Page 67 of Dark Destiny: The Fates' Bargain

"We should." He was still regarding her with that heat in his eyes that was making her weak in the knees.

Once everyone had plates piled with food, people sat in the groupings Mattie and Anita had prepared and got busy eating and chatting, and for a while it was perfect. But then things started to unravel.

Even though the Eight weren't sitting together, their synchronized movements were very notable. They all lifted the same hand to their mouths at the same time, put it down in the same manner, and reached for a glass of juice at the same time.

The mothers began to notice that there was a slight delay before their sons answered their questions. Sullha saw it in theirquestioning expressions and looks exchanged between Zohara and Baruha across the tables.

Then Bianca swept her arm out, toppling her cup, and as the cup skidded and tipped off the table's edge, the two soldiers nearest to her moved at the same instant, two hands shooting out in perfect mirrored symmetry, and one caught the cup a hand's width from the floor while the other was already there beneath it. Not a drop had spilled.

Bianca laughed and clapped.

Rohilah thanked them.

But Mirumah's eyes moved from one soldier to the other and narrowed. And Karina, who missed nothing, set her fork down.

Sullha was the only woman in the room who knew the why, and it was lodged under her sternum like a stone. It was only a question of when the seams burst open.

She got up and went to the side table where the coffee stood, mostly because Yaaf was there, refilling his cup.

"They are starting to notice," he said quietly without looking at her.

"They need to be told."

"I know." He took the cup from her and refilled it. "You said you had a list of questions for me."

She laughed under her breath. "If I start on the list, we will be here until tomorrow. I'm saving them for a real visit. When we have some privacy."

He looked around the room. "This is probably all the privacy we will have as long as we are here and the visits are supervised."

He was most likely right, and it made her heart sink because she'd imagined them spending time alone with each other.

She turned the cup in her hands. "I'll ask you one. The smallest." She looked up at him. "You are smiling in the photograph on my phone. You almost never smile. Who took it and chose to put it in the directory?"

Something eased in his face, a relief because it was really an inconsequential question.

"Bowen took our pictures and told me to smile for you."

"Sullha!" Mattie's voice sailed across the room, bright and terrible in its timing. She needed translation for something, and she needed it now.

Yaaf's smile saidlater.

Sullha crossed the room to Mattie.

"I need you to ask if any of them have allergies. There are nuts in the cake."

"I've never heard of anyone with allergies in the enclosure. But I'll ask."

As she'd expected, no one had any known allergies, or even knew what allergies were. There was no word for that in the island's tongue.

Mattie started cutting the cake.

"We were given special training," Yaaf suddenly said, seemingly to no one.

Mirumah, who was sitting with Dumuz on the other end of the room, turned to look at him with a frown. "Why did you answer for my son?"

Yaaf winced. "My apologies. I'm usually the spokesman for our group. It's a reflex to answer questions no matter which one of us they are directed at."

Mirumah still seemed troubled. "How could you have heard my question over all the noise in here?"