This is the last thing I hear as the door clicks shut.King of the Underworld, God of the Dead, I silently correct, irrationally mad that his own brother can’t get Essos’s titles right.
Grimacing, I flip the bird at the door and the abrupt dismissal. Cat is nowhere to be found, despite promising that she would wait outside. Even her chair is gone. I want to linger, see if I can hear anything, but my whole body is pushed away as if by some outside force. Fighting against it, I take one, then two steps back toward Essos’s office until the effort is too exhausting on top of the emotional turmoil of the day. These gods and their secrets are godsdamned annoying.
I didn’t do anything nearly as physically strenuous as the day Helene and I worked out, but I feel that same level of exhaustion. I understand so much better now why Essos and Sybil have kept the details of the Afterlife so locked down. If I had known that’s what it would be like, I would have wanted to spend all my time with my parents, learning all the things I was robbed of.
I’m left with so many thoughts and emotions and questions that when I get back to my room, I almost miss the box sitting on my bed that seems to be moving. I don’t have a chance to open it before the top pops open and a card flutters to the floor.
Inside the box is a ginger cat, who looks up at me, the crisscross pattern on his fur a dead giveaway of just who this is. A gasp strangles my throat, and the dam that had been holding in my tears breaks. When I walk closer to him, an angry but recognizable chirp breaks the silence, and I scoop him up, hugging him close. I forget about the card for a moment, hugging Waffles to my chest. My foot crushes it, and I plop onto my bed and bend over to pick it up. Waffles cries again under my crushing hug, trying to squirm away and explore, and I finally let him after pressing a hard kiss to his head. The desire to know how he came to be here is squashed quickly because I really don’t want to know if he died and now lives in this realm eternally. This is a question I am better off not knowing the answer to. I pick up the card and tear it open.
Thought you might need this after today.
-E
I curl around the note, tracing my fingers over his script that is so familiar. My heart has grown three sizes from his monumental level of consideration today. Tears once more streaking my cheeks, I struggle again to reconcile the man Galen has warned me about with the man before me, who has made some of the grandest gestures possible.
CHAPTER29
Since breakfast has somehow become everyone’s introduction meal, I’m not surprised the next morning to find Xavier sitting at the table, reading a newspaper over an egg white omelet.
“Good morning,” I greet, taking my usual seat. I opted for a simple cornflower blue sundress and flats today.
Xavier’s eyes track me over the top of his paper, but he says nothing in return. Cat is the next to filter in with the dogs at her heels. I woke to Dave whining at my door, and when I tried to introduce him to Waffles, Dave got a sharp swipe to the nose. First blood to Waffles.
Xavier sits up a little taller, watching as Cat takes her seat next to me.
“I tried to stay last night but was shooed away.” Her gaze flicks to Xavier, then to me in apology.
I squeeze her hand. I didn’t leave my room after getting Waffles, taking the time to cuddle with him and then falling into an exhausted sleep, but now I can’t wait to tell her all about meeting my parents.
Zara arrives next, coming up the stairs from the kitchen in a candy-apple-red satin tank top with lace trim and matching short shorts. I catch the way she sways her hips as Essos follows her. In their hands they each have two plates piled high with pancakes. Zara and Essos set them in the center of the table, and I watch as Xavier takes in an eyeful of Zara’s bottom.
Zara turns to Essos to wipe some of the pancake mix off his face and gives him a kiss. I can’t bury the hot flush of jealousy that courses through me, no matter how hard I try. I want to take my eyes off them but find I’m unable to as Zara presses herself against him, pretending to clear a smudge that’s already gone. I should be happier about this. Maybe Essos will be happy with Zara, and he won’t feel the urge to murder me again when I pick his brother. Maybe thatisthe best possible solution—Zara and Essos, me and Galen.
The thought doesn’t sit right with me. Actually, it makes me want to throw up, as the image of Zara and Essos entwined naked rises unbidden in my mind.
One of the glasses on the table next to them shatters, not unlike last night, drawing everyone’s attention. While glancing around the room to see what caused it, I catch Xavier and Essos sharing a look before Essos clears the broken glass from the table. If that was me, if that was my powers, I need to get a handle on what is causing the outburst. It seems to happen randomly. It must be from being in the Underworld for so long.
Pretending it didn’t happen, Zara barrels on as Galen enters the room and seats himself on the other side of me so I’m sandwiched between him and Cat.
“We made pancakes for everyone!” Zara announces cheerfully, starting to put pancakes on everyone’s plates. She goes to drop one on Xavier’s plate, and the look he gives her would wither the sun. She turns and drops that one on my plate.
“Big brother!” Galen exclaims, dropping his napkin on his lap. “Have you been working out lately?” Xavier looks pleased at the comment, but Galen doesn’t stop there. “Because it doesn't look like you have. You must be slacking.”
Galen tries to laugh at his own joke but finds that his mouth has been sealed shut. Essos laughs but covers it with a cough. Galen glares at Xavier, but Xavier just picks up his newspaper and hides his face behind it. The paper is called theSolarem Times, and one of the top-of-the-fold articles mentions Essos and the Calling, but I’m unable to read more before Xavier shifts the paper to read a different section. From the few headlines I’m able to catch, I’m starting to realize that Sybil hasn’t covered nearly as much as we need to be ready for the ball. There are pop culture headlines about Solarem media, and even a gossip column wondering who Xavier’s flavor of the week is.
When asked about it, Sybil gives the same explanation—that we need to be prepared to be grilled about the type of wood used for the Trojan Horse, and not the anniversary of Posey’s lost diadem. I’m not sure what a Posey is other than a flower, or why we’d care about this diadem. They also haven’t told us about Xavier and Helene, but I’m sure one copy of theTimeswould give us a ton of insight.
We’re all seated and silently enjoying our breakfasts except for Galen, whose arms are crossed like a petulant child.
Xavier folds up his newspaper and stands. “Some of you in this room don’t know who I am, so allow me to introduce myself. I am Xavier, Lord of Solarem, King of the Gods. There has been a change of plans, but I trust you are all capable of making adjustments.”
Everyone in the room tenses except for me, since I know what is coming.
“A complaint has been made regarding the Calling. To avoid being forced to cancel this late into the process, the timeline has been…” he pauses for dramatic effect “…modified. One week from tonight, you will need to be ready to dazzle the lords and ladies of Solarem.” Xavier and Essos share a significant look. “The complaint itself has nothing to do with you ladies, but rather that the timeline is too long, and with interested parties lingering about, there is a risk of interference.”
Cat and Zara exchange worried glances, but I just stick a bite of pancake in my mouth, waiting to see if there’s anything more. Galen is unmuted and able to start eating, but he keeps shooting dirty looks at his brother.
Cat raises her hand like she’s in grade school. “King of the Gods?” she asks. If I know Cat, and I do, she’s mentally cursing Sybil for promising to teach us closer to the ball so the information would be closer in our minds. It certainly doesn’t help that our lessons also keep getting cut short for one reason or another. When Helene was here, we didn’t have any.