“And I can’t imagine that’s any of your business,” I said as I cut a piece of my steak. Resa’s painted lips formed a surprised ‘O’ at the fact that I was addressing her directly, and her eyes flew to mine.

“I am simply concerned about propriety,” Resa said stiffly, leaving her salmon untouched as she lowered her fork. “You would not want others to gossip about what happens after hours between a master and an apprentice.”

“And I am concerned about your obvious desire to engage in ‘after-hours’ activities with my fiancée,” I said dryly.

Gasps ensued from around the table, and Resa clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. Iannis’s eyebrows winged up, but I caught just a hint of amusement in his eyes, and knew he wasn’t angry with me for calling out the trollop across the table.

“How dare you!” Resa cried, her pale cheeks mottling. “Lord Iannis, I have never in my life been confronted with such rude behavior. I expect your apprentice to apologize immediately.”

“Actually, I believe you are the one who should apologize,” Lord Logar said. His voice was mild, but the stony expression on his face said he was not pleased with this turn of events. All heads swiveled in his direction, and I imagined this was like watching a match of tennis to the other mages. The rest of the room had quieted some too—the attention of others had been drawn to the altercation.

“But, My Lord—”

“These are our guests,” Lord Logar said sternly. “Regardless of whether or not you intended to be rude, you have clearly offended Miss Baine. You can either apologize, or you can leave this table.”

The table was deathly silent for several moments. The other mages went still, astonishment in their eyes—clearly, they hadn’t expected him to take it this far. Resa’s face turned to stone. Like all mages, she was good at schooling her expression, but I could smell the anger and shock rolling off her in waves. I half expected her to flounce away from the table in anger, like a spoiled child.

Instead, she wrestled her emotions back into place and gave me a small smile. “Please accept my apologies, Miss Baine. I did not mean to offend you.” She inclined her head fractionally, and I refrained from snorting. I was certain she fully intended to offend me—she just hadn’t expected to get her ass slapped for it.

“That is quite all right,” I said graciously, lifting my glass to her. “Now what do you say we enjoy the rest of this meal?”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Lord Logar said.

“I heard you had a young mage amongst your party who specializes in alchemical magic,” one of the secretaries said, addressing Iannis. “Does he know anything about xingou shaun?” she asked, referencing a Loranian phrase I didn’t recognize.

“It’s xinghòu shaun.”