“They’ve all decided to stay for a few days before they return to their respective territories,” Azur informed me, cutting in. “We were just discussing the room arrangements.”

Smiling, I said, “That would be wonderful. Being here for a single night seems so short considering how long you’ve traveled to get here.”

“Or much too long,” Kaldur’s voice came, tilting his head at me as he watched my smile die, “depending on the disgraceful company we keep.”

His voice was smooth. Surprisingly gentle for his harsh words, and I realized that he wasn’t at all what he seemed.

Kythel had been right. Kaldur was the one who I’d truly have to win over, though I didn’t even know my crime to begin with. But Azur did. They all did. I was just the fool left in the dark.

“Kaldur,” Azur growled. “Enough.”

There was a lump in my throat and I grew stiff against Azur’s side.

Kaldur’s glare went to my husband. “I’m not going to stand here and pretend that any of this is right,” he rasped, that gentle voice becoming rough and raw. “You made a vow to us. To our family. To our mother.” His hand flicked in my direction. “And rather than using her blood—”

“Kaldur!” Kalia gasped as my heart pounded in my chest, my face drained of color. “Stop.”

“—to guide Aina back from Zyos, you’re fucking her instead.”

Azur began to thrum beside me, throwing off shocking heat, and I shot him a worried look, flinging my hand to his chest because I feared he’d go into a rage right there and then. Kythel stepped into the middle of the circle, shielding Kaldur’s glare from us.

Guide Aina back from Zyos?

Gods, this was who Azur had been searching for.

But what did I have to do with it?

“Outside,” Kythel bit out to Kaldur. “Now. This is not the place.”

The swish of Kaldur’s wings sounded and the heavy stride of his boots struck the stone as he left the circle.

“Azur, please don’t,” Kalia said, her voice tinged with apprehension. Her expression flew to me, desperation and worry in it, though I noticed all the siblings kept their distance, even Kythel. “He can’t go into a rage right now, Gemma.”

Azur’s gaze was pinned to Kaldur’s back, tracking him across the room.

I stepped forward, reaching to clasp the back of his neck. It took effort but I finally pulled hard enough to make him meet my eyes.

“Azur,” I said softly. There were guests looking on, surely, though I heard Kalia break away from the circle, trying to distract from it, loudly asking for a dance partner with a gleeful chiming laugh. Males stepped forward, all too eager, and she made a grand show of picking one, making the crowd laugh. “Azur, there are too many people here. Please.”

I’d watch him take down a kyriv in a rage. What would happen to this ballroom?

Kythel stepped toward us, clasping Azur’s forearm with his. Leaning close to his ear, I heard his twin murmur, “I’ll deal with Kaldur. Why don’t you take your wife and go cool off in the smoking room?”

I felt the shudder go through Azur’s body.

“I will,” came his voice, rough and raw. “Let’s go.”

Azur dragged me away from the three brothers, tracing Kaldur’s footsteps out of the ballroom. I worried that we’d run into him on the way out, but the path was mercifully clear, only the dwindling line of people waiting to get in greeted us.

Azur managed to nod at all who called out to us in greeting, and I plastered on a smile that I hoped looked convincing enough, though my hand was clutching tightly on his arm.

The room Azur led me to was down the entrance hallway and, thankfully, not very crowded.

But nothing prepared me for the haze of silvery-blue smoke that floated over my tongue when we stepped inside. I squeezed his arm, a gasp winding up my throat, when I felt heat pulse between my legs, the reaction entirely unexpected and shocking. The smoke smelled like cinnamon, warm and spicy. This was what I’d been smelling throughout the keep all evening. It was lore smoke.

That was when I remembered that it was a stimulant for humans. An aphrodisiac. Manufacturers throughout the New Earth colonies used lore in pleasure drugs and tonics and fertility treatments. They made a fortune off lore.

Gods. This was not the right time, but I clenched my jaw tight and followed Azur in.

His shoulders immediately relaxed and he released a breath in a rush. There was a Kylorr female tending a counter where we stepped in.

“Kyzaire,” she greeted, smiling through the haze, seemingly unaffected by the lore like I was, “and Kylaira. What would you like me to prepare for you?”

“K10098,” Azur rasped out. He was perhaps more relaxed than he’d been in the ballroom, but he wasn’t off the edge of the rage yet.

“Wonderful harvest year,” the female commented, chatting happily. “One of my favorites too. The season that year was abnormally warm, was it not?”

“It was,” Azur said, his tone tight.

When a throbbing wave began to spread between my thighs, I turned to Azur while the female crouched to retrieve whatever he had requested.

“I don’t know if I can stay in here,” I whispered in his ear. My hand curled into his vest. I felt him stiffen against me, a low growl reverberating in his throat, and I wasn’t sure if pleasure would help dull his rage or not. My priority was making certain he was all right and keeping him calm. What Kaldur had said in the ballroom… That was another conversation that could not happen right now.

My eyes caught on the other patrons of the smoking room. Mostly Kylorr. But I did see a couple humans from the village. A human male in particular had his hand on a Kylorr male’s thigh and was kissing his way up his neck.

Another human female was perched in the lap of a Killup, his gray skin gleaming, as he took a drag of his pipe, burning blue at the tip. I watched the human—with curly black hair and light skin—bite her lip with the imperceptible movement of her hips grinding down into him.

There were others watching, but most didn’t seemed fazed. There were two Kylorr kissing in the corner. Another older couple was laughing together. A handful of younger males, friends by the looks of it, were chatting good-naturedly around a high table in the middle of the room, pausing intermittently to take long drags on their pipes.

No one seemed to notice that we had entered the room at all, and for that I was supremely relieved. Especially when I felt my knees begin to tremble and slick arousal begin to wet my inner thighs.

The Kylorr female presented Azur with a gleaming pipe, stuffed full of dried lore.

She turned her knowing eyes to me. “Anything for you, Kylaira?”

“No,” I said, clearing my throat when the word came out a little breathless. She knew—she had to—what effect the lore was having on me, a human. “Thank you.”

Azur didn’t waste time in lighting up his pipe. He flicked a switch and the end burned blue. His hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me tight against his body, taking a steady draw of the smoke.

His shoulders released even more tension as he blew out the silver smoke, and I nearly whimpered, squirming in place next to him, trying to get relief from the punishing ache that had begun to strum through me.

“Azur,” I pleaded, biting my lip.

“Let’s go,” he rasped, leaning down to brush his lips against my temple. “I’ll take care of you.”

I thought we might slip back to our rooms.

Once we made our way back down the private hallway, however, guarded by the keepers who pulled open the doors for us, I couldn’t keep my hands off him.

Azur blew out another puff of silver smoke, one that loomed around us like a fog, and my hand went to his finely tailored pants, trying to find the clasps with my fingernails.