She was small and short, whereas I preferred my females tall and strong. She would barely come up to the center of my chest.
The sleek, black uniform of RaanaDyaanflared around her breasts and hips. I watched as Lesana hurriedly wiped a smudge of something tan—a dusting of flour, perhaps—off the material. The human woman gave a sheepish smile in return before she strode forward into the room.
From across the quiet lounge, our eyes met. There was a clash of calm and oddly charged ferocity, all bundled into one singular moment that made me hold my breath.
The human’s eyes were hazel and primarily gold. Shimmering streaks of it ran like rivulets through her irises. I’d never seen a color quite like them. I’d caught their shadowy depths outside in the courtyard when we’d first arrived, though the darkness had kept much shielded from me. Now, with the Halo orbs glowing and moving overhead, she had nowhere to hide.
She has sad eyes,came the unwanted thought. Sad but beautiful. For the first time in years, my hand itched to draw them, but I wondered if I could even capture them properly. I wondered if I even wanted to—because surely it would be a waste of paper when I could look into their living reflection.
She was uglyandbeguiling, a study of strange proportions and even stranger beauty.
And she smelled divine.
Though I’d just had my fill, I wanted to feed from her. I wanted to taste her blood, sweet and lush like sin.
I wanted hernow.
CHAPTER3
MILLIE
“Millicent,” Lesana hissed through a calm smile that she gave to her patrons. I felt her hand press to my shoulder, urging me along.
Right.Her voice brought me back, piercing through the sapphire haze I’d found myself trapped in.
Jolting, I scurried toward the table where Hanno sat, mercifully breaking theKyzaireof Erzos’s consuming gaze. My heart was thundering in my chest, and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath.
What just happened?I wondered, dazed, even as I leveled the group a small, soft smile.
“The tarts are baking right now,” I assured them. It had been a mad dash to slip them into the kiln oven under Draan’s huffing and pointed, grumpy glare. “I’ll have a whole heaping platter for you soon, all right?”
Hanno didn’t smile. His gaze strayed past me. “You know theKyzaire?”
“No,” I said, keeping my smile in place. “I do not.”
“Hmm,” Hanno grunted, though the expression on his face had taken on a curious edge. One I was confused by. “Another round of the Drovos wine would be appreciated. Is the room ready yet for my feeding?”
I blinked but said hurriedly, “It’s being prepared right now. I’ll let you know the moment it’s ready. And of course I’ll get more wine for you all. One moment.”
A little taken aback by Hanno’s sudden briskness, I strode to the Halo Com screen and placed the order for the wine. Lesana was speaking with theKyzaireand his two companions, who, in the gentle golden light of the lounge, I realized were his brothers.
ThreeKyzairesin attendance at RaanaDyaanthis evening. No wonder Lesana had been on edge.
Kythel, the High Lord of Erzos, was still standing. His gaze still flitted to me every other word that Lesana spoke. Hesitantly, I approached, and I watched his nostrils flare, those winter-sea eyes fastening themselves to my every step.
Lesana noticed where his attention lay, and she turned to me. I saw her look between us. I didn’t miss the brief frown that flashed over her usual expression, one meant to be approachable yet distant from her patrons.
I took a deep breath, ignoring theKyzaire’s stare, and looked only at Lesana. Quietly, so theKyzaireswouldn’t hear, I said, “Hanno is getting impatient for Kian.”
Lesana’s eyes flickered to the group across the room. “I’ll take care of it,” she said. Then she hesitated—and I very rarely saw her hesitate. She raised her voice, her smile dropping back into place. “Serve our honored guests tonight, will you?”
Nerves shot through my belly, but I didn’t let them show. All my life, I’d spoken and served and complimented and rubbed noses with all sorts of beings from across the universe, most of them in very powerful and influential stations. I’d lived in all Four Quadrants. I’d lived on seven different colonies and planets and visited dozens more.
Yet over two months ago, before Lesana had taken pity on me, I’d barely had enough credits to pay for a single night at the nearby inn. I’d worried that I’d have to beg for food, unwilling to part with a single credit because I needed every last one to reach my father.
Lesana had never asked about my past. About why she’d found me, dirty and hungry, on the streets of the Raana food market. About where I’d been before I’d come to Krynn. But I sensed that she recognized that part of me—that part of me that could speak withanyone. It was why she had me working in the lounge most nights and why, I suspected, she didn’t want me to be a blood giver.
“Of course,” I replied.
