I turn to Egeria. “You’re Alpha. You rule everyone and everything, from the highest noble down to the last speck of dust in this realm. Remember that, but still do that smile of yours—the one for widows and orphans. It’s what makes you different.”
Egeria blinks at me, nodding automatically.
Nerissa studies me over the rim of her wineglass. “Your bluntness is refreshing, Cat. Life is always so much simpler when people say what they really think.”
My heartbeat falters before accelerating. I’m pretty sure something about Griffin and me—especially me—was just thrown across the table again.
“What about you?” Griffin asks.
For a second, I have no idea what he’s talking about. “What about me?”
“You’ll be there to read people.” He waves his hands around. “Soothsayer, remember?”
I almost laugh. Almost. “I’ll pose as a servant.”
His eyebrows slam down. “No.”
“What do you mean, no? It doesn’t matter wh—”
“You’ll be Jocasta’s friend,” Griffin decides, cutting me off. “Her companion. You live at the castle.”
I chew my lip. “That sounds reasonable. What do you think?” I ask, turning to Jocasta.
“I think it would be lovely to have you as a friend,” she answers.
Warmth spreads through me. Gah! When did I turn so emotional?
“Won’t people wonder why Jocasta has a Fisan friend?” Carver asks. “She’s from the south. You’re from the north. Your eyes give you away.”
I give him a flat stare. “Let’s just say she picked me up at the circus.”
Egeria clears her throat and glances at the ceiling frescoes. Everyone else decides it’s a good time to eat.
After a while, Nerissa breaks the silence with a story about how Griffin got chased by a bull when he was young, and that’s when he got serious about swords. “He was determined always to have something longer, pointier, and sharper than that bull’s horns.”
“It was the Minotaur,” Griffin rumbles. “As big as a house.”
Nerissa’s lips twitch. “It was old Cosmo from the field across the river.”
I smile, my mind filling with the image of a black-haired scamp running from a crotchety old bull, the boy’s legs pinwheeling.
“Speaking of creatures,” Egeria says, “the other advisors were just telling me about Dragons. Apparently, I need one.”
“It’s not urgent,” I tell her.
She looks surprised. “But we’re the only realm without.”
“Fisa doesn’t have one, either.”
Egeria frowns. “What happened to Sybaris?”
“She’s dead,” I say. No further explanation necessary.
“Cat killed her,” Carver announces, earning my death glare.
“That’s not exactly true,” Griffin says.
“Fine. Cerberus killed her, but Cat had Cerberus,” Carver clarifies.
“Oh, that’s helpful!” I cry.
Carver shrugs. “They’re family. You can trust them.”
“Like I can trust you?” I fume.
“You had Cerberus?” Piers is looking at me. He even set down his scroll. “How?”
So much for secrets. “Hades gave him to me. In case of emergency.”
Nearly every face around the table turns a shade paler. Huh. That stunned everyone into silence.
“You converse with Gods?” Egeria finally chokes out.
“Not usually.” I stand. “Ladies, let’s curtsy.”
CHAPTER 18
In a sword fight the next morning, Carver spanks me in every way imaginable. Since I don’t actually want to hurt him, there’s not much I can do except get better with a blade. After, he leaves with Piers, who has concocted some scheme to get urchins off the streets by recruiting them for building projects. In exchange for food, clothing, and shoes, they’ve started repairing weak spots in the city’s south wall.
Griffin is busy with Egeria on healing center plans and realm dinner preparations, so that leaves Kato, Flynn, and me to occupy ourselves. We throw knives in the woods, wrestle—which never works out well for me—run, exercise the horses, and bathe in our respective bathhouses. At dinner that evening, the royal family bickers and laughs; I kick Griffin as often as possible; Nerissa scolds me; Anatole eats like the Minotaur now that he’s feeling better; and Egeria asks questions I don’t want to answer. After dessert, I show the ladies how to stretch their necks to look down their noses at people who are taller than they are. Later, I collapse in my bed, exhausted, and wake up screaming, tangled up with Kato and Flynn. Grown men whisper “Shhh” in my ear and pat my head. I feel like an idiot, but I don’t want them to stop.