“She is not a trophy to be won.”
He brushes off my grouchy remark with a swipe of his hand. “You’re welcome. Now play nicely. Tell me everything.”
“So that’s what this is? A promise to win me over to make sure I help you?”
“No! Believe me or don’t. I don’t care. I’ll do it if I can.”
I sigh. “It is fine. You must look after yourself. As you say. There are no guarantees.” Despite myself, I soften a little, though. I cannot tell him everything about my interaction with Yalina, but I sift through my memory, searching for a detail I might share. “There is a balcony off her room. I could help you get in to see her.”
“A balcony! That’s perfect. Do you think I should go see her?”
I consider. “No. Not tonight. She is too upset. I think you need to do something to soften her heart first. Since you won’t tell her the truth.”
He sinks onto a sofa and flops onto his back with a sigh. “She’d soften fast enough if I could just eat her pussy.”
I roll my eyes, but if I’m honest, I have been thinking of exactly that since I caught the scent of her arousal, so I can hardly blame him. He has tasted the forbidden fruit! Of course he can think of nothing else.
I like the way Kaelun asks for my advice. It has been a long time since my advice has been valued. “Follow her lead. If you prove to her you can allow her to be herself, that is the way to win her over.”
“It can’t be that simple. She’s solha. I should be giving her expensive gifts. Making grand gestures.”
He still has so much to learn. I wonder if he will do it in time. I shake my head. “You think if she wants fancy things she could not have them made or procured for her? As you say, she is solha. What she wants is honesty.”
He just scoffs. “Honesty is overrated. White lies make the world go around. She wouldn’t like my truth. No offense, but I’ll stick to my plan. I just need a big enough gift. A horse? A barge?” He snaps his fingers. “I’ve got it. Let’s get her a new falcon.”
I eye him skeptically.
“What? She loves those birds. You didn’t see her yesterday. Now can you do it?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. Can you have it ready for tomorrow morning?”
I sigh. “Your wish is my command.”
Yalina
I’m awoken by a tapping on the door. I open my eyes and roll so I can look out the window over the balcony to where the light is creeping up over the horizon. So early.
I yawn and stretch, expecting my maid, but she has another servant with her this morning. They enter together and stand at the doorway with heads bowed. “Light of the Sun, Prince Noreth has sent a special gift to you. May we bring it in?”
I sit, blinking. “What is it?”
They smile. “We think you will like it.”
There’s a shriek—the distinctive voice of a bird of prey—from the corridor, and I twist to the side, trying to see what is out there.
My maid approaches and holds up a house gown for me to slip over my shoulders. She ties it at the waist as the other woman ushers in a lanky young man with a thick leather glove over his right hand. “Eyes down,” she whispers to him.
The poor boy looks nervous, but he shuffles forward, holding up the gloved hand so a speckle-feathered falcon with a hood over his eyes can sit on his arm.
“Oh.” I walk closer to inspect the bird. It is a lovely creature, to be sure, but I suppose I was hoping for something more. Something personal. Something which revealed something about the prince’s true identity.
I sigh. “What a gracious gift.”
“H-he is a rare species, Light of the Sun. Very expensive.”
“Huh.”
