"From the way you speak, it sounds as though I should be grateful to share your company?"
Selene pursed her lips and gestured at the feast spread across the table—the rare venison, the imported spirits.
"What else would you call it?"
"Without me, could you afford to taste this prime elk? Could you drink these aged moon-wines?"
I slowly lifted my chin, a faint smile playing at the corner of my mouth.
"Selene, you really haven't seen much of the world, have you?"
"Back at the Nightcrest estate, this is what we feed the den servants. I wouldn't lower myself to touch it."
The moment those words left my lips, another round of mockery erupted.
"Kael, I'm begging you—stop this act. You're a low-rank nobody. Without Selene, you couldn't even pass through the front gates of this lodge!"
"Exactly. If Selene hadn't specifically requested your invitation, I wouldn't have wasted a single howl calling you!"
"Just drink three cups as an apology to Selene and be done with it. At least you'll get to taste some of this fine moon-wine while you're at it!"
The taunts rose and fell like waves crashing against stone.
But I paid them no mind at all.
Everything I had said was the truth.