Page 33 of The Monster's Mate

“Yes,” Morky agrees, widening his eyes and shooting the gesture back to Villi. “Some of us much better than others.”

Wrombley scoots out last. “They areourbablets! I will decide if the two of you are good enough to teach our kish to dance.”

He pokes his head back under the table. “Anyone else who wishes to audition as a dance instructor, we’re heading outside for the tryouts.”

A line of Tiiblets crawl out from under the table like a horde of ants, following the bossy Wrombley outside. There’s a reason why my brother and that Tiiblet get along so well.

“Huh. I guess we aren’t planning too far ahead if he’s already auditioning dancers,” Isabel says.

Bronan puffs his chest out. “Wrombley’s the best.”

“He’s kind of like his master,” Tiran snorts. “Bossy and a know-it-all.”

My laughter bursts out of me. That is exactly what I was thinking, though I would have pointed out the wordpompous.

“If Tiiblets match their people, then it makes sense why Villi is a whiner,” Bronan says, trying to get Tiran back.

“Bronan!” Isabel covers my brother’s mouth, then giggles when he licks the inside of her palm. I’m forced to turn away, disgusted. Those two are gross.

“Villi isn’t a whiner,” Tiran whines as much as his Tiiblet, Villi, does. It’s true, but I nod sympathetically anyway. “It’s just that River spoils him.”

“What? I do not! He’s sensitive,” River says. “He needs special attention.”

“My point about his master,” Bronan says to Isabelae. “Tiran is rather special too.”

“Not sure why your mother didn’t stop having babies after you two. Poor Skiden,” Isabel says, blowing a kiss at me across the table. I pretend to catch it and place it into my front pocket.

Bronan turns his attention to me, scowling. Oh, oh. His irritation with trying to fend off suitors has a new focus.

“Scowling will give you wrinkles,” River sings.

Isabel smooths out his heavy brow with her fingertips. “There,” she says. “All fixed, handsome.”

Just like that, his mood transforms. A smile breaks out across his face and he nibbles lovingly on her fingers. I heave a huge sigh of relief.

Everything will be fine once he tells her the truth and stops stressing himself out with the secrets.

All at once, Tiiblets come flying in from every direction, sliding across the floor and jumping under the table as fast as they can.

I’m about to ask what the matter is when the front doors burst open, and mypatronenters.

Tiran snarls with his presence. My patron has been banished from the caves because of his attitude over Tiran and River—our first human match.

“Ornan!” Maman gasps at the sight of him.

“Well, there she is. The little breeder I haven’t had the pleasure to meet,” Patron says.

“Isabelae,” Bronan says, carefully, trying to distract her. Calm her from whatever drama he will say. “Meet my patron. My father.”

“Oh! It’s… it’s a-a nice to meet you,” Bel stutters.

He smiles, and I recognize that smile. Cold, calculating. He has been biding his time, living in the hunters’ area and instead of the work filling his soul, he has grown more bitter and restless than he was when he lived like a king in the main cave.

“Isabelae,” he says, and I see her blanch because only Bronan calls her that.

“Isabel to you,” Bronan reminds him. To his credit, he is still keeping calm. “Why are you here?”

Isabel gasps that Bronan is rude to our patron, unaware that using Brone’s pet name for her is Patron’s way of taking power over them both.

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