'Knight already told me that,' Althea dismissed after a moment. She wasn't actually sure if Knight had actually ever called her rude. But then she supposed she must be. Madeleine was. 'And I'm not herepresentavailable to be liked.' Least of all by someone else's familiar.
Truthfully, Madeleine just took issue with people knowing things about her they had no right to. Her present company had learned everything they knew of her. But Zaviar had apparently inadvertently brought a whole new reason to her mother's attention. That would be another name to add to the list of those currently in Scarlet Oak who want Antonin dead. Catching the change in Lila's expression, she shifted slightly - only to shift again rather awkwardly when she realised her skirt was riding. Sometimes modesty was a virtue that Madeleine was willing to pretend she possessed. It beat telling her mother that, actually, her cousin shared a residence with Zaviar. And that, while she apparently had no trouble keeping men, this one had originally - 'Irrelevant.' "Is he still with that vapid thing?" Madeleine had, in the very least, married once already. It just happened to be a colossal failure. Jackson had yet to marry at all. She wasn't sure she wanted him to marry if he was still with the last sorry excuse for a woman she'd caught him with. "And that's because I'm keeping the right man," she interjected, unconsciously playing with her necklace. She wasn't sure how she felt about her mother encouraging having children out of wedlock. Not that she could bring herself to be surprised. But while part of her was almost relieved over escaping a shotgun-wedding (that she doubted would ever actually work on someone like Zaviar), the rest of her was screaming to both renew and hide all contraceptives. And 'Open for negotiation' was a lie if ever she heard one.
'Are they having offspring?' The question was aimed at everybody and held far more enthusiasm than Madeleine was comfortable with. 'Weresnakelings or firelings? The warnings the elemental was sending her did absolutely nothing to dampen her spirits on the matter. Lila Gray? How many offspring do humans have at a time? Because Strike's said his only has one at a time and that she looked like she had swallowed a deer. But I think more than one would be better. If she looks like she swallowed two deer she could just lay down.' Madeleine buried her face in her palm. It disturbed her that her mother had yet to have that effect, but Althea managed it in a matter of seconds.
Regarding Antonin, she just looked at her mother and then looked at Zaviar, her expression a clear display that she wished he had neither been brought up in conversation nor even born. But he had, and there was only so much damage control Madeleine could do. 'Necromantic tosser is usually the preferred label,' Althea put in. Well, it was for Madeleine. And neither of them were speaking to him right now.