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Another nod. Did Bass not teach her anything about our foods? I’m wondering. Food isn’t part of the docking ceremony, and he’s always been a kind of exact individual. There’s no gray with him.
“Thank you,” Annabelle says to Holter, who passes the tray to Castor, who places four on my plate without asking how many I want. Then he turns to his mother and serves her. But if she hasn’t changed, she won’t be eating any of them. Then it goes back down past Holter to let Ophelia’s mates serve each other before it heads its way back up again. Other trays are passed, and Annabelle takes a small serving of the ones I want. It looks a lot like human food. The next plate Holter has to offer her is the fish eyes. I like them, but then I like everything.
Holter laughs and doesn’t put one on her plate. When the hedged-tots make their way back to her to serve Holter, there is only one left. She looks from Holter to Castor. And with a quick, subtle scoop she takes one from her own plate and places it on Holter’s, leaving the one in the serving dish for Castor.
“Already such a generous mermaid,” Ophelia pipes up. “But once you’ve tasted one, you’ll not be sharing next time.”
“Thank you, Belle,” Holter says.
With the rest of the platters passed, Ophelia waves her hands in a flourish and the meal officially begins.
I have half of my plate cleared into my stomach when I look up and see my best friend and Holter staring at Annabelle. They’re watching her eat. She’s picked at a little of the pickled herring, but the hedged-tot is gone.
“Delicious, aren’t they?” I put the last of mine in my mouth.
“Very. But I would still share them.” Annabelle smiles.
“Sharing is important,” Constantine says, and I want to slap him. They’re all laughing, but I’m not giving them any of mine. But I guess that’s what I have to do. I need to find a way to make Annabelle secure and fast and not with Castor.
“Where is Soren? He must be doing well?” I ask. Soren Drakos is four years younger than Castor, five years younger than me. Nole was born between the two brothers. Soren wasn’t the typical younger brother we could pummel on. He fought back and did it with cunning. When he was angry at Castor, he taught one of their youngergeminaesiblings to say, “fuck you, Soren,” knowing Castor would take the blame. Because who would think to teach a podlet to curse themselves? Soren, that’s who. He’s crafty enough to get Annabelle out of this mess. I’m leaving her to him after I’m gone. “I’d like to see him,” I add.
“I’m sure he’s too busy to leave whatever he’s doing,” Castor shoots back at me.
“Soren?” Ophelia says like she’s never heard his name before. But what’s going on is she’s putting together the puzzle pieces in her head to see if she can get the result she likes. “Soren, that’s an excellent idea. The most superb idea. Yes.” The smile hits her face, and I’m not sure if I should be happy she’s picked up my idea or not.
Castor’s eyebrows are arched. Soren and he don’t get along. Never have. There’s nothing wrong with Soren. He’s brash, thinks he knows everything, and has a way with the human women when he’s at headquarters. He’s high enough status to protect Annabelle. Holter and he get along fine. More importantly, Annabelle would have the Drakos name behind her to keep her safe.
I give Castor a wink. He frowns back at me. If Ophelia decides Soren would make a good pod mate for Annabelle, it will be next to impossible not to make it happen.
“What do you think of the Veiled City so far, Annabelle?” Constantine has finished his food and is leaning back in his chair. Mostly he flexes his muscles at his mate at the end of the table.
I give Annabelle’s leg a little squeeze.
“Oh, it’s gigantic. Um, not that I thought it would be tiny. But when we were in the...solo aguvan bajeskåf—”
“Solois fine,” I say.
“Right, when Castor brought me back to the Glyden Dome in hissolo, I couldn’t believe how massive the city is. And how bright. With each of the domes having such a different look to them. It’s really beautiful.”
The table is enraptured by her. It’s not often we have newcomers to the city. Porcia from Koralli dome mated a human that fell from a ship. There's the Viking prisoner who defected to our side after our last battle. There have been a few. We never let them leave. But if there is anything a Dorian likes to hear, it’s how amazing the city is, how advanced we are, how lovely our art is. It makes me long for my cabin on theCentauri. There I’m in complete control of my surrounds, and away from driveling conversation.
“Yes, and if he had taken you the northern route, you wouldn’t even have gotten close to the view of the city, although that time of day the traffic is so congested.” Ophelia’s head snaps to Castor. “You didn’t take her the northern route, did you?”
“No, of course not.” Castor nods at his mother.
“Whichsolodid you take?” Castor’s papa asks.
Castor grins. “The Gorsca. She handles like a dream.”
“Should, for the price of a Gorsca,” Constantine says.
And they are off talking aboutsolos. Annabelle slides her hand on top of mine and rubs along my thumb. My cock is instantly hard.
When there’s a lull in the conversation, Castor clears his throat. “Thank you for dinner, Mother. It was kind of you to sponsor my friends.”
“Nico and Holter aren’t friends, dear. They’re family.” She smiles, and I can’t help but see her teeth and think of Constantine’s sharks.
My stomach hardens, but I manage a nod. Family? I wouldn’t know what that’s like. Annabelle squeezes my hand in an attempt at a prompt. She has no idea. I don’t want to give this woman any thanks, but I catch Annabelle’s blue eyes and it pops out of me. “Thank you for having us.”
