sip of his drink. Vanessa scoffed at him, muffling something rather vulgar under her breath.
“Oh, please! The only reason you win at all is half the people you play are either drunk or have no wits about them.”
“I will have you know I have played a champion or two in my day!”
“Ah, yes, I forget, how old are you? Reaching nearly sixty?”
Percy almost coughed up a lung as Vanessa laughed, even managing to get a chuckle out of Nicholas and the other two
sisters. I continued to stay silent as I watched Morgana rub at her wrist. The marks were now gone, but the feeling was most
likely still there.
“She has you there, Percy. I actually forget how old you are,” Nicholas pipped in as he waved to a footman to bring him
another drink.
“Can we not discuss my age in front of the princess, please.” Percy leaned over towards me and I could feel Nicholas’s
eyes shift quickly, resting upon me.
“I am sorry, your highness. I don’t know why they think it’s okay to discuss one’s age. You’d think after all these years,
they’d treat me with more respect. I am only five years older than his majesty. I am not an old fae as they’d have you believe.”
“It’s quite alright, Lord Percy, perhaps it is just their way of saying they enjoy the wisdom you process.”
I leaned in closer to him, a smile dusting across my face. Still sensing Nic looking at me, I glanced over to him for only a
second. Looking back at Percy, I gently touched his forearm laughing.
“Tell me, Lord Percy, have you ever been to the Crystal Isles?”
“Twice, your highness, once with my late father and eh…another time for business.”
He glanced at Nicholas and quickly lowered his eyes, the room becoming awfully quiet as it seemed everyone listened to
our conversation more closely now.
“I am sorry to hear of your fathers passing.”
He kept his eyes low but smiled as he took a drink.
“Did you like my homeland, though?”
I knew I was poking the monster now. The three glasses of wine I’d already drank were starting to warm my body, making
me feel a bit brave.
“It’s very beautiful from what I remember. The sun seems to set differently there than it does here.”
“Yes, the valley does seem to be filled with shadows at every corner.”
The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife by the time the desert came out. Silent again, but we’d all left the
table as courtiers arrived to attend the rest of the evening. Nicholas invited them to join us for drinks and to celebrate
something. I wasn’t sure what, so I didn't take the time to ask. I just continued to drink more wine as I took a seat out in the