Nonna closes her eyes. I feel her lips shape my name even though she doesn’t sound it out.
“They also called me a whore, Nonna. Which is why Min—the serpent attacked them.”
“Min?”
I play dumb and twirl a soaked lock. “Huh?”
“Is this the same serpent you feed and play with when you get home at night?”
My fingers freeze mid-twirl, and I gape at Nonna.
“Cato is aware of your . . . amity.”
I gape at him next, then go back to gaping at Nonna. “I wasn’t awareyouwere aware of it.”
“Goccolina”—she sighs—“I only play dumb to avoid fighting with you.”
“Is it just him?” Cato asks. “Or do you have more serpent friends?”
“Just Minimus.” I clap my palm in front of my mouth. It’s only a name, yet it feels like I’ve just given Nonna and Cato power over my beast. What if they use it to call to him? What if they— “Please don’t hurt him.”
The kettle whistles, slicing through the tense atmosphere.
Nonna pours the water over a medley of dried sprigs and yellow petals, then carries the pot to the table and sets down two mugs. Cato’s cue to leave? She fills them, before pushing one toward the sergeant.
Apparently not.
She keeps the other for herself.
I guess I’m undeserving of tea tonight. I’ve too much pride to ask for a mug, so I start toward the stairs.
“Sit, Fallon.” My grandmother’s voice makes my vertebrae tighten.
I gesture to the table. “I assumed I wasn’t invited to the tea party.”
“You are. Now sit.”
Even though it’s the last thing I want to do, I yank out a chair and gracelessly flop down onto it.
She sets another mug in front of me. It’s filled with water so brown it looks like canal water. I sniff it. Smells like it, too. “Drink this first, then I’ll give you something more palatable.”
I don’t miss the deep frown on Cato’s face. It surely mirrors mine.
“Is it noxious?”
“Not to you.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“Drink.” She slides into the seat across from Cato’s, her shawl falling down her shoulders. “Which Tarecuorin Fae did you anger?”
“Ptolemy Timeus.” Cato wraps his long fingers around the delicate handle of the mug, one of the few items Nonna brought from her previous home.
“Oh, Goccolina . . .”
I take it he’s Luce-renowned. “The man’s a pig, Nonna. I take that back. It’s unfair to pigs.”
Cato snorts.
