She made it all sound so…clinical.
“I’ll feed when I please,” I snapped. I needed to fly. To stretch my wings and let the punishing rain wash away this buzzing under my skin. I detested it. How did Azur stand it? “Takebaanyedaily.”
Millie’s nostrils flared. Gently. But I knew my black mood was beginning to wear on her.
As evidenced when she said, “Yes,Kyzaire.”
Her tone was sweet and soft, but there was warning in it when she said my title. Had I been in a better mood, I would’ve smirked in amusement at her little claws coming out to play.
“Wait here,” I ordered.
“Yes,Kyzaire.”
I nearly tore the door right off its hinges when I shoved through it. I heard her sigh behind me. Then came the scurry of her footsteps.
“Kythel,” she called after me. “Wait.”
I stopped at the banister, prepared to leap over the edge so I could fly down to the ground floor of the atrium. My fist squeezed the metal before I regarded her over the edge of my left wing.
She was standing just underneath the arches of my office doorway. The nape of her neck was bare, her cheeks were flushed, hair shining from the firelight. She made an intimate portrait, and I thought of the way I could draw her, just like this, my eyes skimming her lines, though I didn’t think I’d ever be able to capture the softness in her gaze.
“Thank you,” she said.
Such simple words. There was no bite to her tone. She looked at me steadily. Relief swept through me. The buzzing under my skin began to dissipate, melting away into a thrumming awareness. Of her. I could hear her breath, the gentle throb of her heart. I felt tethered to her, which was both a comfort and a worry.
“Thank you,” she said again.
She meant her father. Horrin.
I inclined my head.
“I’ll keep in contact with Setlan,” I told her, turning away to peer down at the darkened atrium below. “I’ll have an update for you soon.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
With that, I stepped from the edge, flaring my wings wide.
I needed to get away from her before I did something I truly, truly regretted.
CHAPTER23
MILLIE
The apothecary in Raana always smelled like the lavender fields from the small town outside of New Inverness. Fishshire, I believed the town was called. I’d always thought it strange that a town would be called Fishshire when it was so far from any type of water—lake, sea, pond, or otherwise. Especially when it was known for its lavender fields.
The apothecary was packed this afternoon. Well, as packed as a quaint little shop could be with Kylorr, though I spied a slim Hindras female standing near a body oil display.
I knew where thebaanyewas located, and I did a quick sweep of the shop to make sure Lesana wasn’t here—or any givers from RaanaDyaan, which was just down the road. I knew a Keriv’i male owned the shop, but it was a Kylorr female who tinkered with the bottles behind the counter.
“Good morning, Eriaan,” I greeted when I stepped up to the polished stone, the slab cutting into my belly.
“Ah, Millie,” Eriaan said, focused on positioning the bottles ofbaanyejust so. “Did Lesana send you for morebaanye? Already?”
“Yes,” I lied, smiling at her wings. “A couple bottles will do.”
Eriaan plucked them from her display and finally turned. Her green eyes were kind, but there was a distant coolness in them that I recognized in many Kylorr. They weren’t known for being a warm, inviting species, after all. Most Kylorr were raised in the belief that restraint would elevate them. Control over one’s baser impulses was pushed as an ideal state of being.
