Page 84 of The Sundered Realms

Meeting her. Had he dressed up for her?

She didn’t think the pounding of her heart was the tea’s fault, but she also wasn’t sure it wasn’t panic.

Ultimately, the test she had to pass was whether she could work as his partner. Their emergency mission to Periannolu and then Dianor had been a stunning example of the opposite, but probably things would work better now.

What if they didn’t, though? What if she’d damaged their ability to work as a team irrevocably?

“Now I have tea,” Liris said. “Is that the end of your plan for meeting me, or is there more to it?”

Vhannor casually took a sip of tea. But Liris was a trained professional, and she now had enough experience at least of Vhannor to be certain that he was now feigning unflappability. At least it wasn’t just her worrying about this. Or was that worse?

“I’m here to take you shopping for the ball,” Vhannor said.

Liris blinked.

She had of course realized she would need formalwear for the event in Tellianghu, assuming she was still going, but—“You, personally?”

“Lady Inealuwor is on temporary holiday escorting her wife to an international award ceremony for one of Aprya’s inventions, Princess Nysia is understandably occupied, and it’s not as if I could ask Shry to help.”

“No?”

“Your outfit would be admirably equipped with hidden knife sheaths but too many seasons out of date to make a savvy first impression.”

Almost worth it. “So those are your only close friends, then.” Interesting that she’d already met them all. He was fonder of the princess than she’d realized, if he’d even considered her for this.

Vhannor blinked. “More or less, I suppose, yes.”

“Oh, I almost forgot, there’s also the priest, of course.”

He rolled his eyes, and Liris smirked. “I suppose I could have asked a favor of one of my relatives, but not without a lot of questions.”

Relatives? Void it, she hadn’t considered that during their... interactions. He was the head of Embhullor, but he did have cousins, retired parents—

“But,” Vhannor adjusted his grip on his mug, not looking at her. “I thought you might enjoy shopping more with me. Since we’re... partners.”

Liris was self-aware enough to acknowledge it was not the tea that was making her warm.

“But if I’m wrong,” Vhannor hastened to add, “and if you’d rather go with—a woman, or someone else—an advisor from Special Operations, perhaps—“

“I suppose I can make do with you as long as you introduce me to a food that you like. Not one you think I will.”

And maybe this was just the way to test whether they could function together in public now.

He met her eyes again then, smiling a slow smile that caused heat to pool inside her. “I can do that.”

“The best perk of being an internationally renowned university,” Vhannor said gravely, passing Liris another pastry as they walked, “is that our university town attracts a wide range of food shops.”

In Embhullor they could walk and eat at the same time, so they shared a sack between them of small baked pastries filled with beef and onion, corn and chicken, or pumpkin and cheese. That one used a different squash than its realm of origin, but Vhannor liked the local adaptation better.

The day already felt like a success, but as they hadn’t started on their nominal objective, there was plenty of time left for it all to go wrong.

“So what impression do I need to make at the ball?” Liris asked. “I assume you’ve been formulating a strategy now that we’ve worked together.” Such as they had.

“Your role is to ferret information out of people who don’t know how much you know without raising suspicions,” Vhannor said. “We need you to give an impression of competence without making your appearance so overwhelming they err on the side of caution.”

“An air of mystery, then?” She liked that, but it was a tricky statement to make with an outfit. Their audience was precisely targeted to pick up on clues.

Liris slowed, and Vhannor did too, following what caught her gaze: a gorgeous, shimmering cloak.

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