“Certainly. But if I reach the other side of the lake before you do, you owe me an answer to any question I ask.”
“Deal,” I say at the same time I spring for the other side.
Damn him. He wins.
“I want to hear about the first boy,” he says. “How did it start and end?”
The only thoughts of Hektor Galanis I have are when I reminisce upon his death. The beginning of our relationship is something I haven’t thought on much.
“He was the fifth son of a baron,” I start. And I realize that perhaps I shouldn’t use the past tense when speaking about him. I’m practically admitting that I know he’s dead, and an investigation is being conducted. I need to take better care with my words.
“My father had business with his father,” I continue. “He came over to our estate with the rest of his brothers. The older ones all chased after Chrysantha the moment they arrived. But Hektor singled me out. And I was drawn to him because of that fact alone. I was fifteen.
“I didn’t have any experience with men at the time. I’d hardly seen any, sequestered at home as I was. I devoured Hektor’s compliments. I relished in his nearness. And the second time his father came to call, he led me to a quiet corner of the house and kissed me. The next time, he undressed me.”
Kallias is perhaps the best listener I’ve ever encountered. He can be so still, his shadows stilling with him.
“It went on for two months. During that time, I thankfully had a maid who taught me how to prevent pregnancy. I learned the ways of the bedroom. Hektor was more than happy to instruct and pleasure me. Until he found someone new. Someone else fresh and inexperienced and willing to bed him. So then it ended.” I pause, thinking I’m done here, but then I feel prompted to add, “And then I vowed I would never fall in love again. So every man after Hektor was used and discarded once I became bored with him.”
I find a cold spot in the water, and I shift back over a few feet. I don’t know if Kallias is disturbed by what I told him, or if he doesn’t know how to respond, but I ask, “Have you ever been in love?”
“No,” he says. “Not ever. What’s it like?”
“Horrible.”
The silence grows, but not in an unpleasant way. I feel closer to Kallias than I’ve ever been before. Exposed in a way that has nothing to do with my nakedness.
A spot of movement catches my attention.
“Who’s that?” I ask, looking over Kallias’s head. “Is that one of your guards?”
Kallias turns in place, looking back toward the shore and the hefty remains of our lunch still left there.
“No,” he says. “Alessandra, stay where you are.”
Kallias cleaves the water in wide strokes as he draws closer to shore, toward the figure hovering over our picnic, staring down at its contents. I think it’s a man, but it’s difficult to tell with the attire he wears. A cloak hides much of his figure. A hood conceals his face.
“Halt!” Kallias shouts, his torso coming out of the water while the rest of him remains submerged. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The man turns, his hood falling away. Not that it reveals anything. A brown cloth covers his face from the nose up, only two slits allowing his eyes to see through.
“So much food for only two people,” the man says, his voice unusually deep, as though he’s trying to mask its true timbre. “Surely you’ve had your fill, and the poor grow hungrier by the minute. I will see that your leftovers are distributed to those who need it most.”
It’s him. The masked bandit who accosted the nobles.
The man in the brown mask gathers the blanket by the corners, sweeping all the food to the center. He places the entire bulge back into the discarded basket.
“That is the property of the king!” Kallias shouts back at him. “You will unhand it immediately.”
“It’s the king who demands too high of taxes so he can maintain troops in all the lands he’s conquered. While you start new wars in harmless kingdoms, your own people suffer. It’s time you took care of those who need your protection the most.”
Without another word, the bandit leaps onto the back of a waiting horse and starts galloping for the nearest hill.
Kallias turns back to me. “Get dressed. Quickly.” He races the rest of the way out of the water, yelling for his guards. I realize I’m staring once he reaches down to grab his pants, jumping into them seamlessly.
“Hurry!” he shouts to me again, then rushes back for the carriage.
Needing no further prompting, I swim for the shore, wringing out my hair, trying to shake the droplets of water from my skin. My clothes don’t go on easily. Everything is tight, unwilling to slide over wet skin. After much struggling, I finally get myself covered up and race after Kallias.
CHAPTER
16
“How the hell did he get past you?” Kallias shouts at some ten men surrounding the carriage. Our driver has returned, carrying a bouquet of wildflowers he likely meant to take home to a sweetheart. But Kallias pays him no mind. “You are paid for one job. To protect your king. And you failed. How? What the devils were you all doing?”
Half of the men turn toward me.
“We were unprepared for the … um … distraction,” one of the men says.
“Am I to understand you failed to protect me because you weren’t paying the lady the respect she deserves?”
“You can hardly blame us, sire. She was naked.”
Kallias steps forward, draws his sword, and puts it through the one who spoke. The man looks down at the rapier stuck in his gut, eyes wide. He falls as Kallias draws his sword back out.
I’m reminded of Hektor and the last breaths he took. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen death.
Until now.
The rest of the guards step back, likely worried that they’ll be next.
“Anyone else wish to offer up excuses?” Kallias asks in a quiet voice.
No one says a word.
“You.” Kallias points to one of the guards. “Ride ahead and gather my council. We meet as soon as I return.”
* * *
DURING THE RETURN CARRIAGE RIDE, Kallias has the back of his hand pressed to his lips as he thinks. He stares off into some corner. Not avoiding me, just lost in his own thoughts.
“Forgive me,” he says, suddenly looking up. “You should not have seen that. I shouldn’t have—in front of a lady—What must you think of me now?”
I’ve been perfectly calm the entire time. I didn’t feel as though I were in danger when the bandit attacked. Not from the safety of the water. And I find Kallias’s question perplexing.
“I believe you now,” I say. “You do know how to use that sword.”
His expression turns incredulous. “You’re not frightened? Of me?”
“You defended my honor. Why should I fear you?”
“Because I killed a man in front of you.”
I shrug. “You have to make tough decisions as king. You have to put down those who disobey you. Make an example of them. It’s how you maintain order. You think I don’t know that?”
“I still shouldn’t have done it in front of you.” He looks away.
“Kallias.”
His gaze focuses on me once more.
“I do not fear the decisions you have to make as a king, and I would never think lesser of you for them. I’m surprised you killed only one of them, to be honest.”
His voice lowers. “The rest will die as well, but I can’t very well do it when I’m outnumbered and when we have to rely on them for protection on the road back.”
The carriage draws to a halt in front of the palace, and Kallias jumps out. He’s barefoot, clad only in pants as the rest of his clothing was left behind in our haste. Not that it’s easy to tell. He has his shadows out in full force. Every inch of bare skin is haloed by smoky blackness.
I follow after him, and he says nothing as we tread up some stairs, down corridors, through doors. Ladies and servants
startle at the sight of his bare chest and storming shadows as we pass them—until at last we find ourselves in a meeting room.
Five individuals are seated at a large table. Kallias takes the sixth seat. At the head. “Ikaros, fetch Lady Stathos a seat.”
If the rest of the council thinks anything of my presence, they say nothing. Leandros’s uncle grabs a chair from the outskirts of the room and places it at the corner of the table, next to the king.
“This masked bandit problem has gone on long enough,” Kallias says once I’m seated. “How has our plan to catch him progressed?”
I hardly think Kallias is unnerved by the loss of some food. No, it is the fact that someone stole from the king, that this bandit would dare challenge his monarch. The problem has become personal, and Kallias must deal with it immediately.
“The coins are finished,” Lady Terzi says.
“And I’ve allowed word to slip that they will be transported soon,” Lady Mangas says.
Ikaros Vasco steeples his fingers over the table. “If the bandit has been spotted so close to the palace, then surely he intends to take the bait.”
“Once he strikes and redistributes the gold, my troops will be ready to round up the peasants caught with them.” This from Kaiser.
Ampelios shifts in his seat. “And then I’ll be ready to question them. We’ll get him, sire.”
Kallias takes a few moments just to breathe, to think everything through. If any of the council members think anything of his partial nakedness or the dampness of our clothing, they wisely say nothing.
“Good,” Kallias says. “I want daily reports on how this progresses. And, Kaiser? See that all the men who accompanied us on our outing are hanged.”
* * *
THE SITTING ROOM IS abuzz with gossip the next day. I know immediately that it’s about me, as everyone goes quiet as soon as I enter the room with my latest sewing project, the top to match my high-low skirt. (I’ve decided on something formfitting and low-cut down the front.) A few ladies hurriedly pick up their embroidery and try to look busy. Others stare, but my good friends have nothing but smiles for me.
“We saved you a seat!” Rhoda says, her fingers pointing to a cushioned chair across from her.
Light conversation starts up as I take the proffered spot.
“Spill!” Hestia says when my rump barely hits the cushion.
I look to Rhoda for help.
“You were swimming with the king!” Rhoda says, and the room goes quiet, holding their breath and waiting for me to divulge the whole story.
I say, “And we were naked.”
Hestia’s hands go to cover her mouth, while Rhoda grins with delight.
“He was a perfect gentleman,” I assure the room, even though I’m directing my attention to my friends. “Didn’t touch me. Didn’t even look as I undressed.”
A girl on the other side of the room coughs into her hand. “For your sake, I hope a proposal is underway. No other man will have you now. Whether you two were chaste or not. Naked is naked.”
Another girl gasps at her remark, hardly daring she would be so bold with the king’s beau.
“I had a nice talk with the king about virginity,” I say, and I proceed to rehash the conversation. At the end, I say, “Considering at least half of you have already given yourselves to men, I should think you grateful that you no longer have to keep your exploits a closely guarded secret. I certainly won’t bother to do so with mine.”
In fact, this morning I called in my debt to Myron. He has a month to get the money to me before I hand the case over to the constabulary.
It’s only a moment after I say the words that the whole room floods with new gossip. This time, of ladies sharing their secret exploits with others in the room or their wishes for such trysts. Satisfied with what I’ve started, I turn back to Rhoda and Hestia.
“And here I thought I was being bold coming out of mourning so soon,” Rhoda says. “You’re changing everything.”
I shrug. “I merely think we should be afforded the same rights as the men. Even in the bedroom.”
* * *
WHEN BREAKFAST IS SERVED, I’m not yet dressed, still clad in a nightgown. This one is black and formfitting. Though the short sleeves cover my shoulders, the silky material opens on each side of my abdomen, from my lowest ribs to below my hips. I chose the design because men do so love to use my hips and waist as handholds when kissing me senseless.
I brush my hair out of my face before entering the sitting room to break my fast.
Kallias stands from the breakfast table as soon as I open the door, and his eyes immediately go to the openings in my nightgown, where he can see the smooth skin at my second-best curves.
“My maid didn’t inform me you were joining me this morning,” I say by way of explanation. “I’ll go put on a robe.”
“No,” he objects.
I raise a brow.
“I mean, I’m the intruder. You may wear whatever you wish in your own rooms.” He drags his eyes to my face. “Are you up for company this morning?”
“Certainly.” I take the seat opposite him.
“Your nightwear is … different,” he adds.
“It’s breathable.”
“Do you get overheated when you sleep?”
“Only when I’m not sleeping alone.”
Kallias turns his head toward my door.
“There’s no one else in there,” I say. “I didn’t mean I’d had company last night.”
He returns his gaze to me. “You say that almost wistfully.”
Well, now that we’re being honest about our past exploits—“It’s … been a long time.”
“Longer than it’s been for me?”
“Devils, no!”
He stares at me, and I find myself laughing at the conversation.
“Just how long has it been for you?” he wants to know.
Truth or lie?
“Just over a month.”
He blinks. He tries to start a new sentence but stops himself three times, before, “Anyone I know?”
“He was a nobody. Someone to amuse myself with to pass the time, while I waited for Chrysantha to become engaged.”
A silence spreads between us as we dance around such a dangerous topic.
Finally, he blurts, “A month? A month is long for you?”
“Not all of us have as much self-control as you do.”
“I’m not so in control as you might think.” He looks down at the shredded potatoes on the table. Our untouched breakfast.
“Oh? Are you dallying with some lady in secret?” The words come out friendly and aloof, but for some reason, I start to see red at the corners of my vision.
“That’s not what I meant.” Kallias puts a bite of food into his mouth and chews slowly, as though giving himself an excuse not to say more.
He’s saved by a knock at the door. A maid goes to answer before returning with a letter for me.
“Put it on my desk. I’ll attend to it later,” I tell her.
“No,” Kallias says hurriedly. “Please, don’t let me keep you from your correspondence. It might be important.”
He’s stalling for more time. All right, I’ll indulge him.
I take up the letter and read:
To Lady Alessandra Stathos,
I’m looking into the disappearance of my son Hektor, who has been absent since July 27, three years past. I have learned that you may have had some sort of relationship with my son, and it is my hope that you might have more information concerning his disappearance.
As a favor to me, will you please come to my estate so we can talk? I’d hate to bring this matter into the king’s home.
Sincerely,
Faustus Galanis, Baron of Drivas
I don’t miss the blatant threat. Come to me or else I’ll come to you.
“Something wrong?” Kallias asks.
I look up and gather my thoughts quickly. “It’s an invitation to the Baron of Drivas
’s estate.” Not a lie.
“Oh. I know of the baron, but I can’t say I’ve seen him more than a handful of times. But if you wish to go, I would be honored to accompany you.”
My knuckles whiten on the letter. Kallias thinks I’ve been invited to a party or some event. Of course he does, and he’s trying to show that he’s all in now on our ruse.
“Actually, the baron makes me … uncomfortable.”
At that word, I have Kallias’s undivided attention.
“Has he done something untoward?”
“He’s been talking with my father and my sister. Now he’s all but threatened to come to the palace if I don’t come to him. I think he’s up to something.”
I have done my best not ever to lie to Kallias. Lies are far too easy to get caught up in. Far too easy to discover. I let Kallias draw his own conclusions from my words.
“The baron has many sons, does he not?” Kallias asks.
“He does,” I say with resignation.
“Perhaps I should have a talk with him about how you are unavailable.”
“Oh, please don’t make an issue of it,” I say. “But if it’s not too much to ask, should he attempt to come to the palace…”
“I won’t let the guards admit him. Say nothing more.”
I relax. As long as I’m in Kallias’s confidence, I needn’t worry about the baron. Hektor will not ruin this for me.
Kallias returns to his breakfast, while I think through a reply for the baron. I’ll assure him that despite what he’s heard, I barely knew his son, and I’m afraid I have no information to assist in his search. Then I will pass along my regrets.
Yes, that should take care of things for now. I certainly can’t leave the palace to deal with this issue myself. Not when things are finally turning around for Kallias and me.
* * *
I SEE KALLIAS AGAIN at lunch.
Twice in one day.
“You will be happy to know that both of your plans are progressing splendidly,” he says to me while a servant brings a fresh bowl of soup for the king. “The people of Pegai have cast their votes for representation on the council. The newly appointed voice of the people is being followed discreetly everywhere he goes. We will know all the ringleaders of the revolt soon enough. As for the bandit, he struck this morning and took the freshly stamped coins. We will begin searching nearby towns for the gold first thing tomorrow.”
The Shadows Between Us Page 15