Kissing her cheek, Pia said, “The guest room at the end of the hall is yours if you want it. If you’re going to leave, don’t leave without saying goodbye, okay? One way or another, let us know how things go.”

“I will. Thank you for everything.” Niniane hugged her tight.

Pia didn’t wait for Dragos. She wanted to be out of the way when Tiago arrived, so she headed for bed. Eva sat at the top of the stairs, elbows on her knees while she turned her cell phone over and over in her hands. She was a beautiful woman, with brown skin, bold, sensual features, and the muscled body of a fighter. Niall’s baby monitor lay on the floor beside her.

Baby monitors. That was another thing they would have to rethink in Rhyacia.

As Pia picked up the monitor and sat beside her, Eva gave her an apologetic glance. “I had no idea that harpy meant to do evil when she borrowed my phone.”

“Of course, you didn’t.” Pia watched Eva flip the phone between her long fingers. The action woke the home screen up, and she caught a glimpse of a familiar, young Elven woman with blue-tipped hair and a mischievous smile. She recognized the woman straight away. It was Linwe, one of Beluviel’s most devoted Elven attendants.

A lightbulb went off. Oh. Ooooohhh. Maybe Eva had a crush on Linwe.

Keeping her tone casual, she asked, “Remember when we traveled down to Charleston to the Elven demesne? I was pregnant with Liam and I had to pee every five minutes.”

“How could I forget?” Eva scratched her jaw, smiling. “I hated your guts back then.”

“You got over it.” She leaned affectionately against Eva’s arm. “That was back when we first met Linwe, wasn’t it? Wasn’t she part of the escort that took us into Beluviel’s Wood?”

Eva stopped spinning her phone, covered the screen with one palm, and looked at Pia sidelong. “Might have been.”

At the time, Eva had been head of the security detail charged with protecting Pia on her first diplomatic trip to another demesne. Pia said, even more casually, “You know Linwe went to Rhyacia with Bel, right?”

“Yeah. So?”

She shrugged. “Maybe you should ask her out when we get there.”

The skin of Eva’s cheeks darkened as she laughed a little under her breath. “Ask her out to what, go see a movie? Rhyacia isn’t really a place to go dating right now.”