Thessian looked toward her. "Hmm?"
"When Auntie Liora gets better," she said, tilting her head thoughtfully, "you're still going to spoil her like this, right?"
The question earned quiet laughter from everyone seated around the table, and even Thessian couldn't suppress the amused smile that spread across his face. "I imagine," he replied as he took his seat beside Liora, "that by then she'll have remembered how to argue with me properly."
Liora gave him an indignant look. "I already know how."
"Oh?" He reached for the bread basket and calmly placed a warm roll onto her plate. "Then I look forward to seeing your full recovery."
Another ripple of laughter spread around the table, and as dinner finally began, the palace felt less like a place recovering from war and more like a home slowly rediscovering the warmth it had been denied for far too many years.
The evening meal came to an unhurried end, lingering long after the last bites had been eaten.
