Author's Note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DRAGON! I hope this makes up for the two-month wait. :)
Dangerous Beauty IV
"He's showing off."
"He is not showing off, Scabior. Stop it."
Scabior frowned as he watched Angelica giggle and pose as she unwrapped a mound of gifts. She was seated between her mother and Lionel, her husband of seven months. She was the center of attention, as always. It should have made Scabior angry. Over his nineteen years of being her brother, it had always irritated him how much she fought to be the center of attention.
Just now his irritation was dwarfed by his feelings of hatred for his brother-in-law.
"He's trying to steal the show," he hissed to Clarisse. She had been his substitute plus-one to all fancy family functions for several years, despite them never having dated. She had undoubtedly become more comfortable with social gatherings and was to date the only person capable of keeping him calm in Lionel's presence.
She laid on a hand on his arm, gently pulling him away from the crowd of guests watching Angelica tear the paper from a small box.
"You're being ridiculous," she told him quietly.
"He's an attention whore," Scabior accused, waving his hands in Lionel's direction. The dark-haired man wasted no time in posing with his wife for the photographer.
"Well he's certainly well suited with Angie then, isn't he?"
Scabior scowled at his brother-in-law's smug face. He'd hoped Lionel would become friendlier after the stress of the wedding died down, but the man had only become more pompous and arrogant in the months since.
If he was honest with himself, it wasn't even Lionel's personality that he had such a problem with. He'd spent years perfecting his tolerance over people's similar attitudes – even his sister's. No, his real problem with Lionel Nott was his new master.
It had never been said aloud, but it was obvious. It was in the sneers and glares and the unsettling comments he made, sometimes even in Clarisse's presence. Scabior had tried to bring it up nicely. Clarisse had been his friend for much longer than Lionel had been a part of the family and no one was allowed to insult her or her family. Not to mention the danger he was putting Angelica in just by being with her.
Disagreeing with Lionel didn't end well, as Scabior soon realized. He hadn't been there when Angie announced her pregnancy. She hadn't come around for Christmas dinner. If he hadn't spent the last three weeks attempting to smooth things over, he would've missed the baby shower as well.
"Can't you just be civil for another hour?" Clarisse went on, tightening her grip on Scabior's arm. "I know he's disgusting but if you don't learn to put up with this, they're never going to let you near the baby."
It was enough of a threat to get him to agree to anything. Meeting Angie's child – his nephew, as he'd recently learned, was to be the highlight of Scabior's year. He wasn't about to let anyone keep him from being around for the baby. He was going to be the best damned uncle he could be, no matter what kind of scum it had for a father.
"I'll be nice. I promise," he told Clarisse.
They rejoined the party just as Lionel passed his wife a gift he announced was from himself.
Scabior smirked, sneakily reaching a gloved hand into a pocket for his wand. He managed to shoot the jinx at the box before Clarisse snatched the wand away and stowed it in her purse.
The look of horror on Lionel's face when the dozens of frogs leapt from the box was almost worth the reprimanding Scabior received for the prank.