“Are you sure?” he asked with a delicate frown. While holding up the mirror, he forced out a giggle. “I’m not sure.See the creases that appear when I laugh? There’s nothing attractive about that.”
Savory observed from her perch on the chair back, her eyes tracking each person in turn. Was she speaking to Sasha? I had no way of knowing.
The servants moved quickly through the room, taking orders while silverware, plates, and tea cups floated around behind them, darting close to settle in front of those dining.
My mother requested her usual breakfast of toast, fresh berries, soft-boiled eggs, and tea. Lady Kenneth ordered much the same, though with extra meat rashers.
“I’ll have whatever the universe deems appropriate this morning,” Lady Edwina said sweetly, still studying her stones.
Lord Turren smiled at the servant standing beside him and pushed out another laugh. “Toast will be perfect, though it must be perfectly golden. And butter on the side. It needs to laid in a certain way and by me. Tea, of course.” He glanced Lady Kenneth’s way. “Meat rashers as well if you please.”
My giggling finally subsided as everyone settled in, leaving me feeling wrung out and mortified. I took a deep breath, relieved that perhaps it was over, that I could participate in normal conversation for the rest of the meal.
“So, Sasha,” my mother said as trays laden with food floated in from the kitchen, dropping onto the table in front of each guest. “Dominic mentioned you have sisters? Tell me about your family.”
“I have two younger sisters,” Sasha said, thanking a servant for refreshing her cup of primwort, adding a dash of cream.
The servant poured more tea into my cup as well.
“Cyrene and Adele,” Sasha said. “They’re both recentlymarried, Cyrene to Kieran, the vampire king, and Adele to Raoul, the dragon shifter king.”
“A vampire, you say?” Mother said. “How delightful. I do hope they’re happy.” She took a sip of her tea, placing her cup back in its saucer after. “I’ve already heard wonderful things about your magical abilities. Dominic said your magical abilities lean in the direction of strategy?”
“Yes, primarily. Though I have some affinity with plants as well.” Sasha’s fingers tightened on her cup. “It’s not something I’ve developed much.”
“That’s fascinating,” Lady Kenneth said, scooping up a bite of eggs. “Plant magic combined with strategic thinking could be formidable in the right applications.”
I took a sip of my tea and ate a few more bites of toast.
“The divination stones suggest that undeveloped gifts often bloom at precisely the right moment,” Lady Edwina said, lifting a pale pink piece of rose quartz up between us. “Though the timing is always mysterious until—” A giggle burst out of her, surprising everyone at the table, including herself.
Lady Edwina’s eyes widened, one hand flying to her mouth. “Oh my. That was quite involuntary, I assure you.”
Lord Turren snorted while examining his reflection, and the sound startled him so much he nearly dropped the mirror. His expression dissolved into horror as he covered his mouth with his free hand.
“No,” he whispered. “I’m not seeing a positive change in my complexion with excessive laughing.” A giggle burst through his fingers.
A chuckle escaped my mother. She set her cup down, shock crossing her face. “How very strange.”
Then she was laughing with a loss of control I hadn’t seen from her before in my entire life.
Lady Kenneth had been in the middle of discussing proper sword maintenance with Sasha, because apparently that was appropriate breakfast conversation, when her words dissolved into giggles. She stared at her hands as if they’d betrayed her. “This is highly irregular.”
My own laughter returned full force, doubling me over as wave after wave of it rolled through me.
This wasn’t only happening to me. How could it be a personal failing or weakness when everyone else was doing it too?
The giggling spread like wildfire. My mother tried to maintain her royal dignity, but within moments she was bent over her plate, her shoulders shaking with laughter. Lady Edwina’s mystical pronouncements kept getting interrupted by fits of giggles that made her amulets jingle. Lord Turren’s distress mounted as he laughed so hard his carefully arranged purple hair started coming undone from its clasp.
“This is—” Lady Kenneth tried to speak, bewilderment written across her face. “I don’t understand why I can’t—” Another laugh cut her off.
A humorous uproar filled the room, afflicting everyone but Sasha.
She sat perfectly still, a slice of toast in her hand, watching it all unfold. Her gorgeous blue eyes tracked each person.
Finally, she placed her toast back on her plate and stood, frowning my way. I did my best not to let laughter erupt from deep inside me. Savory lifted from the chair back and settled on Sasha’s shoulder in a whisper of black feathers.
My wife moved around the table, pausing to study each person for a long moment until she returned to my side.
