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“Who?”
“I didn’t ask for a name.”
He put the platter down and kept his gaze on the food.
“You’d think Mak would have volunteered his name during a twenty-minute long conversation.”
“You were spying on me?”
He looked up, shocked. “No. People talk. Stay away from him. He’s not a good guy. He’s probably just using you to piss me off.”
“Why would talking to me piss you off?”
Altair opened his mouth to talk, but a knock on the door interrupted him.
“Don’t talk about any of this in front of Devon,” he warned. For some reason, the fear in his voice as he said those words stopped her from arguing. If Devon had people beaten up regularly, maybe Altair was right to be scared. She left the room to get changed.
“There you are,” Lauren said when Nova returned to the living room. They hadn’t seen each other since the night of “the talk.”
Lauren grabbed her arm and led her to the corner of the room.
“How are you?” she whispered.
“Fine.”
Lauren narrowed her eyes at her as if studying her.
“Baedden is a bit of a hole,” she said. “I see you haven’t made this house your own.”
She looked quizzically at the spot where the couch used to be, but Nova didn’t feel the need to explain herself to her. Nova wondered if Lauren was the one who’d told Altair that women like to decorate.
They walked back to the table where Altair and Devon were already sitting and talking.
“My men managed five mines yesterday and visited three more today. That covers the entire region.”
Altair just nodded, his face unreadable. The anger from earlier was gone, and he seemed to have gone completely emotionless since his uncle arrived.
“They’ll be increasing their production quickly. Your work here is done. You can go home now.”
Altair chewed on a thick piece of meat, taking his time to answer.
“I will stay until I have the data to prove to Kemp that my work is done.”
Devon frowned.
“We leave tomorrow,” he said.
She hadn’t known Altair very long, but although his facial expression didn’t change, his lip twitched in a way that she’d noticed meant he was pleased.
“You should leave with us,” Devon continued. “Show your new wife around the palace.”
“Meghan would feel more comfortable among our people,” Lauren added.
Altair looked at Nova, but she knew better than to take sides. She remained silent.
“We’re perfectly comfortable here,” Altair said, still looking her in the eyes, his stare making her feel uncomfortable. Still, she remained quiet.
“She deserves more than comfort. She should be living in luxury.”
