host. I expected you to be on your best behavior and represent the family properly.”
“Fred,”Andrei said, “please bring several more bottles of wine.” Fred nodded and fled, looking relieved to be out of the room for a minute. Deven didn’t blame him. Oh, fuck, but if this was what it was like having an acknowledged, permanent lover, and having to meet each other’s families in circumstances other than being caught climbing out a window…it was still worth it. But fuck.
“I’m not sure what you’d call it by preference in your language,” Lady Ana put in blithely, stabbing her fork into a piece of ham with more force than necessary. “But that seems to be the closest translation to the word I’m thinking of in my own. I can see we have much to discuss.” She shot Deven a glance that promised he wouldn’t enjoy it.
At the other end of the table, Fiora had flushed lavender all the way up to his hairline. “There’s nothing to discuss,” he said, setting down his wine glass with a thump. “We will decide what terms we’re on, and once we’ve decided you’ll be the first to know!” All eyes turned to him, and he swallowed hard. Deven opened his mouth to draw some of their fire — figuratively, anyway — but Fiora beat him to it. “I am so very glad you’re here, Mr. and Mrs. Clifton. And Mother, Father, I’m glad you’re visiting too. But there won’t be any discussions, if you please!”
He looked up and met Deven’s eyes — and that was it. The rest of the room, and everyone else there, faded away. What more did Deven need besides his tiny, fierce, perfect dragon, defending them both against rampaging relatives? He mouthed, I love you, and Fiora smiled so brightly it outshone the sun streaming in through the dining-room windows.
“Just as well,” George said into the silence. He reached for a bowl of tomatoes covered in herbs and crumbled cheese. “Phina once walloped one of the town council over the head with a wooden spoon during a ‘discussion.’ Broke the spoon, and nearly that idiot’s head. It doesn’t do to get her worked up.” Phina’s arm jerked as she elbowed him in the ribs, and George grimaced, shrugged, and took a heaping serving of the tomatoes.
“From what I hear of this town council from Andrei, it was probably much-deserved,” Lord Luca said after a startled pause. “Mrs. Clifton, I admire your enterprise.”
Lady Ana nodded, looking thoughtful. “Indeed. I had never considered a spoon as a weapon. Most inventive. I used to duel in my youth, but I preferred swords. Perhaps I ought to have expanded my repertoire.”
Deven shuddered. Lady Ana, with her claws and teeth, also wielding a sword? Or for that matter, a spoon? It was a thought to keep him awake at night.
“Tell us more about that,” George said, sounding genuinely fascinated. “Ladies don’t duel around these parts. I’m sure Phina would’ve taken it up if it were a possibility. I can imagine she’d excel at it.”
Somewhat to Deven’s surprise, that launched an animated discussion of what clothes ladies might wear while fighting, a laughing speculation on how spoons could be adapted as official dueling weapons, and a number of anecdotes from Lady Ana about her past — and thoroughly vanquished — opponents.
Deven drew a deep sigh of mingled relief at being ignored and terror at what it might mean if his aunt and uncle and Fiora’s parents became friends, and put his head down, devoting most of his attention to his ham. He kept an eye on Fiora all the while. Fiora, to his relief, was also shoveling his food down, making up for all the meals he’d likely missed while he was ill. He’d need more than one, though, with how very worryingly thin he’d become — and it wasn’t like he’d had much to spare before the curse.
Mrs. Pittel surely knew all Fiora’s favorites. Deven made a mental note to go to the kitchen and wheedle her into cooking them all over the next few weeks.
Which presupposed that Deven would be in the castle in a few weeks. His mouth went dry, and he had to chase his food down with a swallow of wine. Would he? That was up to Fiora — and what would his aunt and uncle think, if he essentially abandoned them and left all his work behind in order to lounge about in the lap of luxury and make love to