Daughter of Zeus ✔

10

Dinner. Witnesses. No, not witnesses. His family.

They looked picture perfect too.

During dinner, Moretz's wife never deviated her gaze from Ada. Phennell also stared at her during dinner. Although, his stares were full of winks and smiles she refused to reciprocate.

Darcy was sweet, and the only one at the table who treated Ada like a person. She liked the teen instantly. She'd never had a sibling. Now she gained two siblings in one day, a staggering thought.

Moretz sprinkled bits of small talk in between nudging her to flirt with his son. He promised they would discuss business later in private, but she wanted him to stop playing matchmaker. After his fifth comment about their compatibility, she almost stood up to say, "He's my brother."

Her fantasy distracted her from Phennell, who tapped her shoulder. He was one Prominent who didn't mind touching strangers.

"Yes?"

"I asked where you went to college," he said.

"Oh." Ada collected her pre-fabricated answers. "University of Iowa."

"Ah, Tramp country!" Moretz said.

"Yes, and thank god I escaped."

Everyone chuckled.

When the laughter tapered, Moretz said, "I thought you had more of a Mid-Western accent."

"Everyone north of the Mason-Dixon Line sounds the same to you southerners." She added a cute twang to her words.

More chuckles. She began to sweat.

Her father pressed again. "Maybe, but I'm a Mid-Westerner myself, so I have more of an ear for it." A slight silence dragged out before he added, "Of course, even congressmen can be wrong."

Chancelin and Darcy tittered uncomfortably.

Phennell broke the tension by lifting his wine glass. "To Dad admitting he's human."

"Phennell," Chancelin chastised.

"Hear, hear!" Moretz raised his glass, and Darcy and Ada did the same.

Just then, two guards entered the room. Moretz seemed annoyed at the interruption, until he saw the burden they were dragging: a young girl, no more than Darcy's age. She wore dark clothes, and her young face was smudged with black paint. Her costume hadn't been helpful in concealing her from Moretz's many guards. No doubt the girl had been caught when she neared the mercenary bot.

Instead of being shamed upon discovery, she stared down each person seated at the dinner table. When it came time for her to glare at Ada, she grinned. Instinctively, Ada wanted to return the gesture, but the Mali-identity held her back.

"Look at your plates!" the girl spat.

Darcy alone submitted to the girl's command.

"You could feed a dozen people. Bet you're gonna throw it away, huh?" No one answered her. "Ready for dessert now, shitheads?"

Moretz ignored her to address one of his guards. "What was she doing?"

The guard struggled to hold his burden, even though she was half his size. "We caught her trying to come in through the servant's entrance."

"You de-coded the lock?" Ada allowed shock to color her voice.

The girl rolled her eyes. "It was simple."

Chancelin gave Ada a reproachful glance, as if questioning the girl was rude.

"She had the passkey on her interface, sir."