Chapter 23
AVELINE
I’ve spent my entire life training for high-stakes court drama.
My mother practically engraved the rules of etiquette into my bones. ‘Always maintain a serene smile.’ ‘Never slouch.’ ‘Treat all nobles with the utmost grace and hospitality, no matter how taxing they may be. They could be future family.’
Future family, indeed.
I repeat these mantras to myself like a prayer as I walk into the dining room.
Future family.
I never envisioned my future family would have antlers that get stuck on my home’s doorways, but here I am!
Still, I’m determined to play nice. These foolish… well, Elder Gods, are Malakai’s brothers, which means they are my new family.
I try not to think too hard about the fact that means I’m very much considering marrying Malakai.
I raise my chin.
If I am to be the Queen of Shadow Keep, I must show them that a Duchess of Stormspire does not scare easily.
Then I actually see them at the breakfast table.
The dining hall looks as though it’s been ransacked by oversized toddlers.
My mouth opens, then closes, then opens again.
Cern, the antlered forest god, lounges sideways in a velvet chair that is actively groaning under his massive weight. Mud and crushed pine needles are all over the once-pristine stone floor.
Valen, the death god, sits across from him, leaning so far back on two legs of his chair that it’s a miracle he hasn't cracked his skull open. His face is currently handsome and human, but every time he takes a bite, his jaw flickers into gleaming white bone.
"Ah! The blushing bride-to-be arrives!" Valen booms, his chair slamming down onto all four legs as I enter.
In the corner, Hash arches his eyebrows, as if daring me to take on Valen all on my own. Maybe I will.
Rage starts to bubble in my veins.
Future family, I think to myself.
Dark eyes sweep over my practical pants and tunic. Valen’s face flashes to the death skull, complete with a skeletal grin. "Look at that, Cern. She commands the room. I told you Mal was a hopeless romantic beneath all those shadows."
"An absolute conquest." Cern snorts, reaching across the table with a massive, tree trunk arm to grab an entire loaf of crusty bread.
His left antler knocks a glass pitcher of orange juice clean off the table.
It shatters on the floor, but the house automatically mends the glass and absorbs the liquid before it can puddle.
Cern doesn't even blink, just raises a tankard of what looks suspiciously like ale. "Morning, Duchess. Take a seat. Feast with us."
Future family. I grit my teeth.
Malakai steps into the room behind me, his posture stiff. Dark magic radiates off his broad shoulders. He pulls out a chair for me, his gaze darting between my eyes as if trying to read my thoughts.
Or as if he’s waiting for me to run screaming from the room.
If these two buffoons are trying to scare me, they’ll find I’m made of sterner stuff.
A grin stretches across my face, and it’s not nice.
Not nice at all.
I take a deep breath, smooth the front of my pants, and sit down. My best, most practiced diplomatic smile replaces the evil smirk I let myself have for a moment.
"Good morning," I say, my voice smooth and perfectly modulated. "It’s a pleasure to properly meet you both. I am Aveline, Duchess of Stormspire."
"We are well aware," Valen says, talking with his mouth completely full of ham. His cheekbone flickers to exposed skull, showing the chewed food inside his jaw before snapping back to handsome skin.
“That’s a neat trick,” I tell him blandly, as uncaring as I can manage. “How does it not fall out?”
Valen blinks at me in surprise, the skull vanishing entirely.
"We’re just surprised you’re still here. The last witch Malakai had to bond with—what was her name, Cern? The one from the eastern coven? The one with those wild, untamed eyes?"
"Oh, the dark-haired enchantress!" Cern laughs, a loud, booming sound that rumbles the plates. He scratches the base of his antlers with a greasy fork. “How many years ago was that? Five hundred? More?”
I frown, disgusted by his uncouth manners.
"By the gods, she was utterly mad.” He points with the same fork at Valen. “Remember when she tried to hex Mal's shadows? But, whew," he lets out a low whistle, "she did have a magnificent wild streak."
My diplomatic smile falters. The fork in my hand stays perfectly still, but my fingers tighten around the silver.
A teapot floats over to my setting, hot water flowing into my cup as the castle tries to make me feel better.
I don’t like to think about… the other versions of me.
I swallow hard and stab at a piece of innocent egg.
"No, the one before her was far more taxing," Valen chimes in, leaning forward and resting his greasy elbows right on the table. "The delicate thing with the red hair. A mouse. Wept the first time Cern brought a fresh kill into the hall. Truly, it was merely dinner—there was no need for hysterics."
"To be fair, the witches of the last few eons have lacked true spirit," Cern says, shaking his head as he slaps a mountain of butter onto his bread.
"They are all either desperate for a crown or entirely useless in a clash of blades.
Just a collection of silly humans dallying with wild magic they cannot hope to comprehend. "
“Dallying?” I ask sweetly. “Dallying?!” I take a sip of the hot tea. Delicious.
Malakai opens his mouth, his eyes flashing with murder.
I place my hand flat on his forearm, and he glances down at me.
I don’t know what he sees, but I know one thing.
The Duchess of Stormspire has officially left the castle. The utter entitlement radiating off these two overgrown man-child deities has incinerated my patience and sanded off the etiquette lessons.
Hash’s eyebrows are practically in his hairline.
I slowly set my teacup back down onto its saucer.
The porcelain makes a crystal-clear clink that somehow cuts right through the brothers' obnoxious laughter. They both stop, turning toward me.
"Is something bothering you, Duchess?" Valen asks.
"I am simply sitting here," I begin, my voice dropping into an icy register that I perfected at age twelve, "marveling at how two supposed gods possess the collective intellect of a pair of concussed stable boys."
The dining hall goes violently silent.
The castle floor shakes slightly… and I can tell it’s amused.
I let my smile widen.
Hash purses his lips, looking for all the world like he’s trying not to laugh.
Cern’s fork stops halfway to his mouth.
Valen’s rakish smirk vanishes. Beside me, Malakai goes rigid.
"Excuse me?" Valen asks, his face violently, rapidly flickering between the handsome man and the grinning death skull.
"You heard me." I lean forward, my gaze locking onto his without any fear.
"You barge into private quarters at dawn, ruin my keep because you cannot manage your own…” I pause and throw a disgusted glance at Cern, “anatomy, and then sit at this table talking with your mouths full, throwing foul things on my floor, and discussing women as though we are livestock.
Stableboys actually have better manners.
" I tap my chin as though thinking. “I shouldn’t have insulted them like that.”
"Now hold on, sweetheart, we were just—" Cern starts, his massive chest puffing out.
"Sweetheart?" I repeat, my voice getting colder and colder. "Sweetheart? Do not 'sweetheart' me, you overgrown excuse for venison," I snap, my gaze whipping to him so fiercely that the antlered god flinches.
"You speak of witches with contempt, yet from what I have seen of the wards at the perimeter, the two of you have done absolutely nothing to secure this domain. If those women were 'fragile,' it is likely because they were exhausted from having to endure the suffocating burden of your company."
I stand up, my posture perfect, my chin held high.
"If we are to be family, and if I am to be the queen of this castle, let me make one thing entirely clear," I say, my voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings, louder than it has any right to be. I suppose the castle decided to amplify the volume.
What a girl’s girl.
I take a deep breath and continue.
"You will mend the door upstairs. You will clean up this table. And if I ever hear either of you speak of anyone in that manner again, I will personally see to it that my coven sisters will never wed you. Do I make myself understood?"
I’m not sure how I would go about collecting on that threat, but where there’s a will there’s a way.
Neither of them speaks.
Cern is staring at his buttered bread as if it might explode. Valen's face has completely frozen on his handsome illusion, his dark eyes wide.
I turn to Malakai and give him a tight, polite nod. "Thank you for breakfast, Malakai. I will be taking Sandwich—the horse I saved from that awful man you—” I cut my eyes to his brothers “—banished on a walk, where I will study my magic. Alone."
I don't wait for a response.
I don’t need one.
With one last imperious look at the two idiots, I turn on my heel, my coat billowing behind me, and walk from the dining hall completely pleased with myself.
Behind me, the silence holds for three footsteps before I hear Valen let out a low, breathless whistle.
"Gods above, Mal," the death god whispers, his voice dripping with absolute awe. "She is terrifying. I think I'm in love with her."
"Touch her," Malakai’s voice answers, "and I will let her destroy you."
A real smile takes the place of my fake one.