Simply, I couldn’t imagine it. Not him.
It looked like the High Lord of Erzos was just leaving RaanaDyaan, smoking the last of hisloreleaf, when a breeze blew from the North, funneling down the alley like a whisper. The same strands of hair that Lesana had tucked behind my ear escaped.
It only took a moment. He’d been walking away, turning off his pipe, unfurling his wings…
Then he stiffened. Freezing in place.
Until he finally turned. I saw the silhouette of his horns against the dark backdrop of Stellara before his crystalline blue eyes connected with mine.
For a long moment, we regarded each other from a great distance away.
Then Kythel turned, and every step he took closer to me made my heart thump more forcefully until they matched his heavy strides in tandem.
He slid into the dark alley with me. He smelled oflore, but thankfully I’d taken a vial oftassaearlier in the evening. Or else I feared I’d be trying to nuzzle against him like a desperate whore on the streets of Gharata.
“Good evening,Kyzaire,” I greeted quietly when he didn’t speak.
Kythel leaned back against RaanaDyaan, his wings spreading to keep his vest from getting dirtied. He crossed his arms over his chest as he regarded me. Only a couple arm lengths separated us. I scratched at the bark of the tree at my back. The scrape feltgood—perfectly distracting.
“You weren’t in the lounge tonight,” he said, the words nonchalant but I heard the question in them.
I smiled, slipping into an old skin. The one I wore at parties or socials, the one I’d worn whenever we’d arrived to a new colony or planet or town or home.
Teasing, I said, “Were you looking for me? And were you disappointed when you couldn’t find me?”
Kythel frowned. A small slip until he caught himself. Then he slipped into an old skin himself, one he’d likely worn since he’d been a child.
The small upturn of his full lips made my blood rush.
This was a game I wasn’t sure I could win, against a player who was much more experienced than I was.
Suddenly I was aware that sweat was cooling on my skin, the sharp prick of it icy as I shivered. I likely had grease stains on my vest and flour in my hair. I likely smelled like thewyldenwe’d been braising for Draan’s stew, which I truthfully thought could use morekannospice and a squeeze of bluestone fruit for acidity.
“It was a mere observation,” he informed me. “Any disappointment I felt was fleeting, I assure you.”
“Ouch,” I said with a smile, purposefully sliding my gaze away as I rolled my neck, hearing a sharp crack. “You sure know how to charm a woman.”
“I don’t need to charm anyone,” he replied softly. We both knew the truth in his words. He was aKyzaire, an heir to the Kaalium. He had nothing to prove. No one to impress. “Though you’re right. Perhaps I should make more of an effort with you, little one.”
“Because you want something from me,” I guessed.
He didn’t deny it. He said nothing.
“Why? You can feed from anyone. Anyone in there,” I added, nodding to the stone building he was leaning against. “Why do you want to feed from me?”
“Because your scent is unlike any I have experienced before,” he answered, surprising me. “I am curious. It is…quite maddening.”
I hadn’t expected him to be quite so honest. “Ah.”
His eyes narrowed. “What is that sound for?”
I slid him a small smile. “It means I understand.”
“Understand what?” he asked, frustration creeping into his tone.
Licking my lips, I weighed the words carefully. He was still theKyzaireof Erzos. I couldn’t afford to anger him. Then again, I wanted to be truthful. I didn’t want to lie.
“You want something you’ve never had before,” I told him. “You’re an heir to the Kaalium. All your life—and I hope I’m not overstepping here—you’ve never wanted for material things, right? Things easily attainable?”
