A pair of servants opened the dining room doors, letting Akna and Felit?a through. The room was long and thin, with a long table running down the centre. Lord Belone’s family sat around it in much the same way Lord Padara’s had back in Dorg—all clustered at one end of the table. Lord Belone himself sat at the end, with his wife to his right, at the end of one of the long sides. Seated to her right was Danel Belone, but the seat directly across from her and to Lord Belone’s left was empty. Next to Danel was an older man similar in age to Lord Belone. He had been in the throne room earlier, and had been introduced to her and Felit?a—well, technically just to Felit?a—but Akna couldn’t remember who he was. Directly across from Danel sat Anita Belone.


    Akna could feel their eyes on her as she walked the length of the room behind Felit?a. There was undisguised contempt on Danel Belone’s face. His mother looked at her, shook her head just slightly, and frowned. The man whose name Akna couldn’t remember curled his upper lip.


    Felit?a was wearing a sky-blue gown in the Arnorin style with a thin gold necklace around her neck. The outfit made concessions to the formality these Foliths expected without being ostentatious about it. Both Lord Belone and his wife wore reams of jewellery: necklaces and rings. Siba Belone wore several gold bracelets as well. Their two children did not wear as much jewellery as they did, but still wore considerably more than Felit?a.


    The table was laden with all kinds of foods. Most Akna didn’t recognise, though there were a few vegetables that looked familiar. The thing that struck her most, however, was how much there was of it. There seemed far more than the small group of people here could possibly eat. This was very different from how it had been at Lord Padara’s in Dorg. Though really, with the exception of how everyone was clustered at the one end of the table, everything here was very different than in Dorg. From the jewellery to the paintings on the walls and the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, everything here seemed designed to draw attention to how expensive it was, unlike Lord Padara’s dining room, which was designed more for function than appearance.


    “Many sailors get tattoos, Siba,” the large man whose name Akna couldn’t remember said.


    Small talk took up the rest of the dinner, which was a lot longer than Akna was comfortable with. She soon learned to stop eating, as every time she finished what she had, someone offered her more and expected her to take it. She also figured out the other man was Lord Belone’s brother, Horaz.


    Lord Belone did most of the talking, asking Felit?a a lot of questions, mostly about her time growing up in Quorge. Although that growing up had been right under his nose and he had known about it, he didn’t know much about what she did. He was also interested in learning what Scovese was like.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    “Then I’ll bid you goodnight. I’m very tired.” Felit?a looked at Akna. “Will you be all right?”


    “To me, no,” Anita said.


    She needed to sleep. Maybe if she ever managed to get a restful night, she’d stop seeing things like this.


    Akna took a deep breath. Don’t start anything.


    “Guards! Guards!”


    Danel glared at Akna. “Please escort this...this...savage back to her room!”