"He is mine."
Heinz's voice cut through the air like a blade.
The room went still.
Completely, utterly silent.
Florian didn't move. Couldn't. His brain seemed to short-circuit—a sputtering buzz of static behind his eyes. His mouth parted slightly, but no words came out. The meaning of those three words reverberated like a gong in his skull.
'What the fuck was that?'
He could feel it now—that distinct creeping heat crawling up his neck and blooming across his cheeks.
'Did he just say—Did he really just say that?!'
Across the long table, chaos bloomed in the most delicate way.
Nividea and Nevideus both choked on their food at the same time, coughing and gasping like they'd simultaneously inhaled their entire spoons. Nevideus reached for his water with wild, watery eyes. Nividea thumped her chest, wide-eyed and red in the face.
The princesses? No better.
