Page 52 of Swords and Curses

"What is it with the Gwaed Teulu and their balls?" Rosa asked at breakfast a few days later. Saul laughed wickedly, and she kicked him under the table. "Not what I meant."

"Saul, don't be lewd," Eli said, looking up from his paper. "Traditionally, the assemblies were a way of people who rarely saw each other to drink and dance…"

"And find husbands," Rosa interrupted. "I'm just surprised after the last disaster of a party that you'd want another."

"I haven't had my brothers together for over five hundred years, and it is an event worth celebrating. Besides, this place could do with a little lightening up. Also, I never got to dance with you last time."

"In that case, the first one is yours," Rosa promised.

"We should be training, not dancing," Zalan said from across the table.

"Your warriors train all day, Uncle," Balthasar pointed out. "Letting them have a night off won't kill them."

"I know at least one of your generals who would look heavenly in a dress," Saul added with a sigh.

"Keep dreaming, Saul," Rosa laughed. He had tried to flirt casually with Zalan's second in command, Adelina, and he'd almost lost a hand as well as his pride.

"She could fight all my battles for me…"

"She's too busy fighting one already, young cub," Zalan corrected. "Turn your womanizing eyes elsewhere, or I'll let her carve them out."

Rosa looked at Balthasar and they shared a grin. She wasn't the only one who had detected the protective tone in Zalan's voice.

"Where's Eldon this morning?" Eli asked, looking over at his chair.

"Looking after Nimue," Rosa answered. "When I trained with him last night, he was brewing up some disgusting concoction for her to drink that smelled like the insides of a Scot's sporran."

"It wasn't that bad," Eldon said as he and Nimue walked into the dining room.

"You didn't have to drink it." Nimue winked at Rosa and sat down beside her.

"You're looking well, Nimue," Eli remarked. "I hope my son is being polite during your convalesce."

"No moodier than usual," she teased, surprising Rosa. It had barely been a week free of the queen's influence, but Nimue was coming further out of her fragile shell as each day passed.

"Is that a thank you, Eldon, for saving me from Faerie poison and a deranged queen that I hear?"

"Is that a thank you, Nimue, for taking a poison arrow for me?"

"She has a point, son," Eli chuckled.

"Don't encourage her,athair," Eldon complained, pouring himself a large mug of coffee.

"Eli has told me that he's going to hold a ball when Vincenzo gets here in two days. How good are you at making wreaths,Nim?" Rosa asked. "Last time, I had to make them all on my own."

"By hand? Why? You could've decorated the house in less than an hour… Ah. No magic."

"Nope, I was a human. Eli did it the old-fashioned way."

"And it looked spectacular, Rosamund," he reassured her.

"Except for the Seelie trying to kill all the guests."

"Luckily, only one is invited this time," Eldon commented as he stole half of Eli's paper. "You'll have to get all of these miserable bastards dancing a reel. I don't think any of them will even try without an extra shove."

"Vincenzo dances," Saul pointed out.

"Vincenzo is content to dance, drink, and fuck his way through eternity," Zalan said coolly.

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