I took up the empty chair beside Likh once they had left. “Is he still mad?” I asked.

Likh nodded miserably, though not without anger coloring his heartsglass. Both he and the Heartforger had been silent all throughout the meal; Likh was studiously looking down at his food and doing his hardest to not look at Khalad, to the latter’s obvious displeasure. Kalen and I aren’t the only ones arguing, I thought with a sigh.

The runic wards had been rewoven around Likh, and they felt stronger than before. “What else was I supposed to do?” the boy asha asked. “The nanghait could have killed him!”

“And he was scared that it could have killed you,” I reminded him. “How are you feeling?”

“Not too bad for someone who’s been blighted.” Likh lifted a tankard to his lips. He was never this blunt, and I quickly learned why. All asha under seventeen summers were prohibited intoxicants—though like most establishments, the regulation was waived with important clients as long as the asha was under the supervision of an older mentor. The Yadoshan council house was a far cry from a conservative asha-ka, and as the only senior asha available, I wasn’t sure I could do much more at this point. “I was fine. I knew what I was doing. Forging hearts is his expertise, but I know my own strengths.”

I laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. I’m just realizing how I must have looked and acted from Polaire’s or Althy’s point of view at your age. You do realize that he was frightened for you.”

“Yeah. But that was my own decision, right? He couldn’t have known Kalen would have fended off the daeva. I couldn’t have known what would happen if I hadn’t intervened. He keeps… He thinks that because he sees every emotion in my heartsglass, he gets to decide what is best for me!”

“He doesn’t see everything in your heartsglass,” I said quietly. “Khalad’s a very clever man and an exceptional heartforger. But sometimes his own feelings cloud his judgment and prevent him from seeing into heartsglass. He doesn’t know that you like him.”

He blushed. “And… Does he…?”

“I don’t know. He’s better at hiding his emotions than I am.”

“Well, if it isn’t the Lady Tea! Fancy meeting you here!”

I recognized the voice, but my groans were muffled as Aden, a Yadoshan trader and frequent customer of the Valerian, bounded over and enveloped me in a hug that would have given Rahim a run for his money. Balfour and Knox were directly behind him, laughing boisterously and already inebriated. “Last time I saw you was at the Dawnbreak tearoom last month. What brings you to our part of the world?”

“I’m considering permanent relocation, Sir Aden,” I said around a mouthful of arm, adopting Kalen’s proposal for the purpose of this meeting.