“Well, that went much better than I thought it would,” Teddy says, and we both laugh.

I stop when I see him rubbing his earlobe and not meeting our eyes. “I’m fascinated by birthdays,” I say encouragingly. “My mother used to tell me that the day we’re born says a lot about our lives. That the stars are arranged in certain constellations, and that we can determine how…”

“The stars!” King Lester scoffs from two seats down. “You must jest! The stars are old Kings who have passed away, taking their rightful place in the Great Lands! Have you not read the sacred texts, girl? Do you mean to take away the glory from past Kings?”

I lean back and fold my hands in my lap. “Not at all, Your Majesty. I did not mean to offend.”

“Offend? Do you think you can offend me? Surely you do not believe that you hold enough power to do so?”

Before I can protest, my father slides into the conversation.

“Lester, you must forgive my daughter and her rambles. As a child, she was read one too many stories by her mother. And after the incident, I fear she might cling to them as a form of comfort.”

My hands tingle. I clutch them tighter.

“Right, you are then, Ivar!” King Lester nods with a chuckle, then tears into another slab of meat. “I sometimes forget the coping mechanisms of women. The silly things their minds come up with to distract from reality.”

My lips tighten as he continues to spew hatred, my father nodding his head in cowardly agreement. My hands roar a message to my body, begging me to stand. If it’s a fight he wants, then a fight he shall—

“Pay him no mind,” Teddy whispers. “He’s just mad that women are smarter than him.”

Lachlan chokes on his wine and thumps a fist to his chest. “Theodore,” he hisses. “Mind your tongue. He’s still our father.”

She rolls her eyes and pops a grape into her mouth. “Lachlan is mad about it, too,” she adds as I hide a smile behind my napkin.

“Besides, stars are made up of gasses. Elements only a few wise scholars understand. If Lach dared to read anything other than people’s birth charts, he might know that.”

“I’d love to read books like those,” I admit. “Our library doesn’t have anything of the sort.”

“When you visit, I’d love to give you a tour.” She lifts her glass in the air, and I clink its rim with my own.