A Promise of Fire (Kingmaker Chronicles, #1)(68)

Egeria nods, her eyes wide.

I sigh. “You’ve already shaken up everything else. What’s one more thing?” Besides, the idea of being served last rankles, and I’m not even sure where to fit the parents in. They’re usually first, or dead.

Egeria beams and motions for the servants to continue.

“What else have my children shaken up?”

The question comes from Anatole. I’m surprised his voice doesn’t wobble like the rest of him. He’s a big man with bushy white hair and craggy skin, but his body, which was obviously powerful at one point, is passing into frailty now. His mind seems intact, though. There’s a definite twinkle in his eyes, telling me he knows exactly what his family has shaken up.

“In a traditional royal family, one parent is Alpha until he or she weakens and is eventually killed off, usually by the next in line wanting to be Alpha. So, Anatole—may I call you Anatole?”

He nods, and I continue. “Egeria might have murdered you in your sleep a long time ago. But since Griffin is clearly stronger and more ruthless than Egeria, it’s probably Griffin who would have eliminated both you and Egeria to take over the realm.” I turn to the lovely, round woman at Anatole’s side. “Nerissa, you’re just the Consort. You don’t matter.”

Griffin’s mother lifts one eyebrow. Slowly. I could probably have phrased that differently.

“Piers, while likely a capable warrior, doesn’t strike me as the type to care about ruling.” I glance at the other brother again. He looks fit enough, but he’s not part of Griffin’s essential team like Carver is, and those ink stains on his fingers make me think he lives for learning, not conquering. “However, Carver might have slit Piers’s throat anyway just to move up a rank. Then Carver and Griffin would be at odds, waiting for one or the other to make a move.”

I turn to the younger sisters. “Jocasta and Kaia aren’t nearly brutal enough to get involved, so they would be married off to royals or nobles from Tarva or Fisa to form alliances that never last. The realms aren’t attacking one another at the moment, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. The girls would be miserable but probably not dead, which is always a good thing. Their children, though, like all of yours”—I sweep a hand around the table, indicating the six siblings—“would get caught in the race for power and start trying to kill each other off as soon as they could walk. Royals call it the nursery bloodbath. It’s why they have so many kids. It’s like throwing vicious puppies together and waiting to see which ones live.”

As the whole family stares at me in shocked silence, I raise my glass in a mock toast. “Here’s to court life!”

Anatole’s slate-colored eyes turn bright with humor. “So, Cat—may I call you Cat?”

I nod, my mouth twitching.

“I’m heartily glad we prefer shaking up tradition to killing each other off.”

“You never know. Griffin might still murder you all in your sleep,” I joke, setting my glass to my lips.

“He could try,” Anatole says with a chuckle, and I nearly spit out my wine.

The servants clear away the first course and bring in the next, once again serving me first. I stare at the lamb steak slathered in butter oregano sauce with tiny red potatoes fried until they’re crispy. I look at Griffin, realize my jaw has come unhinged, and snap it shut. He winks, and I kick him under the table.

“Everyone knows Magoi royals are bloodthirsty,” Nerissa says. “Among themselves and their people. We’ll give a new example to the realms.”

“Good luck,” I say. It comes out less sarcastically than I planned.

“Griffin says you’re a soothsayer.” Kaia smiles at me from across the table. She’s pretty and fresh. Too bad she’s been dragged into this mess. “Can you see my future?”

I shake my head. “It doesn’t work that way, at least not for me. I do more of a character reading. It helps determine who can be trusted.”

“That sounds useful,” Piers says, looking interested for the first time.

“Yes, well, that’s why Griffin abducted me. To be useful.”

Silence. Egeria clears her throat. “Griffin says you’re very knowledgeable, and that your magic is vast. What else can you do?”

Do I need something else? Against my own better judgment, I say, “At the moment, I can breathe fire and burn you all to a crisp.”

Kaia giggles.

“You think I’m joking?”

She giggles some more.

“Why at the moment?” Egeria asks, perhaps shrewder than I gave her credit for.

I try to look apologetic. “I can’t explain unless the stars align just right and Zeus makes me his wife.”

Griffin chokes on a bite of lamb. Carver coughs into his fist. Everyone else looks like they’re trying to decide if I’m serious.

“Breathe fire for us,” Kaia begs, bouncing in her seat.

I shake my head. “That would break etiquette. No fire breathing at the dinner table.”

“Why Zeus?” Jocasta frowns. “He’s so…mercurial.”

Yes, well, so am I. “I’m forgetting to eat.” I pick through my plate for the crispiest potato and combine it with a big bite of lamb, chewing slowly to get out of talking.