“She needs to know, certainly, but let’s you and I discuss it first. That’s part of why Brinon summoned us, after all.”
“Has he told her or do you think Aelani believes this is just a coincidental and well-timed family visit? He’s never been in the habit of keeping secrets, but he also does everything in his power to shield her. His letter certainly made it sound as if he needed the help. You don’t think he’ll come straight here after everything that just happened?”
“Nay. I don’t think they give the poor bastard enough time to piss between audiences, let alone come all the way up here to visit his wife.”
Sarene looked up when she heard approaching boot steps and the murmur of voices. A secret smile touched her lips when she saw Jex walking a pace behind her uncles, both of whom were so deep in conversation they seemed to have forgotten him entirely. He looked bleary-eyed and tired, but in good enough spirits. The trio stopped outside a closed door and she watched her Uncle Eryk speak to the younger man for a moment, clap a hand on his shoulder with enough force to nearly buckle his knees, and disappear into her mother’s suite of rooms behind Uncle Jordin. The door closed, leaving Jex alone in the hall. He heaved a put upon sigh and rubbed at his eyes.
Rising to her feet, she advanced on the somewhat lost looking mage.
“You look a bit under the weather this morning, sir mage. Are you well?” Sarene asked sweetly, pressing the back of her hand to his forehead. He was indeed warm, but she suspected a night of carousing was more to blame for that than any illness.
“Despite being locked in with the Grand Council, listening to bureaucrats try and shout one another to death for the last several hours, I feel just fine. Thank you.” The impertinence and ready sarcasm made her want to smile. He’d been the same on his first visit and would likely prove to be as lively a playmate now as then, though she had a different, much more adult, game in mind.
“You look piqued is all, but I supposed the council can make anyone appear that way.” She spoke deliberately loud and he cringed, tugging at his high collar uncomfortably. Intrigued by something half-glimpsed, she grasped his fingers and pulled them away, then turned down the neck of his tunic and began to laugh.
“What amuses you so, Torina?” His cheeks colored as he jerked his clothing back into place and ran one hand over his hair.
“It’s not a physical ailment, nor a morning in council that plagues you,” she accused teasingly, “You had company last night. Was she satisfying?”
His eyes slid away from hers and he began to reply, some excuse or other she was sure, but holding up a hand imperiously, she cut him off.
“I guessed you might seek other entertainment after I was forced to leave you and I’m glad to see you found some. Although,” she trailed off. A frown drew her blond eyebrows together, the delicate lines like spun gold above her calculating green eyes.
“Although?” he prompted, hoping desperately for a subject change. What he could remember of his bawdy escapades the night before seemed crude now, standing before the perfectly poised Torina Sarene. They were also an unfit topic to discuss with a lady—any lady—regardless of her rank. Jex Xander wasn’t a man to kiss and tell.
“I had wondered,” she said slowly, touching one manicured nail to her painted pink lips, “if perhaps you enjoyed the company of other men.”
“What could possibly make you wonder such a thing?” His eyes had gone a bit wide, like those of a naughty little boy caught with his fingers in the pie.
She smiled wickedly. Though his voice had taken on a blustering, affronted tone, he clearly knew he’d been caught out.
“You are a very fine-looking man, Battlemage Xander, but a little too…preenish for one who solely takes female lovers. I—”
“Preenish?” He looked indignant, which only furthered her certainty about his predilections. The mage had taken offense at the insult rather than her supposition.
“Aye, preenish,” she confirmed, “As in one who spends a great deal of time on their appearance and examines themselves in every reflective surface, like a cat or a peacock. Like you’ve done several times since starting this conversation.”
He refused to answer, but his hand went to his hair again. She wondered idly if he realized how utterly transparent he was.
Shrugging, she took his arm, leading him back the way he’d come. “I don’t doubt the majority of your bedfellows are of my own sex, but you’d be lying if you denied any men had warmed your sheets. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me and in fact, I find it a little exciting. A man who knows how to universally pleasure his partner, regardless of gender, is rare indeed. I imagine you’re a favorite in Turris Arcana.”
“If you know so much, why assume my ‘entertainment’ was female?” His rejoinder was a little tart, but at least he wasn’t trying to flat out deny it.
She was so bored with the coyness of the men, and women, at court who shared his preferences.
“The, ah, lady in question is one of my chambermaids. She was quite impressed with your performance, I should add. Shall I punish her for biting you so hard? Some of those have bruised.”
His head snapped around and he looked down at her, finally meeting her eyes before blurting out, “No. That won’t be necessary.” He was relieved she seemed to only know about one of his ‘guests’ from the previous evening.
“So you enjoy it?”
“Black Goddess, that’s none of your business! Do you make a habit of listening to maids gossip about such things? I’m sure that hawk of a nurse you have would be appalled to hear such crude talk from you, young as you are,” he sniffed, taking on a haughty air to cover his embarrassment. She either didn’t know when to stop asking questions or she was deliberately making him uncomfortable. Some women enjoyed that sort of thing, he knew.
“I’m twenty-one, actually.” Her eyes glittered up at him, impious and carnal. “Not that young, and I don’t need gossip to know about what passes between a man and woman in private. As for Bana, she’s getting old. She doesn’t move as quickly as she used to and I’m clever. I’ve had my share of experience, sir mage.” She uttered this last barely above a whisper.
“Have you now?”
He sounded skeptical and his smirk annoyed her.
Sarene darted a glance up and down the hall to be sure they were alone before pulling him into a nearby alcove, one that he hadn’t noticed on his first pass. While the opening had been all but completely obscured by a rather nice tapestry depicting a mounted knight, he should have seen it. Eryk was always urging him to be more observant, more aware of his surroundings, and this felt like yet another failure on his part to do so. He still didn’t buy the argument that one couldn’t simply torch anything that got in the way and, in his defense, he’d had a lot to think about after the joyful experience of his first Council meeting. Still, he’d missed a potential threat.
Pressing him against the back wall and stepping close enough to seal their bodies together from chest to hip, Sarene reached up, wound her fingers into his hair, and forced his attention down to her with a tug.
Then her lush mouth was on his, insistent and hungry and not at all shy or inexpert. Her tongue flickered out to tease his lips and he opened them to permit her entrance, too shocked by her forwardness to do anything but respond on instinct. Of their own volition, he found his arms sliding around her waist and pulling her closer. She was well formed, with curves in all the right places, and those curves were now pressed flush against him. Her hips rolled in sinuous, sensual undulations against his own and she trailed a hand down to firmly grasp his backside.
This was a bad idea.
It was a bad idea, and he should put a stop to it immediately, but couldn’t bring himself to push her away. He wasn’t aware of any of the Imperial children being magically gifted. From what he knew of the family, Eryk was the first in generations to display more than a modicum of talent. But Torina Sarene had some kind of hold over him now, a power that bypassed his brain and grabbed him by the libido.
Lips never leaving his, she grasped one of his hands and brought it to her breast. Her fingers ghosted over the front of his trousers, teasing at the laces, and while he wanted to press into the touch, he restrained himself.
The part of his mind not currently drowning under her spell recognized this as a game and he was loathe to play without knowing all the rules. Or the stakes.
Just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. Sarene tore her mouth away and stepped back from him, crossing her arms over her chest as a triumphant little sneer turned up the corners of her reddened mouth.
“I,” Jex licked his lips and tried again. “Point taken.”
Her quiet laugh tinkled through the alcove. “We’re going to get on just fine, Jex Xander.”
He just bet they were. Eryk seemed to be right about court ladies; they would eat a man alive if he weren’t careful, but he would certainly enjoy it while it was happening. Discovering such fire in a royal daughter was both intriguing and promising, but he would have to tread very, very carefully if he chose to pursue her. Sarene was the type of woman who could turn that flame of passion into one that burned and destroyed with little provocation and even less warning. She could have him executed if the fancy took her.
At least his time at court wouldn’t be as dull as he’d first thought, not with a challenge like her.
Quick as lightning, she changed the subject. “Would you like a tour of the palace? I know you’ve been here before, but it was so long ago and the builders have been busy.”
“If you have the time, I would be honored.”
* * *
Egalion’s Imperial palace was a vast, yet well-designed complex of interconnected towers, halls, courtyards, and fine gardens. The main structure, a five storied white citadel that could be seen even at the outer walls of the city, had been erected during the reign of Tora Lynd nearly eight hundred years ago, and it stood atop the ruins of a much older fortress dating, as far as anyone knew, to the time of the Great War. Little remained of the original construction save a few subterranean rooms and a network of tunnels. Subsequent tors and toras had added their own flourishes, keeping more or less to the initial architectural style, with a few notable exceptions. These included a winding maze of rose bushes that bloomed all year round and towered to twice the height of a man, at the center of which lay a perfectly circular pool lined with red and pink stones; a gallery of bizarre and somewhat disconcerting statues that had been known to rearrange themselves at random; and an obsidian tower topped by an observatory whose walls and roof were made entirely of a transparent, shatterproof material that no one could identify. The story of the tower was that Tor Shan, Lynd’s grandson, had built it for his paramour in an attempt to keep her closer than Turris Arcana.
The interior of the palace buildings were just as exquisite as the grounds. Graceful archways, marble-paved arcade galleries with dazzling views of the gardens and city, and elegant staircases existed in abundance, while opulent furnishings, tapestries, and carpets filled the many rooms. The central hall housed the suites of the Imperial family, guest rooms, the main audience chamber, and the royal library. The Grand Council and the quarters and offices of the councilors were housed in an octagonal building with a beautiful domed atrium outside the main chamber.
Considered the greatest structural undertaking in Egalion’s history, the palace was ever changing. Over centuries of slow and ceaseless construction, innumerable craftsman and the most expert artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the kingdom and from as far away as the Keltish Isles. It was truly an aesthetic masterpiece without equal and, separated from the city of Rowan by a thick crenellated wall, it was a world unto itself.
Jex and Sarene wandered up and down flights of stairs, through corridors, and across several gardens. The torina took him to see the bath houses with a wink and a sultry smile, and even showed him the Hall of the Dead. As they passed the kitchens, he casually swiped a pair of tarts from the windowsill, only to be caught by a servant who wielded her broom with exceptional speed and accuracy despite her advanced age. Eventually forced to hop a small garden fence to escape the shrieking harpy, he lost one of the pastries in the process and was rewarded by howls of laughter from several laborers who, working on the roof, had stopped to watch the spectacle below. The men called encouragement down to the woman, but she only glowered at them, shook her fist at Jex, and retreated inside. Sarene graciously offered to split the remaining sweet with him, stifling a giggle as he picked bits of broom from his hair and clothing with one hand and juggled the crumbling tart in the other.
They ended up in the stables, Sarene confessing that it was her favorite place in the entire palace. Her mare, Clarity, was stabled within, along with several dozen other mounts that included Jex’s own.
While they stood outside Clarity’s stall, talking of nothing, a series of small, surreptitious noises and a quiet growl caught the mage’s attention. Putting a finger to his lips to silence her, he spun on his heel and jerked open the door of the next stall.
Torina Kylan tumbled out and onto her hands and knees in the straw at his feet, Astraeus bounding out after her. She blinked up at them in surprise, her mouth opening on a startled ‘o’. Hay was stuck to her gown and she had a smudge of dust on the tip of her nose.
“Kylan!” Sarene cried, stamping her foot in outrage and ignoring the eager pup bouncing around her in excited circles. “What are you doing in here? Where’s your nurse?”
“I’m not a baby, Sarene. I don’t need a nurse all the time!” Her expression changed to one of uncertainty and she looked at Jex. “I was bored, and lonely. I saw you coming and so I hid, because I thought, since you were with Sarene, you’d send me away if you saw me.”
“And you were right.” Sarene sniffed and folded her arms. “Listening to private conversations is very unbecoming to a torina. I should tell Mama. You know she doesn’t like it when you do this.”
“No!”
The two sisters glared at each other. Astraeus returned to his mistress’ side and whined softly. Kylan buried one hand in the fur at the scruff of his neck and scratched him distractedly.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Jex cleared his throat. He put out a hand and pulled Kylan to her feet, helping her brush away the clinging debris, and patting the dog’s head once or twice. Sarene threw up her hands.
“You shouldn’t be out here alone. Come along and we’ll take you back inside.” She started towards the open stable doors.
Kylan put her hands on her hips. “No. I don’t want to go inside. It’s hot in my room and Nurse is no fun today.”
“You’re going in.”
“I’m not!”
Jex interrupted before the argument could escalate. “She doesn’t have to go. I don’t mind her staying, if you don’t.”
“Well, I do!” She rounded on him in fury. “I have no intention of spending my afternoon with a baby and her smelly dog clinging to my skirts. If you want to, that’s your own business.”
Jex looked just as startled as Kylan had a moment before. “Come now, Sarene—”
“Don’t patronize me! I cannot and will not tolerate their presence. If you’re going to insist she stay, then you two are welcome to each other. I’m going inside to find more suitable company! Come and find me, sir mage, when you’re done playing with children.” She stormed away and they watched her go.
“Well that was certainly uncalled for,” Jex commented after a few moments, “Is she always like that when she doesn’t get her way?”
“Yes. She never wants me around.” Kylan scowled at the swiftly-retreating back of her sister. “She says I stole Mama from her when I was born, and I sort of think she hates me.” Her scowl melted and tears welled in her doe-like eyes. Astraeus leaned his head against her leg with a mournful sigh.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jex countered, “No one could hate you.” He reached out and rubbed his thumb against her cheek, catching the single tear that fell. She gave him a wavery smile.
“You really don’t mind if we stay with you?” The little girl sounded hopeful, fit to break his heart.
“Of course not. You seem to be more pleasant company than your sister just now, anyway.” Jex shot an acid look in the direction Sarene had gone. True, the little torina’s spying had been clumsy and impolite, but the older girl’s explosion of temper had been a severe overreaction. There was nothing wrong with a healthy dose of curiosity, after all.
Kylan sniffled and hugged him, arms wrapping around his waist and squeezing tightly. A little startled by the act, he quickly recovered and returned the embrace, rubbing her back with one hand. When she stepped away a minute later, her tears had vanished. She seemed to be as naturally cheerful as she was affectionate and he suspected, if the eavesdropping had been any indication, mischievous as well.
“Is your horse here?” she asked brightly, her brief unhappiness clearly forgotten.
“He is indeed. Would you like to meet him?”
“Yes, please!”
Kylan and Astraeus followed Jex down the wide cobblestone row. Horses of all sizes and colors poked their noses out of stalls and whickered at them as they passed. Stopping before a stall near the very back, Jex tapped on the wooden half door and clucked his tongue. The blood bay stallion within whinnied and kicked at the door with one hind hoof, making Kylan jump and back away. Astraeus growled softly, hackles raised.
“That’s enough, you,” Jex scolded. The horse turned around and put his head over the door, butting it playfully into the mage’s chest. Jex stumbled back a step, laughing, and ran a hand over the velvety nose. The animal blew out a short breath and rested his chin on the mage’s shoulder.
“He’s very big,” Kylan said in a small voice, “Does he bite?”
“Not anyone I don’t tell him to. Isn’t that right, Phetos?” the mage cooed. The stallion snorted and tossed his dark mane, then began nuzzling Jex’s tunic for hidden treats. Discovering only empty pockets, he nipped his owner and Jex let out a startled yelp. The smack he gave the animal was met with bared teeth and narrowed eyes.
The torina giggled. “You named your horse after the hero in Absent Winter?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.” Jex turned to her, surprised. He shoved Phetos’ head away from his own with a grumble and another warning to behave. “How did you know that?”
Kylan gave him a lofty smile. “I read a lot.”
She produced a cube of sugar from her pocket and offered it up to the animal. He lipped it delicately off her flattened palm, whiskers tickling her small fingers.
“I think you’ve just made a friend for life.” Jex crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, well out of biting range. He kept a watchful eye on Phetos as he spoke. “What else do you read?”
“Everything,” she answered, reaching up to scratch under Phetos’ chin, “I liked Absent Winter, but Dragons in the Mist is my favorite. I’ve read it three times.”
“’There is no adventure so great as that in a book. If a traveler cannot enjoy the journey over and over again, and find something new each time, there is no use in reading at all‘,” Jex quoted.
“E.N. Moranscote,” Kylan supplied at once.
He squinted at her in mock suspicion. “Aren’t you nine?”
“Almost ten!”
“I didn’t read Moranscote till I was twelve.”
“Mama likes him and she reads to me at night, or at least she did before she started getting so tired. She taught me to read when I was…” she considered, then shrugged. “I don’t know, but I was little. I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t read.”
“You live in the perfect place, then, little torina. The Imperial library is unrivaled.”
“You can call me Kylan.”
He sketched her a quick bow. “And you may call me Jex, if you like.”
“Does Turris Arcana have a library, Jex?”
“It does, though not so grand a one as yours.” His quiet exhale was one of longing. “A deficiency I mourn most regularly.”
“Did you bring any books from there?”
He produced a slim volume from within his tunic and showed it to her. Giggling, she dug into a pocket of her skirt and pulled out a book of her own. Jex caught the half-eaten apple that tumbled out after it and tossed it to Phetos, who began crunching contentedly.
“I overheard Sarene talking about a tour. Did she take you to the library?”
Had the little girl been following them from the beginning? He dismissed the idea even as it came; he’d have seen her, or at the very least, heard her or Astraeus at some point.
As if reading his thoughts, she answered the unspoken question. “I was coming out of Mama’s room when she offered to show you around. I know how much she likes the horses, so I figured you’d end up here eventually. I came in and waited.” She put her book away. “How did you know I was here, anyway?”
“I heard you moving in the straw, you sighed once, and the door creaked when you leaned against it,” he answered without hesitation, “The little noises will give you away every time, and so will the dog.”
Kylan looked crestfallen. “Oh. I thought I was being really quiet.”
He patted her shoulder in consolation. “Lurking without being discovered is a skill that takes practice and patience to learn.”
“Do you know how to do it?”
The smile he gave her was enigmatic. “I might.”
“Want to see the library?”
“Lead on.”