I wanted to punch him.

It was apparent the beating we gave them in the last skirmish hadn't set in.

The golden man ran his fingers through his short red hair. "Seats at the Goddess's table are for heirs and special guests." His blue eyes narrowed. "Your services stay under the table."

"Hey!" I stood up, my fists clenched.

"Careful, homeboy." Gileon chuckled. "We're on my turf now." He did a small turn to motion at the room. "I'm the heir of this whole place. My family is favored by the Goddess herself." He smirked. "So show me some respect when you're in my house."

I looked at the green woman standing next to him. Her black dress matched her hair, with a fire burning behind her blue eyes. "I suppose you have something to say too?"

"Gileon, be nice." The ice in her voice promised there would be no contesting her order. She turned to me, warmth filling her voice. "Congratulations on the nuptials."

"Thanks?" That hadn't been the response I'd been expecting.

"What are you doing here?" Ether demanded, reaching over the table to guide our friends to our side.

"Gileon was summoned, and he got to bring a plus one." Savyn Triscan smirked. "Mister Alard is wanting to get some green back in the bloodline, so I figured why not come and see my new city?"

My eyes widened. "Wait, so you and Gileon are a thing?"

The green woman gripped the golden man's shoulder, silencing his reply.

"He needs a firm hand to guide him, and I need a few strong men to build an empire." She eyed me. "What, you think you're the only one allowed to build a harem?"

"No, I, um..." I shook my head. "Congratulations, I guess."

"It's a pity that you had to forfeit because of that PK thing." Savyn smiled. "I was looking forward to a rematch."

"We might not be able to go to the games, but we're still competing in the prelims." I smiled back at her. "I'll see you on the field."

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"I look forward to it." She tugged on Gileon's arm. "Come on, we still have a lot of people to talk to…" Savyn paused and looked at me. "Don't think that just because you tried to save us in Wurn that I'm going to go easy on you."

"I wouldn't dream of it." I smirked as I watched them walk away.

"What was that?" I turned to the women around me.

"I think she was trying to apologize." Ether shook her head. "I don't know why she thinks having Gileon by her side is a good thing. He obviously hasn't changed."

"Power can do weird things to you." Gesai sighed. "He's been told from birth that he's going to be king someday, which carries just as many headaches as it does perks."

"I don't think he knows about the responsibilities." Aelin sneered. "One year with him in charge and he'll run this whole thing into the ground."

"I don't know about that." Gesai nodded at the pair, who had walked up to Farsch Alard. "Uncle Farsch has a lot of administrators who take care of the day-to-day business. Even if Gileon started making a lot of bad decisions; there are a lot of people he'd have to get rid of before things would fall apart."

"Ugh!" Aelin stomped her foot. "Why does he have to have such a punchable face!"

"It is very punchable." Justia smiled as she bumped into Aelin. "I've hit him a lot."

"And I was the one who got in trouble for all of his bloody noses." Gesai grumbled. "I was the oldest one of our generation, but Dad isn't in the line of succession, so I had to be a babysitter-slash-bodyguard for Gileon."

"And they wonder why you left." I squeezed her hand. "I'm glad you did, though."

"Me too." She squeezed my hand back, then touched the green dolphin pendant hanging from her neck.

"This probably feels a lot like that." I chuckled. When no one joined in, I motioned at the four of us that were still students. "Babysitting."

"Lemmings are less suicidal than you four." Gesai shook her head. "Babysitting the prince was way easier."

"Maybe…" I grinned. "But you love us anyway."

Gesai's silver cheeks got lighter as she blushed. The white blood flowing in her veins was lightening her skin.

"There you go, getting all mushy." Aelin squeezed my shoulders. "Looks like your dad isn't the only one who's going to need to get a room tonight!" She laughed as she pushed off me and danced away. "Come on, Justia! It looks like people are starting to sit down!"

The pair walked away, leaving the three of us by ourselves while the rest of the Alard family moved to their seats. I could feel too many eyes on me. Everyone in the room wanted to know why we were there.

Farsch Alard and his wife were the first two people to sit with us. The silver man took the seat just to the right of where Harror would sit with his wife on his right. The glare he shot me let me know that he hadn't forgotten about how my father had humiliated him in his own office.

I swallowed and kept my face forward as I waited for my father to take his seat. Harror was talking to the last few people who had sat down, but the social part was almost at an end.

It was time to figure out what she wanted.

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