She was back to smiling.
“Maybe Yana is afraid that this fiancé will ‘get lost’ in the caverns like the last two,” Arkady said. “She seems to have a thing for men with a bad sense of direction.”
“And what will we tell them when they find their way home?” Donna asked archly. “Constancy in this family will die with me. Until they find your father’s body, Arkady, I will consider myself married to him… and a subject of the Prodigium.”
One of the discreet servers approached the table with a fresh bottle for the table and a message she whispered into Donna’s ear. Whatever she had to say made Donna’s smile tighten, but not slip. She sighed, drained her wine, and rested both hands on the table.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said. “I have to go and deal with a… guest complaint. Please, finish the wine and order dessert if you want it. My larder is open to you. If I’m not back before you’re finished, we can speak tomorrow. I’m so glad you could make it, Casper. It isn’t truly a family event without all the family there to bear witness if it goes to tribunal.”
She slid out of the booth and swept away through the tables, her skirts caught up in one hand. The server left the bottle on the table, bowed, and discreetly made an exit.
Cash unbuttoned the high collar of his jacket and reached for his wine. “Are you sure she isn’t the leak?”
“The Prodigium would not consider that a joke,” Arkady said. He moved the glass out of Cash’s reach and stole a roll of untouched fish from his plate. It disappeared into his mouth, and he eyed the last piece until Cash pushed it toward him. That had always been the trade-off, Arkady didn’t order food to consume like a hungry lion in front of Cash, and he got the pick of leftovers. It was a human qualm maybe, but it was hard to enjoy someone’s mouth on your cock when you’d seen them crack a femur open with their eye teeth. “And that performance wasn’t for you. My mother just wants to make a point.”
“What?”
Arkady fastidiously wiped his hands on a napkin. “That Yana’s new beau is a fresh pinnacle of disappointment for her, even when compared to you. No offense.”
“None taken,” Cash said absently. “Donna and I have always known where we stood with each other.”
Beneath her and as far away as possible, respectively.
“How does Yana feel about him? Does he make her happy?” Cash asked.
“Does that matter?” Arkady asked.
Cash hesitated. There was more than one way to take that question, and all of them had barbs.
“Not when it comes to the leak, I guess,” Cash said. He paused as a bleak thought occurred to him. “I mean, there’s no way thatYana—?”
Arkady looked grim as he interrupted Cash. “It’s in all our best interests to find another culprit, don’t you think?”
The Prodigium only had a few laws—it was the best approach to ruling monsters—but they were enforced with the sort of egalitarianism human society could only aspire to. If Yana had done this, she’d pay the price no matter whose daughter she was.
“You wanted a liar for a reason,” Cash said grimly.
He had morals. It would have been easier if he didn’t, but his mother had thought she was doing the right thing when she taught him right from wrong. He couldn’t hold that against her. But if he had to send someone to the salting racks for a crime they didn’t commit, he’d do it rather than let Ellie see her mother strung up for jerky.
“I did, didn’t I,” Arkady said, a faint edge to his voice.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Your mother bought me to be your friend.”
“True. Thanks for the reminder.” Arkady picked up his glass and took a drink.
“I seduced you because I was a chaotic little asshole, and you were… beautiful,” Cash said. “Nothing has changed. I wanted to kiss you, so I did. Nothing to do with me being a liar, or you pressuring me into coming back here.”
Arkady looked annoyed. The flash of pinched temper highlighted the lines of his face that he’d inherited from Donna. It faded quickly into a dry amusement.
“You seduced me?” he said thoughtfully. “Huh. Is that how you remember it?”
“I kissed you first.”
Arkady leaned back in the booth and smiled faintly, a sly tuck of humor at the corner of his mouth. “I knew you were going to, though.”
