Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 131: Hidden Horns

Caera Denoir

My eyes darted around the family meeting room, and I immediately felt a dash of dismay as I realized Sevren wasn't there. But someone else was meeting with Lenora.

A lithe, handsome man in sleek, elegant clothing had turned to look at me with an inscrutable expression. My eyes caught on his well-groomed reddish-blonde locks, which were pulled back into a neat tail. There was a single streak of deep red that faded to an almost pinkish silver that wove through his hair. His eyes seemed to simmer like hot coals.

On his breast was a sigil I recognized almost immediately: that of Named Blood Daen.

Toren Daen, I quickly realized. He was the man reports said my brother had been accompanying for the past few months. His hands were clenched tightly behind his back, and from the set of his jaw, I imagined whatever talk he was having with Lenora was not going well.

"Ah, Caera," Lenora said, feigning welcome. But I'd known her long enough to sift through her mask to see her alarmed irritation at my intrusion. "I was asking our guest about your brother, true. But right now–"

Toren took that opportunity to quickly take something from his pocket. A piece of folded paper appeared in a blur, and he held it out to me. "Lady Caera?" he said quickly, cutting Lenora off. "Sevren's told me a lot about you. Your brother asked me to pick up a bit of the equipment he left behind. Do you know where this mana-tuned fluid resonance dissector toolkit can be found?"

I took the paper from Toren hesitantly, reading the lettering. It was written in Sevren's dry tone and handwriting, and it described accurately where to find this toolkit. I chanced a look at Toren again. His eyes quietly asked for my help.

"I know where that toolkit is," I said, taking a risk. "If you follow me, I can take you to it," I added, holding the paper to my chest. "You can tell me what Sevren's said about me on the way. Deal?"

Toren's eyes displayed quiet gratitude as moved toward me, distancing himself from my predatory adoptive mother.

"Caera, dear," Lenora said sweetly, "aren't you still preoccupied with your training? Do you have the time to do this?"

I looked at my adoptive mother's pinched expression. By barging in, I'd inadvertently ruined whatever trap she'd maneuvered Lord Daen into, but that didn't mean she was going to let us go without a fight. "My mentor left a while back," I said diplomatically. Scythe Seris had left in a bit of a rush not long ago, leaving me tired and worn from our sparring. She'd claimed she needed to speak to Corbett about something critical, but that wasn't important right now. "And I heard from Taegan and Arian that something related to my brother came up. So I came here to see if there was anything I could do, and it seems I can," I said, turning slightly and gesturing to Toren with the paper. He began to follow me, but Lenora raised a hand holding a sealed envelope.

"Lord Daen," she said with a hint of concealed exasperation, "I believe you'll appreciate this," she continued, handing him the letter. A wax stamp of Highblood Denoir kept the letter closed. "I hope we can talk again. It takes a lot to gain the interest of my son, so I hope you understand my own intentions in offering this invitation."

Toren reluctantly pocketed the letter, bowing ever-so-slightly. "Thank you, Highlady Denoir," he said. I saw Lenora's interest in how little respect he deferred to her. "I promise I'll read this soon."

Lenora looked at me with a bit of disappointment as I led Lord Daen out of the meeting room. We both knew I had a bit of a problem with respecting her authority, but this was the first time I'd abruptly barged in on a meeting with another Blooded representative and hijacked her discussions.