She swallowed. “It’s … interesting. But I’m not sure I like it.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled. “I’m not a huge fan either. Just eat what you like on the plate.”
Empress Emmeline’s light tinkling laughter rang out. “Sea urchin is a delicacy,” Empress Emmeline, who sat opposite them, said. “But I suppose only those with a developed palate can truly appreciate such fine foods.”
Pink stained Colette’s cheeks.
“And I suppose growing up in such a … rural and isolated environment does not create a refined palate.” The empress smiled at Colette. “It is a pity you were not provided with a more expansive and cultured upbringing.”
Elias glanced at his father, who sat beside the empress. But his entire attention seemed focused on his food. He did not pay attention to his wife’s words. And even if he did, Elias doubted his father would notice the underhanded insult his wife was giving to an eighteen-year-old girl.
The empress glanced at her children, Anais and Beau, who’d already eaten their sea urchin. “I made sure Iintroduced my children to a variety of foods. So they could visit any kingdom and not disgrace me.”
The empress returned her gaze to Colette. “No doubt your family weren’t aware they should introduce you to such things. I’m sure it was not intentional neglect on their part.”
Colette’s cheeks turned a darker shade of pink.
Elias smiled. “Yes, well, my mother’s side of the family have never been too concerned with trifling things like refined palates. They were too busy creating powerful sorcerers, like my mother.”
The empress’s smile tightened.
Elias’s mother had been a strong lightning sorcerer. Not so strong that she’d been an archmage and had to hide her true powers. But strong enough to be known for it. And far stronger than his stepmother, who was an average wind sorcerer like her children.
“Too bad her son didn’t follow in her footsteps,” Beau snapped. “Seems like dud sorcerers run in the family too.” He looked at Colette.
Everyone had been told that she, like Elias, lacked any true ability and that was why she had been sent to be educated by Elias in courtly manners.
The empress smirked. Beside him, Colette straightened. No doubt she wanted to blurt out that both she and Elias were powerful. Thankfully, she held her tongue.
“Yes, it is such a shame.” Elias shrugged. “But at least I got my mother’s beauty. People called her the most beautiful woman inallthe kingdoms. I am glad I at least followed in her footsteps in that manner.” He smiled at the empress. “And of course she was adored by all.”
His stepmother’s lips twitched. Beau and Anais glared.
Because people still talked about his mother, her beautyas well as how loved she was. Meanwhile, although Empress Emmeline was widely respected, no one would ever say she was loved or adored. And she did not compare in looks to Elias’s mother. And Elias knew that bothered the empress.
The empress smiled thinly, seeming to have collected herself. “Some people are obsessed with the attention that beauty brings them.”
“Ha. Yes, my dear.” Emperor Hugo patted his wife’s hand. Plate empty, he seemed to have finally joined the family conversation. “That is very correct.”
Elias slid his finger along the stem of his goblet. “How true, Empress. Some people are very self-centred indeed.”
He paused. “And sometimes no matter how people try, no matter if they import the best silks from the Court of the Flowers, employ the best tailors in Walham Street, and encase themselves in the finest jewels from the Windy Peaks, they still cannot attract the attention they sodesperatelycrave.”
His father laughed. “True, Elias. That is very true too.”
The veins on the back of his stepmother’s hands stood out as she gripped her goblet. Because Elias had just listed where she imported her silks from, where her tailor was located, and where she got her jewels, for herself and her children.
His father’s laughter finally petered off. “Some people are just not that attractive, no matter how they try and try.”
“Yes,” Elias said. “It is very sad. And pathetic. Wouldn’t you say, Father?”
The emperor nodded.
A muscle beside his stepmother’s eye spasmed.
His father didn’t notice the tension simmering betweenhis son and now wife. But then, he’d never been good at noticing anything.
He’d not noticed when the empress, his new wife, had removed all evidence of his first wife from the Lightning Palace. Nor had he noticed when she’d removed his mother’s portrait from Elias’s room. Instead she’d replaced it with one of his father and stepmother.
