LILA grins, cherry red lips upturned mischievously and
khol-lined eye glittering. it’s a great love of hers, putting
people on the spot and watching their reaction. and, since
artemis is the only tolerable person her age, he’s the target
of her attention. ( a mixed blessing with lila. )
“i need someone to kiss me at midnight,” she repeats, quite
pleased with his reaction. “i want to start the new year with a
kiss, so obviously i need a little help with that.”
her pale hair flashes as she tosses it out of her face. “don’t you
want to kiss a pretty girl ?”
Artemis resists the urge to look to Butler for assistance. It was
his job to save him from would-be kidnappers and assassins,
not pretty girls asking to be kissed. Still, it is only his desire not
to look like a silly child that keeps him from stepping behind
Butler. His bodyguard and confidant would say nothing about it,
but he has an image to uphold.
An image that does not include going pale, or red-faced, over
an admittedly very pretty girl. It’s an image that doesn’t involve
going around kissing pretty girls, either.
He regains the ice-cold composure he faces the world with; he
is a Fowl, after all, and, with his father missing and his mother
bedridden, the current head of a prolific and infamous worker
family. He doesn’t have time for silly things--the only reason he
was at the party was for appearances’ sake (and only that at
Butler’s recommendation).
“It’s a ridiculous tradition,” he says in clipped tones. “Find
somebody else to kiss.”
