“Mother,” Ronak says, addressing her. “Stop being so difficult to Emelle.”
She just sniffs and raises her chin haughtily.
I try to push Ronak’s hand off my mouth, but he doesn’t let go. I stick my tongue out and slather it all over his palm, but that doesn’t work either, so I change tactics and push his fingers even further in, and then I bite him. Hard.
He snatches his hand away, and I rush to explain. “I was gonna say the bug was as big as Ronak’s foot!” I say primly. I turn to glare at Ronak for making it seem worse than it was. “I wasn’t gonna say it was as big as your as your co—”
He clamps a hand over my mouth again.
That time it was justified. Whoops.
Ronak’s fathers look like they want to crawl into a genfin cave and hide.
Ronak leans in to speak into my ear. “Can you not talk about the size of my dick at the dinner table with our parents?”
I nod and a muffled, “Yep,” comes out against his hand.
He drops his hand again, and I smile sheepishly. “Words just come out sometimes,” I tell his parents.
“That kind of thing would never happen to a nice high-ranking society girl like that Delsheen,” Resha says.
The fork in my hand nearly bends from me clutching it so hard.
Don’t forking stab her, don’t forking stab her, don’t forking stab her.
I smile tightly. “Delsheen is a self-absorbed jerk.”
Resha smooths her gray hair. “Yes, but she has excellent table manners.”
“I totally have good table manners,” I blurt out.
Resha cocks a thin brow and looks down at my plate. Okay, plates. Plural. I have four. And yeah, I ate most of it with my fingers, so my cloth napkin is covered in meat stains, and not the sexual kind.
I quickly pile my four plates up on top of each other, but there’s still food on some of them, so it kind of makes this weird unsteady tower. “There,” I say proudly. “Oh, wait.” I take the gross napkin and smooth it out before folding it into a fancy heart shape. I place it on top of the plate tower. “That’s better,” I say proudly.
“Hmm,” Resha says.
Operation Love Me isn’t going so well.
“Mother, just because Emelle is being so kind and forgiving about your behavior tonight, doesn’t mean that I am. If you want to meet your granddaughter, then I expect you to treat her with respect, and I don’t ever want to hear you bring up Delsheen’s name again, is that clear?” Ronak says, as his tail curls around my calf.
“Delsheen was a nightmare,” Evia cuts in. “I’m glad you didn’t mate to her.”
The other fathers nod. “Yes, she was quite difficult,” Sylred’s father adds.
“She comes from good genfin blood,” Resha argues.
“She fucked the prince during our mating celebration,” Evert says dryly.
“Evert! Don’t swear at the dinner table,” Evia scolds.
He just shrugs.
“I apologize for my mother’s behavior,” Ronak says to me, although he does it loudly enough that it’s clear he wants his mother to hear. “Let’s go.”
“Wait,” I blurt. “Why don’t we all go enjoy the fair? It’ll be fun!”
Evert’s parents are already nodding, Sylred’s fathers look a bit nervous, and Ronak’s fathers are watching Resha for confirmation either way.