“Finn will meet us here,” he replied, footsteps echoing outside.
Glass clicked as I fastened a hairpin into a gap in my skirt, careful not to rub it with my bare fingers. When I stepped into the soft cream antechamber, Reagan was by a tray of decanters.
“Most drinks here might have velmoria in them,” he warned, with his back to me.
Elven dust in the drinks. I wondered if the velmoria flowers were the same as the milk-glass blooms outside.
Reagan spun, lifting a crystal glass to his lips and tipping the contents.
My mouth went dry. His shirt was unbuttoned. The sight of his honed chest and stomach sent a flush of heat through me. His trousers ended above the knee, leaving a startling expanse of golden skin exposed. Not that he seemed to mind.
At the moment, he didn’t seem to mind anything, least of all me. And the deliberate way he kept his eyes away made my chest tighten. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Why did they give us these clothes?” I asked, treading my fingers though my hair. “So we don’t stand out?”
Reagan’s eyes flicked downward as he poured another glass. “Our clothes have too many layers. Too many runes.”
I looked at myself, the smooth, shimmering fabric stretched over my chest, and hummed.
“They like their games,” he said, eyes flicking around the room. “We go along if we want what we came for.”
“Is that why they kissed you?” I asked, sinking onto a sofa as my ankles protested the heels. “To play a game?”
His gaze flickered to the slit of my dress, exposing my leg after I sat, then he seemed to catch himself. “It’s their home.”
He leaned against the wall and sighed heavily. I wanted to ask if he had minded being kissed or if he had even enjoyed it, but for some reason, I got the impression that he didn’t care about that either.
“Aren’t you going to close your shirt?” I asked to fill the silence.
Reagan glanced down at himself, then toward the door. “It doesn’t have buttons.”
My brows lifted just as another knock echoed through the chamber. Finn stepped inside, scowling, and shut the door behind him.
“We look like offerings to be sacrificed,” he muttered.
A subtle smirk crept over my lips. He wore the same style of clothes as Reagan, a green open shirt revealing his toned chest while Reagan’s was white, paired with short trousers cut from thin fabric that looked suspiciously like swimwear.
Swimwear.
My pulse leapt, and I sprang upright. “Are we going to swim?” I asked, horrified.
Finn, bless him, kept his eyes on my face, rubbing his palms together as if he were cold. “Apparently yes.”
My chest tightened. I looked at Reagan, who for the first time seemed genuinely concerned.
Instinctively, I reached for the cord at my neck, seeking the small pendant that marked my location. I hadn’t brought many relics on this trip, hadn’t known what to expect.
Reagan shuffled towards me. “It’s only a dinner,” he murmured.
Only a dinner.If it involved nothing more than a pool, I could manage.
“You know it’s never only a dinner,” Finn muttered as he poured himself a drink. Again, he seemed rattled, as if this family got under his skin in ways no one else did.
Rough fingers pried the round reflective pendant from my hand. The surface shimmered beneath his touch. It was the location relic he’d enchanted for me.
“I expected challenges,” I murmured, “but more like negotiation or finding what we could offer them. Not this.”
“You know how to swim,” Reagan said, meeting my gaze this time. He waited until I nodded before turning to Finn. “We handle them the way we always do.”
