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I’m sure you’re very busy, so it’s absolutely no problem if Lipa attends on your behalf, she’d said.

She’d given me an out. It would be entirely appropriate if I replied saying that yes, actually, Lipa would be the one to make visits or attend meetings on my behalf. That wouldn’t be weird. She was my PA. It was her literal job.

But I found myself clicking reply and typing something else.

I’ll be there. Just let me know the time and date.

And I had no idea why.

Chapter Four

Anita

T he Blackgrass building was a tall, imposing structure built in the classic demiurgus style. It was made of rough black stone

expertly laid to form an organic, jutting shape, widest at the bottom before tapering slightly the higher it got, like a gigantic

termite nest.

It was a beautiful building—far more interesting than the human-made, straight-lined residential blocks bookending it. A small, lush green space circled its base, filled with Deep Earth plants that had been genetically modified to allow them to thrive on the surface.

I loved living in a mixed species city. I had for most of my life. I’d been born in London, another city with a high demiurgus population, where my parents had met after my dad moved over from Mumbai. My mum had grown up in the West End after her parents emigrated from Varanasi when she was tiny.

We’d moved here when I was fourteen, so while my accent was now largely American, hints of Britishness still came through every now and then, especially after I’d spent some time around my family. My sister was eight years older than me, so she’d basically retained her English accent after we’d moved, whereas mine had slowly morphed during high school.

I shifted from foot to foot on the sidewalk, furtively glancing around to see if I could spot Nuni var Rorik’s tall, imposing figure striding down the street. No—swaggering. I bet he swaggered, as if his enormous dick was throwing him off balance.

No thinking about his dick! I told myself sternly. I wasn’t even interested in it. I’d just meant that he gave off that impression. I was talking about his figurative dick, not his literal one.

After a few more seconds, I decided to head inside to wait for him in the lobby. Blackgrass was a mixed-use building, with its swanky nesthouses on the bottom floor—demiurgus liked being close to the ground—and several more levels of expensive apartments with office space at the top. It was located in the Spinel District, a high-end part of town close to the corporate district where the offices of Rorik + Stimis Architects were located.

Which meant he had no excuse to be late. Not that he was yet. I was fifteen minutes early. I was always early.

I’d managed to get us in for a viewing of the proposed space for the event—a large room near the top of the building designed for conferences—within two days. It wasn’t that I was eager to see var Rorik again—to try and figure him out. I was just being efficient. If I’d used his name and hounded the receptionist until she put me through to the building’s event manager, then hounded the event manager until she moved some things around to fit us in? Well, I was just doing my job. We had to lock down the venue before doing anything else. After looking at the photos on the Blackgrass website, I had my reservations about how suitable this space would be, but it was what the client wanted. And I got the feeling that this particular client was never wrong.

I took a seat in the lobby and answered a few emails while I waited. My gut squeezed as I tried not to think about interacting with Nuni var Rorik imminently. Like, any minute. I had no idea if he’d be coming alone or with Lipa. I’d copied her into the email letting him know the time and date, and I’d been convinced he’d say he couldn’t make it at such short notice—I wasn’t sure if I’d been hoping for it or not—but he’d replied with a brief, See you then.

But maybe something had come up since. A last-minute call, an important meeting or an impromptu nooner with a tall, leggy demiurgus lady. Was he the type to duck out of work for midday sex, or could nothing pull him away from his desk once the workday started?

I kind of hated that I was so interested in finding out. And I was a little confused by it. I didn’t know the guy. At all. And I wasn’t going to get to know him. It wasn’t like we were going to talk about anything but the event.

At eleven minutes to twelve, my stomach dropped a little when I heard a loud, drawling voice coming from over by the big glass doors.

“Push my one o’clock to half past just to be safe, Lipa. Oh, and let Felik know our squash game after work is happening. Tell him I don’t give a fuck if it makes him late to dinner with Bavia. He’s due another ass-kicking.”

Taking a quiet breath, I lifted my head to see Nuni var Rorik swaggering—called it—toward me, with Lipa trailing behind him as she tapped away on her tablet. My eyes met his big yellow ones with their oval pupils, which expanded in a rush before he looked away.

I stood up before he could reach me, looking down to fiddle with my bag strap so I could concentrate on that and not awkwardly stand there staring at him as he approached. A pair of big, polished black shoes appeared in my eyeline, so I looked up with a polite smile on my face.

“Mr var Rorik.” I held out my hand. “Nice to see you again. Thank you for being able to do this on such short notice.”

The frondy tips of his ears fluttered once, and I thought I heard him take a quick breath before he cleared his throat and adopted an arrogant, lopsided smile.

“Anita,” he drawled, shaking my hand vigorously. “Good to see you. And no problem—I was impressed you were able to get us in so quickly.”

Oh, that’s what I live for—impressing big arrogant men.

I pushed down the snarky thought and smiled blandly. “Well, no point wasting time.” Then, unable to stop myself, I added, “I’m impressed you were able to fit it into your busy schedule. I wasn’t sure you’d make it.”