Page 34 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

Yaaf conceded it, because it was correct. Then we tell him we do not believe it is possible, that we have never attempted it, and that he should assume we might be wrong and protect himself accordingly.

"All right," Mattie said. "Now, I really want to know."

Yaaf looked up.

She stood at the head of the table with a stack of paper cups in her hands and both eyebrows raised.

"Know what?" Anita came out of the kitchen.

"They keep having those private conversations inside their merged mind," Mattie said.

"We were talking about the probation," Yaaf said. "It has been going on for too long. Ravsoh thinks we should ask for an audience with Kian."

Anita nodded. "That's a good idea."

"Do it," Mattie said. "Kian isn't spending his days thinking about you. He has hundreds of other things on his mind, and you're not a priority because you are behaving. I'm not suggesting that you start causing trouble, but you should ask to be heard."

"He doesn't want to be in the same room with us," Yaaf said.

"He doesn't have to be," Mattie said. "You can talk to him on the phone. After all, that was how you negotiated with him before."

Yaaf nodded. "That is what Ravsoh suggested. A video call."

"Ravsoh is smart, and you should listen to him." Mattie picked up the cups and started setting them out. "And do it soon, because I have a selfish interest. If you lot get to move to the village, we all move. Dimitri's lab goes where you go. Anita and I want our own homes. We want to start a new life that is not temporary."

Anita chuckled. "I like the penthouse a lot, and if it could be mine, I wouldn't mind staying."

Bowen entered the dining room. "They're in the garage. Alfie's bringing them up."

Yaaf walked into the living room and looked at the doors.

They had three hours today. Some of it would be spent dining, and then they would go to the underground theater to watch a movie together.

He'd been thinking about the theater ever since Mattie had suggested it. He was going to sit next to Sullha in the dark, put his arm along the back of her seat, and at some point she would lean into it. Her head would rest on his shoulder, and neither of them would have to say a word for two hours. Nobody would be watching. Nobody would need translating for. There would be nothing to organize, nothing to explain, and nobody would ask him anything.

You have thought about this a great deal, Armos observed.

I have.

It is a good plan.

Thank you.

The doors opened.

Alfie came in first with Bianca on his shoulders, looking happy as can be to be the little girl's horse.

The women came in behind him, and Sullha was at the back of the procession.

She was wearing a blue dress, her hair down, and she was talking with Zohara. Then she came through the doorway, looked across the room, found him, and stopped talking.

Yaaf walked up to her and took both her hands in his. She looked up at him, then rose onto her toes and kissed him.

It was a small kiss, lasting perhaps a second and a half, but it lit him up like a switch had been flipped.

His fangs began to descend, which shouldn't have happened after a barely-there touch, and it took an effort to keep them from going all the way.

To his left, Asira snickered.