Page 19 of Bearing Secrets
She waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. “Um. I’d like to talk some more.”
“I’ll pick you up for dinner.”
Natalia had been about to suggest getting together for lunch, but that was off the table.
“Okay.”
“Be ready for seven-thirty. Wear something formal.”
“Okay.” What else was she to say?
He got the address from her and then promptly hung up.
Staring dumbly at the phone for a few moments before setting it down, she looked over at Loren.
“I think I have a date.”
“A date.” Loren’s jaw moved a few times before sound resumed coming out. “You have a date? With an Ursa?’
“His name is Kirell,” she said dryly.
“Right, whatever. What makes you think it’s a date?”
She had thought Loren could hear, but maybe not. “He said he’s going to pick me up for dinner. That I should dress formal.”
“Holy shit!” Loren bounced up and down on the couch. “I think you have a date.”
“This is ridiculous, you know that, right? I don’t even know this guy.”
Loren rolled her eyes and fell back into the pillows on her couch. “Don’t be so overdramatic. How do you think people get to know one another? Dates! This is the perfect excuse to learn more about him. It’s in public.” She tilted her head, looking over at her from the side. “Right?”
“I guess?” she said with a shrug. “He didn’t really say, but I’d assume there’d be no need to dress formal if we were going to his house.”
“You don’t know these families. It’s entirely possible they’re having a ball at their place.”
“Aball?” Natalia felt her stomach twist itself into knots. “Do you really think he meant that formal? I thought just like, a fancy restaurant or something.”
“You’re probably right.” Loren seemed crestfallen over that fact. “I was just daydreaming for you.”
“No shit,” Natalia said.
“Fuck you.”
“I don’t want to make Jeremy jealous,” Natalia added.
They both broke down into laughter.
“You are going to go through with it, right? You aren’t going to bail?”
Natalia rubbed her face. “I think so. But Lore, what am I going to wear?”
9
He pulled up to the tiny house at precisely 7:28.
Of course, all houses are tiny compared to the one you grew up in,he thought.
Kirell was one of the few members of his House that had actually been born in the manor and lived there his entire life. Due to the global scale of the Houses’ operations, many of the members often spent only a few years there, except for the Title Holders, though many of them travelled regularly.
