Page 75 of The Gathering

Dorian’s wandering gaze lingered on the blonde servant bringing around the tray of fruits to place on the buffet. A younger servant, she’d started working there only a few months before and he’d had his eye on her ever since. He watched her as she circled back with a small tray of grapes, and Dorian gave her a quick wink when he caught her eye.

Perhaps he’d let her join him and Corbin that night…

If Corbin wanted him again.

“—We have to play the politics,” Draven was finishing.

Aydra sighed heavily, head hanging for a brief second, and she muttered, “Fine,” under her breath.

The servant was walking by. Dorian grabbed the tray from her hands, gave her a leering smile, and popped a grape back in his mouth.

“So what food have you two ordered for this meeting?” Dorian asked, assuming their argument was over. “Anything good?”

Aydra seemed to relax at his words, and Draven slipped his hands around her waist. The smile he stared at her with was small but it reached his eyes and seemed to dwindle some of the darkness that usually rested in his features… as though for the first time in his life, the sun acknowledged his existence.

Aydra picked up a grape from the tray and threw it at Dorian’s face. “You’re the worst,” she teased.

The servants’ door creaked then, and Dorian turned just in time to see a petite hooded figure emerge from the shadows. Dorian recognized his sister immediately, and he almost grinned.

Who had she come to the kitchens to retrieve food for? he wondered.

But Dorian almost laughed at himself.

He knew exactly who Nyssa had spent the night with.

And it hadn’t been the Blackhand.

“Nyssa?” Aydra called out.

Dorian wished he’d been the kind of brother that would have distracted Aydra enough to allow Nyssa to get food peacefully without being caught.

But this was entirely too entertaining.

Nyssa jumped, and scarlet hair fell from beneath the hood. She grabbed onto her chest and turned to face them, obvious she had just been startled. “Drae,” she managed, widened eyes looking around them. “I didn’t expect—” She paused and looked around them then, just noticing the grand table being set up. “What’s going on here?”

“No, no,” Aydra argued as she slowly stepped towards her. “Why are you sneaking around through the servants’ tunnels with your hood up?”

Nyssa’s mouth opened and closed, weight shifting under Aydra’s gaze. “I—I was just going to the kitchens for food,” she stammered, fumbling with her fingers. “Bit famished and light-headed after the banquet last night. I can still feel the wine going through me—”

Draven squeezed Dorian’s shoulder so tight that he nearly doubled over, and Dorian realized the Venari had noticed what truly happened the night before.

“Here we go,” Draven muttered as he started making his way towards them.

Aydra was in front of Nyssa then, and when she called Nyssa a terrible liar, Dorian couldn’t stop his snort. Nyssa glared from beneath her hood, but Aydra caught the fabric and pushed it back too.

There was a pause where Dorian saw Nyssa’s face heat, and even Dorian could see the hickey marks all over his sister’s throat.

“Shut up, Dorian!” Nyssa shouted.

It was within the moment that it took Dorian to collect himself, that suddenly, Aydra realized who Nyssa had spent the night with.

“No!—what—Nyssa!”

“And we’re leaving,” Draven’s hands grasped Aydra’s shoulders, and he tried to pull her away.

Aydra yanked her arms out of his. “The one person—”

“Drae—”