Page 33 of Crimson Kingdom
“You want me to consider marriage to the man who wants to make me his kept wife an entire kingdom away, and is holding the betrothal I actually chose over my head to do it?” Disbelief crept into my tone, in spite of what I had told Theo earlier.
She met my eyes with her nearly identical ones, her long brown waves swaying as she shook her head softly. “You are just like your father, and there is no reasoning with you in this mood, so let’s just say yes, for now.”
Da’ only focused his attention on Ellie, but his brows were drawn in a clear sign of displeasure.
“Regardless,” I hissed, “he doesn’t need to be around for me to consider it, seeing as he has no intentions of being around after our marriage.”
She raised her eyebrows in an annoyingly knowing way, and of course, that’s when Evander strolled casually into an event that used to be my safe haven from the day. Theo was right on his heels, looking decidedly unhappy about that fact.
Evander plopped down on the right side of me, and Theo took the seat to my left, leaving me in the middle of a very uncomfortable Socairan sandwich.
Davin laughed outright at whatever he saw in my expression, and I glared in turn at my mother.
She only pasted a polite smile on her face before addressing the lords. “We don’t stand on ceremony here, boys, so help yourselves.”
Well, then.There was no need to sugarcoat things.
“Roll,” I yelled out, and Bronwyn tossed one from her side of the table.
I placed it on my plate, ignoring the way Theo’s eyes widened in what might have been amusement, but was probably horror.
My mother shook her head but didn’t bother to chide us. She knew we were being a bit excessive. She also firmly believed that it was up to anyone considering being part of our family to figure out how to exist within it. No pretenses.
Not that Evanderwasconsidering that.
I ignored him entirely until he called down the table, “I’ll take one as well.”
Blair gave him a hesitant look before obliging him. She tossed his a bit harder than Bronwyn had thrown mine, but he still caught it in one hand and placed it on his plate like this was how he received his food every day.
Holding my gaze, he took a slow, deliberate bite of his bread.
Jocelyn sighed, grabbing the bowl from in front of the twins. “There are civilized ways to obtain food as well, Lord Theodore.”
She passed them to him, and he nodded graciously before taking one.
When the chaotic process of everyone getting food was finished, conversation finally began. Which was, generally speaking, even more chaos.
“Finn and Isla should be here tomorrow,” Uncle Oli announced, much to the general excitement of the table.
“And the twins?” Davin asked.
Blair cleared her throat pointedly.
“I meant, the much older, much more boring twins, of course,” he clarified.
My sister nodded, like this was acceptable, and Avani laughed softly.
“Yes, and Gwyn and Gal,” Oli confirmed.
“Gwyn, the one who’s so good with the sword?” Theo asked, turning to face me.
I smiled, surprised he remembered the random stories I told him when we were sheltering in that smuggler’s hole. “Right.”
I was going to give him an explanation of Gallagher, as well, but Blair’s voice rang out across the table.
“Does this mean you have two pieces of man meat now, Row?”
The most adorable blush rose into Theo’s cheeks, and I swear Evander actually choked on a bite of his roll.