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"Fifty thousand," he admitted. "He has also put three priestesses on bed rest this month. He's a common patron, tends to ask for exotic specialists, and always wants to hurt them." He glanced over to Saval, then back to me. "Nari, he's close friends with the High Priest."
"Shit," Saval grumbled.
"And Lord Horvat?" I asked, lifting my page.
Talin's head twitched in shock. "The Baron of Inspiration?"
"His younger brother," Migard replied, a proud smile on his lips, and Talin just started laughing.
I looked between the pair of them, clearly having missed the joke. "What?" I asked.
"The same younger brother who owns the bed mine was caught in. Nari, that's Thiemo's boyfriend."
And just like that, I felt like I could finally breathe again. Maybe that was why Zeal hadn't shown up? Because he knew we could handle this on our own.
Chapter 64
Wraythe
After our last class of the week, Anver and Talin headed back to our suite while I turned up the hall to pick up Ela. Yeah, I'd been a little protective of him all week, but with Kinen involved in this upcoming session, he pretended to ignore it. Together, we headed back home, and Ela was walking a little faster than normal.
"What's going on?" I asked him.
"Thiemo is supposed to let me know what colors we're wearing," he explained. "He said he wants to make a scene, and..."
His words trailed off and his steps slowed. Confused, I stopped with him, hoping for some explanation. Ela just stared at the ground, bobbing his head as if deciding something.
"What?" I pressed.
"I can't be excited about this," he finally admitted. "I need to stop."
"No," I countered, "you need to be excited. You need to see the opportunities in this. You, Ela, were just requested by a nobleman, to be hisdatein public. You are about to set trends and become the hottest name in high society."
"And Nari?" he asked. "The whole night is going to be hell for her. Kinen is already trying to make this into an ordeal, and there's no telling what might happen."
"Which is why you're taking a cane, and I'm going to help Talin," I assured him, pressing his back to get him walking again. "Ela, she wants you to be excited. We think you're cute when you're excited, no different from Nari."
He glanced over and his lips curled deviously. "You think I'm cute?"
"Like a puppy," I assured him. "You get all bouncy and drooly, and the next thing I know, you've made a mess on the floor."
Yep, he smacked me across the gut. "I do not!"
"I would like you to know that I stepped on dry cum the other day," I told him. "It was on your side of the bed."
"Must've been Anver."
That was more than I could take, and the laugh burst out. "Uh huh." I chuckled again. "Look, all I'm saying is that if you're not excited, then Nari will end up more worried about this than she already is. She's convinced that Kinen is setting her up, and she mentioned that refusing the session with the virgin - which she is taking complete credit for - is going to cause her problems. Now Talin feels like shit because he's pretty sure he overreacted."
"Fuck that!" Ela snapped. "That man slapped her."
"Yeah, after Talin told him no," I pointed out. "Talin tried to prevent the dad from seeing Nari, and his jealousy, protective instincts, or whatever you want to call this thing we do? Yeah, it was on overdrive. He should've played it off."
"No," Ela said. "The man was pissed because hedidsee Nari, but it's not even that. Wraythe, Talin is trying to figure out how to be her guardian. Not a noble's kid. Not the baron's brother. Not Lord Ranndor or some shit. Talin is doing his best to forget the manners that were literally beaten into him as a kid and just be himself. Well, you know what? The self that he happens to be is a man who loves his desire completely. He loves her enough to die for her, Wraythe, and right now he's trying to find the line between protecting her too much and too little."
I hung my head and watched the tiles pass beneath our feet as I thought about that. I wanted him to love her. I also knew that he felt like he'd failed her. Not just once, either. Talin was sure that Nari's ribs had been broken because he wasn't strong enough to fight off two men that were armed. He assumed Tath had attacked Nari because he'd taken his attention off her for a moment.
I couldn't imagine what that would be like, though. My job was to keep Ela safe. That meant stopping him before he went too far, not holding people off him. Nari was different. She was a woman, and just not as strong as us. She might be powerful, but it was in different ways, and all too often, her sessions made her even more vulnerable.
