Nothing that can’t be made up of course, but the tables haven’t been set up the way I wanted to. They’re working on fixing it now though.”
Prince Raveena’s gaze flickered towards Dante. “Would you mind going in and helping them? The ghouls tend to work faster when an actual Kindred is there watching them and I know you will make sure they will do a good job. I’ll send Phoenix over again to help you once I am done conversing with them.”
Dante, suddenly motivated with a new mission at hand, stood up straight and nodded, saying, “Of course, my Prince.” He quickly gave her a bow, before rising up and giving a coy smile and saying, “I can’t wait to see if that admirer of yours brings you something else. It’s been a daily curiosity admittedly.”
“Yes, we will have to see,” Raveena murmured.
Then with that, Dante turned his heel and walked out, closing the large wooden double doors behind him with a click.
A few moments of silence passed after he left, before suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a tall figure clad in black appeared in the corner of the room, as if a cloak of invisibility had fallen off of them, growling, “How long are you going to continue the charade that you don’t know it’s him, Raveena? It kills me to see him thinking that he’s actually clever.”
“Heh, I knew you were in here the whole time, William,” Phoenix tittered with amusement, throwing a sly and arrogant look at the fellow Malkavian. Then they giggled even harder, saying, “But I have to agree. I knew it was him the very first night, even before William saw him do it. I mean come on, he's like, *so* obvious.”
William had to agree with that statement. When the presents first started appearing, the Camarilla Sheriff had of course decided to see who was actually doing it, just in case there was a chance of any foul play or ill intentions.
It had been a pathetically easy spying job on his part. The suspect in question always left the presents in the same exact location and always slightly before Raveena would go into her office as per usual. All it had required was for him to find a convenient standing place, and then to Obfuscate himself, much as he had been only moments earlier, and soon the “secret” admirer had quickly been revealed to be none other than Dante Giovanni, which William had not even hesitated to report to the Prince.
And ever since the discovery, William had to suffer through the painful act of watching Dante pretend ignorance, even when the bastard was practically preening any time Raveena so much as displayed one of his many gifts in her office. A large part of him wanted to shatter that undeserved ego immediately. He bet the face the bastard would make would be pretty funny.
Raveena gave both Phoenix and William a stern look and said, “Neither of you will say anything about it to him. He will feel humiliated. If he wants to think of himself as a devilishly clever rogue, then let him. It’s not hurting anyone.”
Both William and Phoenix looked slightly disappointed at the order but nodded their assent, both saying, “Yes, my Prince.”
Then, looking at them, she continued, “If anything, just to see what he will pull out next. I am still not sure how he managed to get his hands on that particular blood-wine, but I am very pleased he did. If he can land more stuff like that, then a bit of acting on all of our parts is a small price to pay I should say.”
Phoenix grinned, “Ahh I see how it is now. Clever, clever. Who knows, if you imply something, he might somehow bring you something truly crazy like the Ankaran Sarcophagus in a desperate attempt to please you.”
A flit of amusement went through Prince Raveena’s green eyes at that. There was probably some truth to that statement. But for now, she didn’t need anything so grand. She would just take some minor enjoyment from these small gifts being given her way for as long as Dante was willing to continue giving them.
Speaking of which…
Walking over to the wine in her office, she pulled out the alcohol-infused blood she had gotten and held the bottle out in an offering to both Phoenix and William saying, “Would you like to try some by the way?”