“How do you know it went well?” I ask.
“Everywhere I flew, the dragons were warning one another about the storm that Zenevieve and Minta scouted. Are you hungry? I want to eat alone.”
By alone, he means just with me in our rooms rather than in the Great Hall. “Starving,” I tell him, and we bid goodbye to our dragons.
A short time later, we’re sitting at the table in our rooms overlooking the dragongrounds, eating cold meats and pickled vegetables. Stesha says very little. Usually our silence is comfortable, but today there’s a pricking in my flesh, and I can’t get my earlier conversation with the other Alphas out of my head. Does Stesha have a lavish? I don’t know where he goes during his ruts, but if it’s to the ruthouses, maybe there’s someone discreet whom he pays, and I have no idea about it because he keeps it strictly private. Maybe he goes to the same Beta every rut. Maybe he’ll take her as his mate someday. Mournfully, I picture him so consumed by desire for this unknown woman that he drops his severe, cold manner, pulls her into his arms, and kisses her with as much passion as Dandro kisses Cariss. Jealousy erupts in my heart.
“Stesha, do you have a lavish?” The words burst from my lips before I can stop myself. My cheeks burn, but then I feel a defiant swoop in my chest. Well, why shouldn’t I ask? In all the years I’ve lived with Stesha, he hasn’t wanted to speak about his ruts, but I’m eighteen now. I’m a dragonrider in the king’s army. I’m not a child anymore.
Of course, that doesn’t make Stesha’s ruts any of my business, but it’s too late now. I’ve asked.
Stesha is picking up the dish of sliced meat when he freezes. He drops the dish back onto the table and his eyes narrow inanger. “Which Alpha has been pestering you? Who wants you to be his lavish? What’s his name?”
I frown in confusion. “Me? No one has been pestering me.”
“Because if an Alpha is—”
I laugh and shake my head. “Stesha, I’m asking about you, not me. I saw Dandro and Cariss together this afternoon, and I’m curious.”
Stesha glares at me for a long time, and then he reaches for the meat once more. “A strange thing to be curious about.”
“Why strange? I’m interested in the lives my fellow dragonriders lead,” I say, pretending my interest is casual when really I’m burning to know everything about him. “Do you have a lavish?”
Stesha looks at me through his pale lashes and says nothing. He glances at the dish of cold meat. “Does this ham taste too salty to you?”
I sigh and sit back in my seat. I’ve long been aware that the man I most care about in the world is as stubborn as a mule.
He eats in silence for a long time, watching me. Finally he says, “Some Alphas make use of lavishes. I don’t.”
“Why not?”
His eyes narrow. “What were you told about lavishes?”
I shrug. “Just that lavishes are Betas who join Alphas for their ruts, either for fun or money. I suppose Cariss joins Dandro for fun.”
“Cariss and Dandro?” Stesha says scornfully. “Who has been speaking with you? What is the name of this idiot who doesn’t know what they’re talking about?”
“I was speaking with Zabriel and Onderz,” I admit, hoping I’m not about to get them into trouble. They’re too old these days for Stesha to yank from their beds and lecture for an hour, but he could insist they all spar and give them a beating.
Stesha’s expression flattens into anger. “I might have known. Don’t listen to anything those young fools have to say.”
“But why are they foolish? Are they wrong? Dandro and Cariss looked sweet together.” There’s a wistful note in my voice as I remember how hungrily Dandro kissed his Beta and how happy she looked in his arms. They’re probably naked together right now. Gods, to be with the only man I want while growing drunk on the scent of his rut.
Stesha seems reluctant to go on, but with a sour expression on his face, he says, “There’s nothing sweet about them. Dandro will keep Cariss around for a few more rut cycles and then he’ll grow bored with her and move on. I have seen him do it before, and he will do it again. If he comes anywhere near you, I will drown him in the lake. He’s a monstrous bastard.”
My eyes widen in surprise at the heat in Stesha’s voice and the anger flashing in his icy blue eyes. I don’t understand why he should disapprove so strongly of an Alpha sleeping with a Beta, which is something I thought happened all the time. “But, Stesha…”
He pushes his plate away, gets up, and heads for the door. He stops in the doorway with his back to me, fists clenched. Finally, he turns around. “There are lavishes who work in the ruthouses down in the city. Those men and women see different Alphas all the time and because they never form an emotional attachment, they are safe and healthy. Many Alphas are grateful for their company and will pay them well, if that’s what the Beta wants. That is not what is going on between Dandro and Cariss. She’s lost her heart to him over the course of several of his ruts, and he has let it happen. What is going to happen to her is painful, despicable, and cruel.”
I feel a trickle of apprehension, and I ask in a small voice, “What’s going to happen to Cariss?”
“When Dandro rejects her, the shock of it will mean that she’ll stop eating and she will sicken. Her insides will wither along with her heart, and she’ll cough up blood and grow so weak that she’ll be unable to ride her wyvern for weeks, or even months. She may die. This is not her feelings getting hurt. Do you understand? Lavish sickness is brutal.”
“That’s terrible,” I cry. “But how do you know he’ll move on? Maybe he truly does wish to mate her.”
“He doesnot. I’ve seen him do this twice before. Cariss was warned about him by the Temple Mothers, and so was his last lavish, but they wouldn’t listen. The sick Betas go to the Flame Temple to be cared for, and Dandro pretends they never existed.”
“Oh,” I say in a small voice, upset that the sweet kisses I witnessed earlier are actually something sinister.
