“Who are we?” It was a question Lillia had never asked herself. She hadn’t known there was a question to ask in the first place. Not specifically. Of course, she had asked about her family, her grandparents. And her father gave a very satisfying family history. Born in Ridane to a cobbler father and a seamstress mother, he learned his father’s craft until, at the age of eight when his Kindling was awoken, his family, including his two sisters, were moved to Chelthand. His parents put their coin away the entirety of their marriage, and the whole of his life, to open a proper shop together in the city. And they finally succeeded in paying their debts and amassing their coin by the time of his seventh year. They waited another year, searching for a good location in the right city, and when the owner of a fyori bakery died and his eldest son decided to move the business closer to his wife’s family, the location was listed for sale. They bought it four months before his Kindling. They sold their small home and land too cheaply, provided they would be allowed to stay on the property until his Ageing. Most low-borns like that had numerous superstitions about the Ageing, and whether or not it might be influenced. It was their belief that if they waited and continued to conduct business as usual, it would somehow have an effect on a soon-to-be inherited Age Skill that could benefit the business. Absolute nonsense as far as Lillia was concerned. But that’s the type of thing the people around her home thought, as well. Her father then worked in the business for a couple of years before apprenticing under a Tailor for another six. During that time, he made acquaintances and connections with a great deal of gentlemen of higher station. It was when he went back to work at the family shop that he met mother. He would say nothing else regarding her, though. His sister’s, on the other hand, he spoke of at length. Not of anything important. Merely ramblings of drama, adventures, minor scandals. Wrehn and Rae, both younger. He hasn’t seen them in over twenty years, apparently. His parents, longer. He’d like to see them all again. Even his parents. If they still live.

  At the time, the stories Lillia heard from her father were just stories of his life and family. Now, however, they sat in a different light in her mind. When Lillia asked her mother about her childhood, her family, anything, all she received was non-answers, or more often than not, silence. And all Lillia ever thought about that was how annoying it was. But with Likaan laying out a narrative of mystery, of power, she couldn’t help but think there was a forbidden, buried history here. And now she was intrigued, resolving to get some answers.

  Likaan nodded. “Who are we. It’s as you said. Nothing adds up. We live in a lowly village. The outskirts, really. Most people have little coin, paying by trade for services. The name even sounds poor. Provertyn. What kind of name is that? I kid you not, once I said to someone, “I live in Provertyn,” and guess what they thought I said.” He scowled. “May as well have. I also found out that poor has a distinct smell. Remember the hunting trip I took with father? When Lord Udulrak invited men from all of his holdings to participate? Yea, that’s when. I didn’t make any friends on that trip,” he sighed. “It drives me mad when I see how some people live and how they look down on people like us. I hate living here, like this. And it’s for no reason. Father isn’t from here. We have no family here. You’re right that, with no exaggeration, we are sitting on a fortune in that basement. I’ve been through it top to bottom. There’s more than dusty books down there. Our lives make no sense. And I’m not one to complain, you know that.” He ignored Lillia’s side-long glance. “But now, with my endowment, things are different. And I am setting a new path for us both into motion.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Want to hear another secret?”

  Lillia really wasn’t sure if she wanted to this time. “I don’t think so.”

  “Oh, come on,” Likaan whined. “You know I’m going to tell you, anyway.”

  “Maybe later. Let’s just hurry up. I’m tired and my water’s empty.”

  “I’ll just tell you, anyway. Remember when mother couldn’t find that spell book? The ornate one with the black opals set into the cover. When she threw a fit for weeks, tearing the house apart, fussing about thieves and so on.”

  “Yea?” She said it slowly as her eyes narrowed accusatorily.

  “Well,” he replied with a nervous laughter. “I took it.”

  “You what?” Lillia gasped, turning to face him. “You what?” her voice quivered, quietly.

  “Well, hold on,” he replied hastily, hands raised defensively. “I didn’t take it for myself!” he exclaimed. “I did it for the family. We were going to starve. We already were. We needed money. So, I took it and sold it. For a good sum, too. By no means what it was worth, but respectable enough.”

  “You sold the Arcana Flora?” This time she shrieked. “For a good sum,” she said, clipping each word. Her tone was cold. Her fury hot. “It’s priceless. Do you have the faintest idea what priceless even means? It means one of a kind. It means irreplaceable. It means it transcends value. No matter the coin you received, you essentially gave away pure magic. For free.”

  “No, sister. Not for free.”

  “For free,” she screamed again, her face turning red. “For nothing.” Her intensity unchanging.

  “Lillia, we were dying,” Likaan replied, tears of his own, for the first time, filling his eyes. Lillia froze at this. “Father had no work. Mother took little notice. I hadn’t eaten in five days.”

  “What are you talking about? We’ve never been that bad off.”

  “You see it that way. But what you don’t know is I gave you my portions when mother wasn’t looking. I pretended to have eaten fast. I insured you wouldn’t go hungry, which is more than I can say for mother and father. And I sold the damn book. I didn’t care at the time, and I scarcely do now. Because things were only getting worse.”

  “But Likaan, it’s priceless,” she whimpered. “I was meant to learn the spells from that tome. It’s priceless,” she said again, almost in a whisper.

  “There’s no sum I’d weigh against my little sister’s well-being. And the book’s no good to you if you’re dead. Or so shriveled from malnourishment that you may as well be. You couldn’t summon the mana needed to cast those spells in that state, anyway. So again, the book would be useless.”

  “Well how much did you get for it? Who did you sell it to?”

  Likaan wouldn’t meet Lillia’s eyes, ashamed. “Enough. That’s all that matters. I got enough coin to buy rations. I bought travel stores. Dried strips. Kettle-bark jam. Things that would keep. That I could hide. I used the largest sum of it to requisition father.” He brushed at his eyes self-consciously. “Aprons, satchels, caps, shoes. I wrote as Sir Jaithe Cirabon, grossly overpaying. And I paid in advance provided he delivered the goods to an inn outside of Platan. I’d paid the owner of the inn to expect the goods, and to hold them. I'd intended to resell it all. And do the whole thing over again, if I could. But then I saw how bad Platan is, and I found myself giving all of it out. You should’ve seen all the little street kids running about in too large caps and shoes. It would’ve been hilarious if it hadn’t been so sad.”

  Lillia didn’t speak. Processing. Unsure of which emotions she should be feeling. The information Likaan was casually relaying to her today was vast. And though she naturally wanted to be shocked and angry, a little part of her mind was nudging her toward something else. But what was the nagging she felt? Likaan was telling her things. Important things. Secret things. But why? And the thought struck her. Obvious now. Because he knew something. His eyes. He’s seen something. He said he’s setting a new path into motion. As Lillia had this realization, the unease she felt intensified. “Something is coming.”

  “I don’t know everything for certain, yet.”

  “Likaan, you’re making the world feel very dangerous. I’m afraid everything out of your mouth is a new, terrible mystery or realization that I must endure.”

  “Endure it you must, sister. But for now, won’t you make the most of what’s left of my Age Day? With me?”

  “I would think with your Endowment everything simply must go right. I thought—"

  “Yes, I know. But there’s an inclusion.” He paused, contemplating. “Is that right? There’s a refraction? No. A displacement. A distortion? Hmm. I can’t name it. But it doesn’t matter. Externals aside, it’s still new, Lillia. I don’t have mastery, yet. I can’t trust that I won’t overlook something. Something approaches. You are right. I can’t see how telling you early or telling you at all will alter the outcomes for better or worse. I can’t see how your strands, colliding with the strands of others, those colliding with others, I can’t see how it will play out. If further down the line it all circles back, undoing the precautions I’ve taken. Things will be difficult going forward. If I had more time, strife may be avoided. For now, however, you must trust me. But the potency of my powers sharpens moment by moment. With time, I think I’ll have access to all of the answers as I desire them. If I have somewhere to look. Or someone to study. No matter the strands involved. No matter the quantity. In a way, I’m afraid I’ll stop being myself. Or so I may feel, one day. What shapes us, if not darkness. Without knowledge, we seek knowledge. Without light, we seek light. Though veiled, that which we seek may always be found.” Likaan frowned. “Even now, when I use my skill, knowledge that I wasn’t seeking flows into my mind. Useful things, though unbidden. The same type of knowledge I had to concentrate to obtain only this morning. With time I think I will see all that was and all that is when I look with my new sight, despite my intent. I’ll look, and I’ll see all.”

  “Not all that will be?”

  Likaan smiled ruefully. “It’s complicated. You will not understand. We’ll talk about things after the celebration tonight.”

  “Why so shy? We still have a bit of a walk. And plenty of time. Lets get it out of the way now. Or some of it. So tonight can be nothing but pleasant.”

  So pitiful was Likaan’s expression. “I’ll say that soon you may find yourself hating me, Lillia. Betrayed and confused, abandoned. But I’ll weather your hate. Because I love you. Though it won’t feel that way. You’ll be in the dark, Lillia.” He suddenly grabbed her hand, pulling her around. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “But always remember, my love. Without light, we seek light.” Giving her a gentle shake, he urged her, “Say it.”

  Lillia’s lip began trembling. “Without light, we seek light.”

  “Again.”

  A single tear rolled down her cheek. “Without light, we seek light.”

  “Let those words guide you in your life. Let me hear it one last time, and I’ll know you’ll be alright.”

  They held each other’s eyes. She felt so much pressure. So much anxiety. She thought she understood, now. Why she was feeling so out of sorts. Her intuition. The Guiding Hand. She needed to learn to listen. Although, she was certain she knew. She was certain she knew what Likaan was doing, and why he was doing it today. “Without light, we seek light.”

  “And know, sister, light is always there to be found.” With both hands he cradled her head as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Then, he released her and ushered her onward once again. “Today let’s be brother and sister. The best of friends.” He said it not in a way that belied his meaning. But with all seriousness.

  She took several slow, deep breaths. Slowing her mind. She told herself to remain in the present. The present, after all, being the precise location of the only true control we have over our lives. You think you can plan for the future. So you do. But it’s a fa?ade. For every individual moment must be accounted for until the desired future is attained. And a single misstep, a single moment of inattention, a single mistake effects the outcome of the future. And once that faulty moment has passed, it is passed. Forever. So Lillia would be here with Likaan on his Age Day. And she would listen. “Alright,” she said.

  “Alright,” he repeated, smiling tentatively.

  Lillia didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t know how to move past all of these aching, emotionally demanding moments. “So,” she began, hesitating. “What are we doing?”

  “Well, I’m still starving,” Likaan said.

  “Me too.” She held her stomach. “But I’ll bet not as bad as you.”

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  “I didn’t have any breakfast.”

  “Yes, I know.” She was desperately trying to recover. She forced a faint smile. She breathed. “We made pancakes this morning, Likaan. A triple batch. I swear there were nearly twenty of them. Ten inches in diameter, each.”

  Likaan’s eyes went wide. “What? You did? Why so many?”

  So clueless. “For you. Because it’s your Age Day.”

  He looked horrified. “Why did no one tell me?” Annoyance rang in his voice.

  “I called you out of bed. Mother called you. I went to get you, but you weren’t there. You weren’t in the house. Then Father came in and said you’d been up since well before dawn and was out and about. You really missed out.”

  “I was so distracted. I may as well have been asleep. My legs had gone fully numb. You could’ve tried harder.”

  Unsympathetic, Lillia twisted the knife. “They were very fluffy. Very thick. With nutmeg and cinnamon. Melted butter in the batter. Melted butter in the pan. Melted butter drizzled on top. We really wanted to find you, but they were so good.”

  Likaan wiped at his eyes, his stomach growling. “Some sister you are.”

  “Well, let’s go get some right now.”

  Likaan’s eyes twinkled, suddenly. “What if we see if we can get a taste of that boar, instead.”

  “What?” Lillia couldn’t tell if he was serious. “It’s nearly lunch time. Don’t you want to go home and get something to eat? Mother will be making something. She’ll be expecting us at some point.”

  “I want pig.”

  “I’m not getting in trouble because you’re being picky.”

  “Oh, come on.” Likaan put an arm around Lillia’s shoulders, subtly steering her in the direction he wanted to go. “Don’t be a stick in the mud. We won’t get in trouble, trust me.”

  “I guarantee we will get in trouble.”

  “It’s basically mine, anyway. It’s for my celebration. What are they going to do? Tell me I can’t come?”

  She laughed earnestly. Then she tried concealing the grin that betrayed the mischief suddenly alight in her eyes. “Let’s go swipe something to eat on Market street, like we used to.” Honestly, she wasn’t sure who the bad influence was. Well, the worse influence. There may have been a good reason they weren’t overly liked. And they shouldn’t do it, she knew. But what else were they going to do? Today felt beyond ruined, and she was desperately trying to keep her dread locked away as securely as she could. Not only that, she wasn’t too keen on doing her studies and definitely not her chores. She felt drained. Physically, mentally, emotionally. She wanted to let loose. “But let’s get some wine, too.”

  Likaan raised his eyebrows. “Now you’re talking. You know, this isn’t too bad. Wandering around, doing nothing. Killing time with my little sister, talking about whatever. It’s not really good for my image, but one day won’t hurt anything,” he winked at her. “Really if I were a good older brother, I’d scold you. Give you a stern lecture about how drinking at your age isn’t proper, and that a young lady should really consider how her behavior might be perceived by society.” He shrugged. “But I’m not a good older brother.”

  “I’ve seen better.”

  Likaan scoffed. “That is absolutely not true. Where?” He made a show of looking around.

  “Honestly, despite feeling absolutely suffocated lately, you really have to admit it’s kind of nice how seriously they take Age Day’s around here. Like Mr. Youseth and Mr. Carly will look down on you and treat you like shit your entire life, but on your Age Day they’re completely different people. All smiles. So congratulatory. Going out of their way to talk to you, asking if there’s anything they can do for you. You know Mr. Theo?”

  “I think there’s a few Theo’s, for some reason.”

  “Yea, it’s a family name, but I mean the guy who has that big farm on the outskirts, by the creek. With the sheep pasture? Well, when he found out it was my Kindling, he came looking for me, hunted me down, and hounded me for over an hour, bugging me. Asked if he could do anything to help me enjoy my day better. Eventually I let him help me pull the weeds and trim Cantus root, and scrape Willow bark for mother. I told him he could buy me an apple pie and we ate it together and talked about what it’s like running a proper farm like he does.” Lillia laughed, not unkindly. “It was weird at first, but then I just leaned into it. Because I’ve seen the same phenomenon with other kids on their Ageing. And guess the best part.”

  “I guess.”

  “It’s annoying when you say that, you know?”

  Likaan shrugged.

  “The next day we were back to acting like I’m scum to him and he’s an oaf to me. Which he is, admittedly. They all are.”

  Likaan smiled at her. He sighed. “You can’t be so hard on everyone around here, Lillia. In the end they’re just normal people. Living normal lives. They have their community. They have their weekly tabernacle. They bond over the hard life they share. We could be a part of a community, if we tried. Well, people actually like me.” He pulled away from her as they approached the village, greeting the man posted at the useless, rickety gate.

  “You act like you know what normal is. You talk like you have something to compare it to.”

  “You forget that I have a fair bit to compare it to. I’ve done a little traveling. Business with father. I spent that six months in Boothe for school.”

  “I thought you said that was the biggest waste of time you’ve ever experienced.”

  Likaan laughed largely. “I was being dramatic. But in terms of content, of subject matter, it’s true. In terms of the social experience, it was very much worth the time spent.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, everyone who attended that little camp was like us. Low-born. Poor. Uneducated in the standard sense. And they were, all of them, strangers to me. For about five minutes. I learned that it’s extremely easy to befriend a man, be he clean or dirty, smart or not, more or less poor. A man is a man. We’re all the same. I’m telling you, Lillia, if you let go of your sense of superiority and your disdain for the common folk, you’ll blend right in. For all your genius, you’re still stuck in the same boat as everyone else around here.”

  Lillia scowled as they weaved between shops, trudging through the muddy, stinking streets, stepping over and around piles of manure. Likaan waved and smiled at Cawly Haken, the boy scooping the stuff, intending to sell it. Mainly to mother who bought heaps of it to fertilize, well, everything.

  “Alright, let’s go see which stalls are set up. If Agatha’s peddling, we might swipe a bottle pretty easy. Otherwise, we’ll figure something out.”

  “We can still go home. Mother keeps alcohol in her lab.”

  Likaan found this very amusing because for all of Lillia’s brilliance, her naivety in some areas was stark, albeit understandable. And endearing. “Lillia, my dear, what mother has in that basement is not what we want. It’s barely drinkable. It’s specifically for her research. Plus, it tastes horrendous,” he added with a sour expression. “But even if they kept wine or mead at home, you couldn’t pay me to go back right now. It’s too risky. I will not be doing any work today.”

  “They wouldn’t make you do anything today, dummy.”

  “Oh, look. She’s set up.”

  They turned onto a wide street home to a number of permanent stalls. A handful of townsfolk congregated around a boy and his mother selling wooden carvings, whittled with impressive, artistic detail. Two others spoke with a woman selling tonics, attempting to barter with their own homemade wares. Set up in a stall further down the street was an older woman with long, braided hair, and a purple-stained apron. Agatha. She grew grapes. No one really knew how, though. The land and the climate should make a successful vineyard less than likely. As far as Likaan heard, anyway. Her stall had several bottles displayed on the countertop, and Likaan knew there was a cart full of them underneath it.

  “So, what now?”

  “Let me think. Don’t stare at her, alright? Act casual.”

  Lillia was suddenly nervous. “Actually, do we really need it? I wasn’t that serious.”

  “Hush. You’re distracting me.” Likaan subtly scanned the stall.

  “Likaan, there’s no way we’ll get away with it.”

  “Sister, I have a trick up my sleeve. Something so bold and daring that when you see it with your own eyes, you’ll be speechless.

  Lillia rolled her eyes. And she knew that when her eyes rolled automatically in response to Likaan, it meant he was truly full of it and he was up to something.

  “Alright. Follow closely. But when we get about halfway, I want you to veer off and ogle the tonics at lady Anda’s stall.”

  “Alright.”

  “Oh, and give me your bowl,” he said, holding his hand out.

  “What do you need my bowl for?” She handed it to him.

  “Trust me.”

  He set off, confidently. Waving around and smiling to people he knew, Lillia assumed. Many people waved back, smiling warmly, which she found interesting. When they reached the halfway point, Lillia broke away, heading for the tonics. Likaan strode onward. But he did not walk directly to Agatha’s stall. He veered off, as well. He approached a woman who was cooking some kind of meat. She had wood burning in a depression in the dirt, and a large rectangular flat strip of iron laid across the flames, held aloft by two large stones at both ends. He crouched next to the fire, the woman sitting cross legged on the ground as she moved the sizzling pieces about. A plate rested on a low table to her side, filled with crispy beef pieces? Lillia’s mouth watered. She very conspicuously watched Likaan as lady Anda tried with every trick she knew to grasp the girl’s attention. Resorting to tapping Lillia’s shoulder with vigor.

  “Hey, Trudie,” Likaan said to the woman in a low voice. “How’s the husband?”

  “Fine, Likaan. Thanks,” she said in reply, smiling fondly. “One more day, may two, and I’ll bet he’ll be out of bed and fussing about. He’s already hankering to get back to work. Thanks to you and your mother. No thanks to that viper yonder,” she hissed, indicating Anda.

  “Anything for you, Trudie. I’m happy to hear it. How’s Ben? Otto?”

  “Oh, you won’t believe, Likaan. They, the both of them, landed apprenticeships with Mr. Hollingsworth.”

  “I knew he’d take them. Built like mules as they are.”

  “Thanks for putting in the word.”

  “Anytime, Trudie. Say, mind helping me out a bit?”

  Lillia had to listen to lady Anda pitch an ointment for enhancing beauty, a potion to fortify wisdom, and something to help with her love life. When Lillia reminded the woman that she’s not even nine years of age, and has little interest in boys, lady Anda waved her words away, saying, “You’re never too young for love, my dear, and oftentimes the things we didn’t know we wanted turn out to be the things we treasure most.”

  Unexpectedly eloquent. Still creepy, though. Lillia blinked at lady Anda whose smile showed too many teeth to be genuine. Lillia looked back toward Likaan, again, and saw the sitting woman turn away, reaching for a container of salt. When she did this, Likaan scooped a heaping mound of the finished beef into the bowl she gave him as he stood and stepped away, back to the center of the street, and in the direction of Agatha’s stall. He motioned for Lillia to come to him. Needing no more encouragement than that, she bolted away from lady Anda, wiping her shoulder off absent mindedly. “Did you really just get away with stealing that meat?” She asked him in a low voice.

  He smirked at her. “Lillia. Who do you think you’re talking to? The king.”

  “You’re such an idiot,” she said, disgusted. “Give me some of that.” Lillia reached for the bowl, but Likaan held it high above her head.

  “Patience. Now, let me do the talking,” he told her in a subdued voice. They stood in front of her. Agatha.

  The woman glanced up, only just noticing them. “Well, now. If it isn’t my favorite would-be customer,” she said, her tone and temperament difficult for Lillia to discern. “And you brought the girl around, this time. She’s pretty. So pretty. Although she wears that scowl too comfortably, I think.”

  Likaan laughed heartily at Agatha’s words. “Too right you are. I keep telling her. She’s perpetually downcast, I’m afraid,” he said, winking at Lillia as he tossed a cube of beef into his mouth, chewing with an open-mouthed, very punchable grin.

  “The scowl deepens,” Agatha chortles, her eyes twinkling. “What do you want, Likaan?”

  Lillia waited, holding her breath. She did not have the faintest idea of what he was planning. But she was ready. Ready to read his most subtle of gestures. Ready to distract the woman. Awaiting anything, hyper focused.

  “Can I have some wine, my dear?” Likaan sang.

  Lillia coughed, choking on nothing but utter surprise.

  A few breaths passed before Agatha replied, “You think you can simply march up and ask for a drink? Very bold of you, boy. For free, no doubt. Red or white?”

  Lillia’s eyes bulged, her mouth hanging open, but Likaan didn’t miss a beat. “Red, if you’re serious. White, if I must,” he said. Still wearing that annoying, chewing grin on his face. His eye contact absolute, unblinking.

  Lillia looked back and forth between the two of them. What in the hell.

  Agatha glanced at Lillia again, briefly. “I like you, Likaan. Always have. But give me a single good reason.”

  He shrugged, holding the bowl out in offering. “It’s my Ageing.” She took a piece of meat, holding it as she stared at him. Likaan leaned in. “And you wouldn’t believe my endowment,” he said just above a whisper, winking slowly with practiced precision.

  Agatha cackled, tossing the meat into her mouth, chewing, slurping. “If only Mr. Welsh got my old, dead heart beating like that, and with a face to match, I think.” She reached under the cabinet, producing a bottle of red, sloshing liquid. She handed it to him. “Get out of here. You got sixteen more years before another free bottle. I like you, Likaan. And your mother, as prickly as she is. Send her hello, please.”

  Likaan tipped the hat he wasn’t wearing. He tucked the bottle under his arm, took Lillia by the hand, and strode off.

  When they stepped off Market street, walking toward the main road leading out of town, Lillia spoke. “Are you going to tell me what the hell just happened back there?”

  Likaan looked innocent, confused even. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, shut up. Did you know all along that she would give you that bottle? “

  Likaan, with teeth clenched and lips firm as a man attempting with tremendous effort to hold something in, croaked out, “No?”

  Lillia glared. “You’ve been messing with me. Have you been messing with me all day?”

  “No, Lillia,” he urged. “I really didn’t know if she’d actually give it to me. I’ll admit I’d planned on asking straight out all along. And, of course, it’s my Ageing so I figured that might get me a few favors. But I didn’t know she’d give it to me. Honest!”

  “You were grotesquely friendly with her, Likaan.”

  He laughed as they neared the gate. “It’s just a bit of charm. Spring of Charisma, remember?”

  The realization struck Lillia. Is that how all of his interactions were? So fluid. So smooth. Effortless. Thanks to his Kindling? Did he use his skill on her, as well? A good reminder of why speaking of Age Skills is taboo. If people knew they were being influenced by Likaan, they might choose not to speak with him at all. “Then why bother stealing the meat from that poor woman? If you could have simply charmed her?”

  He chuckled again, looking slightly guilty. “Well, I might not have actually stolen from her.”

  “What?” She said, confused. “I saw you do it. When her back was turned.”

  “I might have set that up.”

  “What?” She said in surprise, disbelieving.

  His face turned red. “That was Trudie,” he said lightheartedly. “I know her family, they’re good people. Kind people. Her husband has been ill for a couple months. And it was getting worse after she bought a shoddy elixir from lady Anda, apparently. I told mother the situation and she fixed up a little something to help. It looks like it did, thankfully. But I didn’t know Trudie would be there. I wasn’t planning on it. But when I saw her I couldn’t help myself. Of course I paid her, I had the coin ready before I reached the fire. I asked her to watch you and let me know when you were looking our way.” He jolted sideways, avoiding the fist Lillia threw, beaming all the while. “I said the moment you look over, turn away so it would look like I was taking the food behind her back. So when she turned away, I knew you were watching. So I scooped up the meat, dropped the coin by the table and left. Very beautifully executed.”

  Lillia tried to be angry, but a smiled slipped through.

  Likaan noticed. “There’s that gorgeous smile.”

  The smile didn’t fade. She leaned into him as they walked. He put his arm around her shoulders. “Likaan, you’re an idiot.”

  “I know, baby sister,” he replied.