Duke Hyton leaned in close to his son and a growl shredded his throat. “Hate me all you want, boy, but this is only the beginning of the torture you face.”
Amethyst threw her arms around Derrick’s shoulders. “Enough, Father! Leave Der-bear alone!”
Der-bear? My white flame quieted from the secondhand embarrassment plunging through my chest.
“Let go, Amie,” Derrick grumbled through his teeth.
Amethyst planted a big kiss on his cheek that he tried to resist. “We love you and think you are perfect!”
Rubia, Pearl, and Sapphira agreed, adding sweet words and “Der-bears.” Emeralda sloshed wine out of her goblet and started slurring praises. Even Mother shot him a pitiful glance and a smile.
Annalisa twisted the tines of her fork on her plate, making skin-crawling squeaks. “Derrick, Derrick, Derrick,” she mocked. “Everything always has to be aboutDerrick.”
Sapphira snapped her head toward her youngest sister. “What was that, Anna?”
Shit. I had endured enough Ashmore dinners to know what was about to happen.
Before I could stop her, Annalisa threw down her fork. “You have your own sons you could fawn over, you know. That is, if you ever stepped away from the gambling halls,Empress Sapphira.”
Sapphira slammed her palms on the table so hard her cutlery rattled. A brown curl popped free from the tight braid around her head. Annalisa did not even flinch.
“Little Annalisa, always acting out for attention.” Her blue eyes shot over in my direction. “Did you ever wonder why she is the only one of us without a gemstone name? From the moment she was born, even our mother knew she was just a worthless little crybaby!”
Annalisa’s chair flew out behind her and she was on her feet. Metal flashed in the corner of my eye and I turned—Annalisa held out her knife.
“I could do all those rebels in your crumbling empire a big favor right now and end you,” she growled. “Call me worthlessone more time.”
I placed my hand on her forearm. I could not risk trying magic, but I had to intervene. “Anna, calm down.”
Rubia gasped as Sapphira picked up her own knife. Her chest heaved as her mouth twisted in a predatory snarl.
“Worthless. Little. Anna.” She leaned on the table, the knife gleaming under the candlelight. “Last-selected. Married to a nobody. You are not even a Hyton any longer, you Thornebowrat. Enjoy the rest of your life with those traitorous, useless, Thorn—”
Annalisa lunged onto the table with a scream. Sapphira followed. Goblets flew out and bowls toppled over as they collided on the table.
Freya cried at them to stop. Sapphira snarled and held her knife in the air just before Rubia grabbed her wrist and knocked the knife away. Pearl grabbed the hem of Annalisa’s skirt and I grabbed her ankle as she thrashed with her knife.
Emeralda threw her book at Annalisa and missed. I tugged Annalisa’s leg and she slid back on the table before Sapphira could punch her in the head.
I heaved her back one more time before an arm wrapped around my waist and forced me to let go of Annalisa.
With a quick spin, the arm released me and my palms found the papered wall before my face did. I whipped my head around just as Derrick grabbed Annalisa by the laces of her dress and yanked her off the table. He threw her into the wall so hard that it shook.
I gasped and stepped away. Annalisa’s skirt flew up as she kicked him, but Derrick held her in place with his forearm against her chest. He forced the knife out of Annalisa’s hand and it clattered on the floor.
“The hell is wrong with you?” he shouted.
Brietta’s hands found my shoulders and she led me out of the dining room. I glanced back to see Rubia, Emeralda, Pearl, and Freya holding nearly-feral Sapphira against the opposite wall. Duke Hyton disappeared through another door with his arm around my mother’s back.
My chest heaved as rabbit stew ran down the front of my bodice. Amethyst rushed past us, crying that the fighting was not good for her growing baby.
Just a normal dinner, Derrick had said.
I did not want to think about how true that statement still was.
I rested on my back on Annalisa’s bed as I mentally traced the veins on each colorful leaf she had painted on her tree. Brietta had given my Nordingaard crystal back and it rested securely against my leg.
After that horrible dinner, it was nice to feel calm again.
