I wanted Kythel to like me. Of course I did. He was Azur’s twin.

“I’m gratified to see my brother hasn’t broken you yet,” came the unexpected words.

I stiffened.

I didn’t quite know how to respond to that. Kythel’s eyes left me. They narrowed around the room, observing the couples around us, flickering to the crowd that watched us, to the musicians playing in a lonely corner.

“I’m not a wild animal that needs breaking,” I shot back, unable to hold my tongue.

Kythel’s gaze returned to me. The corner of his lip lifted in a smirk that was nearly identical to Azur’s. Seeing it made me reel.

“My apologies, sister,” he said smoothly. I nearly jerked at the familiar word on his lips. “I didn’t mean to imply that. You must understand that when I last saw my brother, he had vengeance in his soul and fire in his blood. I expected the worst when I returned to Laras this night.”

I didn’t dare breathe.

“And why is that?” I asked softly.

Kythel’s expression smoothed. He turned me expertly and I spun briefly, the room going dizzy, before he caught me again.

“There are no Kylorr living in the Collis, are there?” he asked instead. “That is where you are from, yes?”

“Yes,” I replied, breathless, wondering if I would finally discover the answers I sought from Azur’s brother—and wondering if I should feel guilty for that or not. “I am.”

“Because humans would rather raze their colonies to the ground than let Kylorr live among them,” Kythel murmured. “Especially after what happened on Pe’ji.”

“Pe’ji?” I repeated softly.

“How do you find Laras?” he asked me, changing the subject swiftly as he spun me again. On purpose, perhaps, to make me feel off balance. When I landed in his arms again, he was peering at me carefully, not out of breath in the slightest. I’d seen ancient butterflies pinned to boards in museums. Butterflies from Old Earth that had been preserved for centuries and centuries. I felt like one now. My butterfly wings spread wide, his eyes watchful, catching every twitch across my features.

“I like Laras very much,” I answered. “Everyone has been welcoming.”

When Kythel guided us in time with the music, my eyes briefly caught on Azur, listening to a Kylorr female, whose smile up at him could only be described as coy. Azur’s gaze was on me, however, and I didn’t have a moment to feel a prick of jealousy before Kythel had reclaimed my attention.

“But not my brother,” Kythel guessed. “Not at first.”

“No, not at first,” I said quietly, meeting those glacier eyes. “He wanted me to fear him.”

“Mmm. Azur is many things,” Kythel told me. “But once you have his loyalties, you have them forever. I do not need to decide if I like you, Gemma of House Kaalium.” My breath hitched. “My brother has already decided for us. I trust his judgment. I know his mind as well I know my own. So you can relax in my arms, sister. I will not bite.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. Kythel didn’t smile. Or laugh. He glided me across the ballroom, and I caught sight of Ludayn, hovering near her mother, who was chatting animatedly with Estee, the Hindras clothier. Ludayn looked beautiful tonight in her silver dress which made her midnight-blue hair shine.

What must the other brothers be like if Azur and Kythel were this intimidating?

“What are you thinking?” Kythel asked after a brief lapse of silence. I swore I heard amusement in his tone.

I said honestly, “That your mother must have been an angel with saintlike patience.”

That brought a laugh up his throat, husky and soft. So much like Azur’s that I softened because the sound made me feel safe.

“That she was,” Kythel agreed. “To put up with us and our father. Kalia was her blessing. Her reward. Perhaps Thaine too, for he never gave her much trouble.”

“Kalia has been a wonderful friend to me,” I said.

Kythel inclined his head, his eyes skimming the crowd once more, before flickering back to mine. “You’ve won her over. She told me you’re both working to restore the starwood blooms along the terrace.”

“That’s right,” I said with a small smile. Over Kythel’s wing, I saw a group of males gathering around Kalia. Azur included, who’d finally broken away from the female he’d been speaking to. I watched as Azur clasped one male on the shoulder, pulling him forward to whisper something in his ear.

Hisotherbrothers, I realized, my heart picking up speed. The remaining three of them. Kaldur, Lucen, and Thaine.

And they were all looking at me, dancing with Kythel, Azur included.

“She didn’t want to like you at first,” he told me. I frowned, turning my attention back to him. “Then again, Kalia has always had a big heart. It’s Kaldur you will need to sway the most. He won’t make it easy for you.”

“Why?” I asked quietly. I took a wild guess, a stab in the dark. “Because of my father?”

Kythel’s features darkened. I held my breath and felt my heart skip when he inclined his head. “Yes. Your father. And Aina.”

Aina?

“Did my father do something to House Kaalium?” I asked softly. “Was it a debt? Credits? Is that what this is all about?”

Kythel paused. He gentled our dancing until we stood still in the middle of the ballroom, and he regarded me with an expression that resembled caution. His gaze lifted to the group of his siblings, but I knew he was only looking at Azur.

“You’ll have to ask your husband,” Kythel finally said. “Come. They’re waiting to meet you.”

Frustration thrummed through me, but I let Kythel lead me off the dancing floor, bringing me back to Azur’s side.

My husband wrapped his arm around my waist, his wings flaring slightly behind me, giving the group of siblings the illusion of privacy in a crowded room as I drummed up a smile for the three brothers I hadn’t met yet.

“Gemma,” Azur murmured, gesturing to each brother in turn as he said, “My remaining brothers. Thaine. Lucen. And Kaldur.”

The weight of their eyes on me was equally as frightening as Kythel’s had been. For some strange reason, I’d envisioned his brothers to be younger. More like Mira’s age.

But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead, three grown Kylorr males stood before me, and my heart felt like it would pump clean out of my body with the sudden flood of nerves.

All were incredibly handsome, with sculpted features and imposing jaw lines. All were incredibly massive, towering over me and Kalia like Azur. All were incredibly daunting.

“I’m very pleased to meet you,” I said, my voice revealing none of this, smiling. “Azur and Kalia have spoken so fondly of all of you.”

Azur’s hand squeezed at my waist.

“A diplomatic response,” Thaine commented, raising a brow, giving me a smile that couldn’t quite be considered warm, but one that was infinitely better than the scowl on Kaldur’s face. “I’m sure Azur has said much worse about us.”

“Not at all,” I countered, shaking my head, feeling Kythel come to my other side. I felt tiny and small in the circle of brothers, but thankfully, Kalia gave me an encouraging grin and I saw her bump her wing into Kaldur’s, who pinned his glare above my head. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to meet all of you, but I have been looking forward to it. To putting faces to names and stories.”

All of them had different colored eyes, I realized. Azur’s were red, Kythel’s blue. Thaine had piercing green eyes that were incredibly watchful as Azur pulled me tighter against him. Lucen’s were gold. And Kaldur…his were gray. So light, like molten silver, that they almost resembled mirrors. I swore I could see myself in them when I met his gaze.

Kalia, however, shared her eye color with Azur. A blazing, fiery red, hot like her temper could be at times but warm like her kindness.

“And we have been waiting to meet you, Gemma,” Lucen said quietly, inclining his head to me when I glanced his way. “For a long while.”