ASHER
Breakfast with my uncle is a terse affair. We’re not the only ones at the table. Helaena is with us. My aunt is away, visiting a witch coven in Albania.
After having a brief word with the general, Darius had asked me to have breakfast with him. Just like old times, he’d added. And so, we’d left the experiment room together. Now here we are, buttering toast and taking careful sips of our coffees.
Helaena barely touches her food. She’s much too busy glaring at me. I guess she’s somehow found out that I’m yet to break things off with Hazel. I make it a point of duty not to look at her. It’s bad enough that I have to do what that masked freak asked me to do.
“So, what brings you to the palace, Asher?” Darius asks halfway through breakfast. He snaps his fingers and a servant steps for
