Page 62 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
Her jaw fell open, and she nearly dropped her glass, a flame lit in her unlike no other. “You areinfuriating.” She stomped, then collapsed into her seat.
He snorted and took a slow sip of his whiskey, his silvery eyes never leaving her face. “I’m sorry. I’m behaving like a child.”
She sighed and lifted her glass to her lips.
“Do you have feelings for him?”
A spray of whiskey flew from her mouth, speckling her skirt. “It’s none of your business, Lord Kahoth.”
Shocking her, he pouted.
Her nostrils flared as she fought a smile. Alternatively infuriating and captivating, this man’s personality kept her trapped between a rock and a soft place.Thismust’ve been what Papa meant about nobles and their ingratiating tendencies.
Still, Nes gave in as his pout intensified, admitting, “There’s nothing between us.”
“Between you and the blond guard?”
“Of course! Who else would I mean?”
He smirked, steel eyes flickering in the candlelight. “It wasn’t what I thought happened?”
“It was nothing. But don’t get me wrong, you had no right to send him away from Stormhill.” She shut down the conversation, voice snappish as she stood. He watched as she drained her glass and plopped the empty tumbler into his waiting hand. He could clean it up. She was sick and tired of Kas reminding her of that fool forcing a kiss on her.
Rihan Sarma wasnotthe man she wanted to be embracing.
And the one she did want to kiss was—!
Nes wanted toscream, instead she swooshed her way to the bed, ripped the covers down, and threw herself in.
twenty-one
Nesrina has a butterfly infestation.
Theseconddayofthe symposium dawned sunny and warm with a blessed southern breeze ambling up the river from the sea. Kas had awoken before her, and sounds from the street fluttered into their room through the open windows.
She groaned and rolled from belly to back, before yanking a soft, feathery pillow over her face to block out the sun.
“Good morning, Nes.” His voice resonated from far too close.
Lifting a corner of the silk-covered pillow, she found him standing onherside of the bed, placing a steaming cup of spiced tea on the side table. Nes let out a small grunt by way of greeting and pushed up to lean against the headboard.
“Did you know you snore?”
She shot her leg out and kicked him on the thigh. “I do not!”
He chuckled and sauntered away.Thank the gods.Because his thin bed shirt and even thinner linen pants were about to become a problem.
After dressing and eating a small breakfast in their room—bread and honey for her and bacon and eggs for him—they headed out for a day of activities.
Together, they attended a variety of presentations, ending with two back-to-back antiquities sessions. The second was an engrossing lecture on the various species of extinct faeries whose fossilized bones had beendiscovered in the north, on the border with Domos.
“I’ve known about that for years. I have one, in fact,” Kas said as they left the building.
“You do not.”
“I do, my late friend Teymour sent it to me ages ago. Remind me to show it to you.”
“I bet it’s bird bones.”
