He chuckled. “It means forest in the Old Tongue.”
“Yes, thank you for clarifying.”
“You know,” he realized aloud, recognizing the dryness in her tone.
Sniffing out a laugh, she asked, “Do you know much of the Old Tongue?”
“Ereh, hineb.Yes, some.”
She squeezed his arm, and his heart skipped a beat.
“This”—he stopped them—“is your room.” With that, Kas swung open the dark door and waited for Miss Kiappa to step inside.
She didn’t. Looking up at him, an expression of concern flitted across her face. “Are you sure?” She glanced over at Della’s closed door across the way. “Aren’t there servants’ rooms I should be in?”
“No.” His one-word response shut her up, and she stepped through the open door before taking her bag from his extended hand. “My staff will bring you your luggage shortly.”
“This is all I have.” She graced him with a tiny smile as she ever-so-slightly lifted the satchel clutched in her hand.
“Oh.” He hadn’t expected that. She was a Guest of the King. What nonsense was that? He didn’t like it one bit. She deserved more. “Well, my staff will bring you supper shortly,” he amended.
Miss Kiappa’s brows tightened, and he realized she might have thought he was expecting her to take all of her meals in the private apartment.
“I— You don’thaveto eat in there.” He gestured past her. “I, uh, thought you might prefer to rest and spend time alone after such a long journey confined with”—he searched for the right words—“my energetic niece and nephew. Little hellions.” Kas tacked on the end, forgetting he’d selected more acceptable phrasing.
She chuckled. It was different from the giggle she’d gifted Tavid at the symposium those years ago. Her laughter held depth, maturity, that hadn’t been there before.
He coughed, reminding himself she wasnotthat interesting. “I must return to my work.”
Miss Kiappa nearly had her door closed, but she paused, swinging it open again. “Lord Kahoth?”
“Yes?”
“Eat some dinner.”
He guffawed, caught off guard by her comment. “What? Is my figure not to your liking?” Kas struck a pose.A bloody pose.What had gotten into him?
She blushed, and he saw spots. Her freckles winked up at him, begging to be brushed by his thumb.Oh no.He’d been staring at her for too long.
“You’re too skinny.”
He nearly laughed again but was overcome with a wave of stress over his looming deadline. He’d been away for far too long. “I have work to do.”
With that, Kas turned and stalked away. This new gaggle of houseguests was going to become the source of regular impositions. He could already tell.
Passing his housekeeper in the foyer, he gave her a tiny nod, then called out, “Thera, could you please have dinner sent to my study?”
six
Nesrina develops a routine.
Nesrinadidn’texpecttheduke to stay after he showed her to her room, but something about the way he fled left her frustrated, like she’d done something wrong.
Maybe she shouldn’t have said he was too skinny. She could’ve softened the blow by telling him he was handsome. That wouldn’t have been a lie—only horribly inappropriate. As it was, her comments were completely out of line given her status, but the queen was paying her, so she supposed she could get away with it.
Ah, well.Who cared if the duke was testy and moody and didn’t like her one bit? She didn’t work for him, she worked for the king and queen, for the prince and princess.
Dropping her bag, Nes looked up, and her lips parted as she took in the room before her. It was gorgeous, awash in greens, browns, and blues. The walls were papered in a leafy print, and the ceiling was a pale blue that evoked the sky.The Tarisden Suite, the forest suite, of course.
