Reyn tentatively wrapped her fingers around his. Then she waited.
Khiran pursed his lips. “Still nothing, but if the power is as diluted as you think, you may not actually feed. You may not have more than a very weak, intermittent, instinctual lure.”
Reyn appreciated the fact that Khiran and Lisca hadn’t told her it was all in her head and that they still spoke as if it was a matter of figuring things out. She suspected that she had made a mistake, though. Before she could apologize to the empath and incubus for wasting their time, Lisca spoke up.
“If her lure is that limited, maybe we’re approaching this all wrong. Reyn, you’ve noticed the effects the most when you are in close quarters, socializing, correct?”
“Yes.”
“So pretend Khiran is one of those men. Flirt with him. Maybe that’s what it takes to bring out your lure.”
Reyn looked up at Khiran. Flirt with him. She could do that. She knew how to flirt. But not like this. Not with the husband of one of her friends.
When she remained mute, Khiran bowed, reclaiming her hand and kissing the air above it. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Reyn.”
Reyn tilted her head so she could look up at him through her lashes, but it felt so wrong. She had to try. “The pleasure is mine, Lord Khiran. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Lisca sighed. “Reyn, I know you can do better than that.”
Reyn’s nose wrinkled, and she looked past Khiran to his wife. “I don’t flirt with married men. And I don’t flirt with men involved with my friends.”
“So pretend he is someone else.” Lisca paused, and the twinkle in her eye warned Reyn to brace herself for the next comment. “Why don’t you pretend he is Velario? You seemed quite engaged in your conversation with him.”
Reyn gave Lisca what she hoped was a withering look. She faced Khiran again. He seemed to be fighting off laughter, but she ignored it. Pretend he was Velario. Reyn had enjoyed poking at the other man and his assumptions. She thought about what she might say the next time she saw him, just to annoy him.
“Lord Velario, what a surprise seeing you here. Aren’t such frivolous gatherings beneath you? Surely you have far more important things to attend to.”
Khiran’s lips twitched. Then, in a ridiculous bass voice that sounded nothing like Velario, he said, “Everyone needs a break occasionally.”
Reyn imagined running into Lord Velario at a party. She couldn’t say anything too cutting in public. Subtle insults and backhanded compliments were much better in such situations. She smiled. “How right you are, my lord. So you’ll understand when I take my leave. Enjoy your evening. I know I will.”
“Wait.” Khiran continued to use his false bass voice. “Won’t you dance with me before you go?”
“I thought you needed a break, my lord.”
“A break from sitting behind a desk. Dancing can be quite relaxing.”
“You’ll need a different partner if you want to relax. I wring every bit of enjoyment I can from a dance—I wouldn’t call it relaxing, though it is pleasurable.”
Over on the divan, Lisca laughed. “Reyn, you will fit in perfectly in Tryn. I cannot believe you grew up in Moial; Khiran has lived here for two years, and he still can’t say anything like that in public.”
“Well,” Khiran said once Lisca’s laughter faded, his cheeks pink. “You have a lure, and it is brought out in, uh, this sort of situation. But it is not steady. Every time I thought I caught it, it disappeared.”
“I think I caught the edges of it once, too,” Lisca added, walking over to them.
Khiran angled his body so that she could step in front of him. When she did, his arms wrapped around Lisca’s waist, and he dropped a kiss on their son’s head where it rested on her shoulder.
Reyn envied them that easy intimacy. That comfort, the simple pleasure of being with each other, appealed far more than the overpowering—and fleeting—passion so many of Reyn’s peers gushed over. Reyn had fallen for passion before, and it had led to disappointment. She wanted a connection. Something beyond her strange lure drawing men to her.
Maybe, now that Khiran and Lisca had confirmed she had a lure, she could find a way to make sure a man was interested in her beyond the influence of her magic. Before she suffered any more disappointments.
