He threw tea back, not wincing once at the barbed taste.
The room with dark green walls felt like it was closing in on us as we picked at our plates. I sat on Derrick’s right-hand side at the round dining table, wearing the violet dress he had selected for me.
Brietta sat across from Derrick, proudly dressed in a deep green and wearing the same emerald tiara she wore for the Presentation. She glanced up at her husband as we ate, clearly waiting for him to share about the Baron meeting, but Derrick just stabbed at his haddock, silent.
Her brown eyes flicked over to me. The flipping of worn pages tickled the back of my mind as the door between Brietta’s eyes opened.
“It went poorly,” I sent into her mind.
Brietta let out a slow, yet frustrated breath.
The only person not steeping in the tension was Annalisa. Her cheeks were pink and her curls bounced around her shoulders as she ate.
“Grigory wrote that he would be back for me soon,” Annalisa said with a smile and a glance at her brother. “Since I will moveto Thornebow province right after he returns, I think it would be a great opportunity for a farewell ball so—”
“No.” Derrick took another stab at his fish. “I cannot think of a worse use of what little time I have than to attend another ridiculous ball.”
Annalisa blinked and looked down at her plate. I tried to throw a magical tether her way, just to explain that Derrick was in poor spirits because of my swimming attempt, but her deflated mood kept me out.
She let out a determined breath and looked squarely at her brother. “Derrick, this is my last chance to—”
Derrick glared at her so fiercely that Annalisa visibly shrunk in her chair. Her eyes darted down and her fingernails clicked as she picked them underneath the table.
Brietta glanced at dejected Annalisa and then her gaze settled on her husband. “Your father used to do that too.”
Annalisa looked up from across the table with fearful eyes. We both dared to glance down the table at Derrick, whose brow turned hard.
I could just picture Alastar pacing at the bottom of his pit.
Derrick gripped his fork. “What did you just say?”
Brietta put down her fork and straightened her spine. “Fight for dominance at every possible moment. Right after the coronation, he started restricting everything Freya did.”
I sent a command into her mind: “Damn it, Brietta! Not now!”
She cut me a glance and broke the tether between our minds.
Derrick’s hands curled into white-knuckled fists on top of the table. “Leave my mother out of this.”
Brietta did not even blink at his rising anger. “Would you rather me lie to you for the rest of your life? If you are acting like an ass, I am going to tell you.”
Time to end this. I reached for Derrick’s wrist, but he stood up and slammed his palms on the table. The cutlery rattled. Annalisa flinched.
“Do not lecture me on what you knownothingabout,” he bit out.
“You cannot intimidate me.” Brietta folded her arms. “If you wanted a meek and obedient Duchess, you should have chosen someone else.”
I did not know who to reach for first—Brietta to get her to shut the hell up or Derrick to get him to calm the hell down.
“Iwantedto choose someone else,” Derrick said darkly.
“And do you think that gives you any excuse to act exactly like your father?”
My heart jumped to my throat and Annalisa gasped. Too far. Too fucking far.
Before I could act, Derrick picked up his plate and threw it against the wall by Annalisa’s head. She screamed as the porcelain shattered mere inches from her ear.
I stood up to grab Derrick, but he had already stormed out of the room. He slammed the door behind him so hard that the frame rattled.
