Page 34 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
There were at least four separate conversations spilling out into the hallway that led to the family dining room. Even more plants hung in this part of the castle, and colorful portraits lined the walls. They weren’t the stiffly posed ones that adorned Socairan sitting rooms.
There were curly heads of crimson hair askew with laughter. Rowan and Princess Avani sparring, with swords in their hands. Several redheads gathered around a lake, along with Davin and a man with chestnut hair I assumed was the late husband of the crown princess.
Just before the doorway was a portrait of the king with a tiny princess on each knee. The one on the right had pale green eyes, a mischievous smirk…and she was snatching his crown from his head.
It wasn’t hard to guess who that was.
I didn’t stop to examine it further when Korhonan’s footsteps sounded just behind me. I had never lost to him in any competition, and I damned sure wasn’t going to start tonight…however ill-thought-out this one might be.
So, I entered the room of bedlam as if I spent all my meals surrounded by a cacophony of voices, my eyes landing on the present-day version of the wild-haired princess.
She cut off whatever she had been saying as soon as she caught sight of me, her cheeks coloring.
There were empty chairs on either side of her, so I chose the one closest to her parents. There was a small child with hair just a shade darker than Rowan’s sitting in the lap of the glowering king, next to her mother, whose smile was only the slightest bit forced.
Her older sister was here, too, sitting still and silent like a ghost among humans.
Who in their right mind would want to go through what Avani did?Rowan had thrown the rhetorical question out on afrigid balcony one night when I suspected her nightmares had chased her from her bed.
My bed.
I hadn’t understood then, but I had started to now.
Korhonan sank into the chair on the other side of Rowan, looking thoroughly disgruntled that I had beaten him here.
Davin’s family filled the seats closest to him, along with two identical red-headed girls who I assumed were her younger sisters.
Once we were all seated, the queen cleared her throat. “We don’t stand on ceremony here, boys, so help yourselves.”
It was to the general surprise of no one that the Lochlannian royal family didn’t stand on ceremony, but when my lemmikki squared her shoulders next to me, I got the feeling she was about to go much further than that.
“Roll,” she yelled down the table, eyes blazing with defiance.
One of the twins shot her the smirk that was apparently common to every member of the royal family, then hurled the roll down the table with a speed that would have put my recruits to shame.
Rowan caught the roll in her hands, placing it on her plate before buttering it.
Korhonan looked predictably horrified, but I had come prepared to adapt and overcome.
“I’ll take one as well,” I asked the twin.
Her smirk widened, and she threw the next roll with impressive accuracy toward my plate. I caught it just before it made contact, and Rowan turned her head to glare at me.
I held her stare as I lifted the bread with deliberate casualness, taking a slow bite. She let out an irritable breath, averting her gaze while Davin choked on a laugh.
“There are civilized ways to obtain food as well, Lord Theodore,” Jocelyn offered, holding out a bowl.
He gratefully accepted, and Rowan clenched her teeth, refusing to look in my direction. That was fine. I didn’t need her attention now.
We both knew damned good and well who had won the first round.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
My victory was short-lived, since Rowan went so far as to physically scoot her chair closer to Korhonan in what I’m sure she thought was a subtle way.
It was irritating until she nearly bumped into the servant trying to place the first course in front of her. Then it became amusing. Rowan’s cheeks flushed as she awkwardly cleared her throat before sliding her silverware closer to her plate.
At least she appeared interested in her meal for a change. She didn’t hesitate before slicing into the crispy chicken leg before adding a heaping scoop of roasted potatoes onto the fork and shoving both into her mouth.