“It was Hollis’s idea,” Aunt Jovana claimed.

I smiled. “Don’t worry. Enid did the better part of the baking, so they shouldn’t be too bad,” I said, pointing to the pile of little cakes on a plate at the center of the table.

We all sat down, and Uncle Reid was grinning. “I suppose it’s nice to have something to be happy about. Thank you all.”

“Have a sweet, my love. To send you sweetly into another year,” Aunt Jovana said, gesturing for him to pick one up.

Uncle Reid sighed, but there was no weight to it. He was smiling as he looked around the table at our small party. Finally, he reached out to grab the first one. He took a bite and rolled his eyes at how delicious it must have tasted.

“And now we all take one, too, so we’re part of the sweet year,” Mother whispered to me.

I reached out with the rest of the table, accidentally hitting both Mother’s and Etan’s hand as I took one of the little cakes. Even though I’d contributed to making them, I didn’t know what it was exactly that made them so rich. Whatever it was, it tasted like heaven on earth.

“Mmm,” I sighed, talking with my mouth full. “I could get used to these. Whose birthday is next? I can’t wait to have these again.”

“I think it’s Scarlet,” Mother said.

Scarlet, who was devouring her sweets, only nodded.

“Birthdays are the best,” I said, taking another bite. “In Coroa, we hold hands and dance around the person. Growing up it was just Mother and Father, but when we were at the castle, it was dozens of people. It was nice to be in the center of so many happy faces.”

“Well, this is Isolte,” Etan said firmly. “This is what we do.”

After the uncomfortable silence, I broke it with a simple, “I know.”

“Then adjust. If you’re going to stay here, then you need to let go of Coroa.”

It was clear the whole party wanted the subject to drop. But I wondered if any subject would ever simply drop between the two of us. I took a deep breath and went in.

“When your cousins moved to Coroa, did you expect them to give up everything they knew? All of their traditions?”

“Completely different,” he replied quickly. “That was a family group, and they weren’t going to stay forever—”

“Silas most certainly was!”

“—and you’re alone, and, unless we get lucky, you’re stuck here.”

“Etan,” Mother hissed.

“You cannot possibly tell me you’re thankful another person has been dragged into this!” he shouted. “Furthermore, half our issues would be resolved if her kind would simply—”

“My kind?” I shouted, standing and sending the chair back behind me.

“Your people slaughter ours without a second thought. Do you know how insufferable it is that you’re under my roof?”

“Etan, we’ve been over this,” Uncle Reid interjected resolutely.

“You act as if Isolte has never started an attack,” I said coldly. “When it comes to wars between our countries, they’ve been exclusively instigated by you. Perhaps these skirmishes along the border are different, but are you not man enough to admit that Isolte carries some of the blame for the unrest?”