Althena Book 2

16. Palace Dinner

On Saturday, we get ready and go to the palace. All I know is that Cyrus's parents are here for dinner. This should be interesting.

We get to the garden and Monte is here with granny. I run over and give her a hug. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Mary invited me. It's good for us to support you together. But the old jackass, Beryn, still won't let me go anywhere without a babysitter." She motions to Monte.

I crack up laughing. "It's nice to see you, Monte."

"You too. I don't know what the old jackass expects me to do when she starts trying to kill people."

I laugh so hard I start coughing.

Mary pats me on the back. "There's a w***e lurking around your brother. Help me watch him."

Monte rubs his eyes. "Don't you set up his dates?"

"Yes, but I didn't know she was like that until she showed up."

"It's ok. I'll handle this." I fix my dress and glance around for them.

Granny laughs. "You might want to babysit her for a while, Monte."

"Yep. I'm on it." He takes my arm and leads me down a path of flowers.

Dacious comes up to us. "Where's Cyrus?"

"No idea. Have you seen the w***e and my brother?"

"That way." He points down another path.

Monte points back to the way we came. "Mary is that way. She might know."

"Thanks."

We go down a different path for a while. Then I shake my head. "Why is this place like a damn labyrinth?"

"No idea." He pulls me around a corner, and we end up in a clearing with some benches.

Clayton is sitting on one. He seems annoyed as hell. He is not having a good day. The girl is sitting close to him. She shoves her boobs towards him and giggles. She's also sitting really close to the edge of the bench.

I slam myself down on the other side of Clayton and use my body to shove him over. The w***e goes flying off the end of the bench.

Monte sits on the other side of me and rubs his eyes. He's trying hard not to laugh. He won't even look up. I scoot closer to him because I'm way too close to Clayton.

Clayton leans forward and stares at the ground. I think he's trying not to laugh too.

The girl picks herself up. "You must be Thena. I'm Katie. It's nice to meet you."

"You too."

Mike and Cyrus come around the corner. Cyrus crosses his arms and glares at Monte. "Well, you two look cozy."

Monte looks at him and almost laughs. Then he shakes his head and stares at the ground.

Clayton crosses his arms and takes a deep breath. "So... How is everybody?"

Monte looks at him and they lose it.

Katie smiles at them. "I fell off the bench. They were trying to be nice and not laugh. I'm clumsy though. It happens."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She giggles at Cyrus.

I cross my arms and then Mike laughs. Cyrus sees he's looking at me, then he looks at me and laughs too.

Mike winks. "We may have to go to the play park tonight and work off some of this stress."

Katie giggles at him. "I like parks too."

My eyes shift to her and I swear I see red for a second.

Cyrus takes her arm and turns her around. "You have a spot on your dress from the fall. The washroom is in the house."

"Thank you, sir."

I grab a rock from the flower pot behind me and toss it at her shoe. She drops straight to her knees when she takes a step.

I take one step towards her before Mike grabs me. He kisses my head. "Let's look at the flowers, babygirl."

I smell the flowers for 5 minutes while he rubs my shoulders and arms.

Monte says, "How is she?"

"She's calm now." He kisses the back of my shoulder. "I meant what I said about the play park."

"Yea, I can open it after this. Seems like everyone is about to explode."

"What happened when we first got there?"

"Thena used her ass to shove Clayton down the bench and knock that girl to the ground."

"Your ass and a rock, baby. That's impressive." He tickles me.

I give him sad eyes. "I can't help it."

"I know." He fixes my hair and kisses my head. "You're a queen and you're protective. Sometimes things happen."

"That was a hell of a rock toss. I need you to come show the warriors how to do that."

I laugh and go with them back to the clearing where Cyrus and Clayton are.

Clayton smirks. "You zeroed in on that girl. She was about to die."

Monte sits down. "They got the girls separated. That was good enough for now."

Mary strolls through and smiles at us. "Where did she go?" She seems to panic for a second.

Cyrus answers, "She had a spot on her dress. She went back to the house."

"That's probably fine." She takes off.

I think about it for a second and jump up. "I will kill Conner. His ass better be..."

Monte pulls me back down. "He's not that stupid."

"He's a man." I slam my foot down on his and take off running.

I find Dacious first. "Have you seen my brother at all?"

I grab his arm and drag him to the clearing. All of them crack up laughing. I don't even say anything, I keep going. I find Conner by the snack table. I wrap my arms around him from behind. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. You ok?"

"Clayton's date is too friendly."

"Yea, I saw her earlier. I ignored her."

"But..."

He turns around and hugs me. "Relax, babygirl. Nobody here wants a girl who acts like that, and I don't want any other girls at all. I have what I want."

"That makes me feel better."

"Good." He kisses my head and squeezes me. "There's Drogon."

Drogon is sitting on a chair talking to King Stone. I watch him for a minute and relax. I love my boys.

A man in a suit comes up to us with wine. "Dinner will be served in 15 minutes. You can make your way to the dining room now."

I sit beside Conner and snuggle his arm. Drogon sits on the end of our side, so I move and sit between him and Conner. I'm happy here.

10 minutes later, Mike still isn't here and neither is that girl. "I'm going to drag his ass in here."

Conner kisses my head. "Calm down, baby. He's probably helping your granny or something."

"That's true." I take off anyway. I make a couple of turns and find the clearing again. Nobody is in it though. I keep going and find the w***e flirting with Atlas. He's laughing and staring at her boobs. I grab his ear and yank him with me. "You know better."

I hear a crash and look back. The girl is pulling herself out of a bush. I didn't even touch her that time.

"I'm walking. I'm sorry."

"I don't care. What the hell were you even thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking."

"Maybe you should try it sometime." I pull him into the dining room and my end of the table tries not to laugh. They're all here though. I feel better now. "Go sit down."

"Yep." He runs over to his side and sits by Dacious.

I take my seat and cross my arms. "I am about done with boys today."

Katie comes in. She's got a knot on her head. A rip in her dress. Her knee has a scab on it from the earlier fall. And she has a leaf sticking out of her hair.

Everyone looks from her to me.

I raise my glass. "WINE."

"Of course, ma'am." A man fills it for me.

I sip it as Clayton helps her sit down. Then he brushes the leaf out of her hair.

Conner rubs my knee and Drogon plays with my fingers. Then he signals for the food. I ignore everyone for a minute and try to relax. The food is amazing.

"NO. I AM NOT GOING BACK. I DON'T GIVE A FUCK."

"CYRUS, WE JUST WANT YOU TO COME HOME."

They make it very hard to ignore them.

"EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT. THEN YOU HAD TO GET INTO MY HEAD. FILLING IT UP WITH A BUNCH OF BULLSHIT."

His mom jumps up. "IT'S NOT BULLSHIT. SHE IS A CHILD."

"SO, I GUESS SHE SHOULD BE PUT INTO AN ORPHANAGE UNTIL SHE COMES OF AGE?"

"IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES."

Conner jumps up and Mike grabs him and shoves him out the door. It happened so fast. Now they're both gone.

Granny smiles at me. "Have another glass of wine and eat your peas."

"They are good." I smile and put one in my mouth.

Cyrus sits back and smiles. "You're jealous. She's already more powerful than you."

"That's ridiculous. She's a child."

Cyrus flips the table. "Bring me the abdication papers. I am done with you."

I usually don't feel auras, but I can feel his. He is pissed. I'm actually feeling pressure from it. I take a drink of wine. Somehow, I managed not to get a single piece of food on me. I check Drogon and he's fine too. Clayton and that girl are covered. I crack up laughing and point at them.

Mary smiles. "Maybe no more wine."

Then Clayton starts laughing while he pulls the peas out of his hair.

Dacious grabs Cyrus and drags him out the door into the garden area.

A man in a suit walks through the dining room and into the garden. He has a bunch of papers. I am willing to bet money that those are abdication papers.

Granny stands up and uses magic to get the table back in the right spot. Everyone else stands up and brushes themselves off. The omega's flood the room and clean it fast.

I glance at Dacious and Cyrus out the window. They are yelling at each other but not much else. Cyrus has a pen. I should probably stop him.

I walk out the door and they stop yelling. Then I run to him and take the pen. I giggle and throw that thing as far as I can. Then I check the papers. They are abdication papers. "I was right." I throw the whole stack into the air. It floats down around us and I laugh.

"Why did you do that?" Cyrus crosses his arms.

I take a drink out of my empty cup. Then I check it. It really is empty. I raise it and the man comes out of nowhere and fills it for me. I smile and take a drink, "Cause you're too mad. You need to be less mad to make that decision. I've been mad a lot in my life. That's never a good time to make decisions." I try to take a drink, and it's empty again. "What the hell is wrong with this cup?" I raise it again and Cyrus takes it. "What did you do that for?"

"You've had enough."

"Well, now I'm mad too. Don't share your mad."

Dacious rubs his eyes and pulls his brother inside.

I step out of my shoes and nearly fall. Then I raise my hand. The wine guy runs over and I take the bottle. "Thank you."

"My pleasure, ma'am."

I go back to the dining room and everyone is here again. Mike and Conner are back too. I smile at Mary. "I lost my shoes."

"It happens. Sit down, and we'll get you some bread for dessert."

"I want cake."

"Yes, ma'am."

Granny looks at Mike. "She's moved up to bottles."

"I see that."

"Cyrus took my cup. I had to improvise." Cyrus's mom jumps up and points at me. I let my aura out and direct it at her. She falls back into her chair, and it falls over backwards. "That is convenient." I plop down in the chair closest to the door. Then I lay my head on the table and put my finger in the air. "1 minute, please."

Clayton cracks up laughing, and I feel someone catch me.