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Kiriona threw herself down onto the chaise lounge in Ianthe’s quarters on her Dad’s ship, instantly putting her boots on the elegant side table next to it. One hand grabbed the crown of flowers off of her head and threw it on the seat next to her, the other followed with a sweep through her hair, making sure it fell naturally into the way that had women swooning.
The second Tower Prince watched this with a single raised eyebrow in the reflection of her mirror, fiddling with her pale hair in a way that was supposed to make it more appealing. Kiriona snorted and looked back at her, rolling her eyes. “You know, no matter how much you fiddle with it, it’s still gonna look like bleached straw someone pissed in.”
Ianthe’s lip curled and she was about to snap back a retort when someone hesitantly knocked on the door.
Instantly, both Princes sat up straighter, met eyes, and smirked, a silent agreement made. This was, arguably, their favourite game.
Turning towards the door, both made a point of staring at it as Ianthe called out, “Come in.”
A low-ranking officer of some kind was at the door. She was probably in her mid-twenties, and already trembling. It was often the way of the Cohort lower rankers that they were terrified of the two of them. One was the child of God, for goodness sake, and Ianthe had a horrendous reputation; she especially loved telling them that she ate people.
“Sorry to bother you, my Princes, but the Emperor Undying, His Celestial Kindliness has-”
Kiriona barked out a laugh and looked at Ianthe, interrupting the messenger. “Wonder what dear old Daddy wants now.”
The officer blanched, her eyes darting between the two, trying both to look and not make eye contact at the same time.
Ianthe rolled her eyes and stood, moving to the door and leaning across to invade the officers' space. “Come now, pet, ignore her and focus on me.” A golden phalange tilted the woman's face up to look into those strange multi-coloured eyes, and Ianthe made a point of licking her lips. “Oh you just look like you’d be so much fun, pet. What’s your name, sweet thing?”
“Uh…” The poor girl was shaking at this point.
From her sprawled elegance, Kiriona snorted. “Good Dad, just feeling you touch her had erased her of all sense. It’s official, Prince Naberius, you literally make people braindead with a single golden finger.”
The casual replacement of ‘Dad’ instead of ‘Lord’, the snort from the Crown Prince and the observation of the gibbering mess the officer had become all had the same effect it usually did, and had her running from the room, not even bothering to wait for a dismissal.
Both Prince’s laughed, but it was Kiriona that sat up once more, groaning deeply as she did. “Well, we better fucking see what Dad wants, I suppose. Make sure that kid hasn’t shat herself. Or resigned.”
It didn’t occur to either of them that the ‘kid’ they’d just humiliated for their own entertainment was older than them by at least a few years.
Ianthe rolled her eyes and huffed. “Fine, but this time you do the talking. If he wants to whinge about the Admiral again, I swear I will set his coat on fire and dance on the ashes.”
After fixing themselves back up and making their way down the hall back towards God’s chambers, Kiriona looked at her sibling Prince and broke the silence. “Do you reckon it would even catch on fire?”