Pyetar stood immediately, his eyes lingering on her. He looked much better than the last time she’d seen him, almost entirely healed from his time with Karvek.
“You can finish this up without me,” he ordered as he stepped back and walked around the table toward her.
“I can wait,” Iryana offered, but her heart sped up.
“No need. Our agreement with the Kleesolds is a priority.”
Was that all it was?
Pyetar led her into a small study on the second floor, smaller than the one Karvek used, but much more like Pyetar. He crossed the room, leaning against the front of a large desk strewn with papers. A warm glow fell over him from the fireplace, and Iryana realized how tired he looked.
“How was the meeting with the duchess?”
She took a seat on the small sofa nearby. “Good. The Dovaki Post is secured, but we need to get the dakii under control.”
“I’ve increased our patrols, and I am working with the captains to put more of an organized plan together to clear them out. And we should be good to take a group to the metal wells soon.”
“Let me know if there is anything the Kleesolds can do.”
“Of course.” Pyetar flexed his hand.
Iryana looked away, focusing on the shelves of books instead. “I will have to meet with the Air Elementi about my dual forging.”
It would have been good to talk to the other Elementi, water and metal in particular, but there weren’t any in the duchess’s settlement. Perhaps they existed out there somewhere in Istri, in some other settlement, or perhaps they had been killed by the dakii too.
“Will you be okay?”
Her eyes snapped to his. “It will be fine. It’s a good thing that they are looking into it. If more people could be double-forged, that would change a lot.”
His eyes didn’t lose their tightness. “Just—be careful.”
Iryana nodded, swallowing at the awkwardness in the room. She wasn’t sure if he could feel it too—the tension between them. It felt as if they were intentionally ignoring it, but it was for the best.
Her sister may have thought it was something Iryana could afford to pursue, but it was just as doomed now as it was when Karvek was in control.
Pyetar cleared his throat. “We’ve established deals with the other brigades and settlements to send the remaining stock of Beasts Poppy through official medical channels only. It will have to be strictly regulated, but we will hopefully be out of that business quickly.”
“That’s reasonable enough.”
The silence stretched painfully between them.
“Do you have anything else to report?” Iryana asked when she could no longer take the quiet.
“No, that’s it for now.”
Iryana rubbed her hands over her thighs and adjusted one pillow haphazardly arranged beside her. “Well, then. I guess I should get back.”
She stood and turned toward the door, but his hand caught her arm before she could walk toward it.
“Iryana, wait,” he said softly. “Are things really going to be like this between us?”
She closed her eyes tightly. “Does it make sense any other way? We will barely see each other, and my family wouldn’t understand. I doubt most of the 18th would support it. I don’t want to make this harder for you. And,” she added softly, almost teasingly, “you don’t have to forgive me just because I saved your life.”
He watched her, eyes weighing her.
“I know I have responsibilities here,” Pyetar agreed, “and I have to do what I promised I would. But I never wanted this, and I plan to step down at the first opportunity I have.”
He rubbed at his jaw and stared at the floor as if frustrated he couldn’t find the words.
