Chapter Three
Dinner was a minor ordeal. Aside from his inattentive, absentee parents, Bael had never met any other Nasc before, but he knew his monarch when he saw him. King Talvéan-Dark-rippled with power and authority, and Bael was totally, unexpectedly in awe. Usually authority figures pissed the hell out of him, but he seemed to have some sort of inbuilt subservience switch when it came to his king.
Maybe this was what it was like being a kelf and driven to serve humans. Bael actually wanted the king to approve of him. Wanted to serve him. Weird.
The king’s consort wasn’t Nasc-she was something not entirely human, but he couldn’t tell what. Regal of bearing, warm and unutterably beautiful, she was a perfect foil for the king’s majestic stillness.
And she was Kett’s cousin! His mind reeled. His queen was Kett’s cousin. They were nothing alike. Quite apart from the differences in their coloring, Kett was all wiry strength, flashing fury and surly, dangerous sexuality. She was like thunder and lightning, fascinating but deadly. Chance, on the other hand, was grace personified. She exuded warmth and charm that only seemed to make Kett look more bad-tempered.
He glanced over to where Kett was poking at her noodles, scowling. She had a great line in scowling. Those wonderful silver eyes of hers blazed and sparked at him across the table. She didn’t seem to be talking to him, didn’t seem to be talking to anybody.
Which made conversation all the harder. Several times Chance enquired of him what his animal twin might be, and each time he fudged the answer, changed the subject. If he told them the truth-if they knew-every Nasc would know. News would spread. The Federación would surely find out.
And then he’d be dead.
“I haven’t met very many Nasc,” Chance was saying brightly now. “Might I know your parents?”
“I doubt it.” Bael tore his eyes from Kett to address his queen. “They died when I was young.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Another silence. Bael watched Kett stab at her food, apparently angry with it. She tangled up some noodles and shoved them into her mouth with a total lack of grace he found weirdly charming.
“Dark is touring ’round, introducing me to all the Nasc we can find,” Chance said. “Sometimes I feel like an exhibit at a freak show.”
“You are a freak,” the king muttered.
“Thank you, darling.”
“In the nicest possible way.”
She glanced sideways at him then flicked her gaze quickly away again. But she was smiling.
“It’s not freakish for me to be non-Nasc,” she said.
“Of course it isn’t.”
With that was the unspoken coda it was something else that made her freakish. Chance shifted and the king flinched, and Bael realized she’d kicked him under the table. He held his breath, but the king just grinned at her. And she grinned back.
“Will you still be here tomorrow?” Miho asked. “The Emperor is coming for tea. It would be fitting for him to meet the Nasc king.”
The Emperor. What kind of people did Kett know?
“It’s been awhile since I saw the Emperor,” Chance said. “If we’re still here,” she glanced at Kett, who shrugged sullenly and said nothing, “then it would be lovely.” She beamed at them all. Miho smiled back. Bael tried to remember if he’d ever gotten into trouble in Xinjiang-the sort of trouble the Emperor might care about, anyway.
To redress the balance, he pulled on one of the few pieces of Nasc news he actually had heard. “Your Majesty,” he enquired of his king, “how is her Highness, your sister?” To Kett, he explained, “She was kidnapped and imprisoned, but the king and his mate freed her.”
“The king, his mate and me, actually,” Kett said, and Bael stared at her, dumb with admiration.
Amused, Dark said, “She is well. Thank you for asking.”
“Do you have a mate, Bael?” Chance asked.
“Uh, no,” he said, his eyes sliding back to Kett, who was sucking a noodle between her lips. His mouth went dry. “I don’t-er, I, uh-no, no mate,” he stammered, watching her lips move, pink and soft and supple.
“Oh, of course. You and Kett.”
“There’s no ‘and’,” Kett snapped. “We’ve only just met.”
“Well, yes, but if he had a mate then he couldn’t be, er, you two couldn’t…”
“What makes you think we have?”
There was silence. Bael thought he heard Miho suppressing a giggle, but he couldn’t be sure he’d actually heard anything through the fog of memories of Kett this morning, Kett last night, hot and strong and naked, her mouth and her breasts and her tight, sweet pussy.
He was glad he was sitting down, because to get a hard-on in front of his king would be pretty damn embarrassing.
“Sweetheart,” Chance said, “I know.”
“Oh, piss off,” Kett snarled halfheartedly, stabbing at her plate again, and the table was silent a moment more before Miho cleared her throat and tried to start another conversation.
“How long have you been in the Realm?” she asked Chance and Dark.
“Oh, not very long. A few weeks. We’ll be going back to Peneggan soon, of course, to Elvyrn for Yule. Kett, are you coming?”
Kett shrugged. Her breasts moved interestingly beneath the thin tunic she had on under her open kimono. Chance had spent a futile few minutes trying to get Kett into an obi and then given up and let her wear the kimono open like a long robe. Bael could hardly object. Fastened up, the kimono concealed all those attributes of hers that he so enjoyed looking at.
“Well, it’ll be nice if you do. Bring Bael.”
Kett shot her a venomous look. It made her eyes sparkle and flash.
Chance grinned at her. “It’ll be fun,” she said provocatively. “I don’t think you’ve ever brought a date to the Yule party.”
“So why start now?” Kett muttered.
“Bael.” Chance reached over and placed her hand on his, and he looked away from Kett for a moment. His queen was pretty compelling. “You must come. Tell Kett to bring you.”
He looked back at Kett, who was scowling harder. She licked a drop of sauce from her lips and he tried not to moan. “Sure,” he said. “I’d love to.”
Kett shoved back her seat abruptly, standing up, the kimono swirling around her, the tunic clinging to her body. Bael lost his breath again. “I’m done eating,” she said when they all stared at her. “Good night,” she added as a sort of afterthought.
Then she stomped from the room in a swirl of silk and annoyance. Bael started rising to his feet.
“I’ll go,” Chance said, moving faster than seemed possible. “You stay here. Dark, be nice to Miho.”
“I’m always nice,” he said, and she just laughed as she left. The king fixed Bael with his dark stare. “The women in that family are crazy,” he said. “Have you met her family?”
“I’ve hardly even met her,” Bael said honestly.
“Hah. Well, if you do, take body armor. I’m not kidding.”
“Right,” Bael said, liking Kett more and more.
Chance caught up with Kett as she stomped around trying to find her room again. Not that there was anything personal in it to mark it as hers. She should probably just find a bed somewhere else and sleep in it. Might get Bael off her back.
Bloody Bael! Rationally, she knew it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t know Chance was going to interrupt them, and he couldn’t help his reaction to her. It was almost genetic. She’d known men who fell into swoons after a mere smile from the beauteous Chance.
“Kett, wait.”
“Speak of the devil.” Kett narrowed her eyes and carried on walking. Well, limping. Fucking leg.
“Are you all right?”
“Five by five.”
“No, you’re about two by three. And the three’s for your leg.”