"Fiiiiine!" she pulled out her phone and sent a text. "There. Happy now?"
Rex closed his mouth. "You know what? I don't really need to know." He looked up at Leo. "Wonderful meal as always."
Leo held up a bowl. "More potatoes?"
"Yes, please." Rex sat back to give him more room to serve.
Brie looked up at Ari. "Are we gonna ignore that?"
Ari pointed to his brother. "I have been following his lead since I was in diapers. He hasn't steered me wrong yet." He held up his plate. "More potatoes for me as well, Leo."
"Alrighty then," Brie picked up her fork and dug into her meal. After the fight, she was craving protein, and the London Broil really was cooked to perfection.
Across the table, the twins were sniffling and squeezing Meryn between them while Pip kissed all three heads repeatedly.
Aiden held up his glass, and this time it was Ryuu pulling out the small bottle of apple scented amber liquid. He filled the glass once, which Aiden promptly emptied and then filled it again. "Just a premonition," he muttered.
Kendrick turned to Aiden. "Did you need Micah back here?"
Aiden blinked then shook his head. "What?"
"Micah? He rejoined Eta for the mission; did you need him back here?"
Aiden rubbed his chin. "No. I'd rather he work with his unit in guarding the warehouse."
Declan sighed in relief. "Don't tell him I said this, but we all missed him at home. He kinda made the day go by faster."
"When will you be going back?" his mother asked.
"Tomorrow. We'll spend the night here then go back," Declan said.
"Oh," Catherine sighed.
"Mother, as long as the portal is open, I can come home every day for lunch." Declan's eyes widened as he realized what he said. "Hot damn! I can come home for lunch."
Catherine turned to her squire. "Leo, starting tomorrow let's make lunch our bigger meal of the day. If that's the meal where all my boys will be able to be together at once, let's make it a good one. They need their energy."
Leo was already nodding. "I can easily adjust our menus." He eyed first Ari, then Declan. "We'll need to order higher quantities though."
Both Declan and Ari looked pleased at his assessment instead of offended.
"So Kendrick calls this Clark Kent, then a story goes out about how awesome I am, hopefully swaying the public. If that doesn't work, then we target the Committee?" Meryn asked.
"Meryn, no," Aiden repeated, sounding exasperated.
"What? It's not like we have a lot of choices. They're creating new rules. How'd the Committee get so much power anyway? One day, some peeps just said, 'hey, you have to do as we say,' and everyone just hopped to? That's bullshit," Meryn groused.
Kendrick inhaled his wine and started choking. Anne immediately began to rub his back. "Gods!" he gasped. "All these long centuries, I blamed the people. I just couldn't fathom how one day we had a king and queen and then the next a council." He turned deathly pale. "But it's happening again, isn't it?"
Kendrick stood, causing his chair to tip. "Aiden, we need to head to the palace." He looked around the room. "Rex, Ari, Declan, you'll all be needed. Rex, you can filter what you know to the council; you'll know what to leave out. Declan, you'll need to be included to help Magnus and likewise Ari to assist Aiden and Brennus." He threw his napkin on his plate. "Leo, Catherine, thank you for a lovely meal, but we really do have to go."
Catherine, looking flustered, stood. "Of course."
Jedrek didn't look at all pleased at being excluded. Rex placed a hand on his shoulder. "Trust us," was all he said.
"You boys help one another, and don't forget that I'm here if you need me," Jedrek said, nodding at his eldest.
Brie looked at her dad. He held up his hand that was twined around Doran's. "We'll be staying here. Brennus will update us later."