“I have a question for you,” I said.
“Ask away.”
“I’m not sure I should. I feel like manners dictate that I not.”
“You have never struck me as the type to give much thought to manners.”
“I have been known to pay heed to manners a time or two.”
His eyes warmed as they settled on me. “What is your question?”
I took another drink of what I hoped served as a wee bit of liquid courage. “I’m surprised that you’re here.”
“That doesn’t sound like a question, Sera.”
The way he said my name… Muscles low in my stomach coiled even tighter. “You’re right. It really wasn’t a question. More of a statement. I just didn’t think you’d have dinners with me.”
“I was under the impression that you didn’t believe I would meet any of the demands you made today,” he said.
“Am I that transparent?”
“Usually, you are not. But in this, you are as transparent as a window,” he remarked.
I rolled my eyes.
“Joining you for supper is a small thing,” he added. “And an easy one to accommodate.”
“That has to be the first thing you’ve done with me that you’ve found easy.”
His eyes met mine. “It’s not the first thing.”
Silence stretched between us, and it felt like time slowed to an infinite crawl as I took in the softening of his gaze and the harsh lines of his features. He started to tilt forward and then caught himself. Clearing his throat, he looked away, breaking whatever strange spell seemed to have fallen over us.
In the quiet, I searched for something to say. Luckily, I remembered something Attes had said yesterday. “Were you friends with the Cimmerian? Dorcan?”
His attention shifted back to me. “I told you before. I have no friends.”
He had said that, but I thought of his guards and Nektas, who considered him family. “Did he consider you a friend?”
“I cannot answer that.”
“But you knew him,” I persisted.
Nyktos shifted in his chair, his attention dropping to his glass. “I’ve known him for a while. He wasn’t always a part of Hanan’s Court.”
That was more of an answer than I expected. “You said that he could’ve chosen another’s Court to serve. But he said that wasn’t possible. Why was he serving under Hanan if he was part of Attes’s lineage?”
“Attes is not just the Primal of War. He’s also the Primal of Accord. He prefers agreement over discord, so Vathi is mostly peaceful. At least, his half is,” he explained. “The Cimmerian can get a bit…antsy if there’s no blood to spill, so many leave Vathi to serve in other Courts. Hanan has a lot of them.”
“Because Hanan is a coward and needs others to fight for him?”
Nyktos chuckled roughly. “Hanan loves the hunt if he is not equally matched. So, yes, that was a rather on-point observation.”
I cracked a small grin as I tugged the edge of the napkin to my chin. “It’s strange to me that a Primal can be a coward.”
“Strength and power only go so far, and it rarely changes a person for the better.” Nyktos dropped his hand to his chest as his words caused a shiver to curl down my spine. “Anyway, Dorcan likely pledged a blood oath to Hanan—one that can only be broken by death. That would be the only reason he couldn’t leave Court. Stupid move on his part. I would’ve expected him to be smarter than that.”
“That’s a strange thing to expect from someone you don’t consider a friend,” I murmured.