Chapter Twenty Two
Valentina requested the dinner herself, sending an actual handwritten invitation instead of a text, which Rafael said was either a good sign or a very bad one, depending entirely on his aunt’s mood that particular week.
“Family dinner,” she had written. “Formal. Sunday, seven o’clock. Kael welcome, though I suspect he will find it boring.”
“She is not wrong,” Rafael said, reading it over Amara’s shoulder in the kitchen. “These dinners are boring. Sat through a hundred of them as a kid, wishing I was anywhere else.”
“So why go?”
“Because not going sends its own message, and right now I need every relative in this family thinking Cassian’s the problem, not me.” Rafael set the invitation down. “Plus, it is a chance to see how everyone reacts to you being there. Might t
