by Kelly Hunter
‘Have you met my father?’
‘Only briefly, Your Highness. He came to view the work of the stonemasons. He didn’t stay long.
‘He tends to leave things to Augustus these days. Do you have family?’ Moriana asked.
‘No, Your Highness. My mother died in my early teens and I have no brothers or sisters.’
‘And your father?’
Sera paused. ‘He is unknown to me.’
‘It’s just...the accord says you are of noble bloodlines.’
‘My mother’s ancestry,’ said Sera. ‘The Order traces its bloodlines through the female.’
‘How unusual,’ murmured the other woman. ‘And when you leave here, once Augustus marries and gives the country an heir, what will you do? More courtesan work? Or do you get to become something else then?’
‘There are many forks in my road. Some of them lead to high places and some of them don’t. I have contacts the world over and a good education. The opportunities available to me after I’ve discharged my duty here are truly limitless.’
They’d reached the round room doors. Sera opened them and stood back to allow Moriana to enter. Augustus had not cared for the artwork on display or the comforts on offer; he’d barely glanced at them. Perhaps his sister would show more interest.
Moriana stepped inside, her gaze instantly drawn upward towards the sunlit glass dome. ‘It’s still stunning, that roof. But the sun doesn’t always shine in Arun. I grew up here and I should know. Are you warm enough in here?’
‘There’s oil heating in the side rooms and alcoves for when the sun doesn’t shine and warm the stone in the central dome. It’s enough.’
‘And far too big for just one person,’ murmured Moriana. ‘In times of old, how many others would have attended you here?’
‘Dozens, Your Highness. But the Lady Lianthe will visit on occasion. And others might also venture here, with your brother’s permission. Friends and tutors, other members of the Order.’
‘How many members of the Order are there?’
‘That I couldn’t say. But I’ll show you where the journals are. By your leave, I’ll make myself presentable while you look at them.’ Sera was very aware of the sweat on her skin and the sawdust still clinging to her trousers.
Moriana nodded. ‘Shall I ring for tea?’
‘I don’t ring for service, Your High—’
‘Call me Moriana.’
‘I don’t ring for service, Lady Moriana. I’m the one who serves.’
‘Then we shall both serve ourselves,’ said Moriana easily. ‘You get clean; I’ll make the tea. Shall I sit in the middle of the room once I’ve explored the art on the walls and discovered your journals? Is that appropriate?’
‘Of course. The journals are in the glass case in the library alcove. They can’t leave here, nor can they be copied. You’ll understand why once you begin to read them. Of the other books in the library, I’ve left some on the table that might be suitable to place on display in the palace reading rooms and libraries. I haven’t forgotten your earlier request.’
A visitor, finally, and an important one. Sera shed her clothes and combed out her hair. Not as swiftly as she would have liked, but it couldn’t be helped given the state of her ribs. Nothing broken, no, but there was bruising already and had she been alone she’d have iced the area. As it was, she took a soft cotton scarf and wrapped her torso tightly and wished for painkillers. Maybe she’d find some later, but right now she had Moriana of Liesendaach to make welcome.
Sera chose a simple linen tunic and stretchy leggings to wear over her makeshift bandage. Loose enough to hide the torso wrap, embroidered enough to show her respect. She wound her hair into a bun, slipped her feet into backless high heeled sandals and swiftly applied eyeliner, mascara and soft, moist lipstick.
By the time Sera returned, almost ten minutes later, Moriana was standing at the edge of the floor tapestry that had so captivated Augustus, a fragile porcelain cup in her hand.
‘This is quite something,’ she said as Sera approached. ‘Does it tell a story?’
‘It’s a request wheel, my Lady Moriana. You arrive and sit where you will, according to need, and I will see to that need.’
Moriana froze, her cup of tea halfway to her lips.
‘Your brother doesn’t like it,’ Sera added. ‘I think he found the whipping scene somewhat confronting.’
‘Uh-huh,’ his well-spoken sister said with a blush. ‘So he’s supposed to come in and choose his...’
‘Fix,’ suggested Sera. ‘Yes. Having said that, he’s been here exactly once and refused a seat. Perhaps he just needs to get used to it. It saves quite a lot of time.’
‘Uh-huh.’ No more tea for Lady Moriana. She returned her cup to the saucer she held in her other hand and walked a slow, rapt circle around the tapestry. ‘There’s an orgy scene.’
‘Yes. If you don’t mind me saying so, you Arunians do seem a little repressed.’
Moriana smiled faintly. ‘Perhaps. Do you have a favourite scene?’
‘I like reading aloud to people.’ She’d learned that particular skill while tending to the children of the High Reaches. ‘I like spirited intellectual debate and reasoned argument, so I quite like the conversation scenes too. As for the sex scenes...’ Chances were she’d like those too if she ever got a chance to indulge in them. ‘Each to his own, no?’
Moriana hadn’t yet fled the room screaming. This was a good thing. ‘What’s the one with the people standing around the table covered with maps?’
‘Strategy sessions for weighty subjects like war and succession. There is a book to accompany the carpet. I’ve set it aside for your brother, assuming he ever wants to see it.’
‘I could take it to him when I leave here,’ Moriana offered. ‘It might be better presented to him as a curious artefact rather than a working guide to your services.’
Sera nodded. ‘Please do. Would you like to sit?’
‘This...circle...works for me too?’
‘Of course.’
‘So if I wanted to sit and discuss my brother’s marriage options with you, which panel would I choose?’
‘You might choose the panel with the maps. Strategy session,’ Sera offered. ‘I’d get my computer and take a seat within that area also and we’d discuss options. I’d provide refreshments. More tea or cold drinks, stuffed dates or something savoury. We’d plot and plan and consider what we already know when it comes to the monarchy’s needs and preferences. We’d come up with a list I would then consult whenever I have to plan another function or dinner and I would make sure to get the women on that list in front of him.’
Moriana sat where suggested and the world did not end. She took a deep breath and then looked up at Sera with a smile. ‘I love stuffed dates.’
‘Tell me...’ Sera was wholly prepared to woo the King’s sister to within an inch of her life. ‘Do you like them dipped in chocolate?’
CHAPTER FOUR
IT WAS A TRAP. Even as Augustus stood at the door to Sera’s quarters at half eight the following evening and pulled on the bell to signal his presence, he knew he should have stayed away or at the very least had her brought to his office earlier in the day. He wanted to talk about this list of potential brides she and Moriana had cooked up between them. The first three on the list would be presented to him at the Winter Solstice ball, Moriana had said. Sera would not be present.
What good was a matchmaker if she wasn’t even going to be present?
The door in front of him opened, and this time the menace from the High Reaches stood ready to serve him. He’d told her he was coming. He’d given her a time frame and ample opportunity to get ready for him. Nothing was going to happen except conversation. Moriana had navigated that blasted courtesan’s carpet wheel successfully enough, and there was even a training manual to go w
ith it. He’d browsed through it during his lunch break.
He was getting more used to the physical effect Sera of the High Reaches seemed to have on him. Eyes soft and inviting, lips curved in welcome. Her over-tunic a flowing drape of gossamer moss-coloured silk, then underneath a plum-coloured bodice and straight skirt that finished an inch or so below the tunic. Her hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail yet still reached her waist. Delicate silver fans with tassels fell from her ears and swung gently as she moved. Matching tassels fell from the place where she’d gathered her hair. Her make-up was subtle rather than overwhelming.
She was breathtaking.
Wordlessly, she invited him to enter and he did.
‘May I take your jacket?’ she asked. He thought Why not? and let her ease it from his shoulders and hang it on a wooden clothes dummy in the alcove beside the door. She closed the door behind him and studied his face intently. ‘I haven’t curtseyed,’ she said.
And for that he was grateful. Every time she did she fed a demon that demanded he take advantage of her willingness to grant him anything he wanted. ‘How are your ribs?’
‘Perfectly fine, thank you.’
There was a new table in the round room. A small round table with room enough for three people to sit around comfortably or four people at a squeeze. There was a new sofa as well, although the round one and the cursed floor tapestry still took pride of place. This new sofa had been placed against a wall. A stack of reading books sat next to it and two wing-back leather library chairs had been positioned to either side. The carpet in between looked thick and plush and was a deep and solid red. She saw him looking at the set-up and extended a graceful arm in its direction.
‘I took the liberty of setting up another seating area. Your sister thought it might encourage more visitors, or, at the very least, make them less suspicious once they got here.’
His sister was a genius when it came to putting people at ease.
‘You must miss her,’ Sera said next.
‘We all do.’ He’d once thought Moriana neurotic and highly strung. He’d thought his palace would run just as smoothly without her incessant attention to detail. It hadn’t. A fact which had surprised him and approximately no one else in the palace. ‘My sister used to manage the monarchy’s social obligations. There can be two or sometimes even three social functions a day here. And then there are the balls and state dinners. She left comprehensive instructions for every event, but even so I miss her judgement when it comes to who to seat where and what alliances are to be encouraged. It’s all in her head, and in mine, and neither of us have time to download a lifetime’s worth of observations into someone else’s brain. Especially when that someone is just as likely to go to the press with tasty gossip at the first opportunity.’ He was tired and irritable and what was it about this woman that had him spilling confidences like an overwrought teenager?
Moving on.
Moriana had sat in the strategy section yesterday morning, she’d told him. It had worked for her. It would work for him. He strode to the central sofa and sat in the area with the people and the table and the maps. Strategy session.
Sera smiled at him, really smiled, as if he’d made her happy, and—oh, crap.
Could he order her not to smile at him like that?
‘Would you like water, wine, coffee or tea?’ she asked.
‘None of it. Go get the list of potential wives you and my sister cooked up between you and then take a seat. I have some amendments to make.’ He hoped he sounded rigidly officious rather than downright surly but he didn’t like his chances. Neither option was a good example of confident, competent leadership.
‘I’ll get my computer,’ she said, and when she came back she sat beside him easy as you please and earnest in her role as matchmaker. For his part, he found himself moving closer, well and truly enmeshed by her delicate perfume and perfect profile and the little fan earrings that brushed the skin of her neck.
All of it was captivating and it took all the willpower he had to turn his attention to the database full of potential brides. A database full of not just names but lineages, occupations, hobbies and... ‘Is that a character assessment column?’
‘Subjective, of course, and predominantly based on their public personas. They may be quite different underneath. We can adjust it as we go. It would be helpful if you could give me some indication as to what you admire most in a woman,’ she said. ‘Do you want someone with a calm disposition or are you after more fire than that? Someone fun-loving and easy-going or someone more highly strung and demanding? A pliable companion or someone you might on occasion have to work to placate?’
‘Meekness bores me. Theatrics annoy me. And stupidity is an unpardonable sin.’
Sera’s fingers flew across the keyboard and several names disappeared. ‘Any hair, eye or skin colour preferences?’
‘None.’ He hadn’t known he had a preference for grey eyes, raven-dark hair and skin the colour of pale rose petals until a few days ago. Hopefully his current obsession would be short-lived.
‘Will you entertain marriage to a woman whose religion is different to yours?’ she asked.
‘No. She would have to convert.’ The demands of the Crown overrode all else in that regard.
More names disappeared from the list.
‘Would you like a virgin?’ she asked.
‘Are you serious?’
Her fingers paused over the keyboard. ‘Ah...yes? Historically—’
‘Let’s keep it modern day.’
‘The question stands,’ she offered quietly. ‘Some things are best left to those who enjoy initiating others. Do you want a virgin or would you prefer someone who brings adequate experience to sexual matters?’
‘It’s not important!’ Said no scaly possessive alpha beast ever.
‘Okay.’ Another pause. ‘Thank you for answering.’
‘You’re blushing,’ he told her darkly. ‘All virgin brides aside, how can you possibly think yourself ready to do some of the things in these pictures when you’ve never been touched?’
His virgin courtesan. The idea was ridiculous.
Beyond ridiculous.
No wonder it kept him awake at night.
‘Bodies can be prepared in advance for just about anything. It’s the endorphins.’ Sera stared at the screen, delicate colour still filling her cheeks. ‘More specifically, increased levels of oxytocin can act as a natural pain inhibitor. Additionally, minds can be manipulated to respond with pleasure to dominance, submission or many other...things.’
All of a sudden the idea of a virgin concubine wasn’t ridiculous at all, and it was burning hot in this room built for pleasure. ‘So you think you’re ready for anything?’
‘I hope I am. To be otherwise would be unacceptable. Disgraceful.’
‘On what planet is not being ready to partake in an orgy or whip a man bloody disgraceful?’ She had a flawless knack for rousing his temper. ‘Dammit, Sera. I have no idea who you’re answering to!’
‘I answer to you.’
‘The hell you do! Otherwise you’d be gone from here, as requested! Do you even understand the Pandora’s box of problems you bring with you? That I’m trying to work through while keeping you protected?’
‘I don’t need protecting.’
‘You say you’re innocent. The innocent always need protecting.’ He stood abruptly and stepped away from temptation before he did something unforgivable. ‘Read out the remaining names,’ he ordered, and she did, her voice becoming steadier as she went. He had her remove several more names from the list, because he’d met those women before and they weren’t for him. He found himself circling the sofa, and then moving further afield, looking at other tapestries and sculptures, other furniture sent to grace a courtesan’s workplace.
Over and over, his feet returned him to the cen
tre of the room where she sat, his gaze drawn to the pleasure wheel at her feet. Where would a virgin trained as a courtesan even want to start when it came to serving someone sexually?
Finally the names stopped coming and his reason for being there ended.
‘It would help if you could give me some additional ideas of what you’re looking for in a wife,’ she said.
Good question, but he didn’t really have an answer for himself, let alone one he’d ever voiced to anyone else. He was so used to not voicing his innermost thoughts. ‘Why? So you can sell a list of my private wants and needs to the highest bidder?’
‘I would never do that. No courtesan of the High Reaches would ever betray your confidence. Above all else, it is the rule that governs us.’
He wanted to believe her. And really, what would it matter if people knew what he was looking for in a wife? The basics, at any rate.
‘Resilience is important,’ he offered, and wondered why it was easier to talk to her than just about anyone. ‘There’s no point choosing a wife who’ll crumble beneath the pressures and constrictions placed on her. She’ll be bound by duty to Crown and country. She’ll have to cope with extensive press coverage wherever she goes. I want her at the centre of things, right by my side, and she needs to be stubborn and curious, observant, intuitive and good with people she barely knows.’
Now that he’d started, he didn’t know how to stop confiding in her, because he had thought about this. He’d thought about this long and hard and it was good to finally say some of it out loud. ‘Above all I want to know what’s going to keep her at my side when the going gets tough. Because it will. My mother loved my father above all else and he loved her. This country benefitted greatly from their love match. My sister loves Theo and he loves her. Liesendaach wins. Sometimes I doubt I have the capacity to be in love with another person in that same way. And yet I can see the benefits. The strength in it. I’m not against it.’
Too much.
Too much revealed.
He turned away to study yet another tapestry that hung on a nearby wall. She had no comment for him other than the tapping of computer keys.