Page 6 of Oh, Sacred Dark
Roman was even paler than a minute ago, nodding slightly.
Connie grinned, unperturbed by his silence. “Nice to meet you. So sorry you’ve been stuck with Tyler. Truly, my condolences.”
Roman’s eyes flickered to Tyler, lips parting, but nothing came out.
Tyler scoffed. “Like anybody would be worse than you. Have we all forgotten the time you made like ten kids fall into a lake?”
“That’s a complete misinterpretation of what actually happened. Firstly, it was liketwokids,” Connie said loudly.
“It was definitely more than two kids. Oi, Lark. How many kids did Connie almost drown last year?”
Lark peered over from where he had been talking to Cross, his eyebrows raising. “Like ten kids or something.”
Tyler looked at Connie pointedly as she threw her hands in the air.
“It was five, max,” she muttered.
Roman sat through the whole ordeal without even coming close to a smile, staring at his empty plate as if he were above such shenanigans.
From the head of the table, Mama Nai called out, “Dig in.”
Every once in a while, Mama Nai tried to insist that they pick the serving dishes up and pass them in an orderly fashion, but it was impossible to tame the crowd. The natural entropy of mealtimes was a free-for-all in which each person reached for the nearest ladle and spooned mountains of food onto their plate.
It was only when Tyler was about to tuck in that he noticed Roman hadn’t moved to grab any of the food. “Not sure how it worked where you came from, but here we serve ourselves,” he pointed out with a little edge to his voice. He wouldn’t be surprised if Roman’s previous coven was one of those where the higher echelons were served hand and foot all the time.
Connie shot him an annoyed glare as Roman reached for one of the plates, making Tyler give her an exaggerated ‘What?’ expression back, but she just rolled her eyes.
What was Tyler supposed to do—dish Roman’s food out for him just because that was what he was used to?
Roman only grabbed a little of everything, not quite making a face at the food but obviously not particularly happy with the options. He ate slowly, forcing himself to choke it down, and Tyler fought not to say anything.
The food wasn’t a high-class affair, but it was tasty and nutritious, the product of hard work and a lot of passion from the kitchen workers. Tyler couldn’t help but feel his hackles rise at the attitude, but he forced himself to stay silent.
“So…” Connie smiled at Roman. “How are you liking it here so far?”
“Good,” Roman mumbled at his plate.
“Met anybody you’ve gotten along with?”
More of a pause this time. “Everybody I’ve met so far has been helpful,” Roman replied, which was a backwards way of saying ‘no.’ And, fine, Tyler hadn’t been the friendliest version of himself, but it wasn’t like Roman had engaged him in any way.
Connie tried to keep the conversation going, but every answer Roman gave was dry and uninterested; he didn’t even bother to ask any questions himself. It was maddening to see Connie’s smile dampen as the minutes went on until she fell silent too, clearly disappointed in the lack of effort.
The only positive thing about the whole experience was that Roman helped tidy up the tables without being prompted.
“Is that all?” Roman asked.
Tyler managed not to scowl. “Yeah, that’s all. But make it down to dinner at least, okay?”
Roman nodded slightly and disappeared upstairs. Tyler gestured after him, raising his eyebrows at Connie in a, ‘See?’ kind of way. Connie scoffed but didn’t argue.
In the end, maybe Tyler wouldn’t have to convince anybody not to let Roman stay—he’d probably manage that on his own.
CHAPTER TWO
ROMAN
Roman was so, so tired. The last time he’d had a full night’s sleep was the day the legal proceedings had finally ended, when he knew for sure that his father would be stripped of his magic for good and put away. It wasn’t peace, what he had felt then, but just the sort of complete exhaustion that crippled a body when it didn’t have to run anymore.
