“Madam Cass?”
“She’s a brothel owner in Skalgard.”
“Well, she must have excellent taste. This is the hide of a kelpie, a beast from our lakes. Hard to kill. Waterproof.”
“Handy.”
“Yes, and when you walk into that summit, they’ll see a pretty girl who belongs to Kairos. That’s what we want.”
I bit on my lip. “How many days will we be gone?”
“A few, at least. Depends on how long negotiations run for.”
This will be excruciating.
The door swung open and Kairos strode inside, lethally beautiful in his black tunic trimmed with red. The collar was cut wide, exposing the ink curling down his throat. His mantle had been replaced with a sleek fabric draping over a shoulder, a predator dressed for court.
His eyes found me, and he stopped mid-stride. Gods. He still looked at me like that, even though he didn’t trust me.
Elwen swept past him, jabbing a finger into his chest. “Bring her back in one piece.”
Then she was gone, Thessia in her wake.
Sighing, he turned toward me. “I brought something for you.”
He dipped into the folds of his cloak, pulling out off-white gloves. Lizard-like skin. The scales shimmered, iridescence rippling across their surface. Smooth yet strong. The material was thick, but it moved easily.
I glanced up at him. “Dragon hide?”
“Yes,” Kairos muttered. “They’re yours.”
I held up the fabric. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Scales from a real dragon. This had belonged to a magical creature that used to fill the skies with flame.
I cradled it. “How?—?”
“Ihad them made.”
“Kairos, these are…gorgeous.”
He grunted. “They should stop magic from channeling through you.”
I looked up, stunned. “You can’t seriously give these to me.”
“I can do whatever the hell I want. Put them on.”
I slid the first glove on, ignoring the stir in my gut. They reminded me of the things I loved—delicate embroidery, filigree jewelry, soft silks. Beautiful, but built formyhands.
Kairos took my bare hand. He slipped the second glove up my wrist, adjusting the fit. His thumb traced along my palm, testing the flexibility. Heat crawled up my neck as his hungry eyes lifted to mine.
He released me and stepped back.
“You’ll carry them at all times.”
I nodded and flexed my fingers, marveling at how the glove rippled like liquid. If these did what he claimed, breaking runes wouldn’t hurt me anymore. There wouldn’t be any barriers to what I could do. It meant more to me than I could explain.
He’d personally commissioned gloves for me. He thought I was desperate to see another male, and he was still protecting me.
If only I could tell him why I needed to see Vaeris. That it wasn’t about old feelings. My mouth opened to tell him about the deal, but the words died in my throat, choked by invisible threads.
