Dean leaned back in his chair and decided to be a danger to everyone.
"Did you ask Nero to change your secondary gender?"
Sylvia choked on absolutely nothing.
It was impressive, really. No tea. No biscuit. No air taken incorrectly, as far as Dean could tell. Only one sentence, one normal chair, one beta woman, and suddenly Sylvia Croft was coughing like Dean had personally thrown her into a lake.
Boreas lifted his head.
Dean pointed at him. "Do not bark."
Boreas barked.
Sylvia coughed harder.
Dean sighed and reached for the glass of water on the table. "Here."
Sylvia snatched it from him, drank half of it, and then stared at him with watering eyes. "Do you have any subtlety?"
"No."
"How are you, Crown Consort, with that mouth?"
"Marriage."
"That is not what I actually asked."
"It explains most things."
Sylvia pressed the glass against her chest as if it might protect her from him. "You cannot simply ask people things like that."
