“As Isaac has been performing them for so long, perhaps he can instruct you,” Leon said pointedly.
There was the sound of shattering from where Isaac had knocked his wineglass into his water glass. He ignored it, though, his eyes fixed on Leon.
“You dare—”
Servants swept back into the room, clearing the mess quickly, placing new glasses in front of Isaac, and pouring him fresh glasses of wine and water. Frowning, I looked toward the door where they had disappeared.
Now that I was paying attention, I could hear them in the hallway, their breathing quiet. So, the people at this table liked theappearanceof privacy but neverhadany.
Was that how one of them had figured out who I was? No, I hadn’t done anything to give myself away. Maybe the note had nothing at all to do with my family and everything to do with Declan and who I’d been only a few weeks ago.
I dragged my focus back to the table, where a second Cold War brewed between Leon and Isaac.
“I would love any pointers,” I said firmly. I smiled at Isaac, trying to make it friendly, but all of my friendly smiles were tinged with a hint ofYou know what happens to people who don’t pay Declan Monroe.
“Did you come here just to discuss business?” Cade sounded annoyed, pushing a green bean around his plate, his nostrils flaring once before he looked up, his cool eyes fixed on Leon.
“As seneschal, I came to check on you, my prince. You came home very late last night with an unknown werewolf.” He didn’t even glance at me, dismissing me with his intense focus on Cade. “I know I advised you to find a consort, but this was rather rash. This was not what I—or the council—intended.”
“What did you intend, then?” I asked. I cut one of the petite carrots in half and put it in my mouth, speaking around the food. “When you put the bug in his ear that he needed to get hitched?”
The sweetness of the carrot contrasted with sea salt that had been roasted into it, softening the skin. It was possibly the most delicious vegetable I had ever eaten. I couldn’t enjoy any of it, too focused on Leon next to me.
“What I said to Prince Bartlett was said in confidence,” Leon said severely. He frowned at Cade. “Is that what you told him? That you were desperate?”
Cade bristled. “What I say to my consort is none of your, or the council’s, concern,” Cade said. “Isn’t that the point? That I have someone of my own to keep my confidence and give me advice?”
“It’s not, and you know it. Prince Bartlett, when I advised you on the council’s thinking, I expected you to make a cogent, thoughtful decision. I told you out of respect and thought that the information would be useful to you moving forward.” Leon shook his head. When he cut into his meat, he pushed too hard, his knife grinding against the porcelain. “All I want is the best for you.”
“You have made thatveryclear,” Cade said, his voice arctic.
I looked around the table in one sweeping glance, the same way I might look around a barroom brawl to try to figure out who all the players were and what they each wanted. Cade had completely shut down. Any irritation or warmth he had been expressing when it was just us was gone. Leon’s presence had turned him into the ice prince I first met. Isaac was still bristling, his breath coming with the evenness of force, as though he was willing himself into a calmness he didn’t feel. Beside him, Jay was trying to become as small as he possibly could, a difficult feat for an adult man.
Leon was matching Cade icicle for icicle. His frustration was clear. Apparently, he wanted Cade to become the prince he wasn’t: the perfect mage prince that Cade presented in public, which he failed to live up to in his own home.
Where did that leave me? I swallowed the last of my carrots, wishing this was the sort of table where I could request seconds.
“So, Isaac. What sort of duties will I be expected to perform?” I asked, pointedly ignoring Leon.
Isaac blinked at me, frowning for a split second before that forced calm took over again. “Normally, a consort’s duties are exclusively guaranteeing the safety of your partner, but as you are consort to the prince, you will also be concerned with the safety of House Bartlett. Your duties include making sure that his needs are met.”
Beside him, Jay choked on a bite of his mashed potatoes, and the look that Isaac threw him was exasperated.
“Hisneeds.I assume that’s a job with a lot of differentpositions,” I said wryly, just to see if I could get an even larger reaction. Jay swallowed large gulps of water, and Isaac narrowed his eyes at me, as though he could tell what I was up to.
“His needs for transportation, his needs for new clothes or a specific item for his spellwork.” Isaac raised his eyebrows. “Unless you need instruction on how to meet his other needs?”
“A consort is much more than a glorified secretary,” Leon spat out.
I turned my body to the side so I was facing him, leaning one of my elbows on the table and resting my chin on my hand. “You have a different idea of what my duties should be,Leo?”
Leon’s eye twitched at the shortening of his name, and he inhaled deeply through his nose. “A consort is the other half of his partner. He needs to provide everything before his partner asks. His partner’s secrets become his own; his partner’s needs take precedence over his own. If there is one cup of water left, it should always go to Prince Bartlett. You should go thirsty and hungry and sleepless until he is sated and rested.”
Even my experience playing poker with Declan’s crew couldn’t help me mask the disgust I felt. That was the mentality that everyone assumed mages had when it came to werewolves. Everyone assumed that mages thought werewolves were nothing more than slaves, indentured servants whose existence—whose only purpose—was to satisfy a mage’s needs.
My lip peeled back from my teeth. “Is that so?”
Leon huffed out a breath, shaking his head. “You’ve become consort to the most important man in House Bartlett, the strongest house on this side of the country, what used to be the strongest house in the entire hemisphere, and you don’t even know what’s expected of you?”
