Chapter 17 A Heartfelt Gift

During the next official banquet, I stopped just inside the entrance of the dining room. The girl who had shoved Elva that first day was sitting in my seat beside Nicholas. Julian, sitting nearest the door, rested his elbow on the table and his chin in his palm. He grinned at me with a toothy smile, much the way a cat would look at a mouse it had planned to eat. Eventually. After playing with it, of course.