The hivemind is conquering for me?

With the party well underway, Dickon sat on his throne deep in thought, a mistake on his part as his wife forced two drinks into his hands. "You may be King my love, but you are not above the rules I set out this evening." Elaine said with a coy smile.

Smiling back at his wife, he tipped his head back as he began drinking the entire tankard in his left hand. After finishing the drink, he looked at his wife who was waiting for an answer for his current thought process.

"Why hasn't my little girl made her appearance yet? I promised I would stay out of her way, I just want to see her up close, I mean see her." Dickon said pouting. Elain giggled as she sat on her throne and held her husbands hand. "She is probably just waiting for the perfect moment. Most likely when you are drunk as you do tend to mellow out after a few drinks."

After hearing that, an Epiphany washed over Dickon. He looked at the drink in his other hand before downing it as fast as possible. "I will be right back love, I am going to go to the bar!" He said as he ran across the room like a giddy child."

Elaine watched her husband, the king of a space faring civilisation, in his fifties, have a group of nobles help him to do a keg stand on one of the many that were in rotation. As she looked away to scan the room, she noticed someone in particular skulking about the entrance.

'Hmm.' She thought noticing Dickon was still distracted. 'She is not looking at her father, so who?' Elaine tried to follow Her step daughters eye line and she spotted a man talking to Valerica Hyllus.'

She did not recognise the man so she snapped her fingers discreetly to her left. Suddenly, one of her handmaidens who was chatting nearby turned serious and hastily made her way over.

"Is everything alright my queen?" The Handmaiden asked. "Go talk to the man interacting with Lady Hyllus over there. Find out about him and report back in five minutes." Elaine ordered, before drinking her drink to not appear like she had something planned.

'Has Hailey noticed something odd about the man, or is he the one she is here for?' She thought, remembering what Hailey said to her earlier. She supposed she would find out the answer shortly as she got up and began mingling with the crowds once more.

"Drink, Apollo, Drink. I caught you with your hands empty!" Valerica cheered. "I literally just put my finished drink down, you are just using cheap tactics to make me drink more." I said accusingly towards Valerica. "Yes and It worked so shut it and get that down your throat!"

Now it turned out Valerica, Kathrine and I were not the only Nobles present with Psionic energies coursing throughout our bodies and as such, the party had made a highly potent alcohol that in order to drink, you had to prove you had Psionic capabilities.

The only issue was that I was still resistant to poisons so I was not yet feeling anything, maybe in 10 more of these drinks I would feel a buzz. "Sure use cheap tactics, It is the only way you will win our bet."

"Forgive the intrusion, are the two of you betting? That sounds fun, what are the stakes?" A pretty woman said appearing from seemingly nowhere. "Oh sorry, I did not mean to interrupt your fun, I am Eleni, a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine Eleni, I am Valerica and this handsome man is my daughters date to this event. He would love to introduce himself, but he still has a drink to throw back." Valerica said narrowing her eyes at me.

With a sigh I drank the strong alcohol that was very sweet before finally speaking. "Sorry about that, yes I am Apollo, a pleasure to meet you Eleni and to answer your question It is not a wagered bet, It is more of a competitive bet. Valerica, Kathrine and I are seeing who is going to be the most sober at the end of the night. The one most sober has a demand they can make from the other no questions asked." Experience exclusive tales on m v|l e'-NovelBin.net

Valerica then continued for me. "The bar keeps tabs on how many of these strong drinks a person has had and if you go below three from you opposition, you lose so there is no cheating."

"Wow guys, sounds like you are really getting into the spirit of the event. Where is your daughter, Kathrine, if she is participating in this event?" Eleni asked. "Oh well, My daughter tried to gain a lead and downed two drinks back to back, she could not handle the strength so she went to the restroom and is now disqualified, she is back onto normal drinks now and is on the balcony getting some fresh air to pull herself together."

"Kathrine is a remarkable woman, so the fact she got knocked out so quickly has embarrassed her, she will be back soon if you want to meet her." I said. Eleni fanned the air in front of her. "Oh I am well acquainted with Kathrine, I have made my mission tonight to meet new people which is why I came over now."

We continued chatting with Eleni, getting to know one another for a short while before she suddenly cut herself off. "Sorry, I need to use the restroom, It was a pleasure talking with the two of you, especially you my Arcon. I hope we bump into each other again later." She said before walking away quickly.

"Hmm, she must be bursting." Valerica spoke softly. "Who is bursting?" A voice came from behind us. "Oh hey lightweight? You holding up ok?" I playfully teased, forgetting to answer her, as I brought Kathrine into my arms. "Apollo, you know I am not a lightweight, It is just those drinks are atrocious. How you two are stomaching them is beyond me."

Valerica squinted her eyes into a smile as she jumped on the teasing train. "That is just something a lightweight says to make them feel better about themselves my baby. Just admit you can't handle your drink and we will drop the whole thing, wont we handsome?"

"Oh absolutely." I said before whispering into her ear. "Just admit it gorgeous." Kathrine shivered as the warm air blew into her ear, but she then shrugged me off and declared. "I am getting more air!" Before walking off, causing Valerica and I to share a look before we started laughing.

"I'll go get her, just no cheating in my absence." I said to Valerica before walking off, leaving her to mingle with others for a while.

…

As Elaine was mingling with guests, Eleni walked passed her and gave her a subtle glance, indicating she had performed her job. "Um, Excuse me a moment Arcon Phillip, I have a matter to attend to."

A few moments later, Elaine walked to one of the columns behind one of the columns at the far end of the room where Eleni was waiting for her. Without wasting anytime, Eleni began speaking. "The man you sent me to talk to is called Apollo Lambdason, 18 years old and is an Arcon from the outer rim."

'The outer rim? What is he doing here?' Elaine thought as Eleni continued speaking. "He apparently met Lady Kathrine Hyllus through his family contacts and has worked for her. He is now her date to this event. Also I can say with absolute certainty that, that man is not a spy. His eyes, they were so pure and unbothered with the stress of our Galaxy, a man with such beautiful eyes could not hold the malice of a spy or saboteur. And the way he talked! So free and unburdened, he seemed genuinely happy about everything and not just putting on a show like half of the people here. Also-"

"Eleni!" Elaine said, silencing the ramblings of her maiden. "Sorry my queen, I got carried away." Eleni said hanging her head down. "It is fine, I have never seen you develop a crush before, it is cute." Eleni began to stammer in denial, but her queen was still talking. "So he isn't a spy, then why was my step daughter looking at him so intently?"

Elaine looked back at the location where Hailey had been hiding all this time and noticed she was no longer there. Scanning the room, she finally spotted her step daughter walking with a purpose towards where that Apollo person was leading Kathrine Hyllus towards the dancing floor.

Intrigued, Elaine positioned herself tactically in the room so she could see both Hailey, Apollo and Dickon all at once just in case she had to intervene somewhere. However, once she got into position, A guard of the party, who were not stationed in this room walked over and whispered something in her ear.

"Really, now? And he has detached from his honour guard?" Elaine looked at her husband, he was absolutely sloshed at this point and was having too much fun to deal with this.

"Fine, lead me to where you last saw him, I will deal with this myself." She said before walking out of the room through a side exit.