Elias' face remained impassive as the two vampires outside spoke, though he rolled his eyes at the notion that the Brodnaxes would sleep with anything. He silently shifted his weight, trying to allow Erasmus as much space as he could in such cramped quarters.
"They've always been more..."
"Primitive?"
"I was going to say animalistic. Even the father wasn't exactly sophisticated."
"The son is a thousand times worse. And to think, we had high hopes."
"High hopes? Really? He tore out his father's heart and ate it like a dog. They're disgusting."
Elias had closed his eyes now. He was very still, more like a statue of a man than the real thing.
"That's been their way, you know. Their tradition."
"Their tradition!? Patricide is one thing, goodness knows it happens, but really."
"And yet, my lady, the Brodnaxes have friends in high places."
"You mean the Chapmans, Titus and Augustine? And the Alcmaeonidae?"
Elias could hear Friedrich pacing back and forth. He opened one of his eyes to look across at Erasmus, although his expression was hardly illuminating. They couldn't communicate like this. Elias could only hope that they wouldn't need to, and both vampires would get bored of their gossiping. It was lovely to hear that things were going to plan, and indeed, both vampires had underestimated him significantly, but it was rather starting to drag on.
He found himself slipping as the conversation continued and he straightened up. The wardrobe audibly creaked. Both vampires stopped talking immediately and Elias could imagine two sets of eyes snapping towards the wardrobe. He made his decision quickly.
"Sorry," he mouthed at Erasmus, as he pulled his cravat off and mussed up his hair, the ribbon half falling undone. He looped the cravat behind Erasmus' head and pulled him forward into a messy and seemingly passionate embrace.
The wardrobe doors swung open. Elias pretended for a moment to be too wrapped up to notice, then pulled away as if shocked, quickly trying to smooth down the front of his waistcoat. "My sincerest apologies. I didn't think anyone was up here." The grin starting to creep into his featured suggested that he was more amused than mortified at his own discretion.