"What exactly can't you see? What is it this it?" He seemed to have been far from her, far enough from the table. But there has been hardly a fraction of moment between them, and he stands behind her already. She may say he has been standing there since his appearance in this room: him being right behind her back feels so natural. It may be the effect of a snake however: that one rising from the surface of his wrist with the might of deep, deep roots that cross the thickness of soil. One might laugh at it and call it a fake one, an illusion to be fed with for whatever purpose this demon has, but the fact is that the snake is very much alive. Its fangs repeat the anticipation of the King and Earl's own teeth hidden behind his lips slightly parted. He does not smile, but passion and interest are there in him. He is very focused on the frustration she has just demonstrated. He has already tasted it, swallowed it, made a part of himself. More than that, it has been his part initially. Only an intricate circle of life revealed it through her to give it to him in a form of special feeling: neither pleasure nor disgust. It is the feeling of poison. And the poison is his need here.
It is his decision. He will not ask her any permission to bite the precious layer of her being that has been suffering for quite a while. He will just do it. He has only taken his right of doing it his own way because they have been talking and his curiosity about what she has been whining about keeps him busy. His forefinger with a silver ring reflecting them both and making the blood spilled darker points at the papers swimming into tainted future. "Lift the maps and you will see." The taipan wrapping itself around her neck hisses into her ear while his other hand giving birth to this very serpent keeps her head fixed. She can see the maps, only the maps.
