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Lily’s belly warmed thinking about how sweet “Lilith” sounded coming off his tongue.

And a damn good one too…

Her first thought was to take the drink he paid for and run back to the inn with it. A harmless little game that was sure to annoy him since it seemed those were back on the table.

On the other hand—her fingers drummed along the bartop—it didn’t hurt to see where this conversation went. She was curious, even if prideful, and that didn’t mean she couldn’t also play him using a little kindness. After all, he expected her to be a scowling pain in his ass. Why not give him the complete opposite?

Lily flagged down the tender and paid for two carefully selected bottles before merging into the crowd, eventually finding him tucked in what must have been the emptiest part of the building. Hunched over the table, he stilled his shifting gaze when he found her between the stray strands of hair falling over his forehead. Lily’s pulse did everything but slow with his eyes darting down and back up the length of her.

Calm down, Lils. Don’t let him get to you.

“You look surprised,” she said, placing his drinks on the table. “Worried I had somewhere else to be?”

“Very.” He pointed between the bottles. “Why did you get so much?”

“I didn’t know what you liked.”

“I told you to get what you wanted.”

“I’ll drink anything so long as someone else is buying,” she said. “I know traditional Reatian wine was made with a lotus plant, and Failen used an ember barley for whiskey. The bartender said these are the closest she had.”

“I didn’t know you were so well-versed in alcohol.”

“I don’t know much other than tidbits I picked up in Reave.”

Draven’s brows furrowed as he examined her choices. “I prefer Failish alcohol. Reatia made their wine too sweet.” He popped open the wine bottle and sniffed it. His face soured. “And apparently still do.”

He capped it, grabbed a glass from the empty table next to them, then filled it to the brim with whiskey. His throat bobbed with a swallow. “Would you like one?”

Lily sat silently across from him. “You’re asking me to have a drink with you?”

“Unthinkable, isn’t it?” He snagged another glass, thankfully filling it only halfway, and pushed it toward her. “If Valen weren’t already comatose, the prospect would’ve dropped him where he stood.”

Lily’s pulse ran away from her again, taking her intoxication with it. She quickly took a sip of the burning, amber colored liquid. Draven followed suit much slower, then leaned back against the booth. How he was acting made her more and more desperate to hear him talk about what happened with Keara. She was silently pleading he’d start the topic while her mind ran through all the ways she could gently push, to straight up shoving him into it.

“I owe you an apology.”

She blinked. “For what?”

Draven looked at her as if she sprouted wings. “For what I did to your family.”

“You mean what you did to Keara?” Lily took a breath. “I don’t want an apology for that.”

He didn’t respond, inspecting the area next to her where she imagined her emotional aura lingered. “You’re not humoring me.”

“I’m not.” Lily quieted her bouncing foot and made a conscious decision to take off her glasses. She’d start kind, but firm. “What I feel I’m owed is an explanation.”

Draven lowered his gaze. “I let the Wraith go.”

Obviously, but… “Why?”

“It was the right thing to do.”

“That’s it?” Lily attempted to cool her rising temper. “Decided that a little late.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I can’t try if you don’t tell me what happened.”