“Oh,” she said quietly, looking down at our hands. Gray against beige. Her hands turned pink with the cold.
“Where are the scratches from?” I asked again.
She replied, “I was moving wood logs.”
“Why?” I asked. “I’m certain RaanaDyaanruns onakkiumpower.”
“It does,” she said but added nothing more, which I found supremely frustrating.
Slowly, Millie disentangled our hands before clasping her own together.
“Were you in the kitchens again tonight?” I asked.
“No,” she answered. “In the lounge.”
So my suspicions were true—Lesana didn’t want her around me.
“Are you finished with your duties, then?” I asked, sliding my gaze to observe RaanaDyaanbriefly. It was late. Most patrons would be gone by now. The lounge looked dark already.
She nodded. “I was going to go walking, but I just…I got tired.”
“You look it.”
“I had a late night,” she admitted, sliding me a small smile I didn’t think she felt. My hand twitched, wanting to cup her jaw. “Can I ask you something?”
“It depends on what it is. No Kaalium secrets, remember?” I answered, sliding my arms across my chest. “But try.”
I was content to observe her as she deliberated her question. Her brows furrowed together. She blinked a few times, as if forming the sentence. I wondered about her upbringing. I wondered about her father, about the places she’d lived. She’d told me that she’d knownpeople likemeall her life. What had she meant by that?
“House Loria,” she finally said. I felt the muscles in my thighs tighten, bracing, as if prepared to leap into the sky. Her gaze was watchful, but I kept my expression neutral. “Whenever I mention that name within Erzos, the village folk get uncomfortable.”
“That’s not a question.”
She gave me an exasperated expression, one that had my lips twitching. “My question iswhy. I haven’t found anything on the House, even though it was a noble one. Here in Erzos. I know that much for certain. Did you know them? What happened to them?”
“Why do you want to know?” I questioned. “Because your father used to work for them?”
“Yes,” she answered. She met my gaze, the slivers of gold in them mesmerizing in the darkness of Stellara. “But also because he was friends with the daughter of House Loria. I’m trying to find her. Or find out what happened to her. I have letters he wrote to her that he never sent.”
My gut twisted.
Ruaala.
I thought of her face, eyes closed. Lips nearly white, hair tangled in soil.
I hadn’t thought of her for so long.
“House Loria,” I said softly, “ended a long time ago. The Lord and Lady passed on. They only had one daughter, and she married into another noble House. House Loria’s line ended. As sometimes happens.”
“Yes, but the daughter…” Millie said, leaning forward on the stump, wide eyes fastened to me. “Ruaala. What happened to her? Where is she now?”
Zyos,I thought. The lost realm.
Was…was Millie’s father who she’d been waiting for? Why she had forsaken everything, why she had done what she’d done?
“I’m sorry, Millie,” I told her because they weren’t hollow words. “Ruaala is dead.”
CHAPTER12
