Hours had passed in Elias's office, the sun was about to set. Its faint glow was slanting across the polished desk, around which the couple sat with their children, listening to Elias recount the hunt for the smugglers.
His voice was not like Grace Twindell's excited one when he narrated his pirating adventures. Elias spoke calmly, every word brushed with aristocratic cadence. But so often, deliberately, he added a joke that made the Sienna and the cubs giggle.
So far, they had eaten lunch, dessert, second lunch and Sienna was polishing off the last of second dessert, which happened to be pork ribs! As Eli had pointed out, it was not actually dessert.
"Papa, since you recovered the stolen goods and broke the whole ring, why is the king making us negotiate and pay for the return of the treasures which belong to our tribe?"
Sienna snorted, "it is called taking advantage of kindness. Your father is too kind."
