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Outwardly, I smiled with great pride. Inside, I was dying. I had brought enough dishonor to my family name already. Did I need to add to it?
As I glanced along the table at the other lords and ladies, I knew every single one of them must have done the same. And yet, they appeared to have no issue with having done it. They had betrayed their people. Some even appeared relieved.
Or maybe they were only better at hiding their discomfort than me. Somehow, I doubted it.
The Titans turned toward the head of the table and immediately got to their feet.
S’lec-Quos drifted in with his helpers on either side. He stood at the emperor’s chair and sat down. The Titan lords and ladies remained standing.
A long, uncomfortable moment passed.
Then, with a sly grin, S’lec-Quos waved a leg for us to sit.
To think we had signed over every square inch of our colonies to them…
Now, more than ever, the message came loud and clear. We had been well and truly conquered. There would be no more uprisings, no more rebellions.
Not without one of us dragging his house’s honor through the dirt.
The Changelings had used our strength against us.
The future looked bleak. It looked very bleak indeed.
S’lec-Quos picked up a champagne glass and raised it. He gave me a nod. I nodded back amiably.
“To a new beginning,” he said. “May this be the first peaceful day of many.”
An overweight lady with a costume at least three sizes too small hesitated before drinking the champagne. She should have known better. The Changelings had already gotten what they wanted from us. There would be no sense in poisoning us now.
The side doors opened and an army of Titan servants placed the first dish of the dinner before us. A Methusida steak—a delicacy to we Titans.
And another slap in the face.
It was the meal served after a battle was over. The two clans would come together to break bread and resolve their differences. By eating it, we were accepting our defeat and their victory. It was a part of our culture and heritage.
Culture and heritage that would slowly fade with time and be replaced with Changeling traditions.
It was a hell of a time to be alive.
The guests whispered quiet conversation among themselves. Nobody had much to say to me. I had even less to say to them. The most interesting thing was Zes across the table from me.
He belched, making a perfunctory effort to contain it with a hand over his mouth.
“Excuse me!” he said.
Nobody excused him. They glared at him. He didn’t take any notice. He continued to feast quite happily.
I shook my head. How good it must be to act as freely as you wanted without fear of reprisals.
I took a sip from my glass and ran my eye across the long line of lords and ladies who had betrayed their own people.
There, Traes, owner of the largest single mining operation in the empire. And there, Lady Lanos, the richest landowner. And there—
My wineglass froze, perched to my lips.
A moment of hesitation, but if anyone had been watching, they would have seen it.
I slipped my mask back on carefully and dragged my eyes away from that section of the table and set to eating the meal that suddenly tasted like ash in my mouth.
