Kaiyah’s cheeks flushed as Variel reminded her to take her time. She could feel the warmth in her face, like the hot midday desert sun was still above her. She nodded politely and took her leave to gather the refreshments.<br/><br/>Lady Azarine walked slowly next to Variel as he led her to the gardens. She had lived her entire life in Bijaff and had never seen gardens as green or as beautiful as these. The Lady let a hand, wrapped in a fine black silk glove, brush against a dangling green leaf of a flower. Her father grew these as well. “Mishum lilies?” she asked to herself as much as to him. The plant was greener than even the jade her father sometimes traded in. Her eyes traced their way up the plant to the blooming purple and white swirl of flower petals. “I’ve never seen them grow so tall.”<br/><br/>She found herself hedging, delaying as he led her deeper into the garden. There were many things she wanted to ask. The society ladies had gossiped much about him, but she knew better than to give in to idle small talk—it was the mark of small minds, her father had always told her. And she knew better than to ask overbearing, penetrative questions. She had been trained in the courtly ways of highborn ladies, knowing the rituals and the etiquettes of social niceties, but something about Variel disarmed her; made her withdraw into herself as they walked in that beautiful green garden.<br/><br/>“Lord Sunshadow,” she began, her voice trembling lightly over the words. She had felt confident until entering his garden, seeing the beauty of his home. “I have a request of you.” She could feel the tremble running through her as she spoke, no longer only in her words, but in her fingers and her knees.<br/><br/>But she didn’t know how to ask. How do you ask a thing like that? Ask a man you hardly know to walk into danger for you? Lady Azarine flattened her hands on the front of her dress and took a deep breath. The muscles of her neck stretched as she prepared herself to be soundly rejected.<br/><br/>“My father—my<em>family</em>has lost a treasured antique. An amulet, to be sure. Oh, Lord Sunshadow, it is centuries old, you see. Taken by a rapacious brigand. A man who we—who<em>I</em>foolishly trusted. A man who—” She could feel herself becoming flustered as she spoke. Her cheeks felt warm, her throat tight. She tried to calm herself with a deep shuddering breath. “This brigand, he stole this amulet and fled east to Jilan, where I believe he still is, but won’t be for long. I know we have no history, and you have no relationship with myself, my father, or my house—but … Well, Variel—if I may call you that—you have a reputation among the ladies.” Her heart beat powerfully in her chest. She felt so foolish, so ridiculous! She had never had trouble speaking to men before, but there was something in his presence that made her head feel light and airy.<br/><br/>“And I thought perhaps you might be the sort of man I could rely upon to help me,” she said, her voice quiet and light.