“When you stop fussing,” Gen had said, slipping to his knees beside her couch, “I will sleep with two knives under my pillow.”

Attolia had looked down at him and said sharply, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Only when Eugenides laughed had Sounis realized her implication: If she ever turned against Eugenides, a second knife wouldn’t save him. He almost swallowed the olive in his mouth unchewed.

As he stared, Attolia had brushed Eugenides’s cheek almost shyly before sending him with a wave back to his own couch.