He much liked that his queen showed no fear when he was angry.
And it was tremendously annoying.
“I would like, at least, my mother to have a say,” she told him quietly.
“I will grant that.”
Her face softened.
“The maids were doing as instructed,” he went on. “They are not overly skilled, but we will only remain in these lodgings for a short time. Finding, hiring and training new to be in our employ would be a waste of time for the two days we will stay in this cottage. Further, it would take from other pursuits and you having this boon to be in your element and enjoy it. You won’t be back here for a very long time. I will have a word with them. I will pay them from my own purse, something I should have done from the bloody beginning. And their loyalties should then revert to us. But in the end, this is your decision. If you don’t feel safe around them, they will be dismissed.”
“I was thinking of possibly giving Tril the run of them,” she told him. “She’ll keep them in line and watch them like a hawk.”
“This is your decision, so it will be.”
She studied him closely before asking, “How angry are you still?”
“Insanely.”
“My darling king,” she murmured, her eyes warm on him, her words treasured, even if her lips were quirking.
And suddenly, he was angry no more.
He uncrossed his arms, slid them around her and pulled her nearer.
Only then did Piccola dash down his chest to disappear in Silence’s hair.
“What did she say to you that set this off?” she asked.
“She told me we were not to be intimate around the maids. That it was not done in this realm, for servants to see us abed.”
Silence appeared baffled. “She came to tell you that?”
“Well, as you know, she didn’t tell you, bellezza.”
“He sent her to tell me that,” she whispered.
“Sorry?”
“If she told me that, I would hesitate to call upon the maids when we were in that state. My father knows that. And as we have to eat and need wood and the like, we have need of the servants. Father also knows if I refused freer relations with you, it would hinder said relations on a variety of levels.” She lifted one shoulder and murmured, “I hate to think this way, but I think the maids told him we were happy and enjoying each other’s, erm…company, and for whatever reason, Father sent my mother to do something about it.”
He did not think that was the case at all.
He knew it was.
“I do not think your mother is cunning enough to understand she could adhere to her husband’s demands and thwart them at the same time by taking a different tack.”
“I know you won’t believe this, but I think my mother loves both Father and I, is torn between doing what is right for the both of us, and I think she selected you to discover the measure of the man who married her daughter, for you two do not know one another well. And as you are correct, she is not cunning, she felt she could still carry out Father’s wishes either way.”
“I did not read the same, my queen,” he said carefully.
“Perhaps I’m wrong,” she mumbled.
“But you hope you’re right,” he deduced.
She scrunched her nose and gave a small shrug.
At her scrunching her nose, Mars’s good mood was restored.
Therefore, he grinned and bent to kiss that nose.
Her expression was even gentler when he lifted away.
“Whatever comes of this, continue to be wary of them, my love,” he warned. “Both of them. No?”
She nodded.
“Go back to reading,” he ordered. “I’ll deal with the maids and speak with Tril.”
“I can speak with Tril.”
“You shared this book is one you’re enjoying.”
She did not reply.
He gave her a squeeze. “Enjoy it. I’ll manage this issue, finish my work and join you after a while.”
She nodded.
Mars bent to touch his mouth to hers, which was the only thing he allowed himself to do. If he tasted her, he’d have her on her back on the carpets and there would be no reading of books.
He had no idea how the Dellish felt about such a thing.
He also didn’t care.
But Silence was enjoying her book.
That, he cared about.
Once he touched their lips, he put his to her hair before he began to let her go.
Clearly needing a change of scenery, Piccola leapt to him as he did.
“I’ll take her,” Silence said, lifting a hand.
“She can accompany me on my errands,” he murmured, lifting a hand to stroke the tiny, furry back of the monkey now grasping his shirt as he moved away.
“Only you,” he heard her whisper.
This made him turn before opening the door.
“Only me?” he inquired.
He saw she had not moved, and her eyes were on their pet before they lifted to his face.
“Only you would go to possibly sack, possibly employ three maids who were involved in a ludicrous conspiracy to destabilize a marriage then go about royal duties, all with a wee monkey in tow.”
“When we have them, if our babes aren’t toddling around the rugs underfoot in my study at the palace while I work, I will find this very upsetting.”
Something moved over her face when he spoke those words.
Something of such power, it blasted across the room, struck him in the chest, and robbed him of the ability to breathe.
Something of such importance, Mars knew he’d never forget the vision of Silence standing in that room wearing that grape-colored Dellish gown he did not like, but he liked it on her.
No.
He would not forget that vision of his wife for the rest of his life.
“You scared me,” she said in a voice so low, he could almost not make out her words.
“Scared you?” he asked in much the same tone.
“At the Necropolis. In Fire City. When you were torturing those men. And during the attack. Your ferocity. The violence you displayed that seemed second nature.”
Fucking hell.
“Silence,” he whispered.
“It was terrifying.”
He began to make a move toward her when she spoke again.
“My hands struck fire.”
“Sorry?”
“During the attack on the palace. Elena did not save me from the man who was strangling me. She hadn’t made it to me yet. I had my fingers around his wrists to pull them away, and he let go right before his hands burst into flame. I did that. I…I…it was I who did that. Elena arrived after and dispatched him, but I made his hands catch fire.”
She grew silent.
Mars stared at her across the room, his hand now cupping the monkey at his chest, and he said nothing, waiting for her to go on, freely sharing her mysteries.
“I can disappear,” she whispered this admission. “That night, in your bedchamber, when you discovered me, when you saw me, I was surprised, for when I do not wish to be seen, I can pull my shadow over me and no one will see me. This is how I could eavesdrop on King Wilmer, Queen Mercy and Carrington. This is how I went unseen at our wedding reception. You see through it, but no one else does, which I think is part of our destiny. It is my magic. It has always been my magic. And it is my secret. No one knows. Not True. Not even Tril. Not anyone, but you. But the…the…fire thing has never been my magic. Until I had you.”
His wife again grew silent.
When she did not break it as she had before, he asked, “Are you done?”
She nodded.
She then shook her head.
“I can also…hear very well. Better than anyone I know. This is also how I knew Wilmer and Mercy and Carrington were speaking about True.”
And when she again spoke no more, he asked gently, “Now, are you done, my queen?”
“I…I…you canno
t…cannot know…” she trailed off, wet in her eyes.
Mars did not prompt her.
It took everything he had, but he gave her the time she needed to offer more treasure.
As a tear slid down her cheek, she carried on.
“I have never, except True, and as best she could, Tril, had anyone who looked after me.”
His chest was burning.
His throat was burning.
It felt like every inch of his skin was burning.
“And…and…I am happy to be taking the pennyrium so we have time together and we will be at our greatest strength to defeat the Beast, but I cannot wait to give you children, Mars. The way you speak of the family we will have, I cannot wait to watch you be a father to our babes. To…to share my love for them with you. I find I long for something I never longed for. Something I didn’t know I could have, until you spoke of it. I long for what I will have with you. I long for the life I will build with you. I want it to happen yesterday, which means for the first time in my life, I am happy in my now, but even so, I cannot wait for the morrow.”
“Come here,” he growled and watched her body start. “Come, my wife. Take Piccola. Call Tril. Give her our pet and tell her to deal with the maids as she sees fit. I’ll meet you in our chamber.”
“Mars—”
“You will do this, Silence, or the maids will be sequestered for hours and Piccola will watch our activities without supervision, and she’s a good girl, but she is not yet fully trained, so who knows what she’ll get up to.”
She hesitated no further, moved to him and took their monkey.
She did not move away for he caught her with one hand on her neck.
His queen lifted wet eyes to his.
He would never wish tears in her eyes.
But for this, this emotion she shared with him, this honesty.
He cherished them.
He forced his voice to a whisper when what he wanted to do was howl with elation.
“We will discuss all of this in much more depth after I reward you for giving yourself fully to me and after I thoroughly celebrate being given that precious gift.”
Her hand fell light at the base of his throat as she breathed, “My love.”
He needed her to do as told or things would swiftly get out of hand.
“Do as I bid, Silence, or be carried from the room.”
“I quite liked it when you carried me from the room,” she admitted softly.
And thus, she was carried from the room.
The maids were sequestered longer than he’d intended.
And Tril did not give that first damn at being summoned to their chamber while Silence was lounging abed, spent, and Mars stood at the door in nothing but his ante pants.
Indeed, Tril was as she had been for the last several days.
Beaming.
And her eyes didn’t once fall to his chest.
Piccola chirruped her dissatisfaction at being taken from her mama and papa.
But Mars would have her brought back.
Later.
He’d learned his wife was docile for a period of time after an orgasm which meant he could play with her at will without having his control tested as his little wanton sought to get her fill.
And it was after he spent a good deal of time doing that, when his Silence was nearly catatonic in his arms, that he murmured, “We will discuss the Necropolis and why that is the way in Firenze at another time. Now, mia piccolina, tell me about your shadow.”
She snuggled deeper, rubbing her face on his chest, and he felt the scrape of her marital chain on his skin there, an eloquent statement that its meaning in their marriage had been fully realized.
She did this before she tipped her head back, aimed a contented smile at him—and further sharing the priceless gift of her secrets—she told him all about her shadow.
69
The Kiss
Prince True
The Antlers Pub and Inn, Five Miles from the Lights
WODELL
“We’ve got men on him all the time,” Bram reported as True, Farah and all his men sat around a table at the back of the pub over a late luncheon of sandwiches made of hearty slabs of beef with their juices soaking into the thick-cut bread.
This was accompanied by a strong ale, which True thought was needed for this discussion.
“We’ve had men search his office, his rooms, others following him,” Florian took up the thread. “They’ve found nothing. They’ve seen nothing.”
As True and Bram had just received birds from True’s mother, pressing him to return home, the men were reporting on efforts with Carrington, about which they received daily dispatches from the capital.
“He cannot possibly be acting in his own interests,” True noted. “He’s subverting my father’s reign. With this new tax, now he’s targeting Farah and me. It seems his intent is to weaken the power structure of the realm. He can’t be doing this just for jollies.”
“We’ve had a man loyal to you intercept all his missives and read them before sending them on. We’ve had men following him wherever he goes. He says nothing of concern, he meets with no one suspect,” Wallace said.
“You are sure they’ve not been noticed in these endeavors,” True inquired.
Wallace shook his head. “Not a chance. They’re skilled, True. You know that.”
He did. It would be a great surprise if the men chosen for these tasks were noted in carrying them out.
“And Carrington’s secretary?” True queried.
Wallace shook his head. “The same.”
True turned his attention to Luther. “His history?”
But it wasn’t Luther who answered, it was Alfie.
“He studied at the university in Go’Doan, True.”
True locked eyes with his captain.
“They were behind the attack in Fire City,” Alfie reminded him. “And our men in the Thicket report G’Seph disappeared somewhere along the journey from Firenze. This cannot be a coincidence.”
No, it could not.
And on the scale of where someone stood regarding the Go’Doan, Alfie had always been firmly planted in the zone where he did not trust them.
Not in the least.
“And he studied there,” Alfie repeated. “There’s nothing of concern in his background, except that. He has a mistress who he rarely visits who is paid well for services she doesn’t often render. She lives in apartments even more palatial than most accommodation at Birchlire. But this only shares your father pays him too much. As you know, we have a man on her as well, and she enjoys shopping and lunching with friends, evenings at the theater to show off the gowns she’s able to purchase. Nothing in her communications, activities or acquaintances causes alarm. Other than that, the man spends his time with his nose up your father’s arse and treating his secretary like a dog.”
Alfie leaned toward True and finished.
“He is being circumspect now, after the attack in Firenze. This is why we’re finding nothing. But whatever his agenda, it stems from his link to Go’Doan, True. I’d stake my life on it.”
These words, from Alfie, carried a lot of weight.
Therefore, True nodded to his captain and looked around the table, asking, “We have men on the temples?”
“Yes,” Bram answered. “Business as usual. Thus, I’d like to send them in for a search. Though to do that, the edict has to come from your father. That said, this is risky. If it’s done overtly, they would be aware we’re onto them. If it’s done covertly and the crown doesn’t know about it, and our man was discovered, we’d be hard-pressed to explain why we acted without the knowledge of the king. Thus, putting the realm at odds with a nation of priests who most think are harmless, but others subscribe to their beliefs.”
“And what about Gal and Brix?” True pressed on. “Any word from them? Could they infiltrate the Go’Doan temples?”
“No word. According to a pixie sent by Baldrick, they’re ‘deep under
,’” Wallace shared. “I don’t know what that means, but I can send a message to Baldrick, see if he can get one to them and set them on the temples.”
True nodded his acceptance of that suggestion, drew in breath, let it out, and sat back.
It was glaringly apparent with his recent proclamation his father would not wish to entertain a request to search the temples from True. Even if the attack in Firenze made it expedient to do so, and the Go’Doan would understand why it was done, and if they had nothing to hide, they would have no protest.
True didn’t endorse the idea that every temple and every priest in every realm should be under suspicion, watched or searched.
But that didn’t mean questions shouldn’t be asked.
And those questions should have been asked in Wodell already.
They had not.
Carrington had used Cassius’s regency to his advantage and True had inadvertently fallen in with this plan by taking this journey for Farah.
He would not change his decision about the journey for Farah.
He’d change the advisor his father trusted.
True had never been “in,” as such, with his father.
Now it was clear, in very important ways, he’d been cast out at the worst possible time for his realm.
“We have a much more immediate problem,” Florian put in. “This gold being demanded, ostensibly for your wedding, is not being taken very well. The pixies report there was a great deal of excitement in the city. Now there’s a great deal of grumbling. So much, it could turn and quickly. Against you.”
“Taxes having been raised steadily every year over the last five years, though income has not seen the same increases,” Luther added. “This addition to royal levies that had already increased this year, I’m not surprised there’s grumbling.”
“For the first time in your life, you have an image problem,” Wallace said to True. “And the first time in Carrington’s career, he’s made a subtle strategic move that will have long-lasting ramifications that will strengthen his hold on your father and his control of the throne, all this accomplished by weakening you.”
“And we know he’s raising an army,” True stated.
“Quietly, but yes,” Bram replied. “He’s dispatched recruiters across the realm, and they are at work. And it’s my understanding through missives from the queen that the king knows this and sanctions it.”
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