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I glare at him.
“I’ve had enough sleep without you.” Eros leans in and gives me a kiss.
I put my hand on his chest and push. Eros tilts his head in confusion, and I smile. “Sorry, it’s just, where’s Holter? We were playing a game. And I haven’t found him yet.” I don’t want him to feel like I did at my sixth-grade class party where I was the last person hiding and everyone forgot about me. I missed them cutting the cake.
“I’m here, Belle.” Holter steps into the hallway.
“Where were you?”
“Enjoying you walking right past me, over and over.” He kisses my neck. “That makes me the winner. And now I’ll have my prize. I like this game.” Holter nods at Nico, who’s looking a little like a sore loser; at least, it looks that way. It’s hard to tell, being upside down and all. Holter has me over his shoulder. He lays me in the middle of the bed, and his eyes flick to my lips. He’s holding the ties to my robe. “This needs to come off. Yes?”
“Yes,” I hiss out.
“Good.” He unties me so slowly I want to rip the ties out of his hands and do it myself. But I’m patient. His blue eyes glow in the low light.
“Where were you?”
“Nearby. I’ll never go far.”
“That’s not answering my question.”
Holter dips his head and kisses behind my ear. “No, Belle. It’s not. But I like this game. I don’t have any secrets from you.”
I nod like I’m not dying from curiosity over how I missed him. His lips are on mine, a gentle brush to start. But he takes control and suddenly knowing is a whole lot less important.
Kai meets me in the front foyer of her parents’ penthouse. It’s remarkably empty compared to every other time I’ve been there. Holter’s come with me. He’s reclining on the gigantic foyer sofa, his block in hand. I’m not sure what’s got him so distracted, but after he said hello to Kai, he sat down.
“It’s quiet around here.” I give Kai a hug. Her mate Dar sits next to Holter, also on his block.
“Mom and her mates are downstairs in their other apartment.”
“Oh.” I understand the subtext. Ophelia is older, not dead. The Grand Dame Duchess of the Glyden Dome, she has fifteen mates, only seven of whom live in the penthouse. The others live in an apartment below her. Ophelia says that the humans say three’s a crowd, but mermaids say seven is sleeping with a foot in your ear. Or something like that.
Kai smiles at me. “Humans are different in a lot of ways.” She shrugs and pulls me in for another tight hug. “You’re going to be okay.”
Has Castor told her? Does she know Nico has vetoed him from being in the pod? “Is your brother here?” I whisper, not that Holter and Dar can’t hear me. But I know Holter will let me have a private conversation with Kai if I want. Heck, he’d let me have a private conversation with Castor if I wanted.
“Which one?”
I raise my eyebrows at her.
Kai gives me an exaggerated wink. “No, he’s not here. I saw him at dinner last night, though. He didn’t look great, and I’m always the loving sister?—”
Dar chuckles but doesn’t look up from his block.
“He didn’t look great, so I asked. It was obvious he didn’t want to open the can of sardines in front of Mother. So like a good sister, I cornered him in the hall. I had to tickle him, but he told me about what Nico did. He’s on the way back to Athens in the morning.”
My head bobs. “Oh, so he’s still in the city?”
“Yeah, but . . .”
“Should I give him some space?” My stomach tightens. I don’t want him to leave, but I know he needs to get back to work. He’s already spent so much time away from Athens. But Nico’s going to need him around to realize the real reason he vetoed Castor.
“That’s up to you.” She sucks in her lower lip. Her eyes flick to Dar and Holter on the sofa. “I was really hoping we could be sisters. But I don’t want my big brother hurting. Maybe I should go and kick Nico in the shins?” Kai kicks her leg out, and her belly shakes.
“No, Nico needs to come around on his own.” I smile. “But thanks for the helpful offer. I might take you up on it some other time.”
“That’s me, helpful. I’m really excited to show you Richeal’s books.” Kai leads me down the long hallway back to the library. I’ve spent some time in here but not as much as I would have liked. But then I didn’t have a block or any translator tech before, and now I have access to both. And with Eros back, I can get over to Zaffiro and use the better translator. With that and the rest of Richeal’s books, we might find the answers we are looking for.
