Lunch was, in Lara's opinion, the most deceptively dangerous part of the day.
Breakfast? Too early for meaningful eye contact. Dinner? Usually softened by wine. But lunch was where things happened.
People were fully awake, still sober, and trapped across from each other with nothing but food and inherited grudges between them.
Which explained why Lara had spent the last twenty minutes aggressively buttering a slice of bread like it owed her money.
Across the table, the Celestial Queen stared at her.
Not looked.
Stared.
Like she was carving a diplomatic message into Lara's skull with her eyes alone.
"You're making it worse," Raveth whispered from beside her, sipping soup without looking up.
"I'm just eating," Lara muttered back.
"You're mauling that bread like it insulted your boots."
"It crumbled weird."
"She's glaring at you because you knocked up her daughter and won't marry her."
"I offered a lifetime of co-parenting and blood-bound protection."
