Kas was protecting Miss Kiappa. By getting the rake away, he was saving her from finding the guard smooching another member of staff, from inevitable heartbreak. As an added bonus, he was saving himself the same.
Nesrina’s gaze dropped from Kas’s lips to his chest and back up again. His heart cowered as her exasperation battered him. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to court her. He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and give her a shake for wasting a moment’s breath on that dolt of a guard. He wanted to have a conversation about the importance ofnotdistracting him from his work, not until he had time to spare.
She huffed, and he knew he’d done something wrongagain. Then sheclimbed down to the floor, propped her hands on her hips, and glared at him through long lashes, her cheeks red.
He had to buffet his back with his magic to stop from stepping away again. She was scary when furious. Her gentle scent of citrus and gardenias assaulted him, calling heat up to his cheeks and bullying him to take her in his arms, a terrible idea given her rage.
“Cat got your tongue, Lord Kahoth? Do you believe I’m some infantile woman incapable of balancing my instruction of the twins with my own free time? Hmm?” She began speaking with her hands, flailing them around in an attempt to either fill the empty space between them or to push away the temperamental gusts of wind he kept flinging her way. “I was getting to know Rihan. He was thefirst personto help me when I arrived at Kirce. Hebelieved me when I said I had a letter from the king. Hedidn’t treat me like dirt because I was a potential member of the staff.” She batted away another burst of his cool breeze, her hands shouting, “Howdareyou?!” with each rapid movement.
Kas swallowed, a mix of terror and unadulterated envy vying for first place in his heart’s race. “How dare he” wasright. He hadn’t been kind to her at the palace, he’d acted like an arse, and Kas was afraid he might have gone and done it again.
“Hedidn’t pretend not to know who I was after we met. In fact,he said he missed me.” She cocked her head to the side, glaring cynically, and he lost it.
Kas’s gale force winds, this time hot, whipped about her, threatening to knock Nesrina off her feet as they billowed her skirts, which she smacked down with angry hands. Some of what she was saying held truth. In fact,mostof what she said was spot on.
Unfortunately, Kas was in quite a tizzy. Not used to being shouted at by the object of his affections, or anyone, he gaped like a fish out of water. He wasn’t even brave enough to speak with her like a normal human being. How was he supposed to contend with this force of nature? A strange energy seemed to fizzle in the air, growing thicker and thicker with each passing moment. He couldn’t say if it was his own anxiety and out of control magic, or something more serious.
“He doesn’t look down at me from thelenedskies like I’m an obnoxious waif who’s always under foot, unable to care for herself!”
Kas tightened his mouth, and Miss Kiappa stiffened.
“He doesn’t stare at me with his lips perpetually pursed as if I am the most offensive thing the gods ever created! Helikes me.” With one final dramatic flail of her hands, anenormousshrubbery, taller than Kas, popped into the space between them.
Shock and delight tugged at the corners of his lips as his wind bashed into the leaves, rustling and quaking them until, with a final forced breath, he managed to withdraw his barrage of airflow from the branches.
In the ensuing stillness, nothing moved: not a leaf shivered, his heart stalled its beating. It was like the candles themselves stopped flickering. Kas could hear her on the other side, panting in short, frustrated gasps. Here he was feeling foolish for tossing wind her way throughout their argument, only for her to block him from view with a gigantic bush—in his own damned library! Miss Kiappa was furious, to be sure, but he didn’t think she’d done that on purpose.
The absurdity of the situation had a low chuckle curling free from his chest to slink around the room.
It only took a moment, and the addition of a full-on hedge maze around him, for Kas to realize he probably shouldn’t have laughed at her mishap. Turning in a tight circle, he found she’d added shrubbery behind him and to his left. A narrow path led off to the right.
“Just go,” she grumbled from her side of the bushes. “This conversation is over.”
“Back to work,kalalitani,” Kas chirped, setting off through the tunnel of green that looped around the room willy-nilly before it eventually deposited him at the exit.
He couldn’t help himself; the moment the door clicked shut and he heard the telltalepopof her magical creations vanishing, he slipped an errant breeze back through the keyhole to wrap around her shoulders in a balmy embrace. It was a double-edged decision: The fact that it would annoy her further enticed him, and that hewantedto hug her, in case his arms never got the chance, pushed him over the edge.
She shook it off with a huff of frustration he could practically hear, and when her footsteps came toward the library door, panic got the best of Kas and he took off running.
eleven
Nesrina becomes an annoyance.
ThefirstdaywithoutRihan, Nesrina awoke with a pounding headache. She suspected the ache was of triple origin: one, the extremely full glass of too-sweet wine Aylin surprised her with in lieu of her evening tea; two, her routine having been thoroughly upended from the loss of her guard; and three, her argument with the Duke of Stormhill.
Oh gods.She flipped from stomach to back and stared up at the canopy of green velvet as mortification climbed atop her duvet and settled in, smothering her.
She hadn’t lost hold of her magic like that in ages. She’d frozen the damn candles! The wax dripped and light emitted from the flame, but each one stood preternaturally still, a glowing, immobile teardrop. Mortified, she’d been about to remove her shrubbery, then he laughed, which rankled, so she turned it into a maze.
That was the only real moment of control she’d had during the whole argument. To be fair, she should not have used her moment of clarity to trap the duke in a labyrinth. Was it slightly absurd? Of course. A fireable offense? Absolutely. But his reaction? That’s what truly had her in knots.
He’d laughed and said that word again:kalalitani.She would figure out what it meant. She had to. Without a definition, Nes had no idea whether the duke detested or approved of her. Though, she supposed a letter of dismissal would clarify things. The idea that she might have thatclue earlier than expected provided little comfort.
And the worst part of their whole tumultuous encounter? Nothing, absolutely nothing had been resolved.
That infuriating man!
After spiraling into negative thoughts for longer than necessary, Nesrina came to three conclusions: One, she hadn’t lost her position yet. Two, if she was going to be terminated for last night’s outburst, the cogs would already be turning to make it a reality. And three, she couldn’t do anything worse than shouting at the duke—but toeing that line would be a good stress reliever.
