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Each Talon had their area of expertise. Viago had cold calculation and seemingly endless headspace for an archaic organization of poisons. Caterina had frighteningly shrewd business acumen—more than her two utterly hopeless grandsons could ever hope to inherit—and a lifetime more experience than any Crow could ever achieve. And Teia was exceedingly good with people. She could read them and pick them apart faster than they could put up barriers. It certainly helped when getting close enough for the kill, but also when charming the aforementioned master poisoner.
Which was why it wasn’t hard to tell what was going through Rook’s mind when she kept staring at Neve Gallus’ back as she conversed with Lucanis.
She heaved a sigh and set down her wineglass. “I trust you not to poison this while I’m gone.”
Viago looked at her with an adorably confused expression, and she couldn’t help but laugh at him as she walked away.
She moved with practiced ease through the Diamond’s crowded upper floor. Rook, seated in one corner and a good distance from the woman of her focus, took note as she approached. The girl would have made an excellent Crow—her senses were heightened and she always seemed to be aware of her surroundings. If she hadn’t already belonged to the Lords, Teia had half a mind to bring her into House Cantori.
“Come,” she murmured. “You look like you need some air.”
Teia led her through the casino until the reached a private veranda. Usually reserved for the most high-profile contract negotiations, it was completely empty on this night. No contracts could be negotiated when so many were in their cups over their new First Talon.
Rook leaned back against the railing as Teia watched. Her coat fluttered around her legs in the breeze and the moonlight caught the many golden baubles woven into her sash.
She sat a few feet off, at the table, and continue to watch the girl.
As much as Teia could pick up on others, it seemed Rook was equally adept. She eyed her carefully. “So what’s this about?”
“You are not nearly as subtle as you think you are, Rook,” she replied easily.
She frowned. The wind picked up, throwing some of her dark hair into her face. She made no attempt to brush it aside. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve been watching Neve like a hawk all evening. It doesn’t take blood magic to know you’re completely besotted.”
After a pause, she asked, “That bad, hm?”
“And things are going well?”
Rook eyed her from behind the curtain of her hair, dark eyes betraying the walls around her heart. “Well enough.”
Teia leaned her head on one hand. “No trouble at all?”
“Say what you mean, Teia.”
She grinned. “I will if you do.”
Rook looked like she’d rather leap from the railing into the canals below. “It’s fine. We’re fine.”
Oh, child .
“Didn’t your mother ever warn you about shems, Rook?”
That seemed to break something in the other elf. There was the barest flash behind her eyes, something that, to Teia, resembled grief more than anything. Her hands gripped the railing until her knuckles bled white into her sun-kissed skin. For a moment she worried she’d go for her dagger.
After a long, long pause, Rook finally muttered, “Did your mother ever warn you?”
“Perhaps,” she answered easily. “But its good to be reminded, no?”
Teia stood easily and took up a spot beside Rook. Several gondolas floated in the canals, their occupants hidden from her sight.
“It’s not that she’s a shem, Teia,” Rook whispered. The words sounded forced, like they couldn’t fully form in her mouth. “It’s… she doesn’t fully know.”
“Humans don’t understand,” she said. “Try as they might, they do not live as we do, Rook.”
“Is that why you keep Viago at a distance?”
She smiled. “As much of a distance as I can bear. He has his hang-ups, just as I have my own. But we are more equal in this life than we might have been otherwise. I imagine it’s similar for you and Neve? As much as you might try, there is a world that has separated you two long before you were a thought in your parents’ minds.”
“I suppose.” Rook frowned. It pulled lines across her face that made her seem much older than she was. “It’s harder, sometimes. There are days when I want her to know.”
It was Teia’s turn to frown. “To know what?”
“Everything.”
She looked at the girl. Despite that steely exterior she showed to the rest of the world, in that moment she looked almost wistful.
And in a moment, it was gone. Rook looked up at her and glared. “If you tell anyone I said that I’ll deny it.”
Teia patted the top of her head. “Your secret pining is safe with me, da’len.”