Palas accepts Lydins' wine

Palas knew that overconfidence was the **** of spies, but she thought herself well above falling for any glamour her friend might cast, whether said spell was amplified by the effect of **** or not. As such, she accepted one of the elegant, crystalline glasses. As she prepared to bottoms-up, the vampire wagged one finger scoldingly.

The Countess De Geomorte grinned with a sympathetic tilt of her eyebrows, raising her own glass, held with the neck between her middle finger and ring finger (upon which a shining gold ring glimmered, a symbol of wealth, rather than marriage). "Are you not going to toast? If you have nothing to celebrate, then allow me to pull from my list," she teased, urging Palas to tap glasses. When the other girl conceded, her grin widened. Perhaps intentionally, she waited until the glass was to Palas' lips to continue in a joking tone. "By the way, I have reason to believe you may be interested in becoming the subject of a rare, full-on nudity portrait, displayed directly in my foyer," she spoke quickly.

The wine caught in Palas' throat and she gave a **** cough. All of the other women in the parlor were clothed... what should she take from the fact that Lydins De Geomorte wanted to paint her, specifically, as a debatable artistic nude? She asked as much, playing dumb.

The vampire chuckled lightly, then tilted the lip of her cup towards her fellow demon, so that Palas could see her own reflection in the surface of the liquid. "Your image was displayed very large in the Night Parade just a day ago. From the rumors spoken by this city's grapevine, I take it you held quite a show! I wish I'd been there, my dear... I hear you even smiled~" she teased, withdrawing the cup to drink from it, quietly sipping as she watched Palas with her gleaming, mischievous yellow eyes.

"Ha! Yes, what of it? Just a bit of fun," Palas scoffed, determined to play dumb to the last. How much had the vampire heard? If Lydins knew that she'd betrayed the demon lord, then she needed to start pleading her case directly instead of waiting for Dyna to get the necromancer on board.

"You have a secret, don't you?" Lydins continued, setting down her glass now and taking a seat upon a backless, velvet-clothed stool. She crossed one leg over the other, then cupped her chin with one hand delicately, grinning ear-to-ear. "You- a creature of solitude, an elusive spy- are quite the exhibitionist, aren't you?"

Palas gulped, taking another drink from her cup and looking aside instead of answering. She'd hoped Lydins wouldn't know about that particular aspect of last night's affairs either, but it was still better than her knowing about the betrayal. "I wouldn't call myself an 'exhibitionist.' It's simply empowering to have my body acknowledged. Any demon would want such sway over mortals," she scoffed, trying to keep the redness out of her pale face as a mixture of wine and embarrassment went to it.

"Hmmm? How about sway over immortals?" her friend questioned, tilting her chin ever so slightly. "With your beautiful, unclothed figure adorning a portrait in my foyer, I fear I'd never be able to leave that very room! My servants would have to start bringing me my blood in to-go cups," she joked, then laughed heartily. "What do you say, Palas? Are you interested in that kind of portrait? Or... perhaps something more? How would you feel if we took this painting session outside, into my garden?"

"O-Outside?" Palas questioned, her cup shaking slightly in her fingers as she tried to draw wine from the empty glass. Her narrow eyes had widened at the thought of posing naked in the garden, where any rich folk taking a stroll by the De Geomorte estate would spot her. On one hand, it wasn't as though Lydins was asking her to get double penetrated by clones like Mympho had. On the other hand... when this night was over, her friend would have her nude form immortalized in canvas, displayed artistically in her low-lit foyer for all sorts of high class visitors. The thought made her tingle with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation...