Chapter 18: Dinner table tantrums (1)

Chapter 18: Dinner table tantrums (1)
I hated dinner nights.
They were the rare occasions when the entire family gathered in the grand dining hall, each of them perched in their jeweled seats like predators at rest. The table stretched so long it could have hosted an army, but tonight it was only half-filled: Morgana at the far end, Skye on her right, Onyx opposite him, and a few nobles scattered along the sides to maintain appearances.
The rest of us, the maids, were invisible shadows. We poured wine, refilled plates, fetched dishes, and prayed not to be noticed.
I tried to focus on the silver tray in my hands as I followed the line of servants into the hall. My heart thumped harder with every step closer to that table.
“Keep your head down,” one of the older maids whispered sharply. “And for heaven’s sake, don’t spill anything tonight.”
Her words made a few of the younger maids snicker, and I knew exactly who they were laughing at. Me.
“Maybe she’ll trip and land in Skye’s lap again,” one of them muttered under her breath.
“Or Onyx’s,” another whispered back with a giggle.
Heat burned my cheeks, but I kept my face blank. I couldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me flinch.
We reached the table. Skye didn’t look at me, but I felt his presence like a weight pressing against my spine. Onyx, on the other hand, didn’t bother hiding his eyes. The moment I stepped into the room, his piercing blue gaze locked onto me and didn’t let go.
I forced myself to focus on my task, setting the roasted pheasant down carefully near Morgana. She didn’t spare me a glance, but her voice carried sharp as a blade.
“You’ve trained the help poorly,” she remarked to no one in particular. “They shuffle like cattle.”
The nobles chuckled politely. My hands tightened around the tray.
Onyx’s voice broke the moment. “Funny, coming from someone who’s never trained a thing in her life.”
Morgana’s head snapped toward him, her lips curving into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “And what would you know of training, boy? You’ve only ever learned how to destroy.”
A ripple of laughter ran around the table.
Onyx leaned back in his chair, his gaze never leaving her. “Better destruction than manipulation.”
The air tightened instantly. Everyone knew he was referring to her meddling—the way she whispered into Skye’s ear, shaping him like clay.
I kept my head low, moving toward Skye’s side with a pitcher of wine. His glass was only half full, but I poured anyway, my hands trembling slightly.
“Careful,” he murmured under his breath, so quiet only I could hear. “You’re shaking.”
I nearly dropped the pitcher. His voice wasn’t cruel, but it wasn’t kind either. Just… observant. A reminder that even when he didn’t look at me, he noticed.
I placed the pitcher back on the tray and stepped away.
Across the table, Onyx’s voice rose again, louder this time. “You know what’s truly pathetic, brother?”
Skye’s hand froze on his fork. Slowly, he lifted his eyes. “Do tell.”
Onyx smirked, a dangerous tilt of his lips. “That you sit here like a king without a crown, pretending to be whole, when everyone knows you’re still missing the one thing that matters.”
My heart lurched. I knew what he meant. Mate.
The table went still. Even the nobles glanced nervously at one another.
Skye’s jaw flexed. His tone, when he spoke, was cold steel. “Better no mate than one who doesn’t want you.”
The words slammed into the air like a hammer. My lungs stuttered.
And then, before I could stop myself, I looked up. Straight at Skye. His eyes flicked to me just long enough for the implication to settle. Everyone else at the table noticed too.
Onyx’s chair scraped violently against the floor as he stood. His voice was sharp, thunderous. “Say that again.”
Skye rose slowly, deliberately, his face a mask of calm but his fists curling at his sides. “You heard me.”
Morgana’s eyes glittered with cruel amusement, as if this was entertainment for her. The nobles whispered behind their hands, eager to see how far the princes would go.
And me? I froze, my body caught between them like a rope in a tug of war.
“Blair,” Onyx said suddenly, his voice cutting across the table like a blade. “Come here.”
My throat tightened. Every eye turned on me.
Skye’s voice came next, smoother but just as commanding. “Stay where you are.”
The maids around me shrank back, some smirking, others whispering.
“Well, well,” one of them breathed. “The princes fighting over the maid. How romantic.”
“Or pathetic,” another added with a laugh.
Onyx slammed his hand down on the table, silverware clattering. “She is my mate. This is not a debate.”
Skye stepped out from behind his chair, his eyes never leaving his brother. “You confuse obsession with destiny. And you disgrace yourself with your desperation.”
Onyx lunged across the table, grabbing Skye by the collar. Plates crashed, wine spilled like blood across the tablecloth. The nobles scrambled back in alarm, some shouting for the guards.
The maids shrieked and scattered, but I couldn’t move. My legs felt rooted to the spot as the two of them clashed in front of me.
Skye shoved Onyx back with a grunt, his voice low and venomous. “You’ll ruin this family before you ever rule it.”
Onyx snarled, his fist connecting with Skye’s jaw in a sickening crack. “And you’ll die alone, crown and all.”
The sight of them—brothers tearing each other apart, fists flying, teeth bared—was too much. My chest tightened until it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“Stop it!” I screamed, the word ripping from my throat before I even realized it.
Both of them froze, their hands still locked in each other’s clothes. Their eyes snapped to me at once, and the silence that followed was deafening.
The nobles stared. Morgana smiled like a viper.
And me? My body shook as I stood in the corner of the grand hall, wine stains splattered across my apron, breath coming in ragged gasps.
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then Morgana’s voice slid through the silence, honeyed and sharp. “My, my. Look at the little maid commanding princes. What a spectacle.”
The room erupted into murmurs, but all I could feel were their eyes—Onyx’s and Skye’s—burning into me like brands.
And I realized with chilling clarity: I was no longer invisible.