“Want a grape, Arina?” he asks, holding one of the strange things out to me.
“A grape?” He’s offering me food and acting like everything that just happened never occurred at all. If he’s doing this to spare me, then I’ll play along.
“It's a fruit. They're used to make wine,” Lavinia answers, and I blink at her, hoping she'll elaborate without me having to ask more questions.
“Don't tell me you've never had wine?!” She's so excited, and I'm still feeling embarrassed, so I just shake my head.
“You know they don't have wine, Livvy,” Raiden scolds.
Lavinia shoots him a glare, and moves to a nearby cupboard. “Please let me get to know my new friend without butting in. Otherwise, you can leave my room and go find somewhere else to sulk.”
Raiden throws one of the grapes at Lavinia who squeals as she pulls a bottle with a long neck from the cupboard along with three long-stemmed glasses.
She sets the glasses on the trunk near the tray and hands the bottle to Raiden. “You are going to love this!” she tells me, taking the bottle back from him and pouring the light-gold substance into each glass.
The bubbles pop and fizz, tickling my nose when I take it and sniff at the rim. It smells unlike anything I've ever known, and a wave of curiosity has me taking a sip.
The wine is sweet but crisp and somehow salty, too. I take a bigger gulp and love the way the bubbles feel as they travel down my throat.
“Whoa, take it easy.” Raiden's hand is hot on mine, tilting the glass back down. “You're going to get her drunk and make her spill all her secrets, Liv.”
Lavinia shimmies her shoulders when she sits in the chair across from me. “Maybe that's my plan.” She winks, and I am suddenly more at ease than I have been in months.
The two of them don't bring up the incident above deck, and I'm grateful. We talk and snack on the tray that has a handful of things I've never tried before. Cured meats, olives, more cheeses, and juicy, citrusy fruits that sting my mouth after a few too many.
It might be the wine, but I find that I'm more comfortable with the two of them than I expected to be, and I'm content to listen to them talk, even when I have nothing of substance to add to the conversation.
Raiden fills Lavinia in on everything that happened back in Lukasia, and when he talks about the tunnels collapsing, my heart pinches. I say a quiet prayer that Father and Baltas and as many others as possible made it to safety, and that the tunnels caved in on Eryk and the rest of the guard. Fuck them.
“What sort of things do you like to do for fun, Lavinia?” I ask after emptying my second glass of wine.
Raiden snorts, and both the princess and I pin him with a look that tells him to shut his mouth or leave.
“What's so funny?” Liv asks, a threat laced in her tone.
“Nothing. I've just realized now that the two of you have a lot in common.”
“Like what?” we ask in unison, and Raiden's devilish smile grows.
“Like your miserable mothers and questionable choices in…evening companions.” His eyes darken, and I shudder. At this point, it doesn’t surprise me that he knows how I spend my evenings. Or who I spend them with.
Lavinia throws a small, round pillow at the male, and we all laugh.
“What he fails to mention, Arina, is my love for the outdoors, my unmatched skill with an archery bow, and my special interest in gathering secrets from the courtiers and castle workers.” She wags her eyebrows suggestively.
“What kind of secrets?”
Lavinia's excitement is palpable as she moves to sit at my feet, laying her arms over my legs, and looking up at me with affection that makes my heart swell and ache at the same time. I find myself wishing Phillipa were here.
“Only the juiciest ones! Such as which countess is sleeping with her footman, war strategies from father's high-ranking generals, and anything I can squeeze out of Mother's adoring staff.” She rolls her eyes at the last part, huffing as if that particular task were a heavy burden.
“How do you manage to convince people to share their secrets?” I ask.
“Well, you'll just have to keep me around and find out.” She winks at me, and an unease tightens in my stomach. I want Lavinia to be my friend, but this conversation has me making mental notes not to trust her too willingly.
“She beds most anyone she can get her hands on,” Raiden offers, his tone nonchalant as if he hasn't just called his wife-to-be a trollop.
But Lavinia just brushes him off, moving past the slight easily. “You wretch, I do not! A girl has to have some standards. I can't help that the males around here are lousy lays. Thankfully,the maids and contessas make up for the gruffer sex's lack of creativity.”
