Richie turned to look at me again with a very deep frown, as if I had said something rude. And just when I was about to regret it and apologize, he burst out laughing.
“In love with Lai?” he said, and his voice sounded thick and hoarse as he let out the next laugh—it seemed to amuse him more each time he thought about it. “Nothing like that! All of us have been friends since we were very young—I’d say since we were nine or ten—but Nika has known Lai since they were babies. Hans was Lai’s caretaker when he was a child and later became his mentor—he was the mentor of all of us. Nika has always thought of Lai as a star or something like that; she adores him, but she doesn’t love him. A person in love has a special scent. She is… like that tomboy sister we would all like to have: she has too
