Across the lounge, my eyes caught on Lesana, who was laughing with Hanno, a broad grin on her face, her arm perched on his shoulder. Cousins, though Lesana was not of House Arada. Not anymore.
My eyes narrowed. I murmured under my breath, finally understanding. When Lesana caught my gaze from across the room, I dipped my chin. She straightened and came at my beckoning.
“I’m so delighted you were able to join us again,Kyzaires,” she said, her smile demure, though I knew it hid bite. “Would you like a blood giver this evening? I can make arrangements for both of you. Any of our givers can be available for you.”
“No,” I said, holding her gaze. “Just food and drink will suffice.”
I didn’t like to be maneuvered. Not in my own province by a noble House that thought it could guide my hand.
“I hear your husband has extra help in your kitchen tonight,” I told her. Her left wing twitched. I grinned when I saw it. “How fortunate to have a culinarian’s daughter working within your own establishment.”
Her smile widened, but it felt jagged at the edges. “Millicent has many versatile talents. I was lucky to find her and even luckier that she chose to stay…for now.”
“Oh?” I asked, snagging my goblet and lifting it to my lips. “She will be leaving?”
“That is my understanding,” Lesana said. The admission made my jaw tighten. “Though I make it a point to respect my workers’ privacy.”
My hand paused, the goblet held suspended in the air, surprised that she would dare to lob a half-concealed barb at me.
Her grin widened to hide her slip of tongue. I saw the desperation begin to creep into her gaze, finally understanding what she’d done.
“Can I get you anything besides your drinks?” she asked quickly. “Would you like food from—”
“Yes,” I bit out. “Everything.”
“Everything,Kyzaire?” Lesana asked, her smile wavering for the first time.
“Everything,” I repeated slowly. “We might need a bigger table.”
* * *
“What in Raazos’sblood was that?” Kaldur groaned when we stepped onto the courtyard. He knew better than to ask that question to me inside or to challenge the stream of plates and serving trays that had come our way. And we’d eaten every last bite. “I won’t need to eat for a week.”
Despite my full belly—filled with some of the best, most surprising food I’d had in a long time—I was still in a foul mood. When we were a fair enough distance away from the front doors of RaanaDyaan, I told him quietly, “House Arada knows.”
“Knows what?” Kaldur asked. “That you’ll make an arrangement with Lyris? That much was clear. Not much to know. Unless this is about the girl.”
A joint in my wing popped with tension. The day had been long, one incident following the next. The only thing that had gone right was a shipment of stone from Vyaan that had arrived at the Syan Pass without incident. Construction would begin on that section of the South Road in the morning. Small progress, but progress nonetheless.
“I don’t like to be controlled,” I told him. “They should know better.”
Kaldur lowered his voice. “Because the human female is yourkyrana?”
More joints snapped. I didn’t want it to be true. It would be anightmareif it was true.
But Kaldur saw everything. He liked to disarm people with his smile, his easygoing demeanor, his charm. Underneath it all, he was as shrewd and perceptive as an inter-Quadrant officer.
“I can’t be certain,” I admitted just as quietly, holding his gaze. “But even if she is…it changes nothing.”
Kaldur’s gaze flickered. Disbelief threaded through his gaze. “You cannot be serious.”
“I have a duty to Erzos,” I growled. “A duty to the Kaalium. To you. To our family. I can’t forget that.”
Even if I wanted to.
“Do whatever the fuck you want. Like you always do,” Kaldur told me—an easy, though mocking, grin sliding onto his features. “But whoever heard of a Kylorr turning his back on a fated one? Certainly not me. It’s laughable that you think you can try.”
“Don’t,” I warned.
