Dad was the first to make any movement, his eyes narrowing as he leaned forward. Without a hello or how are you, he said in a cold, detached voice, “I am glad they put you in a cell. I hope that will teach you something.”

Dad sat back in the chair and Mom took over.

“Avery Zosime Montgomery,” she said. “What. Were. You. Thinking?!” She balled her fist and slammed it on the metal surface a few inches from the glass partition. “Why on earth did you assault him? You know it is an offense to use violence of any kind on Court Grounds. So why the hell did you hit Lord Ferraro? He is of royal blood, the descendant of Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths, metalworking, metallurgy, fire, forges, the art of sculpture, and stonemasonry!”

“Geez, Zeus. Did you memorize all that before you came in here?”

She was in such a boiling fury that if someone were to draw an animation of her right now, fumes would be coming out of her ears. If I had been five, seeing my mom this angry would’ve made me want to hide. But I was used to this by now.

“Tell me,” she finally said after one minute of silence and murderous stares, “why did you do it?”

“He lied. He deceived me.”

“How?” My dad laughed.

“He told me that—” I swallowed my embarrassment before continuing. “He liked me, but then I saw him with Kris and—”

“Can you blame him?” Mom said. “It’s a choice between a pebble and a diamond.”

I ignored her snide comment. “Maybe I shouldn’t have used violence—that was wrong of me, but Carlo lied. He used a fake name and said he didn’t know me even though he’s been texting and calling me for the last year. I had to stand up for myself. He got what he deserved. Really, it’s his fault.”

“No,” my dad insisted. “This is your fault.”

“Of course you would say that.” Typical. He’d choose any Royal snob over his own flesh and blood. Why did I expect anything different?

“Never mind. Don’t even bother explaining. You’ve always been like this when it comes to Royals. If you had to save me or a Royal from drowning, you wouldn’t even blink before pulling them out of the water,” I said.

“That’s irrelevant, Avery. The mistake is yours,” he said simply, waiting several more heartbeats before dropping the hammer. “You didn’t punch Lord Carlo Obelius Ferraro. You punched his twin brother, Lord Domenico Aegeus Ferraro.”