The Blood of Amietta

XIII. The Seal Unbroken

"This is stupid," I pout, crossing my arms across my chest like a toddler.

Noelani huffs, regarding me with a glare that I'm sure is supposed to break through my childish behavior.

It doesn't.

"It's one dinner," she sighs. "If we keep up appearances with the Council, we'll buy ourselves more time to train your magic."

I roll my eyes and pick at the scratchy sweater I borrowed from Arabelle. "Or you could just let me break the seal already."

Weeks have passed since Noelani broke the news to the town. Two days ago, the stupid Council demanded my presence at another dinner party. Apparently they have a lot of questions about "the Tsulonian woman who claims that she's more powerful than a sorcerer who can create an entire town out of magic."

Their words, not mine.

"Mila, please," Noelani says. "We can't get into this right now. Let's just get through this dinner and then you can argue with me about the seal all you want."

She looks up at me through her thick lashes, the humor in her dark brown eyes shining mercilessly.

My breath catches in my throat. "O-okay," I agree.

Something is different between us, but I'm not sure what exactly. All I know is that Noelani and I don't fight as much as we used to. Deities, we even joke with each other now. And occasionally, there are these moments where the conversation halts and we're stuck staring at each other meaningfully.

I don't like it.

"Hey, they're waiting for you two out there," Thomas barges in suddenly.

Noelani drops my gaze to address the sheriff. "We're coming."

He lingers in the hallway, watching us for a moment before heading back out to the main dining room. I fight the urge to scowl at him.

"I have a bad feeling about this," I mutter.

Noelani sighs. "Me too," she admits. "But what choice do we have?"

I don't have a response to that. Begrudgingly, I slap a fake smile onto my face and follow Thomas into the room of inevitable suffering.

Let's just get this over with.

"Mila!" Charlotte exclaims as soon as she spots me. "How have you been? Busy, I hear."

Despite my reservations, I allow Charlotte to pull me into the chair next to her. William sits on my other side, his solemn gray eyes greeting mine with a subtle nod.

I tense up immediately. I know where the rest of the Council stands in this whole hitchstone business– Charlotte is heading a campaign to stay in Moonwake, one that Sam, Levi, and Ben all support to varying degrees. William, however, is a blank page. No one knows if he's for or against breaking the seal.

In my book, that makes him all the more dangerous.

"Thank you all for coming," Noelani says, drawing everyone's attention to the head of the table. She smiles, although it's not her real smile. "I know the atmosphere has been tense in Moonwake lately, so I thought it would be nice to break the ice with some delicious food."

"Thank you, Mayor Desai," Thomas says. "I think I speak for everyone here when I say that dinner looks wonderful."

I roll my eyes. Kiss ass.

Dinner gets moving quickly as the first course is brought out. There's entirely way too much food here– probably enough to feed the entire town rather than a dozen or so esteemed members of Moonwake's community. Other than the Councilmembers, the dreaded dinner party party consists of their spouses and a number of community leaders including local school officials, prominent business owners, and more than half of Moonwake's police department.