Chapter 45 Tension during dinner

COLE

Thirty minutes after the maid relayed my stepmother’s message, I strode into the room, dressed fashionably in dinner attire, and was greeted with laughter.

Anastasia and Skyla were seated closely at the table, giggling about something among themselves. It annoyed me to see them so cheerful on such a horrid day but I chose not to reprimand them for their inappropriate laughter.

I had to play along.

“What’s so funny?” I asked casually as I walked to the empty seat at the head of the table and sat down.

We were in a small dining room not far from Anastasia’s chamber. On days when there was no banquet or dinner party, my stepmother preferred dining here.

It wasn’t that she disliked the grand dining room, which was more befitting of her status… but rather, that she detested it completely.

There were rumors spreading around the palace. King Theodore, my father, had flirted with Anastasia’s maid during their meals and summoned a few maids to the dining room for his amusement after drink