Page 23

The Emrys brothers had one thing in common—their hatred for the court season. And while Skylen bided his time attending parties and hopping from bed to bed, Kato liked to drink himself into oblivion and wander the gambling halls.

That’s where Aimee first met him. She’d been playing the tables since she was 16—when she’d discovered how easy it was to relieve men of their fortunes with a few coy smiles and a little sleight of hand.

Her stepfather wouldn’t approve, of course, but it was the one bit of rebellion she’d ever allowed for herself.

An endeavor lucrative enough to warrant the risk.

The only value to be found in Picolo was the blood, sweat, and tears her father had put into it, and Arys had pissed that away in the first few years.

She had big dreams—dreams that went beyond being some demi-Fey nobody always forced to do what others said.

And if she was going to rub elbows with the rich and famous, she needed funding.

Kato dropped the coin purse onto the table with a decisive thunk. “Deal me in.”

Aimee’s smile was nothing short of feline as she swept a hand over the table, destroying the game to start anew. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She shuffled quickly, deftly, throwing in a few swivel cuts and waterfalls for flair.

“That’s a nice ring, by the way,” Kato said, watching the outrageously large ruby on her right hand catch the light. “I take it I paid for that?”

“Among other things.” She tilted her head just so, letting the matching earrings sparkle.

Kato leaned in, resting his forearms on the table. “I was glad to see your name on the list of survivors.”

Aimee dealt the cards. “I never took you for being sentimental.”

He shrugged. “I’m not.”

She gathered her hand, eyes skimming the spread. “I suppose I’m glad you’re not dead either.”

“How’s Arys? Still terrible?”

Aimee trilled pleasantly, “I think about murdering him every day.”

Kato matched her bet and raised. “So this must be like a vacation for you. No evil stepfather looming over your shoulder.”

“Oh, yes, the constant threat of death hanging over my head is, indeed, very freeing in comparison.”

He chuckled. “You’re good.”

“Excuse me? I don’t follow.”

“You know that thing where you smile when you actually want to scream? You’re really good at it.”

Kato was considerably more perceptive when he was sober. She didn’t like it.

With a graceful sweep of her hand, Aimee fanned her cards across the table. “Curse.”

Kato glanced at his cards, then hers. “That was fast…”

“Even for you.”

She dealt the next hand. Curse was played in three rounds. They both made their bets going into the second, and she took the opportunity to turn the conversation.

“What are you doing here?”

Kato’s eyes bobbed from his cards to her and back. “I’m getting my ass handed to me, I think…” He put down two cards.

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 joined willingly . ”

“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’s scrappy .”

“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 the dour 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.”

Aimee’s interest in his brother was no secret. Truly, she and Kato had so little in common that Skylen was often the only thing to talk about while she systematically emptied his pockets.

Kato complained mostly. And Aimee listened.

He didn’t know much about his brother—most of what he said was pure invention—but there were still sometimes a few nuggets of information to glean.

Like Skylen’s love of art, specifically the metal clockwork sculptures from Pyralia Starforge.

Or his favorite dessert, which was winterspice pudding.

These facts might seem inconsequential to most, but they were things a wife would need to know.

It was hard giving up all that work, all that careful maneuvering, all the effort she’d poured into making herself his inevitable choice. Even if she had been duly compensated, as Kato pointed out.

Aimee forced a smile. “I am thrilled beyond words that my dearest cousin has finally come home.”

“ Are you? ” Kato pressed. There was another question beneath it, but she couldn’t quite suss it out.

He dropped his cards on the table.

“Flame.”

“Curse beats Flame.” One by one, she flipped her cards over. “And that, of course, gives me a double Curse, which is triple points.”

Kato groaned and dropped his head back against his chair. “Unbelievable.”

Aimee snickered, gathering the cards with an elegant sweep. “Are you trying to make this easy?”

Kato glowered at her and shoved the rest of his coin into the center of the table. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Oh, with pleasure,” Aimee drawled, deftly shuffling the deck. The next hand landed in front of him, one card at a time.

Kato didn’t immediately look at them. Instead, he stretched, rolling out his shoulders as if this entire conversation had been nothing but a warm-up.

“Where did you find her, by the way? Talya. What happened to warrant this level of”—she gestured vaguely—“concern?”

Kato glanced at Taly’s door, still closed. “Oh, this? To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. Skye and I were sort of… preoccupied with the whole spider situation.”

“Spiders?”

“Yeah. Big ones. We got sucked into this portal and fell right into their nest.”

Aimee stared at him. Kato was a terrible storyteller. All he did was create more questions. “So, that’s where she’s been then?” she pressed. “Captured by… portal spiders?”

Suddenly, the idea of Talya missing fingers didn’t seem so far-fetched.

“No, by the Time Queen.”

Aimee blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, I know, right? Mind-blowing. I didn’t get to meet her. Skye left me lying in a pile of horse shit while he was off discovering the secrets of the universe.”

Skye gave a heavy sigh, head still in his hands.

“Also, Vaughn—traitor.”

“ No .”

“ Yes . He turned on me. I fought valiantly—obviously—but, outnumbered, got apprehended and left to die. I spent the next three days—”

“Three hours ,” Skye corrected.

“—fighting for my life, my sanity, coming face-to-face with the demons and ghosts of my past.”

“Poor baby,” Aimee cooed. “You’re so brave.”

“ Right . But that’s not even the good part.

Because apparently, Azura Raine, ultimate big bad and number one terrorist on the Dawn’s Court shitlist, after shutting down the Gates, killing millions, and stranding a thousand times more in foreign worlds, escaped to her own little extradimensional paradise where she’s waited on hand and foot by the ghosts of all the missing time mages. ”

Aimee laughed, eyes darting around the room. Obviously, he was more inebriated than she’d originally clocked. She waited, but no one corrected him.

He went on, “That’s where Taly’s been. The Queen was holding her prisoner. Made her rip a man’s heart out to earn her freedom.”

It was a lot to take in. Naturally. Because even the trouble she stirred up had to be extraordinary.

Aimee flicked a card down with more force than necessary. “That’s… horrible.”

Kato motioned for her to come closer, leaning across the table to whisper, “Between you and me, I think there’s some trauma there. She doesn’t sleep anymore. Just obsessively cleans in between dry humping my brother.”

Skye’s head snapped toward him, eyes narrowed.

“He’s looking, isn’t he? It feels like love, right here,” Kato said, gesturing with a hand at the back of his head where Skye was, indeed, staring daggers.