“Isahn.” Kas dipped his chin.
Nes stood there, looking between the two of them, deciding they definitely knew one another, but unsure if they were friends.
“Are you going to introduce me to your beguiling companion?” Isahn directed the question at Kas, although his eyes were on her as he spoke. He punctuated the question with a wink, and Nes relaxed.
Kas’s fingers slipped between her arm and body as he urged her hand up and into the crook of his elbow. Feeling slightly awkward, she clutched him like a tree branch. He was so bloody tall. Still, the move was... possessive. She didn’t hate it.
“Mybeguilingcompanion is Miss Nesrina Tarisden Kiappa,” he introduced her by her full name, emphasizing every syllable. “Nes, this is my old friend, Lord Isahn Yaranbur, Earl of Midlake.”
Nes fought her eyes from widening. This was Rihan’s cousin. She didn’t want to speak of the horrid guard though, so she said, “My mothergrew up in Midlake,” at the same time Lord Yaranbur said, “Tarisden. Any relation to Hothan?”
Isahn laughed. “It’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Kiappa.” Lifting her fingers to his wide mouth, he pressed a kiss on the back of her hand.
“Yours as well, my lord,” she replied, retracting her hand more quickly than she’d meant to when Kas sort of stumbled back, taking her with him. She shot him a glance, then said, “And to answer your question, Lord Yaranbur, Hothan was my father.”
“News of his passing recently reached me. I know he hadn’t published in several years, but still, he was well loved. Such a tragic loss to our community.” Isahn gestured around them at the milling attendees then looked poignantly at Nes. “I imagine an even greater loss to you and your family.”
She nodded solemnly. “Thank you. I miss him dearly.” Looking down at her feet, she lost herself in memories of her beloved papa. To think, it had been two years since their last symposium. He’d been beloved by so many people, aristocratic and common, so why had he developed such a distaste for Selwas’s upper crust? Nes’s own experience with the elite, what she’d learned over the past few months, was markedly different from what Papa said about them. Perhaps... he’d been wrong?
Lost in reverie, considering when and why her father’s opinions took shape, she watched Kas’s feet shuffle upon the floor. Nesrina considered her youth, how highly Papa used to speak of his time in Kirce, and Kas’s arm tensed beneath her palm.
At some point, Papa’s opinion changed, and he’d taken a firm stance against nobility.But, why?Kas vibrated as if holding back immense frustration.
Perhaps the aristocrats her father knew were nothing like the ones she’d met. Shoving aside her mounting confusion as she considered Papa’s views in contrast to her own, Nes lifted her head in time to catch Isahn wink at Kas, who immediately relaxed.
Restarting the conversation, Nesrina said, “Lord Yaranbur, as his spokesperson, I take it that you know the elusive Talik Thanin?”
Kas dropped her arm and looked around the room, his elbow stillbrushing her shoulder.
Isahn laughed heartily, looking between the two of them. “I do. I consider him a close friend, in fact. What would you like to know?”
“Oh,everything,” she gushed, as excitement flowed in. The author had been one of her favorites for years, and the mystery around him only made him more interesting in her eyes. Perhaps Kas had been onto something when he’d teased her for loving the academic. She couldn’t say she hadn’t daydreamed about who he may be, from time to time.
“Let’s see...” Isahn pursed his lips, his gaze drifting as if he were recalling Thanin in great detail. “He’s a bit of anesheb. Rude.Extremelyparticular.”
The duke cleared his throat.
“Esheb?” Nes asked, her brow pleated. “What does it mean?”
Isahn chortled. “It means”—he lifted a hand to the side of his mouth as he waggled his eyebrows—“arse.”
Nes laughed. “I thought the author was your friend? Yet you call him anesheb?”
The duke coughed again as Isahn continued, “Oh, he is. One of my oldest friends, in fact.”
She nodded, understanding dawning; they were the sort of friends who could bust each other’sven—balls—her father taught her that one. She was no stranger to delightfully fun words from the Old Tongue and always excited to learn more.
“He’s quite ugly,” Isahn continued, “which might be why he prefers to stay out of the limelight.”
Kas made a strangled sound, drawing both Isahn’s and Nes’s attention.
“Sorry, something in my throat,” he rasped, waving at them to continue.
“Oh, my, I heard Thanin might be disfigured.” Nes sighed as her secret daydreams were crushed. “It’s so sad, heartbreaking, that a man with such a brilliant mind would have to live such a tortured existence.”
“Most tortured.” Isahn leaned in conspiratorially. “In fact, he told me once—in great confidence, so please don’t repeat it—that hisdisfigurementmanifested such that...” He paused, searching for the right words. “His brilliant mind will end with him.”
Her eyes widened as Kas scoffed, cutting in, “I can assure you, Nes, my friend here is mistaken. Thanin isquitewhole.”
