As the whole family stares at me in shocked silence, I raise my glass in a mock toast. “Here’s to court life!”
Anatole’s slate-colored eyes turn bright with humor. “So, Cat—may I call you Cat?”
I nod, my mouth twitching.
“I’m heartily glad we prefer shaking up tradition to killing each other off.”
“You never know. Griffin might still murder you all in your sleep,” I joke, setting my glass to my lips.
“He could try,” Anatole says with a chuckle, and I nearly spit out my wine.
The servants clear away the first course and bring in the next, once again serving me first. I stare at the lamb steak slathered in butter oregano sauce with tiny red potatoes fried until they’re crispy. I look at Griffin, realize my jaw has come unhinged, and snap it shut. He winks, and I kick him under the table.
“Everyone knows Magoi royals are bloodthirsty,” Nerissa says. “Among themselves and their people. We’ll give a new example to the realms.”
“Good luck,” I say. It comes out less sarcastically than I planned.
“Griffin says you’re a soothsayer.” Kaia smiles at me from across the table. She’s pretty and fresh. Too bad she’s been dragged into this mess. “Can you see my future?”
I shake my head. “It doesn’t work that way, at least not for me. I do more of a character reading. It helps determine who can be trusted.”
“That sounds useful,” Piers says, looking interested for the first time.
“Yes, well, that’s why Griffin abducted me. To be useful.”
Silence. Egeria clears her throat. “Griffin says you’re very knowledgeable, and that your magic is vast. What else can you do?”
Do I need something else? Against my own better judgment, I say, “At the moment, I can breathe fire and burn you all to a crisp.”
Kaia giggles.
“You think I’m joking?”
She giggles some more.
“Why at the moment?” Egeria asks, perhaps shrewder than I gave her credit for.
I try to look apologetic. “I can’t explain unless the stars align just right and Zeus makes me his wife.”
Griffin chokes on a bite of lamb. Carver coughs into his fist. Everyone else looks like they’re trying to decide if I’m serious.
“Breathe fire for us,” Kaia begs, bouncing in her seat.
I shake my head. “That would break etiquette. No fire breathing at the dinner table.”
“Why Zeus?” Jocasta frowns. “He’s so…mercurial.”
Yes, well, so am I. “I’m forgetting to eat.” I pick through my plate for the crispiest potato and combine it with a big bite of lamb, chewing slowly to get out of talking.
Kaia bounces again. She can’t be more than fifteen, probably an unexpected last gasp from her mother’s womb. She’s so different from me at that age that I find myself oddly fascinated by her. “Show us. Please. I’ve never met anyone with real magic before.”
“Real magic?” Is there any other kind?
“I wish I had magic,” Jocasta says. “You can do anything.”
Eh… no. “I can’t fly,” I offer.
Griffin isn’t even trying not to laugh anymore. I put my knife down before I slip and stab him. “Do you have something to add, Your Highness?”
“Good effort at discretion,” he whispers, still laughing.
I give him the evil eye.
Kaia pops a potato into her mouth. “You were gone for ages. What have you been doing all this time?”
When no one answers, she plasters a truly pathetic look on her face. “Breathe fire for us, Cat. Pleeeease.”
Anatole, Nerissa, and Jocasta beg, too. Egeria looks like she’s using all of her self-control not to join the chorus. Piers couldn’t care less. He finished his dinner and clearly wants to go back to the library. As it is, he’s reading a scroll at the table. Carver is grinning like an idiot, and Griffin… I’m not looking at him.
“It’s really not done,” I hedge.
Griffin leans close, heating my entire left side. “Stage fright?” he rumbles in my ear.
Me? Ha! I flick my wrist, smacking his chin as he draws back. “Sorry. Gnats.”
The ladies gasp. Griffin’s eyes spark, I’m not sure with what.
“Learning court etiquette is one thing. Knowing when to apply it is another,” Nerissa says primly. “Right now, it’s just family.”
How in the Underworld do I qualify as just family? I look around the table and almost groan. “You’re all so spontaneous. And innocent. Court etiquette is awful. I’m not sure I want to change you.”