Page 29

As I stepped past her to follow him into his office, Lipa whispered, “It’ll take me five minutes to heat up. Just hold on ’til then.”

I snorted, some of my own irritability fleeing as I grinned at her. “I can handle it.”

“Do you want anything to eat or drink, Anita?” she asked politely.

I was getting hungry, but eating in front of var Rorik felt like a sign of weakness. Which was ridiculous—he’d be eating in front of me. “Just some water would be great. Thanks, Lipa.”

“No problem. I’ll bring it through.”

var Rorik reappeared at his office doorway with a scowl. “Are you coming?”

I stiffened, slowly walking toward him. He’s the client. Let it go.

When I got into his big, airy office and closed the door behind me, he sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I’m just really hungry.”

“Alright.” I refused to say it was fine, because he didn’t have a right to speak to anyone like that.

His ears fluttered as he shifted in place, then headed for his desk. “Do you want anything to eat?”

“No, thank you. Lipa just offered. That’s what I was talking to her about.”

He winced as he sat down behind his giant desk. “Right. Uh… sorry.”

Wow. Two apologies from the Nuni var Rorik. He really didn’t deal well with missing meals.

“Take a seat.” He gestured at the two plush armchairs on my side of the desk before wiggling his computer mouse to wake up the monitor.

I perched on one and took my tablet out of my backpack. As I waited for my inbox to load so I could try and get some work done while var Rorik ate, I took a quick look at his office. It was nice—big, obviously. Lots of healthy Deep Earth plants, which I doubted he looked after. His desk was huge, but I wouldn’t have expected anything less. There was a big, fancy architect’s table in one corner, and some artfully arranged leather seating in the other. Behind his desk was a bank of floor-to-ceiling glass windows showing a view of the buildings opposite and the street below.

I caught sight of a few picture frames tucked between a plethora of architecture books—and awards, obviously—on a bookcase against the side wall. Most of them had lots of people crammed into frame, all demiurgus, but my gaze snagged on one with only two people in it. One was clearly var Rorik, while the other appeared to be a woman.

I tried not to squint too obviously. Was it a girlfriend? I didn’t think so. His arm was around the woman’s shoulders, but it didn’t look like a romantic pose. I thought I could see streaks of white in her long hair. His mother?

var Rorik wasn’t speaking as he stared at his monitor, clearly just waiting for Lipa to deliver his meal, so I shifted my tablet onto the spare seat and stood.

“Mind if I take a look at your book collection?”

“Hmm?” He lifted his head, a furrow seeming to have taken up permanent residence between his brows. “Oh. Sure.”

I walked over and feigned interest in the boring-sounding titles for a few seconds, before casually stopping in front of the framed photo.

Okay, definitely his mum. Or Mom, as he most likely called her. She was older, and I could see the similarities, even though the colouring in their hair and claws was different. I took a quick look at one of the other photos, which seemed to be of his family. Eight adults with the same woman in the centre, var Rorik to her right. They all looked similar, though he was by far the biggest.

And the hottest. Even though it was a very good-looking family.

When I heard the door open, I turned and headed back for my seat. So var Rorik had pictures of his family in his office. That was a little unexpected.

As Lipa placed a tray in front of var Rorik, I subtly scanned his desk for any more photos. If he did have a girlfriend—sorry, lady friend—he probably kept her photo close by so he could gaze at her tall, elegant demiurgus beauty all day.

There weren’t any pictures on his desk. For some reason, that made me relax, and I looked up quickly when Lipa passed me my water to give her a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

She smiled back before turning to var Rorik. “Is there anything else, sir?”

He was already shovelling food into his mouth. “Nope. Go home, Lipa. Oh, wait, is Felik still here? He might want to have a say in the venue.”

“He and Boryn already left, sir. Boryn is Mr var Stimis’ assistant,” she added to me politely.