Divine Intervention: Of Thrones and Thorns

Chapter 6: Isaac

Her eyes, Ifes, the princess. Her glowing violet eyes pierced me like daggers through silk.

"Ife..." The Queen said in a voice that was bordering on annoyance.

"Yes ma."

"The rice... please."

I never took my eyes off the princess as she grabbed the bowl of steamed rice and handed it to the Queen, her grip was so tight I almost thought she was going to shatter the wooden bowl.

"This reminds me of when we had that dinner with the Spartan Strategos." Hakeem whispered to Loris, who I was resolutely trying not to stare at.

"Yeah, but it was Ife who was the one slinging jokes, now its Ife who looks like she's going to rip Isaac apart." Loris whispered back.

The table went silent as Ife and I kept our eyes planted in each other, I don't know what I was waiting for. Maybe a move to summon her relic and throw it into my chest or to blast me across the room with her wind magic but, credit where credit is due, she stayed resolutely still.

"Well..." the Queen said, cutting through the awkward silence. Gbenaje was watching the whole spectacle with a small smile on her face. "Let us eat. Here we are family, and it is here we will eat like one." The Queen waved her hand over her head in a small circle, droplets of water coalesced around her fingers. With a fluid flick of her wrist, she filled our cups with the water and gestured us to begin our meal.

I waited, out of stubbornness or pride, I waited for Ife to start before me. Much to my dismay, she saw the challenge and in turn waited for me to take the first bite. Casteo, the man-child that he was, dug right in. Happy as a sailor, he scooped up a piece of chicken with his hand, some rice and shoved it right into his mouth.

"Eat." The princess said with a hard tone.

"Ladies first." I wasn't proud of it, but I held on to that pettiness we began the meal with.

"The Yoruba people wait until their guests eat first."

"You're royalty, aren't you? Isn't there some rule where plebians like myself don't get that privilege."

Ife slammed both of her hands on the table, making the dishes full of food jump and stood up. "I said eat, Isaac." Her stare evolved into a shar glare now, and I may have been slightly intimidated. But I wasn't about to let her see that.

"No."

Ife opened her mouth to yell, her face turning a deep red, but her mother was quick to extinguish the fires of her rage.

"Ife enough, stifle your pride and eat." The Queen said with an indifferent voice.

"Fine." She said through her teeth as she sat down and picked up a serving of chicken and rice with her hands.

"Was that so hard?" Fuck, I didn't mean to say that.

Her mother didn't even try to stop her as she screeched like a falcon and jumped up onto the table and dashed towards me at a blinding speed, kicking up plates and food as she zipped passed them.

I stood up, ready to defend myself but right as she was about to hit me, Loris stepped in front of her and gave me one of the strongest backhands I had ever seen. I would have been impressed if it didn't hurt so bad.

Ife stopped in her pursuit and looked down at us with a confused and worried expression. The clattering of plates and clinking of dishes went silent as I recovered, holding my cheek with a hand.