do you want to hear me ramble about a thing I accidentally made too subtle in the Warlord fic lol who cares I'm rambling anyway
Prince Damian of Miska clenched his fingers on his knees so they could not betray him by trembling, and did not rise from kneeling. At least there was a thick bearskin rug to pad the cold stone floor before the throne. “This,” the Warlord waved one broad hand in a dismissive gesture toward Damian, “is a mess.” . . .
The fighters stomped and screamed their approval. The Warlord slung a casual arm over the Warlock's shoulders, holding the other man close as he waited for the howling to fade. “See the Miskan delegation into quarters,” he ordered, waving a dismissive hand at Damian and his escort. “Tend to their needs.” And then the Warlord left. Just... turned and walked out of the audience chamber with his arm around his Warlock. Prince Damian was frozen on the floor. --Chapter 1
“Your rights, your rooms, I suppose next would be your role. We should figure out what work suits you, what place you'll be happy in the Keep. I've no mind to keep you like a caged bird. Tell me, what are princes in Miska, besides,” he flipped his hand dismissively toward Damian. “Decorative?”
Decorative, in a warrior's fortress, where decoration was held as unnecessary. Unwanted. All the confidence of the reassurances he'd been given fled Damian at once.
--Chapter 4
“I mean to say, I ought to show my manservant, that we may plan my outfits. If my Lord Husband will excuse me?” “Go on. Have fun,” the Warlord dismissed with a brief flick of his hand. --Chapter 13
“I did receive the lovely glasswork you sent ahead,” Damian protested.
Heda flipped her hand dismissively at him. “That was a present from Uncle Sigurd, I just made the commission for him."
-- Chapter 15
“The Warlord will hear of this insult!” Luca hissed, as Damian ushered the kitchen staff out in front of him. Damian flicked a hand toward the caravan in the most insultingly dismissive gesture he knew to accompany an airy suggestion: “Good soldiers, perhaps our esteemed guests would be more comfortable sitting outside the gates to await the Dread Warlord's pleasure?” -- Chapter 16
Damian, very much a stranger in a strange land, is misreading quite a few things in the beginning. But in those first few chapters, some part of his anxiety is that he is reading a very casual gesture common to the Warlord's people as an insult. It is a thing you do toward someone you disdain that they may know they are worth nothing to you. And by the time we reach the reveal of that in Chapter 16, he is no longer responding to it as a slight. but in the beginning? On shaky ground? You bet your buckets it was tallied up as proof that he was not safe among these people.
Thankfully, he learned better <3
Anyway, read for the want of a jewel I'm still proud of how that fic turned out lol.