Page 31 of The First Spark (Dynasty of Fire #1)

She hadn’t wanted Mother and Selene to stay, but with the exception of Uncle Jerran, she wouldn’t have any family attending her coronation next week.

Father wouldn’t care enough to come. Theron would tow the family line.

Danae was too timid to ask Father for permission, and since Rian had been raised on Renan, he was as estranged from the family as her.

Without all the ones she’d lost, without Ariah … gods, she’d never been so alone.

She didn’t let herself cry, but fighting the swollen lump in her throat, the moisture stinging her eyes, and the tremors wobbling her lip and chin was exhausting. The battle felt like it lasted hours, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before the door creaked open.

Raising her head, Kalie wiped her face.

Mylis stood in the doorway, with his eyes averted from the sad spectacle she presented.

She sniffed. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“No. Um…” He scuffed his boot on the thick silk rug. “I just wanted to say I get it. I have a lot of experience with screwed-up family stuff, you know.”

“I suppose you do.” Kalie pressed a hand to her runny nose, and a tissue appeared in front of her.

Mylis stood there, frowning. “You okay?”

“Fine,” she mumbled, seizing the tissue.

“That didn’t sound convincing. Do you have hot chocolate?”

Kalie’s brow furrowed as he crossed the solar to the sparkling marble kitchenette. “No. Not here. Why?”

“Tea?”

Her eyes stung. “In the left cupboard. It was Aunt Calida’s.”

It was earthy and cloying, but Aunt Calida had loved it, and she hadn’t had the heart to toss it yet.

Mylis took the box down and swiped his hand below the faucet, sending water splashing into a porcelain mug.

The thermo whirred, and before she knew it, a steaming hot cup of tea hovered under her nose.

As she stared into the opaque brown depths, she could almost imagine the night Aunt Calida had poured a glass of wine, grieving after Grandmother Madeleine’s suicide had ended the civil war. One sip had sent her sprawling onto the floor, convulsing and foaming at the mouth.

Landon Grant had been arrested for treason a few weeks later.

Kalie took the tea and forced a smile. “Thanks. That’s very thoughtful of you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Warmth seeped into Kalie’s bones as she cradled the mug. She’d never liked the tea, but the gesture was sweet, and she was tempted to take a sip. Then came images of her foaming at the mouth, and a hollow spread through her chest.

“Your Majesty?”

Heat crept to Kalie’s cheeks. She stared at one of her paintings.

“Oh.” Mylis looked down at his polished shoes. “ Oh . I didn’t think about that.”

She lowered her gaze to the floor. The rug stained by Aunt Calida’s blood was long gone, but she’d been sitting where Mylis now sat the night she drank Landon Grant’s poisoned wine.

“You aren’t your father,” Kalie said. She wasn’t sure if it was for herself or for him, but she pushed the images away and took a drink of the earthy tea.

When she lowered it, Mylis was watching her.

“I’m not. And you aren’t your parents, either.”

Kalie winced. “No. I’m not.”

He had as much reason to despise her father as she had to despise his.

Before her parents switched sides in the civil war to ally with Aunt Calida, Father’s drone strikes had wiped out Mylis’s entire extended family.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. All gone.

When Mylis’s mother died and his father was arrested, he hadn’t had anyone left.

She took another sip of tea. “Thank you. This was kind.”

“Any time.”

Draperies fluttered as wind gusted into the empty room, singing a low whistle. Lamps and chandeliers shone on the gold-trimmed furniture. All this space, with more opulent rooms stretching in either direction, and no family to share it with.

“It gets lonely, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” Mylis admitted. “It does. ”

She hunched forward, resting her elbows on her knees. It would get lonelier the further she got into her reign. In the end, Aunt Calida’s only friend was Marcus, and theirs had been a friendship born of shared political ambitions.

Never again would she gossip with someone like Ariah.

Kalie swallowed thickly. “How do you cope with it?”

“I fly. It’s an escape.”

“You crave adventure too?”

“Not really. I’ve had enough adventure for a lifetime.” A wistful look clouded Mylis’s eyes, and his lips curved up. “No, it’s something about being alone in the air. It’s humbling to see the world from the clouds. Everything’s different. Calming. Nothing can get to me up there.”

“Asteroids, other ships, comets…”

Mylis snorted. “Sometimes, I’d rather face an asteroid than everything going on down here.”

“I know the feeling.” Kalie sipped at her tea.

“I don’t know much about piloting, just the basics, but being in a ship is an escape for me too.

When I’m flying away from Dali, I’m on an adventure.

It’s never anything exciting, politics mostly, but Ariah and I used to pretend…

” She drew in a shaky breath. “I think calm is what I need now, though. A new perspective.”

“You’ll get that up in the air.”

Blood was rushing in her ears, creeping to her neck and cheeks. “Maybe someday you’ll have to take me flying. If you can stand the intrusion.”

“You, my lady, could never be an intrusion.” Mylis gave her a crooked smile as his cheeks turned pink.

Kalie’s face heated, and she quickly looked away.

Clearing his throat, Mylis motioned to the mortelle board abandoned on an end table. “You play?”

“Oh, no. Uncle Jerran’s tried teaching me for cycles, but strategy isn’t my forte.”

“Set it up. I’ll teach you.” Mylis winked. “I guarantee I can do it without any of Roth’s complicated metaphors.”

Kalie chuckled. “He taught you too? ”

“Yeah, but I’m nowhere near as good as him.”

She glanced at the stack of papers and holopads scattered across Aunt Calida’s magnificent oak desk. They could wait. She grabbed the mortelle board, tipped a few of the crystal pieces over, and set it up between her and Mylis.

For what felt like hours, they talked and played and talked some more.

He told her about his adventures in the Skyforce.

She complained about the never-ending headache that came with her new position.

They delighted in poking fun at some of the more stuck-up nobles; Mylis did an imitation of Count Leighton that had her wheezing, and after that, she couldn’t stop laughing.

Neither could he. When the chrono struck noon and his shift ended, she found herself wishing he would stay.

“Mylis…”

He turned back at the door, tilting his head.

Kalie bit her lip. “Would you be willing to join me for tea again tomorrow?”

“I’d love to, Your Majesty.”

“Call me Kalie.”

Mylis smiled at her. It was a beautiful smile, one that shone in his eyes and stretched across his face. Somehow, she knew that smile was a thing of rare beauty, brighter than the glowing diamonds in the chandelier above her. A hidden treasure.

She beamed back at him.