Page 60 of Glutton for Punishment

“Arwen…” Councilor West’s voice rolls down the table, pointing at the man I’m staring at. “This is Riven, and on your left is Amaya.”

Fantastic.

Councilor West has placed me directly between the most powerful of Maddox’s siblings.

I resist the urge to laugh at the obvious intimidation tactic and instead turn, acknowledging both of them with a measured nod.

“A pleasure.”

Riven continues to ignore me. Just a short, dismissive dip of his chin, like I’m an obligation he’s already bored with.

Amaya, on the other hand…

She lifts her glass toward me and winks.

“—and directly across from you is Vex,” Councilor West continues.

I look up. Vex is watching me with a mad hunger in his eyes.

Ink covers his entire body, even more than Maddox's . Dark, intricate tattoos crawl up his throat, across his arms, disappearing under his clothes. One tattoo dominates the left side of his face.

Red blood dripping down his face, inked from his temple to his jaw, making him look like he had just murdered someone on the way to dinner.

I’m supposed to just ignore him too, according to Maddox. I guess I can see why.

Metallic glints flash when he smiles, silver coating his teeth. His grin is animalistic. It sharpens, and then he blows me a kiss, relaxing back into his chair.

I keep my expression flat as I try to control the small tells in my eyes. That’s what we worked on the most: controlling my expressions.

Give them nothing.

“—and this is Wicka,” Councilor West gestures to his immediate right.

Stay away from Wicka… echoes in my head from the night before.

Messy curly dark hair flies all around her, swallowing her pale face. Her glasses askew, fingers twitching. Her eyes don’t settle—they flick fast from me to Vex to Councilor West to the ceiling and back to me again, full of madness and curiosity that fills me with dread.

I fight the urge to lean away.

“—and on the other side of Vex is Teeth. Apologies, I’m droning on. I’m sure you’ll meet the rest later.”

Teeth. What a dumb name.

I felt him staring the second I walked in. There’s no amusement in his expression. No curiosity.

Just pure, open disdain that he doesn’t bother hiding. He has the dark features of his brothers and sisters, but he is quite pudgy like his father. Face red and ruddy.

His lip curls when our eyes meet before he turns his head away entirely, like the sight of me alone offends him.

Message received. I’m not happy to be here either, Teeth.

Slowly I let my gaze drift down the table until I find Maddox.

He’s watching everything. Just looking at him steadies something in me, but he doesn’t look happy, and I know why. The Councilor put me right in with the worst of them. The ones I was explicitly told to avoid.

Taking a deep breath, I tell myself calmy… it’s just dinner. I can do this.

They set down the first course just as the game begins.