table. “Meet Cass, Seb, Jeremiah, and Lysa, the others I told you about.”
Hinna stiffened at my side, no doubt because Addie had announced all their names without their permission. But humans, I suspected, didn’t have the same aversion to introductions with their given names as Dakkari did.
Thankfully, Addie had used my title or else Hinna would’ve fallen over in shock—and then probably reported it to Kiran.
My eyes trailed over the humans, attaching their names with their faces. I smiled at all of them, lowering my head in respect.
Cass and Lysa were the two females of the group. Seb and Jeremiah were the males. In fact, Lysa and Jeremiah looked to be mated as they were leaning into one another, Jeremiah’s arm slung around Lysa’s shoulders. They were an older couple, with greying hair. Jeremiah was the male I’d seen when I first arrived.
Cass was younger than Lysa and Jeremiah, though I guessed she was ten or so years older than me. She was just beginning to grey and she sat quietly at the end of the table, looking at me with suspicion, though she returned my nod when I glanced at her.
Seb looked to be a little younger than Cass. The lines of his face were weathered, his skin dark. Like Gabe, he looked strong but lithe, so unlike the brute strength of Dakkari males, the corded muscle and hefty bulk that I’d seen all my life.
All the humans inspected me just as curiously as I inspected them. No doubt, Addie had told them about me, about what we’d discussed in my voliki.
“And this is my mate,” Addie said, as if it weren’t obvious enough. She patted the Dakkari male’s bulky shoulder, stroking the smooth flesh there. “He is a darukkar here.”
In Dakkari, I murmured a greeting to him, lowering my head in respect for his title, which he mirrored.
“Come, sit,” Addie ordered, earning her a murmured word from her Dakkari mate in reprimand. She wasn’t allowed to give me orders. I answered only to the Vorakkar but I didn’t take offense. Still, she flashed a look of apology to me. “Will you come sit and eat? Both of you?”
“Lysi,” I said, casting a look at Hinna. “We will. Unless you wished to sit with your lomma.”
Hinna bit her lip and shook her head. “We can stay here, mokkira.”
I nodded as Gabe stood from his stool, shuffling around stools at the end of the table to bring two empty ones over. He flashed me another grin, taking my hand, catching me by surprise.
“Kakkira vor,” I murmured, a little confused as he helped me sit. Hinna cast him a look of disapproval, her spine straight, as she sat in her own stool.
All the while, I felt Kiran’s burning gaze. When I flashed a look up at the dais, I saw his darkened expression around the bikku that was currently refilling his goblet of fermented brew.
My own goblet was pushed in front of me and I took a sip as platters were shuffled down from the end of the table so we could eat.
“You don’t water yours down?” Addie asked, chuckling.
I frowned in confusion before I realized she meant the brew.
“Nik. Why?”
Hinna took a sip from her own goblet as I set mine down.
“It is pretty strong stuff for humans,” Gabe said next to me, leaning closer until our shoulders bumped together.
“Is it?” I asked, my gaze meeting his. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve had it nearly all my life.”
Gabe blinked, his cheeks going a little red, the color matching his hair. Even though the other humans had probably watered theirs down, we were a little late to the feast, and the way his eyes shone told me that he’d probably had a goblet or two of his own already.
“What is it?” I asked him, watching that flush bloom across his skin in a way that reminded me of my apprentice, Essir, when he spoke with Hinna.
He shook his head, the dark curls brushing the tips of his ears. “Nothing. You’re just very…”
“Very what?” I asked, frowning, wondering if I’d done something wrong.
“Beautiful.”
I swallowed, nearly rearing back. It was on the tip of my tongue to deny his words. I’d never been called ‘beautiful’ in my life. The compliment was thoroughly strange, especially when I’d grown up in a Dakkari saruk, where I had always been different, been strange-looking.
Discomfort flooded my belly even though I was pleased with the compliment. My gaze flashed up to Kiran again—his jaw was tight, his eyes pinned