3
FENELLA
Ruvon actually blushed, which made him look more like the shy boy next door than a scary ex-Doomer.
Also, he obviously wasn't Shira's hookup from last night. Or was he?
Shira hadn't explicitly said that she was meeting a human.
"Shira, can I borrow you for a moment?" Fenella touched her roommate's elbow.
Shira looked a little uncomfortable. "Of course!"
"I'll get us something to drink," Din offered.
Fenella gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you. That would be lovely."
"I'll see you all around," Ruvon said before following Din to the buffet tables.
Fenella waited until she was alone with Shira. "I was worried about you. You should have called me or texted me about spending the night with the guy."
A flash of irritation crossed Shira's eyes. "I don't recall you asking for my permission when you spent nights with Din."
The retort caught Fenella off guard. "That's different."
"Is it?" Shira crossed her arms. "How?"
"Din is in the village," Fenella countered, keeping her voice low. "Your library and your mysterious hookup are outside of it in the human world, and no one is safe out there, not even an immortal like you."
Shira's expression softened. "I forgot what you've been through. It should have occurred to me that you would panic. I'll text you next time, I promise."
Fenella's first instinct was to deny Shira's implication that she'd panicked because she was vulnerable, but what was the point when she was right?
"I'm sorry for overreacting, but I called you and you didn't answer. I also left you a voicemail. Wouldn't you have worried if you were in my shoes?"
Shira had already explained about her phone dying on her, but it was no doubt charged by now, and she'd had ample opportunity to call Fenella to let her know that she was alive.
A hint of embarrassment colored Shira's cheeks. "I saw that you'd called but didn't check the message. I was in a rush to get ready for the party, and I figured I'd see you here anyway."
"Makes sense." Fenella let out a breath. "So, how was the hookup? Worth all this brouhaha?"
Shira snorted. "Not really. He was underwhelming, to be honest, and normally, I wouldn't have spent the night, but I fell asleep."
"Humans can't keep up," Din's voice came from behind Fenella. He handed her a champagne glass, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "It's not their fault that they don't have our stamina."
Shira raised an eyebrow. "Stamina is not everything. I've tried a couple of Kalugal's men before. They had the stamina, but they lacked skills."
Fenella nearly choked on her champagne. Was Ruvon a former lover? Or perhaps he was Shira's next conquest?
Din opened his mouth, no doubt ready with a witty comeback, but then a sudden hush fell over the crowd, and Fenella turned to see what had caused it.
The Clan Mother had appeared on the podium, though Fenella couldn't recall seeing her walk through the crowd to get there. One moment the stage had been empty, and the next, Annani stood at its center, resplendent in a flowing silk gown.
"How did she do that?" Fenella whispered to Din.
"Do what?"
"Get there without anyone noticing?"
