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“What?” he asked, shoveling in a mouthful of eggs.
“I had no idea you could laugh. You seem so…” I turned to Paesha, cocking a brow. “What’s the word I’m looking for?”
“Dangerous.”
“No. That’s not it.” I scrunched my nose before snapping. “Oh. Dickish.”
“We’re in the business of making up words this morning,” Orin said, stealing something off Ezra’s plate and popping it into his mouth. “She’s got a real talent for it.”
“Wait.” I held up a finger to stop Ezra as he leaned to whisper in Paesha’s ear again. “You can have three of these yellow things, Huntress, if you can guess what he’s about to say.”
Her mouth twisted into a grin as she stared at her lover, deepening her voice to try to mimic his. “I’ve got a real talent for something else.”
I snorted, almost choking on the berry as Ezra disagreed. “Those yellow things are called pineapple, and actually, Maiden, I was going to say, Can you please pass the salt?”
Orin clapped him on the back. “I love you, brother, but you’re a fucking terrible liar.”
Ezra wiggled his eyebrows at Paesha. “Well, I am very talented.”
“True,” she said, tapping her finger on his nose. “And predictable.”
The light humor we’d all desperately needed was stolen from the room in a flash. The towering oak doors at the end of the hall sounded like they were being shredded to pieces. We leapt from our seats in unison, and Orin didn’t hesitate to call forth his formidable shadows. The center of the doors bowed again, following another slash.
“What the fuck?” my husband whispered, whipping his hands to blow the doors open.
Two giant beasts poked their heads in, filling the door frame. The hellhounds.
“Who could have sent them?” Ezra growled, shoving Paesha behind him.
“Relax.” Orin moved his chair, sitting back down. “Apparently, they answer to me now.”
“Oh, yay! We get puppies.”
My loving husband pinned me with a glare. “And apparently, we’ve named them Ruffles and… Fluffy?”
“Come on in, boys!” I shouted before flashing a smile at him. “To be fair, your friend over there named Fluffy.”
“True,” Paesha agreed. “I think it fits.”
The massive hounds pawed their way into the dining hall. The closer they got, the higher we had to crane our necks to see their glowing ruby eyes. Though my heart still skipped a beat, and I had to force a steady breath, I rose and pointed to the floor as if talking to Boo. “Sit.”
They obeyed immediately, giant pink tongues rolling out of their mouths as I launched a pancake at each of them.
“Oh, for god's sake,” Orin groaned, rubbing his hands through his hair. “We have the universe’s biggest puppies.”
I scowled. “They can hear you.”
Paesha giggled as Orin changed the pitch of his voice to mock celebration, pretending to clap. “We have the universe’s biggest puppies.”
“Attaboy.” I grinned, tossing another couple of pancakes.
Eventually, Paesha sat back in her seat, shoving the plate away. “This was nice. Family breakfast. I still wish Hollis had come.”
Orin rose from his chair, waving a hand to clear the dishes.
“That’s handy,” I said, before turning to the Huntress. “Do we know if he’s seen Dahlia yet?”
“Most of the former harbingers stay together. Not that anyone here has been incredibly friendly, but the more friends you make, the more targets around you, and since that group is single-handedly responsible for the majority of the court’s deaths, they keep to themselves.”
