“Ma’am.” Stevens gave a nod and a soft smile as he followed after Barentyn.
She stared at the door to Averys’ room. Though she knew what had caused him to request her presence, something about it seemed off, and she worried that there may be more to this visit than a discussion about sex. With a sharp intake of breath, she knocked on his door.
XIII – Developments
“Come,” Averys called.
She entered his room, forcing a calm and placid exterior. Her skirt swung around her legs as she walked, teasing goosebumps to the surface.
“Lenora. Good.” Averys finished scribbling something and set the quill back in the inkpot. The fact that he’d called her by her name spoke volumes. She willed herself to speak carefully if any questions came her way, lest she tie herself up in knots with twisty lies and half-truths.
“You asked to see me?” she asked.
“Yes, I have some things I’d like to discuss with you. Please sit.” He waved to the chair on the other side of his desk and she sat down, the leather cushion sinking as she did so.
“It must be important if you’re asking me to sit down in your office.”
“Indeed it is. There is a threat to our security. I am considering sending you away somewhere safe and secret until the threat is resolved, or perhaps even until the child is born.”
“What kind of a threat?”
“Nothing Barentyn and his men shouldn’t be able to handle,” he said, straight back to the cryptic non-answer.
“Will you not come with me?”
“I will stay here to maintain an element of normality. If we were to both disappear for too long, people would become suspicious. Don’t worry, I won’t send you off alone. You’ll have a number of elite guardsmen with you. And Lusk.”
“No,” she shouted at him before her brain had a chance to catch up with her mouth.
“No?” he asked suspiciously.
“Anyone but Lusk…he worries me.”
“He is loyal and useful. He has assured me he will give you his full attention.”
“Yes, that is what worries me.”
Averys frowned and rubbed a hand over his chin. “He is odd, but I don’t think that’s anything to worry about. I suppose I could send Nathanial instead.”
“Yes,” she blurted again, and then held her breath, that was a little too obvious. “Yes, he would be a preferable choice to Lusk,” she amended just about managing to hide the tremble in her voice. Averys’ eyes narrowed.
“Nothing will happen for a few days. The men are leaving to see if they can deal with it quickly tonight. I would like to bring Stevens to bed with me again, if you’re amenable?”
“Which men are you sending?”
“Barentyn and Lusk are taking a unit of soldiers. I asked you a question, Lenora.”
She wanted to ask about Nathanial. If Averys was sending him along as well, there would be no point in trying to get rid of him for the night. However, fearing that she’d already raised suspicions by her earlier reaction, she decided against saying Nathanial’s name again.
“I’d like to do that again, my love, but I am very tired. I was going to ask if you would let me sleep alone tonight, anyway.”
“That’s your own fault for sitting at the window and crying over nothing all night.”
“It would help if you didn’t snore so loud.”
“I do not snore.”
“Perhaps you and Stevens can enjoy each other’s company alone tonight?” she said, rapidly changing the subject before pissing him off even more.
“Very well. When you are rested, I will join you tomorrow night. If I am going to send you away for some time, I wish to leave us both with a happy memory.”
“Oh, you have something in mind?”
“Yes. I’ll see you at dinner.”
With that he picked up his quill and went back to scribbling his signature on the pile of papers and letters on his desk. Though her interest was piqued, Lenora knew better than to push the point. She’d gotten what she wanted for tonight, hadn’t she?
“And Lenora,” Averys called as she approached the door.
“Yes?”
“Barentyn tells me you escaped from his guard.”
“Escaped? Are you telling me that man has someone spying on me?”
“Not spying. He’s watching you.”
“That’s the same thing, isn’t it?”
“It’s for your safety. Stay in his sights, please. I have enough on my mind, and I don’t want to have daily arguments with Barentyn regarding your whereabouts.”
She considered pressing the matter further, though she didn’t like to risk making further mistakes. Nathanial would hopefully help to clear things up later. She smiled to Averys, which—as usual—he did not return, and then she left him in peace.
They didn’t see each other until dinner time, and then it was a stuffy, semi-formal affair. They couldn’t manage to maintain small talk in light of the number of other subjects they avoided discussing. Security threats and kinky bedroom antics were not suitable discussions to have at the dinner table.
Averys escorted her to their bedroom. A wayward hand stroked across her backside as she entered the room; the small act did not go unnoticed.
“Rest well,” he said, though it sounded more like an order than a heartfelt gesture.
“Enjoy your evening,” she said before the door clicked shut.
She rested her head against the cool wood for a moment and then headed to the window. She had no idea when Nathanial would turn up, if at all, but that didn’t stop her heart filling with hope as she poked her head out to look in all directions. The sky was still light, the sunset turning the clouds to big pink blobs. It was too light for an assassin to consider scaling the walls; even a man as stealthy as Nathanial would be caught. So she closed the window but left the latch open.
The evening breeze trickled around her hot shoulders. As much as she wanted to hear the details of Nathanial’s capture, to find out about the security threat, and to discuss the issue of Lusk, she was truly hoping he would come early so they could get all of that out of the way before spending the rest of the night enjoying each other’s company. The thought of it made her insides clench in anticipation. Standing in front of the mirror, she lifted her dress and removed her knickers; she’d started wearing them again since the incident with Lusk.
For a while, she stood admiring herself, turning left and right to see if any form of bump could be seen. In the shadowy light, it may have looked as if her tummy was a little larger than usual, but only by a miniscule amount, if at all. She stroked her stomach with one hand, the other holding the rolled up dress material just below her breasts. Her hand snaked through the tufts of pubic hair to her new favourite spot. She was wet yet again, sodden and ready, the expectation and promise of another round of hot sex sending her libido into overdrive.
“Would you like some help with that?” The voice made her spin around so fast she almost fell straight to the floor. Nathanial stood in the door leading to the washroom, leaning against the wall. She dropped her skirt, gripped the bedpost for strength, and finally rushed over to him and flung her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder.
His arms arose almost instinctively and he slipped them around her back, gripping her gently but firmly, those powerful muscles steadying her weight as her uncontrolled sobbing sent her swaying.
“You’re alive,” she mumbled into his shirt.
“Evidently, Ma’am.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“We’ve discussed this before. I cannot.” He let go and pushed on her shoulders, extracting himself from her grip. “Are you unwell? It is not advisable to become so distraught.”
She puffed a laugh through her nose between heavy sobs, then forced her breathing to slow. Having a woman cry like a child and leave wet trails down his shirt was not much of a turn-on for any man, she supposed.
“I was so worried when they
said you had been captured. I thought…I might never see you again.”
“And that distressed you?”
“Of course. If nothing else, you’re the father of my child. Not that anyone but us can ever know that.”
“The Emperor could be the father,” he said, his face drawing down as though the thought upset him. It upset her, too. For some reason having nothing to do with logic, she wanted Nathanial to be the father.
“I guess there is no way of knowing. Please, there are things we need to talk about.”
“Of course.” She perched on the bed while he stood beside the wall, hands behind his back, like a soldier reporting to his commander. She smiled and patted the bed at her side. He watched her hand, frowning slightly, and made no move to join her. “Please sit down. I can’t stand you being so formal in such an informal setting.”
“Very well, but keep your voice down. Your guard has returned,” he said as he sat at her side.
“How can you tell?” She looked at the door; nothing seemed different.
“I heard him coming. Lusk and Barentyn have assigned elite guardsmen to you from now on, he will be less inept than the others.”
“Since when?”
“Since this morning.”
“Huh, I managed to escape from one of them earlier.”
“You did?” He gave her an incredulous look.
“It didn’t take much effort. I think he wasn’t expecting me to know he was watching, or to want to get away from him.”
“They all assume you to be less clever than you are,” he said.
“You think I’m clever?”
“The most powerful men in the Empire were conspiring to kill you weeks ago, but here you are, alive, and gaining a reputation for being a more worthy adversary than they thought. Plus, you eluded an elite soldier. An unintelligent person would not achieve as much.”
“It was more dumb luck than intelligence, I assure you,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck, feeling odd under such open complimentary appraisal.
“Even so.”
“I know you had news, but I have something to ask you first, if I may?”
“Of course, Ma’am.”
“I want you…in fact, I would like to formally request that you remove Lusk.”
“Remove him?”
“Oh, did I not use the correct terminology? Sorry, I’m not used to…” She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Who knew that asking an assassin to kill someone—even a complete asshole like Lusk—would be so difficult?
“I want Lusk dead, and I want you to do it. Soon. Tomorrow, if possible, or tonight. Or, if he’s left already, as soon as he comes back. Either way.”
Nathanial’s eyebrow twitched. There was something about the angle of the twitch that made it seem like a mocking twitch of amusement, though there was nothing else in his steely expression to suggest it.
“Only the Emperor or Chief Commander Barentyn can order me to kill people,” he said rather blandly.
“And you will only obey my orders when they involve us having sex?”
“That situation was…unique.”
“You mean you wouldn’t have sex with the Emperor or Barentyn if they ordered you to do so?”
He didn’t answer that, though the slight sigh that escaped through his nose and the hardening of his jawline gave her all the answer she needed. Such a request had probably been made of him by one or both of those men before, and he would have been compelled to obey regardless of his choice. He was as much a slave to the will of powerful men as she. An object of some value to be discarded at the first sign of failure or trouble. The only saving grace that gave her some measure of hope was the fact that he had come to her the second time of his own accord and seemed to put himself at great risk again for her sake. She doubted anyone else could say he’d done that for them.
“So, I cannot order you to kill him?”
“You are the Consort, not an Empress.”
“I know. I have no power over anything, not even my own body, it seems. I’m at the beck and call of a number of men who aren’t my husband and who think it is their right to order me to take off my clothes and have things poked into me at their whim.”
That eyebrow twitched again, though this time it seemed less mocking and more an expression of shock. It was odd how he could emote so much through such a small gesture.
“I don’t think it would be wise to eliminate Lusk. It’s too much of a risk. If I’m discovered…”
“You won’t be. I’m sure you can think of some way of covering it up or framing it so it looked like an accident.”
“Why do you want him gone?”
“Because he knows about us. I don’t know how. I thought we’d been discrete, but he knows, and he is threatening to tell the Emperor unless I agree to do whatever his bizarre sexual appetite can imagine.”
“Has he done anything yet?”
“Yes…no…we’ve not had sex, at least. Please don’t ask me to explain it. Just…if you care for me at all, get rid of him.”
“I will.” His fingertips brushed against hers and her hand twitched to grip him. The small act of holding his hand made her feel more nervous than the thought of having sex with him. Perhaps something more was developing between them, something that sadly could never truly mature unless they found a way to escape together. She studied his face, trying to see if he felt the same way. In the dim lamplight, the dark bruises and cuts on his face and arms were still obvious. She felt incredibly guilty for being so consumed with thoughts of sex and romance when he was clearly suffering.
“What happened to you?” she asked, reaching up to touch his face. He caught her hand and kissed it lightly, placing it in his lap as he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.
“I made an error in judgement.”
“Don’t give me that non-answer rubbish like Averys does. What happened?”
“This is what I came to talk to you about. I presume the Emperor hasn’t given you details of the threat?”
“No. He never tells me anything. What is it? Not some small colony wanting to break away from the Empire again?”
“No. It’s you.”
“Me?”
“A threat to your life.”
“Who from?”
“You know the Emperor visited with a prominent family a few weeks ago when he was considering a potential replacement Consort?”
“How could I forget?”
“It seems the family were unhappy to learn that you had fallen pregnant. They threatened to announce the Emperor’s marriage scheming unless they were compensated somehow. I was ordered to eliminate the head of the family to show them how the Emperor deals with such threats.”
“And you were caught?”
“No, I was successful. The effort backfired. The new head of the family is now demanding far more than compensation, and if the Emperor doesn’t give in they plan to murder you and your child. They consider it to be fair. They lost the opportunity for a daughter to become Consort, so he must lose his wife.”
“Oh.” She closed her eyes. The frustrations surrounding her life inside the palace seemed to pale in comparison with the idea that someone else might be sending assassins to remove her out of some lofty sense of entitlement. Nathanial continued to rub the back of her hand with his thumb, the small gesture providing some comfort in the myriad of stressful emotions washing through her mind. “You still haven’t told me what happened to you.”
“I was sent back to eliminate the man in charge, along with anyone else who might take his place and continue issuing threats. I assumed they would be on high alert after the first assassination, but I underestimated their strength. They are amassing a small but loyal army.”
“A small army can’t be much of a match for our military, surely?”
“No, but they can cause a lot of damage, and that will threaten the stability of the whole Empire if they succeed. The Emperor will be seen as weak, and others may take the opportunity to
attack as well.”
“He wants to send me away.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t see how sending me away will help. Surely, the palace is the safest place for me.”
Nathanial lowered his gaze to the floor.
“Ah, I see,” she said as the puzzle finally clicked into place. “If they are successful in assassinating me, it would be best to happen somewhere remote and quiet so he can cover it up if needs be.”
“That is an unfortunately accurate assumption.”
“Oh. So these devious fiends captured you?”
“Yes.”
“How did you escape?”
“With difficulty.”
She let out an unladylike snort of laughter. “No doubt, but how?”
“I’m very well trained, Ma’am.”
A small smile spread across his lips and that thumb brushed her knuckles again sending a shiver down her spine.
“You must have to practice a lot.”
“I do.”
“In all manner of disciplines?”
“A wide variety of techniques.” His eyes glistened in the lamplight.
“So, you’re an expert at most things?”
“Not everything. I need more practice in certain disciplines.” He leaned toward her slightly and her pulse raced.
“Such as?” she whispered.
“Pleasuring beautiful women.”
“I don’t know. I feel you may be more adept at that than you realise.”
“That hypothesis should be examined.”
She smiled as their lips almost touched. “Good idea.”
For a moment, she cringed at her awkward response. She was not a natural at such brazen flirtation, but as his lips folded down around hers, mouth opening and tongue seeking out its mate, she forgot all about awkwardness and returned his kiss with enough passion to show him precisely how much she wanted this.
He scooped her from the bed, turning her body across his so her legs straddled his hips. She settled in place, maintaining the kiss, looping her fingertips through his hair. He reached out behind her to shutter the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.
Desire and Duty (The Consort's Chronicles Book 1) Page 11