**Tempus—Niklas Wagner**
"More often than not, I make the mistake of forgetting that you were raised by a military man." Giovanny gritted, pouring himself some alcohol aggressively.
Bad table manners, but of course Serpentine didn't know the man personally enough to know that he preferred alcohol to actual dinner.
She smiled. "You flatter me, your majesty. My father is actually not as wonderful as you paint him to be. When it comes to being a horrible father—he is just second to you."
He down the alcohol then slammed the glass against the table. Perhaps the attempt was to rattle her, but she had long turned to the ice hardened boulders of Vaskor, so she couldn't reciprocate with the reaction he expected.
"But he was certainly wonderful enough to bring you into this world," he said mockingly, smacking his lips, "you who are my wife; Serpentine Andal Thorne. You whose beauty is said to move the world yet I hardly ever have a view of it."
