“Long story.”
“Sure that’s one I’d like to hear when we’ve time for it. I love stories.”
“Thank you for this, Kiara,” Breen said as Kiara packed away her tools. “Is there something I can trade?”
“Another time, but this is a welcome gift.”
“Prettiest one I’ve ever had,” she said, and made Kiara beam. “Can I ask—about Bollocks. Am I allowed to take him to the Judgment?”
Kiara glanced down at him where he sat—as he had throughout the hairstyling. “Of course, and why not, as he’s so well-behaved. Look at that sweet face.” She made kissy noises as she rubbed it, and Bollocks thumped his tail. “But I’m thinking he’s a young one as well, and like the young ones might rather be playing than sitting and behaving. Would he come with me?”
Breen looked at the way Bollocks looked at Kiara. Adoringly.
“Clearly.”
“Why don’t I take him along with me when I leave the Judgment? Then he can come play with the littles, and some of the other dogs, romp about outside.”
She smiled at Breen. “You have the gift for living things, as I do. I’ll know when he knows you call him back to you. Until then I’d enjoy him. And so would the littles.”
“You’re making all this very easy for me.”
“And sure why wouldn’t I?” Kiara’s hair gave a cheerful bounce as she turned. “I’ll let you know when I need to leave, and Bollocks and I will go have a fine time. And if I don’t see you before, I’ll see you at the Welcome.”
When she left, Bollocks laid his head on Breen’s knee. “I think we’ve made a friend at the Capital.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Kiara hurried back to her own room. She needed to put her case away, then make full certain she looked her best. Aiden O’Brian would be at the Judgment, and she wanted to add a bit of scent before she went down to take her seat—beside him.
Still, she called out greetings to any she saw on her way, and even stopped to gossip a bit with a friend over a mutual friend’s recent public row with a lover.
She laughed to herself as she stepped into her room.
Shana rose from Kiara’s reading chair.
“Well, so there you are. I haven’t seen a sign of you since yesterday—when I saw you and Loren slip away together. So were you—”
“How could you?” Fury snapped and sizzled in the words. “How dare you?”
“What—what! What is it?” Horrified, Kiara dropped her case to rush to the closest friend of her lifetime. But as she tried to embrace her, Shana shoved her away.
“You did her hair? Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Doing her hair, inviting her to the pub, chattering with that one from away she brought with her.”
“I—well, why shouldn’t I do her hair, or give her an invitation?”
“She was rude to me! She was cruel.”
“No!” Sincerely shocked, Kiara pressed her hand to her throat. “Oh, Shana, I’m so sorry. I’m more than sorry. I … She seems so pleasant, does Breen, I can’t imagine— What did she say to you? What did she do?”
This time when Kiara reached out, Shana let herself be hugged. “She thinks to steal Keegan from me, to put herself above me.”
Slowly, stroking Shana’s lovely waves in comfort, Kiara drew back. “But, Shana, you told me you’d put Keegan off, that you preferred Loren, as Keegan thought more of his duties than of you. That when he wished to pledge to you the last he was here, you realized he wasn’t for you.”
If the lies she’d told her friend bit back at her, Shana shrugged them off and viewed them as truth. “I’ve changed my mind, and why shouldn’t I? She’s no right to him, and no right to speak to me as she did. And you, doing up her hair? How can you say you’re my friend?”
“I didn’t know, did I? And … But, Shana, what of Loren? You’ve been with him and no other since … before,” she said carefully. “You told me he’s said he loves only you, and has asked for your pledge twice now.”
“Loren isn’t taoiseach, is he?”
“No.” Sorrow filled Kiara’s heart. “No, he isn’t. Here now, let’s sit.”
“I don’t want to sit!”
“I do.” Because she needed a moment. She knew how to soothe or joke Shana out of a temper or mood, but this felt different.
“You know how long I’ve wanted Keegan, and how I gave myself to him anytime he flicked a finger. That he would brush me aside for such as her? I will not have it.”