Chapter Six #2
And slightly enlightened, too. Lord Ettori had mentioned his wife, and I’d assumed she’d been an afterthought.
But now I wondered if she hadn’t been a large part of his motivation for bringing me here.
If she wanted Stefan home enough to make her husband’s life uncomfortable—or, though I had trouble imagining it, if he loved her enough to want to make her happy—then he might have felt compelled to take some action, such as compelling Lord Stefan in his turn.
When I stood up straight I found Lord Stefan eyeing me sideways, one eyebrow raised as if he couldn’t quite believe I’d executed the bow correctly.
I hoped he choked on his surprise and died from it. Like him, I’d be willing to be a happy widower, even if my body and my magic both still quivered from the way he’d manhandled me in the carriage. Particularly because of that, in fact.
“Have you not had an opportunity to visit Stefan’s tailor, Remigius?
” Lady Estella asked. “It is only the family here tonight, but when you go out in society this is, ah, you will be much more comfortable dressed for the occasion, I am sure?” I translated that as a deep and fervent gratitude that she had no other guests here to witness the abomination that was her son-in-law. “Stefan, it is most remiss of you.”
The Lord Chancellor’s eyes had narrowed, an ominous aura growing around him almost palpably, like the nimbus of a thunderstorm.
Yes, Lady Estella’s disapproval obviously mattered to him in a way that no one else’s did.
My confinement in the palace before the wedding, and her absence from the ceremony, suddenly made sense.
I’d speculated wildly about what subtle political aim that could’ve served, when really, it’d been as simple as a man not wanting to anger his wife by bringing home an unsuitable consort for her son before the marriage had been consummated and couldn’t be easily undone.
She wanted Stefan home and married, but she might have protested at his being married to me in particular, which might have raised the question of why he’d chosen me over others.
“Because I can threaten his little sister with execution and bend him to my will” might not have been an answer he felt prepared to offer her.
“We’ve been otherwise occupied, Mother,” Lord Stefan said, but without specifying how.
His cool nonchalance didn’t suggest that he’d been too overwhelmed with passion for his new consort to remember his tailor.
In fact, if his mother knew him at all, she’d be well aware that his passion for his tailor outstripped anything he could possibly feel for me.
Gods, he meant to leave me completely on my own in this farrago of an introduction. Didn’t he have his own reasons for wanting his parents to be pacified? But apparently that didn’t outweigh his desire to make me suffer the consequences of my own actions, as he saw it. Petty bastard.
That pressure in the air only grew, and the Lord Chancellor’s eyes kindled with anger of his own.
Damn it, damn it…it’d been hilarious to contemplate while I dressed, and deeply satisfying to imagine as I’d fed my righteous fury in the carriage on my way to collect Lord Stefan, but I simply couldn’t play the whore.
I didn’t have it in me, so to speak. I’d never convince anyone.
But the Lord Chancellor had seemed to think his son would be willing to be pleased by me and my comparative innocence.
While that might be clearly and demonstrably untrue given his predilections for the least innocent company in the city, why shouldn’t I play into his delusions?
A novelty, he’d called me. Well, this had to be a novel experience for all of us.
I took a step closer to Lord Stefan, not quite close enough to be pressed against his side but enough to feel the heat of him, and slipped my hand through the crook of his elbow. His arm went rigid enough to shatter under my touch.
“We’ve been very occupied with one another, and Stefan likes me in this,” I said demurely, peeking up at my husband through my lashes. “I’ve been wearing nothing else for the entire period of our seclusion.”
Time seemed to stretch around us, the thick silence drawing out and out as if I’d used some sinister magic. Lord Stefan craned his head around to stare at me, his mouth falling open and an expression of dawning horror in his dark eyes.
“Oh,” Lady Estella gasped, sounding strangled. “Oh, gracious gods.”
“We should go in to dine,” the Lord Chancellor said abruptly. “Unfortunately, we have another engagement tonight. My court duties, you understand. We’ll need to depart after the meal. Immediately. You’ll need to depart as well, of course.”
Gods, what had I done? Of course I’d expected Lord Stefan to be embarrassed to have anyone believe he could find me desirable in something as ugly as this cassock, and for Lord Ettori and Lady Estella to be disappointed in him for his lack of sophistication, but…
their faces. All three of their faces. No well-fucked whorish simpering could’ve achieved this effect.
Could it? Even my father-in-law seemed stunned, as if none of his experience as a courtier, ducal councilor, or a man of the world had prepared him for this moment.
“Yes,” Lady Estella said, and clutched onto her husband’s arm as if she’d collapse without its support.
“Yes, we’ll dine. And then—Stefan, tomorrow Remigius will receive my personal dresser and her assistants.
You will see to it that your servants treat her with all possible attention.
I will brook no denial in this! No matter what your, your preferences might be! ”
“I look forward to meeting her and consulting her expertise,” I ventured. “Although I don’t know where I’ll go that will require her skills. I know no one in Nevaia or at court.”
“I’m certain that Stefan will wish to introduce you into society as soon as possible. A charming consort is an indispensable asset in advancing one’s political ambitions, as I know better than anyone.” The Lord Chancellor fixed his steely gaze on his son. “Won’t you, Stefan?”
Their eyes held, and for a wild, breathless moment I thought Lord Stefan might lunge at him, murder his own father right there in the ornate hallway of their family mansion.
And then the arm under my hand relaxed a tiny fraction. “Of course.” Lord Stefan’s arid calm could’ve frozen and dried a rushing river. “Perhaps he’ll start a fashion for red hair.”
“Ennolu works many miracles,” Lady Estella said, with devastatingly false brightness, “so we know nothing is beyond his powers. Dinner, if you please!” And she turned and set off across the hall, pulling the Lord Chancellor with her and leaving Lord Stefan and me to follow. Perhaps she hoped we wouldn’t.
“Allow me to escort you, Remigius,” Lord Stefan said at a normal volume, and then muttered, for my ears only, “Straight to hell, if I had my way.”
“Nothing could give me more pleasure,” I replied, with total sincerity. It’d have to be better than this.
Lord Stefan huffed something that could’ve been a reluctant laugh and turned me toward the dining room. I forced one foot in front of the other and held my hideously red head high as he led me away, wishing I could lean on the strength of his arm for comfort.
At least he’d be as miserable during dinner as I would. I didn’t need more comfort than that, damn it.