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“Where are you two off to?”
“The cafe,” I say. “Do you want to join us?”
“I won’t interrupt your date. But I’ll walk along with you so I don’t blow away.”
I take Dean’s book so he can offer his other arm to Miss Robin.
“Didn’t think we’d see anyone else down here,” Dean says.
“You almost didn’t. That last gust just about carried me off.” After a moment she adds, “Dean, I heard about your father. I’m so sorry.”
I suppose the Chancellor told her. Being his niece, she might have been the first to know.
“It’s fine,” Dean says stiffly. “It won’t distract me from my studies.”
“It would be understandable if it did,” Miss Robin says gently.
We’ve almost reached the cafe. As I stretch out my hand to open the door, it bursts open from the inside. Fighting the pressure of the wind, Snow and Sasha tumble out, laughing at the awful weather.
“Oh, hello!” Sasha says, before they can stumble into us. “How are?—”
She breaks off, regarding Miss Robin with a startled expression.
“Julia, have you met my wife?” Snow says. “Sasha Rybakov.”
Miss Robin holds out her hand to shake. Unlike Sasha, she shows no hint of discomfort.
Sasha takes her hand and grasps it briefly.
“Nice to meet you,” she says.
“I won’t keep you all in this.” Miss Robin nods toward the windswept street. “Enjoy your tea, Cat and Dean, and enjoy the rest of your day, Sasha and Snow.”
Miss Robin heads off down the street in the direction of Kingmakers, while Snow holds the door for Dean and me so we can enter the cafe.
I linger in the doorway, watching Sasha stare down the street after Miss Robin.
After Dean and I have ordered and selected our table in the corner, I say, “That was odd.”
“What?” Dean says, already attacking his scone.
“When Miss Robin and Dr. Rybakov met.”
“What about it?”
“You didn’t think the doctor seemed—alarmed?”
“Why, ‘cause Miss Robin’s pretty? So’s Sasha. She’s got nothing to worry about, Snow’s crazy for her.”
“It felt off somehow.”
“Maybe because we were in the middle of a tornado,” Dean laughs.
“Could be,” I say, stealing his scone and taking a bite.
“Have the whole thing,” Dean offers. “I’ll order another.”
That afternoon,I ambush Rakel in our room.
