Reyn didn’t let her shoulders slump, but her expression must have changed enough to show her disappointment. Or Lisca sensed it—Reyn wasn’t used to having someone actuallyknowher emotions.
Lisca gave her a sympathetic look. “We should ask Khiran. He senses lures differently than I do.”
Reyn hesitated. If Lisca had confirmed she had a lure, she probably would have asked to speak to Khiran, hoping to learn how to use her power. Or more importantly, how to not use it. She was more reluctant to ask him when she didn’t even know if she had a lure. “Isn’t he busy?”
Lisca grinned. “Not right now. We can catch him this afternoon.”
“I thought you said he needed a break.”
“A break from dampening the negative emotions at home. This is nothing. It will be fine, I promise, Reyn.”
When Velario realizedhe needed to get out of the bank before he started throwing things, thereby informing everyone of his frustration, he decided to visit Delerat BeVelor. Del handled negotiations with the elementals on behalf of Family Geratisi, and as such, was a unique resource to tap when trying to learn the different ways money came into the kingdom. Not that Velario didn’t know how money came into—and flowed out of—Lhanaperi, but he was afraid he was overlooking something. He could not afford to overlook anything.
“The fire sprites only accept bartered goods, no money, nor even gold?” Velario shook his head in disbelief. The conversation had veered away from the topic he needed, but it was always interesting to learn about the magical races. Besides, by allowing himself to be sidetracked, Del wouldn’t realize exactly what Velario had been after. Too many questions specifically about banknotes coming into Tryn from elemental traders would make Del wonder.
Del nodded. “I rarely deal with fire sprites directly—they still prefer to work through other elementals—but they do not want gold or jewels in payment.”
“Interesting. It’s always so tempting to think of elementals as all one homogenous group. But they really aren’t, are they?”
“Not at all. They band together to deal with humans, but they are four distinct races, with individual customs.”
Velario opened his mouth to ask about a rumor he had heard concerning an air sprite custom and realized that he had gone too far afield. Expanding the conversation to disguise his purpose was one thing, but he didn’t have time to gossip all afternoon about elementals. He stood up. “I should be going. Thanks for answering my questions.”
“Any time.” Del walked over to the door with Velario. “We should have another card night soon. It’s been a while.”
Velario shrugged and opened the door. “We should, but I’m not sure when I can manage it. Life is hectic at present.”
“Exactly why you need to take a break.”
They stepped into the hallway, but Velario couldn’t walk over to the front door because Khiran was blocking the way. Finding him in the halls of Del’s house wasn’t a huge surprise. They were brothers who often made themselves comfortable in each other’s homes.
“Are you telling Velario to take a break? Perfect. I could use one, too.” Khiran walked back into Del’s office, somehow sweeping the other men along with him. “Brandy? I think today calls for brandy.”
Del rummaged in a cabinet and produced a bottle of Vairainian brandy.
Velario really shouldn’t stay any longer. But Khiran was right. The day called for brandy.
“Why do you need a drink in the middle of the afternoon?” Velario asked as he sank back into the chair he had left less than a minute ago.
“I’ve been luring all morning. Jaeca and I are the only people at home who can hold Marseo without distressing him at present, and she had to go into the shop.”
Del passed out glasses of brandy. “So why not hold him, instead of using your lure?”
“Lisca needed to feed him. She couldn’t do that unless I used my lure. Of course, I could have just used it on Marseo, but I had the brilliant idea of trying to calm the entire house so that Lisca and Kalo didn’t have to suffer either.”
“Of course you did.” Velario sipped his brandy. Del hadn’t poured more than a finger, but it still wouldn’t do to gulp the fine libation. “Why didn’t Lisca take Marseo away from the house, then? She is practical enough to come up with that solution to the problem.”
“She did, eventually. Even Kalo reached his limit and left. At this point, I don’t even think it is the original maid’s heartbreak causing all the problems. Everyone is taking sides and getting angry at each other. The worst of it is, they are all still acting outwardly calm and collected. I wouldn’t even know anything was going on if not for Lisca. If they took a moment and had it out with each other, they might actually move on, instead of letting the emotions fester.”
“Good luck with that one.” Velario shook his head. “The servants in the Geratisi household are known for having cool heads. It is part of the image. It will horrify them when they realize how much of their emotions Lord Geratisi and Lisca sense.”
A crease formed between Del’s brows. “How did Kalo and Jaeca manage when Lisca was a baby? They didn’t have an incubus on hand.”
“I imagine that things are a little simpler when the mother is not an empath herself.” Khiran downed the last of his brandy and held the glass out to Del. “One more.”
Del poured another finger of brandy into Khiran’s glass, then tipped the bottle in Velario’s direction.
Velario held out his glass and accepted a little more. Maybe a break was what he needed to inspire a solution to his problems at the bank. Heavens knew hours of searching for a pattern he could use to pinpoint the origin of the issue hadn’t helped. But he would only stay as long as it took to finish his second brandy.
