Dinner had already started by the time Kaelith decided to behave like a minimally functional member of society.
She stood outside the dining room doors for one brief second, hand on the carved handle, and considered turning around.
It was a very attractive option.
She could still leave.
Pretend she had been delayed by important, mysterious business instead of being an idiot in a hallway with Malvoria and then wandering the castle for twenty extra minutes trying to regain dignity she had already burned to ash the second she fired a jealous flame arrow at her own sister.
Excellent work, Kaelith.
Truly.
Then she heard Ruby laugh from inside, bright and unrestrained, followed by Violet saying something drier and lower, and beneath both voices came another one.
Irielle.
Calm.
Cool.
Softer at dinner than it had any right to be.
Kaelith opened the door before she could talk herself into cowardice.
The room was warm with candlelight and evening gold.
The long table had been set less formally tonight, more family dinner than political display, though with this family even “casual” still involved polished silver and enough good wine to bankrupt lesser households.
Everyone was already eating.
And talking.
Of course they were talking.
Ruby and Violet sat on one side of the table with Irielle between them like they had both independently decided she belonged there now.
Malvoria sat at the head, red hair spilling over one shoulder, grey eyes sharp and amused over her glass.
Elysia sat beside her, silver hair catching the light, looking altogether too angelic for a woman who was absolutely part of this emotional ambush.
The moment Kaelith walked in, five pairs of eyes lifted.
She hated families.
“You came,” Ruby said, sounding far too delighted for someone who had spent the afternoon trying to steal Kaelith’s wife through charm and shared snacks.
Kaelith pulled out her chair with a slowness she hoped looked intentional.
“Apparently.”
Violet, who was seated on Irielle’s other side, looked between them with the sort of thoughtful innocence that meant trouble.
Then she patted the empty chair beside Irielle and asked, “Do you want to sit next to your wife?”
Kaelith did not even pause.
“No.”
She went around the table and sat directly across from Irielle instead, which in the moment felt like a better decision.
It was not.
It was, in fact, a terrible idea.
Because now every time Kaelith looked up, there she was.
Irielle in a dark evening dress this time, her blond hair half pinned back, green eyes clear in the candlelight, face calm in that infuriatingly elegant way that made it seem like she had never once in her life tripped over an emotion in public.
She looked composed.
Comfortable, even.
And every now and then Ruby or Violet would say something, and the corners of her mouth would shift.
Not much.
Just enough.
Just enough to make Kaelith want to know what had been said.
Just enough to make her feel, absurdly, left out.
Kaelith hated that immediately.
A servant placed food in front of her.
She had no memory of what it was.
Something rich, roasted, fragrant with herbs.
She picked up her fork mostly so her hands would have something useful to do.
Across from her, Irielle listened to Ruby describe some minor dispute between two castle guards with quiet attention, then smiled.
A real smile this time.
Not broad.
Not soft.
Just brief and devastatingly alive.
Kaelith stared for half a second too long.
Then she said, before she could stop herself, “What are you talking about?”
Silence.
Not full silence.
Ruby’s eyes lit up like festival lanterns.
Violet’s mouth twitched.
Malvoria took a very elegant sip of wine.
Elysia looked down at her plate with the expression of a woman already fighting laughter.
Irielle, damn her, remained almost perfectly composed, though Kaelith saw the faintest flicker of surprise in her eyes before it disappeared.
Violet recovered first.
“Tomorrow,” she said smoothly, “we’re taking Irielle to the demon capital.”
Kaelith blinked.
“The demon capital.”
“Yes,” Ruby said.
“She’s been here a week.
She’s seen the castle, the gardens, the west grounds, the library, the pastry routes, and one incredibly dramatic sword fight.
It’s time for the city.”
Irielle lifted her glass with infuriating calm.
“They have been planning it for two days.”
Kaelith looked at Ruby.
“And nobody thought to mention this?”
Ruby grinned.
“Would you have listened?”
That was insulting because it was fair.
Kaelith shifted in her chair and finally started eating, mostly to avoid saying anything worse.
The food was excellent, which also annoyed her.
Everything in this castle remained offensively competent.
The conversation moved on for a moment, but Kaelith found herself unable not to notice things.
The way Ruby leaned too close when she got excited.
The way Violet pretended indifference and then quietly made sure Irielle got the best of whatever dessert component had just arrived.
The way Irielle, who had looked ready to freeze everyone on arrival, now answered them more easily.
Not warmly, exactly.
But with less armor.
That should have pleased Kaelith.
Instead it put something restless under her skin.
Because she had spent the week avoiding the problem, and in her absence the problem had apparently gone ahead and become part of the family anyway.
Wonderful.
Elysia set down her fork and turned toward Kaelith with a brightness that should have warned everyone in the room.
“Kaelith,” she said, “you should totally go with them too.
You’re best at finding the best restaurants and places.”
Kaelith looked up slowly.
There it was.
The trap.
Neatly phrased.
Smiling.
Maternal.
“No.”
Ruby made a wounded sound.
“Why are you like this?”
“Because I enjoy protecting my peace.”
Violet said, “Your peace looks lonely.”
Kaelith pointed her fork at her.
“You’re becoming dangerous.”
“I learned from the best.”
Malvoria, who had been watching all of this like a queen attending private theater, finally spoke.
“She should go.”
Kaelith turned toward her mother in open betrayal.
“You too?”
Malvoria gave a lazy little shrug.
“You know the capital better than anyone at this table.”
“That is not a qualification.
Elysia smiled in that too-gentle way that meant resistance would only make her sweeter.
“It would be good for Irielle to see it properly.”
Kaelith looked at Irielle then, perhaps hoping for support.
Some solidarity.
A cool, cutting refusal.
Instead Irielle met her gaze and said, in that maddeningly level voice of hers, “Only if you wish to.”
That should have helped.
It did not help.
Because now if Kaelith refused, she would look childish.
Again.
Malvoria would say something unbearable.
Ruby would sulk dramatically.
Violet would smirk.
Elysia would somehow make disappointment feel like a warm blanket and a knife at once.
Kaelith hated all of them.
Especially herself, because under all that resistance there was a sharper, more humiliating truth:
part of her wanted to go.
Not because of duty.
She wanted to know what caught Irielle attention, what annoyed her, what might make her laugh again when she forgot to be cold.
That, Kaelith thought, was unacceptable.
Ruby leaned toward her over the table.
“Come on.
We’ll make a day of it.”
“Your version of a day usually ends in theft, arguments, and at least one regrettable purchase.”
“Exactly,” Ruby said.
“Culture.”
Irielle lowered her eyes briefly to her plate, but Kaelith saw it.
The smallest movement at the corner of her mouth.
Not quite a smile.
The memory of one.
Kaelith looked away first.
Coward, a voice in her head whispered.
Shut up, Kaelith thought back at it.
Elysia reached for the wine and poured Kaelith another glass without asking.
“It’ll be nice.”
“That sentence has never led anywhere safe.”
Malvoria’s grey eyes gleamed.
“Take your wife out.”
Kaelith nearly inhaled a piece of roasted vegetable.
“Mother.”
“What?” Malvoria said, innocence wasted beautifully on her face.
“That is technically what I’m suggesting.”
Ruby laughed so hard she had to lean on Violet’s shoulder.
Violet, traitor, was smiling openly now.
Irielle remained poised, but there was color higher in her cheeks than before.
Faint.
Barely there.
Kaelith only noticed because she was looking too carefully.
Which was another problem she chose not to name.
She took a drink of wine.
Then another.
Then set the glass down with exaggerated calm.
“Fine,” she said.
Ruby straightened at once.
“Fine yes?”
Kaelith gave her a flat look.
“Fine, I’ll go.”