Sammy dragged Natalie to meet her friends. Unsurprisingly, that included Alden, the boy at the tank’s guild who had hit on Natalie as soon as she’d stepped through the door—then who had dropped her off with Sammy when Natalie had turned him down. Standio him—close enough it wasn’t a friendly proximity, but pressed into his side—was a woman with bck hair and stunning blue eyes.

  She, like most of the people here, was dressed several degrees more formal than Natalie: in a long, ging bck dress. Natalie felt the girl’s eyes craraisingly across her body, probably making judgments about Natalie’s overly casual attire—though there wasn’t any disdain on her face. Mostly curiosity.

  And … appreciativeness? Which was odd. Natalie retty sure this girl was Alden’s date for the night, so to be cheg Natalie out so btantly was … indiscreet. Natalie pretended not to notice.

  “Your hunts went well, then?” Natalie asked Alden, quirking an eyebrow. She was mildly miffed over how quickly he’d taken ihen dismissed her, but she also couldn’t bme him. He’d been on the prowl. Plus, he’d brought her to Sammy, which made up for things.

  Befiving Alden a ce to respond, she finished introduced herself to rest of the group. “Hey. Nat.”

  There was oher besides Sammy, Alden, and his date: a brown-haired boy with chocote eyes. He was surprisingly i looking—kind of like a boy version of Liz.

  “Hunt?” Alden asked, putting a hand to his chest in mock offense. “I was not on the hunt. I was simply doing my duties weling people to the guild.” His lips quirked. “And you have it wrong. This is Evie, my dearest betrothed, not a result from any alleged—totally false—‘hunts’.”

  Betrothed? Natalie repressed a twitch of surprise. These two were to be married? But … Alden had been hitting on her back at the tank’s guild. Then had Natalie given away something she shouldn’t have? He didn’t look ed, so probably not?

  And Evie, his fiancée, had also just been cheg out Natalie. Not subtly, either. It’d been a good eye-fug.

  “Alden has good taste,” Evie said, smiling at Natalie, and, like the appraisal, not in a way that left much to interpretation. It dispelled the idea that she had misjudged something. Or, she had, but not in the way she thought. “You only like girls, Alden said?”

  “Do you mind?” Sammy asked irritably. “Go find someone else tanize yross threesomes with, Evie. Not my date.”

  Okay, yeah. That expihat.

  “But, to make it clear,” Evie tinued, ign her friend’s protests, “it could be just us two. Alden would get to watch, though. It’s part of our deal.”

  “Evie!” Sammy protested.

  Natalie gaped at the two, briefly, before shaking off her surprise and taking a drink to buy time. It took a lot to fluster Natalie, but they’d do. Alden and Evie seemed amused at her rea.

  So. These two were engaged, but fih each other sleeping around. Was that normal in the capital?

  If Natalie hadn’t e with Sammy, she might have eaihe idea. Though, not with Alden watg. That’d definitely be too weird. But Evie? Natalie was ied, to say the least.

  But she’d e here with Sammy. She wasn’t ditg her date the moment someone else came along. She’d be leaving with Sammy, assuming it was what she wanted.

  “Thanks,” Natalie finally said. “But, uh. That’s ly my se.”

  “A pity,” Evie said.

  Sammy cozied up to Natalie, gring at her two friends. Natalie could’ve swore Alden wi her, as if he and Evie had prepared this exge to purposefully make Sammy jealous and move things along. Was he still wing-manning for her, like back at the tank’s guild? Why? Though maybe he was egging on Sammy, and Natalie was ial. That seemed more likely.

  Either way, she guessed she wasn’t pining. Because a cute girl tucked into her side? Worth the somersaults her brain had dorying to orient herself to this situation. Natalie subtly worked her free arm around Sammy’s waist, who leaned further into her, accepting the advance. She was still eying Alden, who seemed satisfied his efforts to have Sammy ging to Natalie had worked.

  Natalie faced the brown-haired boy. She hadn’t gotten his name.

  “Dag,” he said. “It’s o meet you. And, ignore Evie and Alden. They’re hedonists.”

  “I’ve noticed.”

  “The offer stands, though,” Evie added.

  “Evie! Seriously.” Sammy didn’t sound genuinely mad, just exasperated. By the sound of things, this was very much the standard for Alden and Evie. But a hint of annoyance had crept in.

  Dag said, “You’re a tank, right? The same as these two brutes?” He gestured at Sammy and Alden.

  For a bit, the five of them chatted, sipping at their respective drinks and exging small talk that quickly morphed to much more casual—and occasionally less appropriate—topics. It was a well established group, Natalie could tell. She was the outsider. That didn’t bother her. She slid in, in a superficial manner, without much fri, fitting into the versation with ease. The alcohol kicked in, too, making it easier. Sammy didn’t seem to be going too hard, which was fortunate.

  Soon enough, Sammy dragged her away, saying that she wanted a refill and that she wanted Natalie to e with her. They didn’t rejoin the group, though, after topping off, but instead headed for a differeion of the expansive healer’s guild hall. Not into the innards—to the actual funal parts of the guild—but away from the crowds. The music quieted down. Though, still loud, and still plenty of people around.

  “Sorry,” Sammy said. “But I was getting kind of annoyed. Evie’s actually ied in you. She’s not doing it to tease me, like she usually does.” She took a drink, muttering, “But you’re mionight. Annoying woman.”

  The firmation was niatalie would definitely be getting lucky tonight. “That’s normal for them, thee being … promised to each other?”

  Sammy bli the question. “Oh. Uh, I mean, Alden and Evie are more … open … than most. But not to, like, a crazy degree. It’s not that unon.” She pursed her lips, as if sidering whether she wao say the part. “Where are you from, anyway?”

  The question had given her away in some manner, Natalie could tell. Or, probably, it’d been clear from the start. Natalie didn’t even talk like many of her cssmates. The differences were pretty obvious. At least she wasn’t treated poorly for it. Delvers—even the aspirant ones—only cared for petence. Circumstances of birth were probably on their minds, but it wasn’t something people s. As a general rule.

  “It’s called Tinford. Way down south, it’s tiny. You haven’t heard of it. Why?”

  “Just surprised me.”

  “What did?”

  “That you don’t know the standard, I guess?”

  “The standard being … ?”

  “Evie and Alden. They’re engaged, but not together together.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s a political marriage.”

  “Oh.” Oh, yeah, that was obvious. She should’ve been able to piece it together.

  “Though in their case,” Sammy said, “they actually like each other. But they still keep their options open, like most people in their situation.”

  So that was the standard. Arranged marriages. But side retionships—even obvious ones—weren’t looked down on. That expined a few things.

  Being born into nobility came with bes, but headaches, too. Natalie sidered herself lucky shes didn’t have to deal with all that. Arranged marriages—no, thank you.

  Not that marriage was high on her priority list. Natalie had other things to be fog on. Everange css hadn’t ged that. She was looking for superficial flings. Retionships that earhat valuable resource tied to her css, and were some fun, but didn’t distract her from more important matters.

  Natalie took another drink. The warmth of the alcohol was starting to wash through her, making her rex. Not that she’d been too tense. More than she might normally be at a party, though. While familiar in some ways, this enviro wasly what she knew. Less … deliers and crystal gsses, bae. The healer’s guild was the gaudiest of the ones she’d been in. Maybe it had been dressed up for the party.

  “So they’re important, then?” Natalie asked. “Alden and Evie?”

  Sammy tilted her head. “Why do you think that?”

  “Just got the vibe.”

  “Well. Yeah, you’re right. Evie’s the daughter of Gabriel Vetter.”

  “And that is … ?”

  At Sammy’s incredulous look, Natalie rolled her eyes. “I’m from the middle of nowhere. I got an actual ‘you don’t know who I am?’ speech, earlier, if that gives you a clue.”

  Sammy seemed amused, but she also pursed her lips. “That’s dangerous, Nat.”

  “Dangerous?”

  “I like politics as much as the person, but being clueless? Not smart at Te. You maybe wiggle out of some of the drama, but only if you know enough to do so deliberately.”

  “I guess.”

  Sammy sighed. “I guess it’s up to me to save you, then. Gabriel Vetter … let’s see.”

  They were talking politiow? At a party?

  Well, Natalie guessed she did o know the basics. She ought to be grateful Sammy was willing to help. Not the ideal versation topic for a like this, but not the worst, either, and she ought to be appreciative that Sammy cared enough to give a lesson. The least she could do was listen.