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She picked them up before he could reconsider. “No, I mean here on Tempris. What’s the angle?”

“No angle.”

She snorted. “You joined my uncle’s Watchers.”

“So?”

“So, they’re scientists and engineers. They’re people looking to better their station in life. At worst, they’re a non-profit group that lesser nobles send their wayward children to when they’re misbehaving, thinking that my uncle’s reputation and the monotony of a military-esque lifestyle will scare them straight. You’re not any of those things, yet you joinedwillingly.”

“And your point?”

“The Kato I know usually prefers to pout from the sidelines while bemoaning his lot in life. It’s not like you to actually go places, to do something other than drink or amuse yourself by making someone else miserable.”

She tossed two cards on the table.

He huffed and picked them up. “Is that really any better than you? At least I own my trauma. And I don’t let it push me to reach for things I shouldn’t.”

His eyes slid to Skye, still on the couch, but she refused to be goaded.

“There’s something in it for you.”

Kato shrugged. “Maybe I turned over a new leaf.”

“You didn’t.” She leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “You’re going after Sarah, aren’t you?”

She’d gotten the story out of him in bits and pieces over the years, on the nights when he was really far gone. About the human love of his life that he’d thrown away in the name of familial duty.

“You’re good,” was all he said.

Not quite an admission, but close enough that she pressed him.

“So, she’s still alive then?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“She’s dead?”

“I didn’t say that either.” His face gave away nothing.

Kato was annoyingly hard to read when he was sober. She made a mental note of it.

“Taly’s not at all how you described her.” A neat deflection.

“Oh?” Aimee picked at her cards. With a tap of her finger, a heart became a spade. Then a sword. Then a rose. The glamour was familiar, and she shaped it effortlessly.

“The way you talked about her in Arylaan, you had me expecting a half-wild little troll.”

She hummed noncommittally. “I may have taken some artistic license.”

“I like her. She’sscrappy.”

“You mean she has a nice ass.” And certainly never missed a chance to show it off, always wearing those tight-fitting trousers.

Kato chuckled. “That too.”

Aimee scoffed. “Typical man...”

Kato leaned back, studying her. “Go on, pout. But I don’t think you fared too badly here, despite thedour expression. Your one blood link to the High Lord of Water has, by the miracle of love and my little brother’s stubbornness, been returned to you. I know 100 other courtesans who would kill for that connection. A suitable consolation prize…” His gaze flicked toward Skye. “But that’s just my opinion.”