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“And you didn’t think of coming to inform us that a human entered the property?” snaps Elrend.
“You were asleep at that hour,” I say calmly.
I pull out a chair and gesture for Althia to take a seat. As I take mine next to her, I can feel the glare of my parents darting between my guest and myself.
This isn’t exactly doing much good for her anxiety, I think in frustration. Nexus trills loudly, nudging Althia. At least I have him here to distract her from my parents.
A side door leading in from the kitchen opens and in steps Yiosha with a fresh pot of rize tea.
“Ah, Yiosha, come fill mine and Althea's cups.”
Yiohsa looks up, confusion flickering over her face at the sight of the human. She approaches as if Althia is a wild animal. As she reluctantly pours tea into the cup, she looks at my guest from the corner of her eye.
“Remind me of your name,” she says.
“Althia, pleased to meet you. Your name is Yiosha, did I hear that correctly?”
She extends her hand toward the zagfer, but Yiosha scoffs at her and returns to the kitchen.
“Even the zagfer know better than to bring home a human,” murmurs Elrend, shaking his head. “Why on Protheka do I bother waking up in the morning?”
“What’s that?” I snap at him in a challenging tone.
My father narrows his brows at me in anger.
“I said, why do I bother getting up in the morning to exhaust myself building our family’s dying reputation, only for you to go and bring home… this!” he blurts, pointing at Althia.
“Need I remind you that neither you nor Mother would shut up about me getting a mate to call my own? I finally give in and do this for you, yet you still find a reason to complain. I bet that if I became the King of Pythos this afternoon, you two would still take issue with me.”
“Valkus!” snaps Meriana.
“Can’t you be happy for me, just once?”
“That’s not what this is about. Don’t you know how a human mate looks in this day and age? You are still only thinking of yourself in this situation.”
“So you’re calling me selfish. Well, that’s rich coming from you.”
“How dare you?” gasps Elrend.
For a moment, there is only silence save for the purring of Nexus as he tends to Althia. Surprisingly, she doesn’t appear to be paying too much attention to the discussion, but perhaps she knows there’s nothing she can say to appease them.
“It’s alright.” I sigh. “I’ve already gotten used to being the son that always lets the family down. You treated Taveth the same way, and that’s why he barely joins us anymore.”
My parents grunt, rising from the table. Each of them throws down their handkerchief and storms out of the dining room, shooting one final glare at us before disappearing altogether.
“I don’t know what to say, other than you were right,” says Althia. “I’m sorry I wasn’t any help.”
“No, you did the best you could. It is them who didn’t handle it well,” I tell her reassuringly. “Come then, let us indulge in something to eat.”
6
ALTHIA
After an eventful breakfast, Valkus escorted me back to my room, allowing me some more time alone in order to sort myself out. Moving overnight isn’t exactly an easy affair, and I’m going to need a lot of personal space and time to settle in.
Thus far, it’s mostly consisted of sitting by my window, gazing out over the city of Pythos. It’s like a part of me is still back in the lowtowns. I’m almost afraid to blink in case this is all just a dream and I wake up in my shack of a home.
This time twenty-four hours ago, I was in the middle of my menial job, making barely enough money to get by for the week. Now, I’m donned in a pretty dress, wondering just how I got here in the first place.
