To Owe a Favor

Killian POV

The food is good. Lillianna's attitude is not. Every minute or two she sighs into her food and puts her elbows on the table. So, every minute or two I reach around her shoulders to straighten her back and slide her arms off the table.

It feels like every time I resume eating my food she is sighing and grumbling into her food. It is apparent that her mood shift has everything to do with my statement to the King.

I lean back when a server passes by our chairs, "Could she get a cup of tea?" I make a motion with my hand behind Lillianna's back and the server nods, accepting my request to have caffeine added to her tea to hopefully offset her dejected mood.

Lillianna turns around in her seat to once again to put on a fake smile for the shifters, but to speak to me privately in the Fae language, "I do not wish to have any tea."

I smile back just as forced and eat another forkful from my plate, "Seeing as you've been pouting the whole meal, I think you need a cup of tea."

Her smile turns to a glare, "Let's see how long it takes for it to be poured over your head."

I glare back when she says this and her eyes widen, a normal response to my anger, "If you do anything to disrespect me, I will make sure you are covered in my marks," I chuckle so the mood is once again light, "You will always have a favor to owe."

Lillianna crosses her arms but thinks better of it and resumes eating. If someone could receive payment to chew and swallow aggressively, then all the money would go to Lillianna. I can't tell if the shifters notice the jarring smashing of her teeth as she chews, because she keeps a pleasant smile on her face the entire time.

It's an off-putting display, and when the tea arrives, I quickly slide it next to her plate with a warning look.

She drinks the entire cup while not breaking eye-contact with me. When she's finished, she dabs her lips clean with a napkin, "Delicious."

By now the plates are being removed from the table and slight chatter is being passed around the table.

Instead of joining into the conversation as Lillianna had previously done, she rubs her chest and takes three quiet deep breaths.

No one else seems to notice her behavior as her legs start bouncing up and down.

I place a hand between her shoulder blades, "Everything okay?"

My conversation with Selivan flits into my mind before she answers. Maybe she was getting sick from the Fae magic in the tea, if that was truly possible.

Lillianna nods absentmindedly, "I can feel my heart beating really fast."

She begins fanning herself and a few of the shifters make jokes about the temperature in the ballroom. Lillianna smiles politely and tries to laugh, but it comes out faint.

From my seat, I can see sweat starting to form at the back of her neck. Gathering in small pools until it slides onto the fabric of her dress.

Lillianna grabs at my armor and whispers close to my face, "I think I'm having a panic attack."

I shake my head and pull her chair closer to mine, "There was a bit of caffeine in your tea, it will wear off soon. Just try to focus on something."

Lillianna gasps and huffs out a breath, "Why would there be caffeine in my tea? This is a dinner party."

I shrug and loop my arm around her back to keep her from overreacting, "I may have requested it to offset your foul mood."

Her eyes flick up to mine in shock, "Well if you hadn't embarrassed me, I wouldn't have been upset."

I can feel my face scrunch up in disbelief, "How did I embarrass you?" At her pointed look I sigh, "Because I called you 'human?' You tell me I'm a fairy at every turn."

Lillianna crosses her arms, "I say it jokingly. You weren't joking, and you announced it to everyone."

I sigh, "You owe a favor, and everyone knows. You belong to the Fae."

Her response is loud and clear to those around us as she glares me down.

"Then that is a problem for the Fae."

Dessert is placed in front of us, and as Lillianna reaches for her spoon her arm brushes against the small dessert plate placed in front of me.

It slips off the table and I have one second to grab the plate and dessert in my hand before it splatters on my crotch.

The sticky cake dessert ends up in my hand and I have unwrap my arm from Lillianna to snatch up the plate.

Lillianna is taking a bite of her dessert as I wipe my hands off with a napkin. She points her spoon to me, speaking in her human language that all the shifters understand, "Oh no. You could probably ask for another, maybe even with some caffeine in it."

A few laughs were shared with the shifters about the late hour being unusual for the Fae, mocking the incident to be a late-night spill.

I smile widely at Lillianna despite my annoyance and some of her confidence disappears at my calm demeaner. In the fae language I tell her, "You're going to regret that."

Lillianna takes another bite of her chocolate dessert, "Wait until I tell Lona and Adrin their warrior son dropped cake in his hand."

"Leave my mothers out of this," she laughs at my outrage and slides the rest of her dessert me as a show of peace to everyone else at the table. I accept begrudgingly.

If I had wanted the dinner to be uneventful, I shouldn't have allowed Lillianna to come.

The shifters have been watching our exchanges idly the entire night, and not only does Lillianna look like a pesky human, but the few who could understand the fae language continuously laughed at our heated discussions.

Lillianna looks more like a date to this dinner than someone who owes a favor. That would have to change soon. No matter how much I liked reserving favors from humans.