My stomach turned. Were we eating rats? Bear cubs?
Duke Hyton glanced in Derrick’s direction. “It is rabbit.”
Oh, rabbit was not bad.
Derrick leaned back against his chair and let out a tense breath. General Hyton snickered.
Freya put her spoon down with a clatter. “Really, Anders?”
Emeralda leaned forward with sleepy eyes. “What? Am I missing something?”
“Oh, so you have not heard that my heir earned a new name at court?” Duke Hyton shot Derrick a pointed look paired with a wicked smile.
Derrick’s cheeks reddened and he stared down at the table like he wanted to disappear beneath it.
Freya’s hands balled into fists. “Anders, do not—”
“Since Derrick made such a spectacle of himself at the ball last week with hisfast performance,” Duke Hyton boomed, “everyone started calling him Little Rabbit Hyton!”
My hand clapped over my mouth. Derrick and Brietta had left Annalisa’s ball and reappeared in what seemed like a blink, but was it really that fast to notice?
General Hyton burst out laughing. Mother’s chest rose with tense breaths as she stared at her stew. Annalisa cursed under her breath. Brietta’s cheeks flamed and she shrunk down. Derrick’s older sisters squealed in disgust except for Garnet, who had her nose stuck in a book.
“Stop it, Father!” Derrick hissed. “You are embarrassing Brietta! And Serafina should not hear—”
“She should be embarrassed!” Duke Hyton shouted as he gestured to Brietta. “The whole damn Dukedom knows her husband can only lastone minute!”
Brietta covered her scarlet face with her hands. She had not remembered anything that happened between her and Derrick that night, and for the Duke to bring it up in front of everyone…
My hand left my lips and curled into a fist under the table.
Freya put her hand on Brietta’s shoulder and spat venom. “Of all the disgusting stunts you have pulled over the years—!”
Duke Hyton slammed his fist on the table. Everyone other than the General flinched. “Damn it, Freya! We are in a family crisis and I will address it as such! All the Barons now believe the sole heir to the House of Hyton is an impotent little pup! You know what that means for the rest of us!”
Pearl slammed her hands over her ears the moment her father said “impotent,” Garnet slipped another book from underneath the table and passed it to Emeralda, and Rubia and Sapphira shrieked in disgust.
“Father!” Rubia cried. “Stop talking about our baby brother like that!”
“I am going to throw up,” Annalisa growled.
I could practically feel Derrick’s burning embarrassment from the other end of the table. Duke Hyton reached for Derrick and made fast, stabbing motions like he was poking him in the chest.
“You. Are. The. Heir. Damn it!” he shouted. “If the Barons are not convinced that you are a virile bull, they will think you are weak—they will thinkall of usare weak!”
It was exactly as Freya had told us—the Alastar trials never ended. Just as the Duke had to constantly prove himself worthy, so did his entire line.
But Duke Hyton’s entire line wasjustDerrick.
Sapphira pushed up from the table and bared her teeth. “Stop it, Father!”
Duke Hyton ignored his daughter. “Until you start producing some heirs, you will continue to be a pathetic joke!”
I forced myself to look at Derrick. His eyes were down, even as his father held him by the collar. His chest rose and fell, but he stayed firm.
My white flame surged in my chest. Derrick wasnotpathetic.
My hands curled into tight fists beneath the table as the magic awoke in my veins. I should have grabbed my crystal from Brietta before we got back to the palace. I could not lose control of my power in front of the entire House of Hyton!
