Starna looked like a princess.

  The fact that she was wearing my mother or aunt’s formal dress helped, but not much. I wasn’t sure how she’d curled her straight, brown hair in the twenty minutes that she’d taken to shower and change, but she walked out of the spare room looking like she was ready to charm a nation.

  “What?” The beautiful Elf touched her face. “Did I miss a spot?”

  “No.” I chuckled and offered her my arm. “You look amazing.” I patted her hand after she linked her arm with mine. “You could get young men to go to war for you looking like this.”

  “We already did that.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “I’d rather not do it again.”

  “Same.” I grimaced as we walked out to find a carriage waiting for us. The Elf driver opened the door of the black vehicle so that we could climb inside.

  Starna sat next to me, facing the driver that we couldn’t see, and looked at the weapon on my back. “Are they going to let you take that into the theater?”

  I waited until the door to the carriage closed, then looked at my date. “Unless they have Camadt bouncers…” I remembered my brother, who was supposed to meet us there. “If they let us in.”

  “Why wouldn’t they…” Her face fell. “You think your brother is going to make a scene.”

  I sighed. “Think is a generous term.” I leaned back in the leather seat. “Vin didn’t grow up around other Camadt, but he still bares all of the prejudice that everyone has against them.” I shook my head. “He acts like it doesn’t bother him, but instead of rising above it, he leans into it.”

  “Like?” Starna shifted so she could look at me without having to twist her head.

  “Pranks mostly. Whizz taught him the art of practical jokes, which was one of the reasons there is almost no magic on the ship.” I snorted. “You think kid tantrums are bad, think about what a Camadt can do when touching a thousand gold piece of navigating gear destroys it.”

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  The Elf touched the brown pouch that she’d tied around her wrist. It was just big enough to fit in her hand, but inside I knew she had a moonstone. She was storing magic in it to use while we were on New Kazat since the constant exposure to the magic voids would leave her drained.

  “Don’t worry, he’s not going to break that as a bad joke.” I touched her hand. “Dad started making him pay for everything he broke.” I chuckled as I remembered some of the jobs that dad had found for him. “And he knows that what he does now reflects on the kingdom, but he’s definitely going to use the inclusivity that Lessa is promoting to rub it in the Elves' faces.”

  Starna chewed on her lip as she thought. “No modern conveniences must be hard. I never really thought about it since your brother is the first Camadt I’ve seen.”

  “Some really old people, or the ones just deported here have told me stories about how out in the universe, the Camadt use electricity to power their devices like we use magic.” I shrugged. “Something about our world makes it so that those devices don’t work here, but…” I grinned. “When we get to New Kazat, you’ll see that the Camadt are really good at finding ways around even natural restrictions.”

  “Aren’t all of those devices restricted?” Starna looked out the window, then back at me. “Arkun tried sending spies one time. The Camadt sent a letter back that read ‘Send more. Those tasted great!’.” She shuddered.

  “We’ve been there twice and getting around wasn’t a problem. Once my dad demonstrated that he was raising Vin and me as sons and not slaves, they were a lot more receptive the second time.” I shrugged. “So don’t worry. As soon as they know you’re with us, we’ll be able to do some sightseeing.” I waffled my head. “But we should probably find Master Krav first.”

  “Why would the Camadt let a Master Mage in their country?” Starna figited with her pouch as she thought about the Grim. We’d met him briefly while trying to rescue Alessa and while his race frightened most people because of their exoskeleton, which made them look like living skeletons, he was very pleasant and had helped us as much as he could considering he was the representative of another country. “They hate mages.”

  “But the Nevnua don’t.” I wondered what the Rhino race had discovered that required the attention of one of the strongest mages in Tefira. “Let’s just hope it’s not too serious.”

  The wagon came to a stop and I opened the door. The driver scowled at me, but his displeasure at not being able to hold the door for me was eclipsed by who was waiting for us in front of the large building.

  Leaning on one of the large white pillars was my brother, dressed in a suit with all the works, vest, tie, belt, shoes, and a couple accessories that I’m sure had been enchanted before he got them. Threaded around his arm was a woman that was probably older than our father even though she looked the same age as Starna. She’d fought in the Great War four hundred years ago and just seeing her made the blood coin in my pocket warm.

  My brother’s date was the Vampire matriarch, Pera Glynot.

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