Page 122 of A Suitable Stray

“Is feeling it not the same thing?” Tiiran frowned. “It doesn’t matter if I’m loved if I do notfeelloved. That’s nothing. That’s empty air. What good are feelings if you’re notfeelingthem?” He glanced toward the bard, then back to Orin and Nikoly’s stunned faces. “That’s just words. I told you before, it didn’t matter to me if Pash lied or told the truth. You both make me feel loved and that is all that is of concern to me. That’s real as our bed. I did say all this before,” he finished, with a huff.

“Certain you didn’t, bee,” Nikoly replied faintly.

“Some of it,” Orin allowed. “I definitely heard ‘our bed’ before.”

“Yes,” Tiiran said testily, “our bed. This feeling. That’s what home is, or what I understand it to be. And the sooner you admit it, Elorin Vahti and Nikoly of the Rossick—”

“Full names,” Orin sighed.

“—the sooner you will stop thinking of me as a stray who doesn’t know what is happening. All right,” Tiiran allowed a moment later, “I often do not know what is happening. But I know this: if we have a home, we are not strays. That’s how words work. That’s howhomeswork. Xenia said so. You build them when you need them. Or perhaps she only implied that part.”

“Kitten.” Orin was almost admiring. “There’s no arguing with that point.”

“And now you will say, ‘But, Tiiran,’” Tiiran answered, enjoying himself a little because Orin wasn’t angry. Far from it. “You say I understand systems. You say I reject what isn’t needed and try for what is. You believed me when I predicted Piya’s actions. I don’t see why this is different.” Tiiran stopped to consider Nikoly, who was strangely quiet. “Am I wrong, Lyli?” he pressed, briefly leaning against Nikoly’s arm. “I don’t mean to embarrass you. But I know you find Orin attractive, and admire him, and you’re already concerned about his meals and things. If you don’t like him as you like me, that’s fine, but perhaps…”

“I love you, honey bee,” Nikoly said plainly, watching him. “So much it sometimes overwhelms me.”

The music in the tavern shifted and a cheer went up, followed by a few bawdy remarks.

Tiiran smiled, only coughing a little.

“And you will love Orin soon, I think.” He bobbed his head as he considered it. “Because you think he’s worthy. You let him tame you and it was beautiful to see.” Tiiran fought another cough, not wanting them to brush this away this time. “You’ll love him soon, as he will love you, because he’s a fire-heart too, like he says I am. But that’s hardly important if he makes you feel good. If you feel cared for in his presence, and happy, and want him to remain in our bed. And if that means you being friends, or you two kissing and tupping each other, and you at Orin’s feet with his collar around your…”

He faltered at Nikoly’s heated, furious glare.

“Mycollar there?” Tiiran asked with some hesitation that eased only when Nikoly’s glare faded. Tiiran cleared the tickle from his throat. “You did say that. I didn’t think you were…. Very well. But I am at Orin’s feet, which means you are there with me, so I don’t understand the distinction.”

“I do,” Nikoly said primly.

Tiiran glanced to Orin.

“Oh, no.” Orin put his hands up. The plate was now empty of potatoes. “This is all you, kitten. You started it.”

“I did not.” Tiiran was equally prim. “You did. I am merely trying to make you both happy by telling you I want you to make each other happy.”

That sentence confused him a bit, which he supposed was the cider. Tiiran didn’t usually drink.

“Incredible.” Nikoly seemed to mean it. “Will you meet her tomorrow? Please?”

He meant his mentor, who had turned out to be Cael of the Rossick—someone important enough that Orin knew of her although Tiiran hadn’t. She had turned up at the palace on the evening of Piya’s death despite the snarled river traffic, met with Arden in his sickbed, and been announced as the new palace Head of House before dawn.

She had apparently been the palace Head of House for the old queen before the queen’s murder, and had known Arden-the-boy. Tiiran assumed she’d guessed when to arrive because of Nikoly’s reports to her. Nikoly insisted the fae must have told her or helped her travel faster because his last report might not even have reached Rossick territory yet.

Nikoly also insisted Tiiran should meet her. Tiiran didn’t know why but was grateful the palace would have a Head of House at last. Things might actually get done now.

“She’s going to like you so much.” Nikoly was not done pushing the matter. “She must. Although she’s worried for me. She thinks I’m being wild again and perhaps foolhardy. But that will change when she meets you and sees I’ve put myself in good hands.”

Tiiran looked to Orin again, who hummed. “You’re going to have to meet all of our families. That’s howthisworks, kitten.”

“Oh.” Tiiran made a face because his nerves began to coil into a knot. “People don’t like me.” He received two glares. “Not at first,” he added, reaching quickly for another sip of cider and speaking into his cup. “All right, then. If you’re sure.” If Mattin was still around tomorrow, perhaps he’d consent to braid Tiiran’s hair again so Cael might think better of him. Tiiran might need to borrow a robe as well.

He frowned, certain he could put off the meeting for a few days at least.

“Do you intend to continue serving her, or to stay in the library?” Orin asked Nikoly, unaware of the skip of Tiiran’s heart at the idea of Nikoly leaving.

“I think I will serve her best by staying in the library.” Nikoly’s smile was especially innocent, which Tiiran now realized meant he was anything but. The librarywasa center of information; Pash hadn’t been wrong about that. Nikoly likely would overhear many things there. But eyes-and-ears within the palace was an old practice, and if Tiiran stopped to worry over it, he’d have to worry over Orin more as well. So it was better to admire Nikoly’s smiles and not question them, including the small one he gave Tiiran. “Being in the library will be easiest for my other tasks as well, since I will be sworn to Tiiran. And, it seems,” he stopped, ducking his head and looking very pleased, “perhaps sworn to you too, in time.”

Orin’s expression was hard to read. He frowned as he looked between Nikoly and Tiiran, as if for once,hewas the one missing something obvious. Eventually his frown smoothed away but he still didn’t speak.

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