cozy room with beadboard walls and oriental rugs. It’s a little old-fashioned for my taste.
“Heya, Lark,” Ryker says. He and Maz are seated behind a card table. “Sorry I took off.”
He stands and crosses the room in five strides, until he stands inches from me. With a small dip of his head, Ryker leans down and gives me the appropriate formal greeting of a kiss on each cheek. Unlike with Tom, I feel nothing in Ryker’s presence. Not even the slightest tingling of excitement.
“Are you feeling better?” I ask.
He laughs. “I was never ill, but if I have to sit through another meal with Callum and Malin, I may develop a chronic condition.”
“I know the feeling.” I sit down on the hard, tiny couch near their game. “I’m afraid your house manager is inept. He said the two of you were in the Library.”
Ryker and Maz exchange a quick look, one I don’t think I’m supposed to see. “We were, but then he told us you were here. So we came to meet you.”
I stare at their card game. “You must play fast.”
Ryker rubs the back of his knuckles and shrugs.
“Where’s everyone else?” Kyra asks.
“It’s just Annalise and me. I think she’s assessing your security.” I pluck a canapé from the tray a maid has set down. I lift my head to say thank you, and freeze.
Miss Tully smiles down at me. “It’s nice to see you, Lark.”
My mouth drops open. I hadn’t expected to see her since Mother said Miss Tully would be part of my staff. But I guess, since I don’t have a house yet, Mother left her with Kyra.
Kyra swats the back of her hand toward Miss Tully. “You’re not to address us first. I’ve told you that a million times. Out.”
Miss Tully keeps smiling, but leaves as directed.
“Kyra, you could try to be nice,” Maz says. “They work better when you’re nice.”
She flounces in her seat before selecting a bit-sized morsel. “I can’t use magic. In my own house. Because of her.” She pops the food in her mouth. “Which doesn’t make me feel especially kind.”
I massage the knot forming in my neck. There’s no point in arguing with Kyra about treating people with kindness. “Where did you find Tom?”
Maz takes a break from inhaling a cucumber sandwich. “Ryker found him for us. He comes highly recommended. Right?”
Ryker slams a fist of cards down on the table and flashes me a triumphant smile. “He’s the best at what he does.”
“You don’t want to save the best for us?” I ask. Actually, I don’t care, but it seems a bit odd Ryker would place the best house manager with our friends.
“Ugh. Why do you even care? I’m sure Malin will find you someone even better.” Kyra yanks on my hand until I’m standing. She bats her eyes at Maz. “We’ll be right back. Don’t get into trouble, okay?”
She leads me down the hallway to the back stairs. From here, I can see Annalise standing in the foyer, scanning things with her wristlet. But there’s no sign of Tom.
We climb the stairs to Kyra’s enormous bedroom. Correction: her and Maz’s room. I pause. All my life, I’ve run in and out of Kyra’s room as if it were my own, but now it feels like an intrusion of privacy.
“Close the door,” Kyra says as she flops on the four-poster bed. “I don’t want any prying eyes or ears.”
Despite what she says, she doesn’t remove her wristlet. Which means she probably just doesn’t want Miss Tully to overhear.
I stand at the foot of the bed and watch Kyra arrange an assortment of pillows behind her. Before she starts on her one-sided stream of chatter, I say, “Tom’s weird.”
“Laaark,” she singsongs. “Are you jealous?”
“No. It’s just…don’t you think there’s something odd about him? He won’t look at me directly.”
She rolls her eyes. “No. He’s a servant. He does servant-y things. He minds his own business and only speaks when spoken to.”
With a dramatic sigh, she falls back into the stack of pillows. “Why didn’t you tell me what it felt like?” she squeals. “You left out all the good parts!”
I cringe. She wants to talk about sex. And I so don’t.
“It’s private. I don’t need to know.”
“At first I was a little scared, but that’s normal right? And then Maz was all, ‘Here, let me help you with that.’” She hugs a pillow to her chest. “Once he touched my bare skin it was all we could do to