“A lure is naturally about making people like you. I’m not sure how this differs from using it to flirt.”
“I don’t know.” Reyn closed her eyes. “No, I do know. For a full-blooded succubus, the lure is necessary for survival. She needs to feed off emotions, and so she must draw people to her. Even though we’ve seen no sign that my minimal succubus blood has resulted in a need for me to feed, having the lure respond to flirting still feels like it fits within that biological need. A lure that only comes out when I want to manipulate people seems dishonorable.”
“You can’t think that way, Reyn. It is a part of who you are, and no one should judge you for that, including yourself.”
She straightened and looked directly at Khiran. “How did you do it? How did you survive all the vitriol sent your way back in Moial?”
He huffed out a humorless laugh. “I let it get to me more than I ever cared to admit, unfortunately. But my brother and Ro always supported me. And then Lisca, though she caused me to doubt myself even more before she showed me that I deserved respect for who I was and not condemnation for who the court thought me to be.”
“Lisca made you doubt yourself?”
“She sensed my lure better than I did. I didn’t discover until the first time I danced with her that I constantly emit a low-level lure. That was not a pleasant realization.”
Reyn hesitated, but she had to ask. “How do you handle knowing you are always luring?”
“Lisca pointed out that my lure is not that strong when I’m not actively putting power behind it. It is no more coercive than a handsome face.” Khiran shrugged. “I’m not saying I learned to accept it right away, but ultimately you have to learn to live with what you cannot change—and there is no reason to feel guilty about how you were born.”
“I don’t wantto play cards.”
Danten ignored Velario and continued dragging him toward Del’s house.
Velario freed his arm, but kept walking alongside the other man. If he turned around, he knew Danten would come back and drag him off again. “I have a lot going on right now, Danten.”
“Exactly why you need a night off.”
What he needed was a magical way to look over every banknote passing through the banks in minute detail instantaneously. Barring that, Velario needed to devise a mundane way to keep the economy from collapsing. He should spend his evening devising a new plan, since the current one was not working. But he really didn’t know what else to try.
More than ever, he wished he could share his problems with his friends and brainstorm solutions. But the risks were too great.
Velario and Danten reached Del’s house at the same time as Khiran. Back before the bank swallowed Velario’s life, their card nights had already dwindled. Khiran didn’t want to leave Lisca and their new baby at home so often. Velario had dragged him out a few times—at Lisca’s urging, no less—much as Danten was doing to him tonight.
Del greeted them at the door and waved them into the sitting room.
Maybe his friend was right, and he needed a night off. Still, it wouldn’t do to give in too easily. That would set a terrible precedent with Danten. So Velario did much as Khiran had on the nights they dragged him away from home. He sighed and said, “Only a few rounds tonight; I need to get home at a reasonable hour.”
Khiran, pulling out a chair at the table Del had set up for their game, groaned. “Did I sound that insufferable?”
Del and Danten replied in unison, “Yes.”
Khiran snatched up the deck of cards and began shuffling. Velario smiled as he sat across from the incubus. “So, what have you three been up to while I’ve been mired in the banks?”
The other men knew better than to ask what had Velario so preoccupied at the bank. If he could tell them, he would have already. Being the good friends they were, they instead settled in for an evening of distraction. Del shared a few anecdotes from his encounters with the elemental sprites. Khiran told them in detail about his son’s many accomplishments, from gurgling, to smiling, to stinking up an entire room in under a minute. Then Danten began waxing poetic on his favorite subject: women.
“But she said she had to go home right that instant, as if I had asked her to stay,” Danten groused before playing an emperor of roses and taking the trick.
“Heavens forbid you spend an entire night with a woman.” Del shook his head. “I’ve never understood why some men consider actually sleeping with a woman they’ve had sex with is so distasteful. Khiran used to be like that.”
“Hey,” Khiran’s hand hovered over one card, then he changed his mind and played the one from the far left of his hand. “I never considered it distasteful to spend the night with a woman. I was being courteous and making sure I didn’t ruin their reputations.”
Del played his own card. “Fine, you have an excuse, but it hardly holds up here in Lhanaperi.”
“Don’t look at me,” Velario answered. He pulled out a trump and took the trick. After a pause, when he chose the best card to play to start the next trick, he looked back at Del. “I don’t avoid spending the night with women. I don’t do it all the time, but that’s because sometimes all either of us wants is a couple hours of enjoyment. Plus, we aren’t always in a bedroom to begin with.”
Del rolled his eyes. “So what’s your excuse, Danten?”
“Spending the night gives the lady ideas. I only allow sleepovers when I am sure we are both on the same page about what we expect from each other. Besides, waking up next to someone is not nearly as appealing as one might think.”
Del and Khiran both began spluttering at this last comment, insisting that waking up next to their wives was better than anything Danten could ever imagine.
