22 Return of the Black Bag #2
I had asked Astrid that once myself, lying in bed with her in the early hours of the morning after enjoying each other’s bodies far too vigorously.
Because you were the only one who never laughed at me, she had said, her eyes serious and vulnerable.
In the present, I merely shrugged. “You’d have to ask her, if you dare. ”
“It all sounds very charming,” Lady d’Lyre cut in, “but if you were so happy together, then why is she the Emperor and you a lowly captain in one of her enemy’s armies?”
The assembled notables of every nation fell quiet. I swirled the remains of my chaser, considering how best to describe one of the most painful moments of my life.
“She left,” I eventually said. “Her father called her, and she left. Familial duty, she said.”
It was not all she had said. The first message, she had laughed at.
If your parents can’t pull us apart with a wife for you, what hope has my father with a husband for me?
Her tune had changed when her father sent two burly demon guards to compel her acquiescence by beating me to pieces and threatening to twist my head off.
I could still see Astrid’s face, contorted in rage, sadness, and fear as she called her father’s hitmen off.
I could hear her words as she knelt beside me, lifting my chin so I could look into her eyes.
I’ll see what he wants, then I’ll come back for you. I promise.
Only she never did come back. She walked through a portal and became the Emperor. I couldn’t even claim this jubilee counted as our triumphal reunification since she hadn’t known I was coming until I was spun into her arms on the dance floor.
Most of the demons nodded approvingly at my condensed story. One raised a tankard. “To duty.”
“I’ll drink to that,” the Stelsylvanian princess said, her voice still quiet, but her presence noted.
The assembled individuals drank as one, then broke into smaller groups, leaving Princess Marie, Lady d’Lyre, and myself in a group together.
Lady d’Lyre narrowed her eyes as she glanced at this new competition. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’ve met. Who are you again?”
“An unforgotten ally,” I interrupted. “Now, Princess, I believe I promised you a dance?”
“Indeed, you did,” Princess Marie said, giving her glass to a waiting servant and extending her hand to me.
Lady d’Lyre had other plans. She put down her half-finished drink and snaked her arm around mine. “Lovely to meet you, but if you’ll excuse us, the Consort promised me a dance.”
“Truly? I applaud you, but I do believe I have the prior claim,” Marie replied.
Lady d’Lyre’s grin turned predatory. “That sort of formality may matter in your little stellar principality, but we Federation republicans have a more freewheeling style. Don’t worry, I won’t use him up before you get your hands on him.”
I gave the princess a conciliatory smile. I would rather have shrugged the Federation woman off, but I could not afford to offend our strongest ally. “I promise, you’ll have the next dance.”
Lady d’Lyre’s grip tightened around my arm. “Oh, don’t say that. I was hoping my conversation would be diverting enough for two dances, at least.” I finished my drink, then allowed the noblewoman to pull me onto the dance floor.
A waltz began, and I placed my hand on Lady d’Lyre’s bare back to spin her about a bonfire. Firelight and shadows played across her face, rendering it nigh impossible to read, but I could see the arrogant curl on her ruby lips.
“How do you find your new role as Consort?” she asked.
“Exhausting,” I admitted.
“Worn you out already, has she?” Lady d’Lyre said with a smirk. “I heard she has stamina.”
I could have refuted the allegation, but d’Lyre might be expecting that, so I chose a different tactic.
“Stamina and skill. Honestly, I don’t know if I can return to coitus normalis after her.”
“That good?”
“Better.”
Lady d’Lyre shrugged. “Ah, what a shame. If only I had zeroblade fingertips. How can I hope to compete with a woman who might kill you with her ecstasy?”
I leaned in, pressing her chest lightly to mine and whispering sensually in her ear. “The danger makes it more exciting. I’d say you should try sex with a demon, but I don’t think you’re her type.”
“Female?” d’Lyre quipped, her lips brushing my cheek.
“Fragile,” I retorted, enjoying the slight slip in her smile as I pushed her away for a spin. “But how go your liaisons? I’ve heard a great many tales about Prince Aureli’s prowess in diplomacy en deshabille.”
Lady d’Lyre had regained her composure. “A lady never tells.”
“My mistake. I thought you were a diplomat,” my mouth said before I could restrain it.
Lady d’Lyre tried to laugh off my insult. “Such manners – I would have thought you from the Despotate.”
“No, my lady, merely from the army, but now that I’m a diplomat, I find there is nothing I would not do to advance my Commonwealth’s cause,” I said.
“Nothing?” Lady d’Lyre asked, a purr returning to her voice. “Not even seduce an enemy or ally?”
Damn it. How did I keep giving her openings like that? I smiled and replied, “Only if the reward is worth the risk.”
The musicians played the final note, and I bowed with relief. “I’m sorry, Lady d’Lyre…”
“Please, you must call me Bridgette.”
“Bridgette,” I continued, “but I am not used to dancing on the sand. I’m afraid you must let me rest a moment before I take another turn with you.”
“By all means,” Bridgette said, taking me by the arm from the circle of dancers and directing me to an artfully felled log, polished smooth to be used as a bench.
“Wait here, and I’ll grab us some drinks.
” I wasn’t certain more alcohol would help me keep my wits about this woman.
She was undeniably beautiful and skilled in seduction.
Doubtless, the fact that the Noble Federation had unleashed her on me meant they wished to develop me as a source of intelligence.
I may be able to avoid her bed, but her charms were designed to distract, and I was no spy.
I was a soldier. This social combat was a weakness of mine, and I did not want to accidentally betray the Commonwealth’s secrets.
It was as I watched Lady d’Lyre sashay away from me that I realized our dance had taken us away from our original circle, along a sinuous route to the very edge of the revel.
I sat in the light of perimeter torches, looking at the dancers circling the fires.
Tropical tree fronds rustled in the dark behind me, and ocean waves murmured in a soothing susurrus against the sand below.
It was the perfect spot for two lovers to quietly enjoy each other’s company at the official gathering’s edge.
It was a place I most certainly did not wish to find myself ensnared by Lady d’Lyre’s considerable charms. I stood to walk away, but at that moment there was a crunch of sand under paw behind me, and a black bag descended over my head.
I kept my immediate panic under control.
No one would dare to black bag me at the Emperor’s jubilee except the Emperor herself.
Again. This was probably some poorly thought-out flirtation on her part, a not-so-subtle message that I’d neglected my duties as Consort for too long.
I relaxed and resolved to talk with her about allowing me freedom to negotiate.
We were not schoolchildren anymore – we could not skip three days of classes to frolic in bed.
In the first place, we had responsibilities, but I also doubted my body could hold up. I wasn’t twenty anymore.
However, when I was roughly slammed onto a hard metal chair and metal restraints closed around my ankles, wrists, and neck, I realized something was seriously wrong.
The blackout bag was pulled from my head, and I was assaulted by an ululating shriek and painfully bright strobes. I tried to shield my face, but my hand was securely locked down, and the lights burned through my eyelids.
The onslaught quickly abated, leaving my ears ringing and spots dancing in my vision.
Not all the lights dimmed – one particularly strong spotlight remained trained on my face, flooding my eyes with an obscuring glare.
I knew enough to look away from the lamp, but with the clamp around my neck, I could not turn my head away.
As a result, the figures around me were nothing more than washed-out shadows.
“Captain Levar Boylan, of the Royal Commonwealth’s army?” a voice asked, faint in my shell-shocked ears.
“Service Number BSC-24601,” I replied.
The gravelly demonic voice chuckled. “Captain, you seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that this is an interrogation. I assure you, no harm will befall you, no tortures applied against you…”
“Aside from the kidnapping, sonic attack, and blinding light show, you mean?” I asked.
“Those were necessary to preserve our identities. We cannot allow you to know who we are. Our Emperor can be a tad obtuse, and she tends to kill what she cannot immediately comprehend.”
I snorted. “Don’t you think it’s dangerous saying such things to the Emperor’s Consort?”
“Which is precisely why we have concealed our identities. Do keep up.”
“I will be missed. Lady d’Lyre was going to fetch us drinks…”
“Your human harlot has been distracted,” the voice growled.
I tried to glare at the shadowy face behind the glare. “Lady d’Lyre and I are not sleeping together.”
“If you say so,” the demon replied in an infuriatingly disbelieving tone.
“The Emperor and I are, though, and if I do not return to her soon…”
“The Emperor has been informed that you retired to the Commonwealth suite with a headache. She will not look for you until the morning. By then we will have all we need.”