a shop that catered to IEP contractors and dumped three heaping teaspoons into his cup.
“Wow. You have the tastebuds of a six-year-old apparently.”
Soren laughed, the rich sound of it breaking down my barriers just a little more. He really was a nice guy. Totally unassuming and unpretentious. Not at all what I’d expect from a prince.
“So, tell me a little about Dylan. Where did you come up with that name? I can’t say I’ve ever heard it before.”
“I guess you wouldn’t have,” I replied, the thought of home and the music making me smile. “He’s actually named after a musician from back home. Bob Dylan. He was my sister’s and my favorite when we were kids.”
“Never heard of him.”
“I’ll have to play you some of his songs sometime then.”
A slow smile crept over Soren’s face. “I’d like that.”
I stared at him for a moment, then worried that he might start asking questions about my sister, so I quickly changed the subject. “Do you have any siblings?”
I knew he did. Even though I didn’t keep close tabs on the royal family, I was at least aware of them, but I wanted to keep him talking so he wasn’t so inclined to ask questions. Plus…his voice.
“I have two brothers, Aiken and Niall. I’m the middle child.” The way he smiled told me he had a great relationship with both of them. “Aiken is my younger brother. He’s often away at grad school, but he’s actually home right now for a visit. Niall, of course, is my oldest brother, the crown prince. He and his wife, Brittany, have one child, Carlin, who just turned seven months old.”
“That’s awesome,” I replied, thinking that he must be a wonderful uncle. “It must be nice to have a big family.” It was just Dylan and me now. My parents had died several years back before I joined the IEP.
“It is,” he agreed, nodding. “They’re pretty great. And then of course I have my found family as well.”
“Found family?”
“You know, you have your family you’re born into, and then those that you choose. Fortunately for me,” he said with a grin, “I like them both. I’ll have to tell you all about the others another time—they live on different planets—but it’s like having one big extended family.”
Family… Soren seemed to have that in spades, and it made me think about just how much I missed having that too. I missed June terribly. It was like an ache in my chest that never quite went away. Just today, I’d called her Holopad to hear her voicemail greeting. It was the last connection I had to her, other than Dylan. Hearing her voice was always heartbreaking, but I feared the day that I would call and find that it had been disconnected and I would never hear her again.
I cleared my throat, sobering at the thought. It was a good reminder that I needed to keep my head clear. I liked Soren a lot, and he wasn’t at all what I’d expected, but he was a major distraction from what I was trying to accomplish.
The only thing that mattered now was Dylan and seeking justice for June’s death—even though I still hadn’t found any hard evidence these past months that something was amiss there, I felt it in my gut. Her death hadn’t been accidental. And with her final warning to me that I should never trust an alien, I need to be on my guard when it came to Soren, no matter how friendly and charming he seemed to be.
The click of Soren’s teacup on the saucer brought me back to the present moment.
“I should be going,” he said, his gaze locking on mine once more. Something in the swirling silver depths caught me off guard, like he was trying to figure me out. “I would really like to see you again sometime. Perhaps since you’ve introduced me to your teas, I could take you for some ploshk. Have you had any since you’ve been here? It’s a local Hollander drink known for its energizing properties—all the effects of caffeine minus the jitters. You might find it too sweet, though.”
He watched me expectantly, and yes was just on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to agree, badly. I wanted to see him again, spend more time getting to know him. For whatever reason, I was irrationally drawn to him and wanted to be close to him.
But that would be about the stupidest thing I could have done.