adam can’t help it, the way that he smiles faintly at the sound of cobb vanth’s words. a veiled confession, an admittance. it fills his highness with a sense of SATISFACTION, of VICTORY. he’s successfully wormed his way under the marshal’s skin, successfully managed to settle himself right there within arm’s reach of the man. all cobb has to do is ASK, is GIVE IN, and adam would be his. that’s all it takes.
“ is that so, marshal? ” the prince murmurs, turning his gaze away from the crackling fire that they’d been sat by and instead letting blue eyes FIXATE upon him. “ you’re not the first person to tell me that, you know. i have that effect on people. ” true words, yes, but that’s not why adam is uttering them ; no, he wants to see what reaction it draws from vanth. he wants to see what he does. adam’s just playing the game, rolling the dice and making his moves.
he cares for cobb vanth. he does. why else would he not have left tatooine yet? there’s plenty of other planets to explore, plenty more to move onto. but the other ones won’t quite have anyone quite as fascinating as cobb. they’re entirely different, from two completely different worlds, but, maker, he fascinates adam. the way that he plays the game just as well as adam does, the way that he shamelessly flirts back and forth with him. it’s utterly intoxicating, and he can’t get enough. it’s THRILLING.
adam looks away, that faint simper still residing upon his margins. the truth is the fact that the older man’s words resonate with him, too. cobb vanth has taking up residence in his mind, and doesn’t seem to want to leave. terribly inconvenient. “ it’s funny that you say that, though, ” he adds, shifting and looking at him through golden lashes. “ because, i’ll admit, the feeling is... reciprocated just a bit. how scandalous, yes? ” the heir to the planet of aveyon, absolutely fascinated and enamoured with a marshal of a small village on an outer rim planet. sounds like something out of a romance novel, admittedly.
