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“Is there a place you would prefer me to sit?” I asked the servant politely.
The servant seemed at a loss. “Your master was to be offered a place at the head table.”
“Anton, come and sit with us,” Lefric called from the center table, a stern look on his face for Dmitri. It was as if he was daring Dmitri to tell me I couldn’t sit with my friends.
“I don’t care where you sit, pup,” Dmitri said, already scooping a rude handful of some rice dish from a large platter in the center of the table he’d sat at, then plopping it on the gold-tinted plate he’d swiped from the woman sitting next to him.
Part of me felt like I should have stayed by Dmitri’s side and forced him to behave during the meal. A larger part of me was so disgusted with the man that I wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
“Thank you.” I nodded to the servant, then walked up through the center of the tables to where Lefric stood without a second look for Dmitri.
I knew within seconds it was the right decision. Lefric’s smile and murmured, “Good for you,” as I reached my friends was enough to make all of the terrible things around me go away for a moment.
“Dmitri is all bark and no bite,” I muttered, sitting on the large, brocade cushion that Lefric gestured to.
Gennadi and Avenel sat on my other side with Jace and Sebald across the table from them. Premila sat beside Avenel with her baby in her lap. They were all at the very top of the side table as opposed to at the head table itself. I glanced across to the other side, past where the three children sat on the other side of Peter and Neil, to where Katrina and Ox were seated, along with Captain Andreas.
“That’s Gaia,” Lefric explained, gesturing to the adolescent girl. “Olympus’s daughter. And next to her are Olympus’s son, Hector, and his other daughter, Alanna.”
My mouth dropped, mostly because I was floored that Lefric’s lover had children. And that they were seated across from their father. That would never have happened in Dunsk.
But I was beginning to see how precedent went in Good Port. The most important people sat at the head table. Less important but still highly-ranked people sat on the outside edge of the side tables. Important but lower ranked people, like children and lovers, apparently, sat on the inside of the head table, and even less important people were on the inside of the side tables.
I ranked about in the middle, if my position was anything to go by. Dmitri had inadvertently taken a seat with the least important people of those seated. That filled me with a grim sense of satisfaction.
My impulse to smirk didn’t last, though.
“Where is Ludvig?” I asked, searching the room as though he would be found hiding somewhere.
“Do not trouble yourself, Anton,” Magnus answered me. “He and Constantine have been given a lovely suite right here in Vikhrov’s house. Vikhrov has sent for the finest healer in the city to attend to him.”
“Peleus, my new steward, has just informed me of the doctor’s arrival,” Vikhrov said, sending me a kind smile. “You’ve no need to worry for your…friend.” He glanced to Magnus, almost as if checking to make certain he’d gotten it right.
I hid my surprised reaction. Vikhrov was the leader of Good Port, but he seemed to be showing deference to Magnus. Olympus had showed Magnus deference for the entire river journey. It didn’t quite make sense to me…even though it did. Magnus was always the most commanding presence in any room he entered. Vikhrov could make the argument that he was higher than a mere wolf king, but presence made up for a lack of money, or so it seemed.
And there was the fact that Magnus was King Julius’s brother.
“We already started,” Lefric said once he was seated. “You missed the opening dance. They were much better than the time that I got roped into dancing with them. But it means you missed the presentation of the first course. Everyone serves themselves from the main platter in Good Port. Use that scoop to put some on your plate. You’ll really like the rice dish, and this one here is called couscous. But be careful, a lot of the food here is much spicier than what we’re used to.”
I wanted to laugh. I also wanted to cry a little and throw my arms around Lefric’s shoulders to tell him how much I missed him. I hadn’t had anyone chat my head off like that for so long, and it felt good—maybe better than a good fuck.
Which reminded me that my ass was sore, even if I was seated on a thick cushion.
“I could eat anything right now,” I said instead, helping myself to a little of everything within arm’s reach. “I’m so hungry.”
“Then have it all,” Lefric said. “But this is just the first course. The meat is coming next.”
I wanted to make a joke about thick meat, but that was more the sort of things Lefric himself usually did. Instead, I just ate.
Although one thing did pop to mind as I swallowed my first bite.
“Did Lord Vikhrov have that man, Eneko’s, quarters searched?” I asked quietly.
Lefric’s easy-going smile dropped and he leaned closer to me to say, “They’re searching right now. The servants haven’t been told why Eneko is absent. They don’t know what’s going on, only that quarters are being inspected.”
“Do you think anyone else is guilty?” I asked, making it sound like I knew what I was talking about when I didn’t.
“Probably,” Lefric said in a haunted voice.
