“Could you really be expected to..." she paused, searching for the word.
"Pleasure?" He offered, amiably.
"Entertain. All three of them?"
He began dealing the cards again. "Yes."
"How?"
He looked up at her, and offered her a wolfish grin. "Would you really like me to answer that?"
Her eyes widened. "Uhm... no."
He laughed then, a deep, rumbling laugh unlike anything she'd ever heard from him, and she was stunned by the way it transformed him. His face was immediately lighter, his eyes brighter, his frame more relaxed. She couldn't help but smile back at him, even as she admonished, "You're enjoying my discomfort."
"Indeed I am, Empress."
She blushed. "You shouldn't call me that."
"Why not? You were named for an empress, were you not?"
She closed her eyes and gave a mock shudder. "I prefer not to be reminded of the hideous name."
"You should embrace it," he said, forthrightly. "You're one of the few women I've met who could live up to such a name."
"You've said that before," she said.
He turned a curious look on her. "I have?"
She met his eyes and immediately regretted bringing up the decade-old memory, so insignificant to him- so very meaningful to her.”