“When Arliss first got sick, he spent months trying to find himself an heir,” says Kaidren. “He wanted anyone but the Opheran bastard he’d already fathered. Eventually, he was sick enough to settle for me, but he was known to sleep with a lot of women. Even married ones.”
The logic is sound. But it’s still just conjecture. “If Neveah had an affair with Arliss,” I say slowly, “that would make Flynn . . .”
“My brother,” Kaidren says. I can’t tell from his tone how he feels about that.
“Even if we’re right, it still doesn’t answer the question of who killed Arliss.”
“Selva?” Kaidren suggests. “If anyone found out Flynn wasn’t his, then he wouldn’t have an heir.”
“Can’t be,” I say. “Arliss’s killer was blackmailing Selva.”
The real question is, who would care that Flynn was Arliss’s son? Who would care enough to kill for it?
I study Kaidren. His brow is furrowed, lost in thought. “Maybe,” I say slowly, “we can find Arliss’s killer another way. I can’t imagine there are too many places to buy kishori. Where didyouget it?”
“Here in Ophera. One of those shops that sell the illegal goods my aunt Jules likes.”
It raises another question that’s been weighing on me. “I was wondering about that. Jules was adamant about hating Virdei. If she doesn’t want to join the decurio, why does she collect magical artifacts?”
“There are more uses for magic than dying as a soldier,” Kaidren says. “As I’m sure you’re aware.”
Fair enough. “Do you think you could find the shop that sold you the poison again?”
“I think so. But I doubt the shopkeep would tell us anything.”
I grin. This part is easy. “I’m good at interrogating people. A lie is just as useful as the truth—so long as you ask the right questions.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
LIE TO ME
I shake out my sjaal to lie on, wrap myself in my cloak, and reach for the one blanket we’ve been given. I pause, hand poised over the thin wool, with a hesitant look at Kaidren.
He’s already smirking at me. “I suppose you think you’re getting that whole thing?”
“You’re the one who claims to be a man of honor.”
He chuckles. “As you’re well aware, I was lying. Besides, it’s large enough for both of us.” He lifts an eyebrow in challenge. “Unless you think you’ll struggle to keep your hands to yourself?”
My eyes narrow. “My self-control’s just fine, thank you.” Chin tipped up, I curl up on my sjaal next to the dying embers in the fireplace, back turned to Kaidren. He lies down behind me. He drapes the blanket first over me, then settles it around himself. We don’t touch. There’s less than half a pace separating us, but it might as well be a canyon. I’m painfully aware of every lick of distance that divides us.
For several heartbeats, we listen to each other breathe. Neither of us speaks, but the night is far from quiet. A snowstorm has started, and Aja’s house is being battered from all sides. Wind and snow lash the windowpanes and sneak through the cracks in the walls. The house shudders, and the space is filled with a sharp, high-pitched whine.
Kaidren and I each shiver three times in the span of a few minutes, and neither of us is any closer to falling asleep.
“Damn this.” Kaidren’s gruff voice cuts through the sounds of the night. His arms curl around me, yanking me back to rest against him.
I don’t fight it. It’s cold, and his body heat is a comfort I can’t deny. My head is tucked into the hollow beneath his chin, and his arms are banded securely around me.
With his heartbeat pounding in my ear, I allow myself a moment of honesty: Ilikethis. Not just because it’s cold, and not just because he’s warm.
Kaidren Vale is vicious when he wants to be. But he’s also thoughtful and caring. He looks at me as if I’m worthy of notice. He smells of pine trees and fire. And being near him kindles a kind of magic within me that’s new and exciting.
He makes me nervous. Makes me feel as though the world is tilting and I’m sliding into the unknown. Wrapped up with him like this, I almost wonder if it would be worth it to let go, to lean into this feeling of powerlessness. But I can’t—nothing scares me more than what I can’t control.
I clear my throat. “You kissed me.”
Kaidren hums in my ear. “Is this your way of telling me your lips are cold and you’d like me to warm them?” His breath on the back of my neck combined with his teasing tone makes me shiver.
