It didn’t feel right. Taking more credits for a job that I wasn’t doing…
Then again…
Ineededthem. I wasn’t in a position to question her generosity. I was just desperate enough that I wouldn’t debate the morality of the situation I’d found myself in.
Lesana seemed to have her reasons for not allowing me to be a blood giver within her establishment. Perhaps she found me lacking. Perhaps I wasn’t beautiful like Grace. Perhaps she found a flaw in me.
“All right,” I finally said, my voice hushed as if I were speaking a blasphemous thing. “I promise.”
Another huff left her. Her shoulders relaxed.
“Good,” she said. Reaching out, she squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll have your credits adjusted. But this remains between us, yes?”
“Yes.”
Lesana turned to leave. I studied her back, my eyes pinned onto her form.
After she opened the door, I heard her say, “And Millicent?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t break my trust,” she warned softly. “If I find out that you let him feed from you…I’ll have no choice but to let you go from RaanaDyaan.”
I stiffened, shock making my spine straighten.
Over her shoulder, as if she hadn’t just threatened me, she smiled and asked, “No walk tonight in Stellara?”
“No,” I croaked, still reeling. The word tumbled from my lips, my mind catching on the ease with which she’d said she could discard me. It felt like there was a stone lodged in my belly. Clearing my throat, I said, “No, not tonight.”
“What is it that you’re looking for inside the forest?”
Quickly, I schooled my expression into one of calm, focusing on relaxing my lips so the bottom one didn’t tremble. Had she asked a handful of moments before…I might’ve told her the truth.
My father’s letters were soft and worn, hidden in the secret compartment of my trunk, my most prized possessions. The Forest of Stellara was vast. I wondered if I wouldeverfind it.
“Just walking,” I told Lesana. “I like the fresh air.”
“But not tonight?” she asked.
“It’s been a long week,” I said, hoping she would take the hint and leave. “And I always forget how tiring a hot kitchen can be.”
Mercifully, she inclined her head, squeezing her wings through the door. “You did well tonight. Rest, my dear.”
Then she shut the door behind her. I listened to her heavy footsteps as they retreated down the hallway. Her room was on the opposite end of RaanaDyaan. Grace and Illaira stayed on the floor below.
I had always considered myself to be a good judge of character. I had met plenty of beings from all across the universe, after all, and had only been wrong about one or two.
But one thing was abundantly clear to me.
I’d misjudged Lesana.
Tears sprung into my eyes, but I furiously dashed them away. Then, taking a deep breath, I padded to my trunk, still half-packed in the corner of the room.
Sliding the metal latch on the inside of the trunk, the top compartment sprung open, and I reached inside for the buttery-soft parchment. Luckily it was Kesren-made and guaranteed to last three thousand years, or else surely the paper would’ve been in tatters in my hand, the inky words no longer legible.
Curling up on the bed, I carefully unfolded the letter. One of dozens. This one was my favorite, however. Much shorter than the rest. My father had been a romantic. And this letter was his very essence.
* * *
