This was part of his job that neither Ethan had anticipated to cater few years prior nor he was willing to carry out even now if it wasn't for dread of imminent death looming above his head. Ready to strike him the second he falters.
"What's making you get so lost in pretty little head of yours Jagiya¹?" the voice carrying cause of dread slithered through his musings and involuntary goosebumps racked through his skin as this abominable creature purred out the last word.
Jagiya? This son of bitch learning Korean now?
"I had ordered those insects to prepare most lavish feast that's to be offered on this puny planet but my beloved looks rather fatigued at sight of it." creature continued to nonchalantly opinionate his displeasure on Ethan's reaction-or lack of it-for the plans he was dragged into despite his very expressive unwillingness to participate.
"Hmm? This won't do. Should I punish those humans by making them eat their own fingers for not living upto your standards? It's rather entertaining to watch them twitch and cry at mere thought of canniblising. I wonder what expression they'll make if it's their own body parts they'll have to feast upon." a sadistic smile morphed on creatures features and Ethan felt like he is going to hurl all over his 'lavish dinner' if he let this one-sided conversation to go on for even a second more.
"No need to take such drastic measures for feeble entertainers who are likely to prove unsatisfactory for refined tastes of His Highness. Isn't this proletarian in your possession enough for this event?" he started with type of timbre one uses while placating rabid beast back into its cage.
"But this meal was about to exhaust it's true essence in your anticipation with how blatantly you kept ignoring it till now. Even this humble shufaal felt little abandoned from your aloofness." creature replied with petulant pout. Truly, the audacity of this overgrown creature was so astounding that only things stopping Ethan from driving silver knife on his table right between its eyes is, well, gruesome death. Or maybe eternal torture. He cannot decide which will be worse honestly.
"I just got momentary distracted from extravagance of this gourmet lavishness your benevolent stature had decided to descend upon me this night. I do apologize if my performance felt lacking cause of these humanly hiccups but I truly never intended on His Highness's displeasure." Oh, I did. I so fucking did.
'You feel abandoned? Good. I hope they abandoned you on your goddamn birth so i didn't had to deal with lump of disgusting meat that's blabbering about shit even human toddler wouldn't.'
"I hope you forgive this lowly one's transgressions." He finished and bowed at horrifying face of creature in his front which was painstakingly morphing into something akin to amusement.
"I see." he replied.
"But you see Vallabha², I fear I do not have it in me to forgive you tonight." the syrupy voice travelled through his ears again and Ethan's entire body locked in place. Normally he would've overlooked such jest and played along with this creature's shrewd sense of humour.
But. BUT.
There was something in that tone today.
Something that hadn't been ever directed towards him before this day. Something that had his instincts acting up. Telling him to get the fuck up and run before it gets too late.
He immediately whipped his head up only to find pale face of creature adorned with its infamous four eyes and lips stretched into mocking smirk directed towards Ethan.
"I-I beg your pardon?" he stumbled on his words as thorny dread starts filling his heart.
"You heard me human. Since you've willingly ventured on path of disloyalty, this Shaafua can no longer cherish you like they wished to. Your sin had already been witnessed by entire Court and they made sure to spread it to remotest confines of human realm. By now every single bug of your kind must've been made aware of the consequences to aid you by any means. You can no longer run so don't even dream about it." the creature called King calmly conveyed the news as he closed his eyes and took sip of wine made out of unearthly venom. So refreshing for his revered self but human body might as well disintegrate at its mere whiff.
Too bad it had purpose to serve tonight or King had enjoyed its every sip with their current fascination.
On the other side of table, however, Ethan suddenly couldn't breathe.
'This can't be happening', he thought as the weight of King's word started wrapping around his being like iron chains.
This cannot be fucking happening.
NOTES:
1. Jagiya (자기야) – "Honey" or "Baby" Perhaps the most popular of the Korean terms of love between couples it means "honey," "darling," or "baby".
2. Vallabha(वल्लभ)- The name Vallabha means lover or beloved in Sanskrit. It is a name of Vishnu. It is sometimes spelled as Vallabh or Vallava.