Resonant

Chapter 24

Fen

I always thought Zale was exaggerating when he talked about court events. He made them sound like a battle zone, when I had been pretty sure they were just parties. It made sense, I thought. Zale hated socializing, so of course he didn't like these events.

Turns out, I was just being naïve again. No one said what they really meant. Their smiles were empty and their eyes were hard, and everywhere you looked, someone was judging you or dismissing you outright. Soul bonds were lit up all over the place and it was disorienting, because they were all connected to the wrong places. A queen and a servant, with the bond strong and established enough that I knew they had some kind of relationship despite the other man on her arm. Two women who sat at a table together, surrounded by their husbands and children. A man and woman who appeared to have come together, but who glared at each other with a fierceness that made me look away. And on and on, soul bonds crossed over and around each other in ways that made me feel ill.

Poor Astrea. No wonder she hated it here.

Still, I was glad I came. Not because I liked it here. Not because the food was good, though it really was. No, I was glad because Zale was being so attentive and affectionate. I loved seeing his cold expression melt away every time he looked at me, and even surrounded by so much judgment, I felt safe and supported. It was sort of like being indoors during a huge thunderstorm. With Zale, I was sheltered.

He had somehow maneuvered it so Kyra joined us at our table instead of carrying on with Euripides. In fact, he looked happy when Zale suggested she sit down with us. I didn't understand it until Dwyer suggested with a similar gleam in his eyes that Benny and Castiel stay with us while they took Kelsey and mingled. They and Kyra's parents wanted Benny and Kyra to get married. They probably saw this as another chance to shove them together.

The idea had nerves fluttering in my stomach, because Benny was all wrong for Kyra. In fact, his soul mate wasn't even at this party. Would their parents be so excited about the idea of Kyra marrying Castiel? Or did they have other plans for his marriage?

"Forgive me, but I never realized before today that you two were siblings," Castiel said.

Now that Euripides was away, Kyra felt a lot like her normal self. She sat up straighter and met Castiel's intimidating eyes straight-on. "Oh, no. Forgive me. I didn't realize we needed to broadcast our relation."

Zale coughed to disguise his snort of laughter, but I didn't think her getting aggressive with her soul mate was very funny. Benny looked uncomfortable like I felt, but Castiel seemed amused.

"And what of your other brother? I haven't seen him tonight."

I flinched, and his eyes snapped to me before searching Zale and Kyra for reactions. How did they do it? How did they not react at all to the reminder that everyone was misinformed about Astrea?

"Unavailable tonight, I'm afraid," Kyra said in the same hard tone Zale used when he wanted to shut down a conversation.

This was going terribly. I was so used to soul mates meeting and fumbling through the adorable start to a relationship. My experience with Zale had been an anomaly, or so I thought... but this was worse. Kyra and Castiel weren't talking as themselves. They were talking as the heirs to their nations, with all the formality and reservedness and barbs that went along with that.

Something needed to change, and I thought I had to be the one to do it. Zale was too caught up in the same game and Benny seemed too content to sit back and let his brother lead the way.

"Shrimp puffs," I said loudly.

Four sets of eyes fixed on me, three perplexed and one full of amused affection that had my stomach warming.