A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(50)

The two women took midday meal together in the pretty salon. The servants served them at a small table that was off to one side of the room. It was a simple, light fare, already portioned onto their plates.

Then Fatima sat at her loom and deftly worked the shuttle back and forth as the two women chatted about many different things.

When Sin finally came into the room, it was to announce that supper was ready. Ariana looked up at him, butterflies fluttering about in her belly. He was such a beautiful man, she realized. She had not appreciated it before because she had been so determined to despise him, but there was a dark intense beauty to his features. Oh, he was all male and in no way pretty, but he was richly handsome in a rough sort of way. It was a type of beauty she did not see often in the perfect dandies that were the male Sarens.

Sin came up to her and, with perfect courtly manners, he held out his hand to her. It was such a simple gesture, and yet it was not. For in his eyes was the deeply intense knowledge that he now knew what she looked like without her clothes on…that he had almost become completely intimate with her on that level. If she had been hoping his use of his mother as chaperone would mean that he would forget those facts and pretend they had never happened, she was sorely disillusion in that instant. As he waited for her hand, his eyes raked down over her and she could see his breath come a little quicker.

She flushed hotly all up and down her body, from deep inside places she hadn’t been in touch with in a long time…if ever. But she wasn’t about to let him know that, so she placed her hand in his and lifted her chin in defiance of how she was feeling.

Sin tucked her hand into his elbow, his fingertips lingering to stroke the back of her hand. It felt almost suggestive, that stroke. She squelched a shudder. He held out his opposite elbow to his mother and she took it. Three abreast they walked out of the salon and into the large dining room some distance down the hall.

Where the salon had been sunny and peaceful, the dining hall was darker and noisy. There were children running about, chasing each other up and down the length of the floor around the table. As Sin entered the room the adults took hold of the children and tucked them into their seats. There were five women and one man sitting at the head of the table, and many men and women seated at the foot. One of the women at the head of the table was heavily pregnant. This must be Harea, she thought. The other women must be Sin’s brother’s wives and the man must be his brother.

As Sin seated her and his mother, she took the opportunity to consider his brother. He was about half a foot shorter than Sin, but had the same pitch colored hair. He had brown eyes as well, but his were fair and nothing like the nearly black color shared between Sin and his mother. He was a barrel-chested man and seemed solid enough, but there was a sense of him being less fit than his brother was. Then again, who wasn’t? For a man who spent so much time pouring over books and ledgers, Sin was extraordinarily well developed in musculature. She wondered what he did, outside of riding, to keep himself so fit.

“Ariana, this is my brother, Raj Vich,” Sin introduced her. Vich frowned at the introduction but inclined his head politely. Barely politely. “These are his wives Caran, who is firstwife, and Kindah who is secondwife. They are mothers to his sons Joren, eldest and heir, and Freash, respectively. These are his concubines and daughters. Arud, mother to Darinda and Hela, mother of Dasa. This is soon to be mother Harea.” He indicated each woman and child as they were mentioned. He took his seat at the head of the table. Ariana had been seated at his left. She felt as though she was on display. As if this seat were of some significant importance by the looks she was receiving.

“At the end of the table you will find ambassadors and diplomats from many other lands.”

That surprised her. She had always envisioned the Kiltians as an insular race. But then she recalled that they were heavily dependent on outside resources for everything. Even the food they ate. He began to introduce them and each got up and bowed in their turn. He simply introduced her to them as Ariana. Not Ariana, triumvir of Saren.

She realized then that one of these people might be the best way she had of getting news of her location back to the Sarens. Of course, Sin had to realize this too. It was no doubt why he had kept her locked secretly away. The more people who knew of her the higher the risk that the Sarens would come for her in one way or another. So why had he let her out? Why was he letting her be seen all of a sudden?

“Ariana, it is a pleasure to have you at our table,” Raj Vich said, oozing all charm and grace.

“Thank you. It is a pleasure to join you.”

“Tell us, Triumvir Ariana, how is your country?”

A ripple of tension ratcheted through the man sitting next to her. Sin had purposefully omitted that she was a triumvir. Vich had just, quite purposefully she had no doubt, exposed her for who she truly was.

“It is well, last I heard.”

“But surely you must miss your home country,” Vich said smoothly.

“A great deal. But I hope to see it again very soon,” she said with a small smile.

“Do you indeed?” Vich was all surprise. Or feigned surprise. It was clear by his arch behaviors that he had some kind of personal agenda where she was concerned. She realized then that everything he had just said had undermined his brother in some way. She found she didn’t like the idea of it in the least. Even though making her true self known to others was in her best interest, she didn’t care for the idea that Vich was somehow trying to get a leg-up over his brother.