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“I wouldn’t use the wordunhappy,” Sage explained, leaning back in the armchair. “Art just needs some time to get used to the idea. Ris is her firstborn, after all, and Art is incredibly protective of her.”
“Protectiveness is one thing, but as an Alpha, I imagine our king has one major concern,” I declared. “What about heirs?”
“How is thatyourproblem?” Olympia hissed under her breath.
“I’m only curious,” I shot back. “We don’t have protocols in place for a royal nest.”
“You’ll have to forgive Zoei,” Olympia said, her fingers extended in a bid for peace. “Sometimes her brain doesn’t function like the rest of us. It’s hard for her to open her mouth without subtracting the sum of human knowledge.”
It took a full minute for the insult to take root. I swung at Olympia, smacking her on the shoulder.
“Break it up, children,” Sage intoned, shaking her head. I almost scoffed at the irony, certain that Sage was the same age as us, if not younger. “There’s no need to fight.”
“They’ve always been like this,” Ris explained. “Since they were pups. I remember the time they visited Nestia Castle and set a part of the gardens alight.”
“That was anaccident,” I insisted. “Who puts a column with an open fire in the middle of foliage when there are children running around?”
“It was a prayer pyre to the Goddess,” Ris said. “And if it wasn’t for Olympia’s quick thinking to smother the flames under a pile of soil, we might have lost a large chunk of our gardens that day. Not to mention the extremely flammable roof of Aunt Thea’s cottage.”
“Seems like fighting fires has been my duty since I was a child,” Olympia murmured under her breath. Her gaze took on a pensive veil.
A rush of quick knocks sounded from the hallway.
“Your Highness? Your Highness?” The thick wooden panels couldn’t muffle the panicked voice. “You’ve been away for quite some time. People are asking after you.”
Ris’ lips thinned. I watched as she artfully concealed her irritation at the intrusion.
“That would be my, um,enthusiasticassistant,” she explained, rising to her feet with a swirl of her skirts. “Everything is an urgent matter with him.”
“We can pretend we’re not here,” Yogi said, her voice dipping to a quiet stir.
“Um,” the high voice intervened. “I can hear you, and um, scent you in there.”
“Great.” Yogi didn’t bother stifling her sigh.
“I’ll send over some refreshments,” I offered. “Something to keep you warm as the night gets colder.”
“We appreciate that,” Sage acknowledged with a nod. “It truly is a lovely party, but as usual, everyone wants a moment to speak to our Ris. It takes a toll on her.”
“I understand,” I nodded gravely. “I loathe making small talk with strangers.”
Olympia shook her head.
“Good thing your new role doesn’t encompass small talk with strangers, Your Majesty,” she teased.
The trio stepped out of the library—Ris walking ahead and the two Alphas flanking her sides.
“New to politics, are we?” Olympia scoffed as we stood alone. “You can’t go around asking questions without a filter.”
“Not new,” I assured her. “Just don’t care.”
“Zoei…” Her rendition of my name held a warning. “You can’t blurt every thought that comes to mind. Didn’t your tutors teach you that? You need to learn how to play the game. Make nice with people you might need in the future.”
“That is not genuine allyship,” I insisted.
“No,” she agreed with a sigh. “But it’ll keep you alive.”
*
