Page 78 of The Blood Traitor

Tor’s lips twitched. “Yeah, Mouse. You know, that thing where your mouth moves and words come out?”

Kiva pulled a face, causing him to chuckle.

“Seriously,” he said. “It’s been, what? Twelve days since you were reunited —”

“Thirteen,” Kiva mumbled.

“— and you still haven’t tried to explain everything that happened? EvenI’vespoken with him, sharing my side of things.”

Kiva’s eyes widened. “You have?”

“I doubt we’ll ever be best friends,” Tor said wryly, “but I’m not worried about him stabbing me in my sleep anymore. We’ve even been training together — haven’t you noticed?” He didn’t wait for her answer before he added, “Don’t get me wrong, it was one of the most uncomfortable conversations of my life. Owning up to your mistakes is never easy. It’s notmeantto be easy. But it’s always worth it. I understand why you’re hesitant, but, well...” He frowned. “Actually, no, I don’t. Whyhaven’tyou talked with him yet?”

Kiva rolled the tension from her neck, shocked that she’d been oblivious to Tor working on his relationship with Jaren. But even so, their situations were different. Tor wasn’t in love with Jaren — and he hadn’t betrayed him.

“It’s complicated,” Kiva finally said.

Torell snorted. “That’s an understatement. But it’s never going to becomeuncomplicated if you keep being afraid of confronting him.”

“I’m not afraid.”

The lie was so obvious that Torell burst out laughing.

“No, you’re terrified,” he said around his mirth. He nudged her shoulder, before gently asking, “What’s the worst that could happen? He’ll hate you even more?”

Kiva bit her lip and glanced toward where Jaren had disappeared earlier, striding through the fading twilight down to the watering hole. For one mad second, she considered going after him, but then her courage fled and she swiftly turned the interrogation around on her brother. “Forget about Jaren. What’s going on with you and Ashlyn?”

Torell started. “What do you mean?”

This time it was Kiva who snorted. “Don’t play dumb. Even Caldon has noticed.” As an aside, she added, “He’s quite put out, you know.”

Tor’s forehead bunched. “I didn’t realize he was so protective of her.”

Kiva rolled her eyes. “I think he’s more upset that she’s managed to steal your attention, rather than him.”

“Rather than...” Torell blinked. “Oh.” He scratched his jaw, embarrassed. “I always wondered why I kept turning around to find him staring longingly at me. I was beginning to think I was imagining it.”

Kiva choked. “You — You didn’t know?” She chortled. “But he’s soobvious.”

Torell fed more sticks into the fire, his cheeks flushing. “I thought he and Cresta —”

“He wishes,” Cresta said, appearing out of nowhere and making Kiva jump. She sat opposite them and unsheathed her sword — gifted by Eidran — along with a whetstone, and began sharpening the blade.

Despite the glimmer of humor in Cresta’s features, Kiva also noticed the anticipation there. She shook her head, failing to understand the cat-and-mouse game her two friends were playing.

She still hadn’t figured out who was the cat and who was the mouse.

Turning back to her brother, Kiva said, “If you’d realized about Caldon sooner, would you have... returned his affections?” She stumbled over the words, feeling strange having this conversation after so many years apart. “And what about Rhessinda? I assumed you two were... you know...” She trailed off, uncomfortable now.

An amused sound left Torell. “Rhess and me? No.Definitelyno. She’s like a sister.” He shuddered comically. “I mean, I love her, and I’d do anything for her, and I know that’s reciprocated. But there’s nothing romantic there. And besides,” he added, “she doesn’t feel that way about men. Or women. She loves fiercely, and the people she cares about meaneverything to her, but she’s the first to say she’d rather have chocabuns warm her bed than another person.” He smiled in memory. “That’s a direct quote, straight from her lips.”

Kiva was amazed by how wrong she’d been about the two of them.

... Though she couldn’t fault Rhess for her taste in pastries.

“And Caldon?” Kiva pressed.

This time, Torell took longer to respond, peering thoughtfully into the fire before he said, “I’ll admit, I’m flattered. Cal is — well, he’s obviously nice to look at, and once you get past the arrogance, I can see why you care so much about him. But there’s no spark there, at least not for me. Attraction has to be more than skin-deep.”

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