Val smirked with an arrogant tilt of his lips that had once made my knees weak but now made me want to throw something at him. Like my knife.
“How about we make a truce?” He leaned forward slightly as if sharing a secret. The candlelight caught the sharp edges of his face, making him look more dangerous than usual. “We try to get along and not fight over spilled nuts?”
The double entendre hung in the air like a challenge. The muscles in Nico’s forearm tightened where it rested near mine on the table. Val knew what he was doing.
Truce, my ass.
The silence that followed stretched uncomfortably as we ate. I stole glances at each of them, wondering what they were thinking. Nico’s jaw remained tense and his shoulders stiff. Amari looked ready to turn to stone and pummel everyone at the table. Val maintained his usual mask of casual indifference, but I’d known him well enough once to recognize the storm brewing beneath.
I picked at the food on my plate, my appetite diminished by everything pressing down on me. A missing council member and his entire village. The other council members who barely acknowledged my existence. My brother’s mysterious departure. And three men, who hated one another.
And somehow, I was supposed to lead this mess?
“When do we leave for Shadowmere?” I was desperate to break the silence.
Val leaned back in his chair, swirling his wine. “The sooner we find Winston, the sooner we can stabilize the council.”
“And the sooner I can get away from your bloodsucking ass,” Nico muttered under his breath.
Amari’s fingers tightened around his knife. “Watch yourself, rodent.”
I kicked Nico under the table. “How did the incident in the hall start?”
Nico’s jaw twitched, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “I was going to get coffee for you. That’s all.”
Amari crossed his arms over his chest. “The rodent pelted me with nuts from his little hip pouch.” His deep voice rumbled through the dining room. “He called me a glorified garden gnome and asked if birds shit on me often.”
My mouth fell open as I whipped around to stare at Nico, who suddenly became very interested in the ceiling beams.
“You didwhat?” I pressed my fingers to my temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache. “Did you actually throw nuts at him?”
Nico shrugged one shoulder. “I might have flicked a few cashews at him to test his reflexes.” He took a casual sip of wine. “For security purposes.”
Val snorted, not trying to hide his amusement.
“He launched ten nuts at my face in rapid succession.” Amari’s eye twitched. “Then rated my gargoyle form on aesthetic appeal compared to other garden statuary.”
Nico’s lips curled into a smirk. “I gave him a solid seven out of ten. Would’ve been higher, but the constipated expression brought down the overall score.”
I buried my face in my hands, mortified. Meanwhile, Val had abandoned all pretense and was now openly chuckling.
“And then…” Amari sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. “He tried to balance them on my nose while I was frozen in place.”
“For the record, I stacked three before he moved.”
“I’m impressed.” Val raised his glass in a mock toast.
“You would be,” Amari growled.
“I don’t think I deserved to be thrown down the hall and almost stomped on.”
“You bit me.”
“You had your hand around my throat!” Nico straightened. “What did you expect me to do? Say please and thank you?”
Val chuckled, drawing all our attention. “I think I like you, squirrel. You’ve got balls.”
“Don’t call me squirrel.” Nico’s voice dropped dangerously low.
