Ruthie elected not to go. She decided she wanted to stay and hang out with Kazex, and so they're in my quarters, “holding down the fort.” Probably playing footsies or something. Now I'm in a flowing gown in the darkest shade I could find, soft slippers that mold themselves to my feet, and there's a mountain of food in front of me at the elegant dinner table…
…And I still don't have my damn husband.
To be fair, Mathiras is missing, too. Adiron and Kaspar are seated with Alice and Jade, and judging from the lovey-dovey looks being passed between them, they're all stupidly happy. Helen pokes at her food, less enthusiastic as she sits alone. I can relate. I stab one of my eating sticks through a very nice-looking vegetable lasagna-like thing and sit back in my chair. "Is Straik in trouble?"
Lord va'Rin glances down at me, his expression haughty and fatherly all at once. "Why would you think that?"
I gesture at the table full of everyone I know, minus my husband and Mathiras. "You tell me. I don't see him here, and we all know you refused to see us three months ago and started this whole shitstorm." I spread my hand, encompassing everyone at the table in my gesticulating. "This entire set-up reeks of the bad guy setting up a trap, like in the movies."
His expression grows positively icy in the way that only nobility can manage, and for a moment, I feel like a bug. A naughty, naughty bug that's somehow disappointed her dad. "Lord Straik is not in 'trouble' as you put it. And I did refuse your request for an audience before. I did so to protect my family." He picks up a delicately fluted goblet. "You are aware that his mother is involved in unsavory things and he himself is a corsair?"
I fight the urge to roll my eyes. "So he's the black sheep of the family. He's a good guy. You have to give him a chance."
"No one said I was not giving him a chance. In fact, that is what this entire dinner is about." Lord va'Rin gestures at the empty seat next to me. "Just because he is not here at the moment does not mean he is not invited."
"Then where is he?" I demand, shaking a furious finger at everyone. "I will vomit on everyone at this table, so help me baby Jeebus, if I do not get my husband back soon—"
The double doors to the elegant dining room open, and Mathiras and my Straik walk in.
"Awkward," Alice says delicately.
I stick my tongue out at her and race away from my spot at the table, nearly tripping on the long, filmy skirts of my dress. Straik catches me just as I tumble toward him, and his arms go around me. "Everything all right?" he whispers into my ear. "You look upset."
"I've been asking for you all day," I tell him and then burst into tears.
Jade makes an unhappy sound and gets to her feet. "Someone got a bucket?"
"I'm fine!" I exclaim, holding tight to Straik. And okay, sure, maybe I'm getting a bit of a sweat going on, but I clutch at my husband's chest and listen to his heartbeat, and it helps. He strokes my hair over and over again, and that helps, too.
"I'm sorry we're late to dinner," Mathiras says, and out of the corner of my eye, I watch as he takes the other empty spot at the table next to Helen. She immediately brightens, a dazzling smile curving her mouth, and scoots her chair a little closer to his. His expression grows frozen, and he does his best to ignore her.
Poor Helen.
"You're sweating," Straik says, brushing his fingers over my face with a frown. "What did you eat? Did you have someone taste it first?" He turns to his uncle, furious. "Did you poison her?"
96
RUTH
Milly gasps in shock, looking at her husband and then at us. "What? Why would we poison her?"
"Someone did," Straik snarls. "Back at Prefalon." He strokes my face, his expression frantic as he checks over me. "How do you feel, love? Do you need to sit down? Do you need to throw up?"
"I'm okay," I tell him. "Yes and maybe?"
"No one here poisoned your mate," Lord va'Rin says in that utterly polite voice of his. "Nor would I stoop to poisoning. Ask yourself who has the most to gain by hiding the whereabouts of a hundred human slaves, hm? It certainly isn't me, who has to find land and set up farms for all of them."
Okay, the man has a point. I watch as Lord va'Rin takes another unconcerned bite of his dinner—the same dinner I was eating—and give Straik's arm a gentle squeeze. "I'm okay, babe. It was just a nervous sweat. I was worried about you."