Chapter 14 #2
“The pantry, the armory, the garden, the-”
I held up a hand to stop her. “Three hells, Raina! It’s a miracle the two of you haven’t been caught already.”
Raina’s expression turned into a smirk. “That’s part of the appeal.”
I sighed. I wasn’t one to judge how Raina liked her sex. As long as everyone involved was willing, then people were free to do whatever they liked in bed. Or in Raina’s case, in the pantry, the armory, the garden, the…wherever.
“What if someone from the High Council catches you?” I asked.
Raina shrugged. “Who I take to my bed has nothing to do with either my claim to the Triumvirate seat or my ability to rule the territory.”
“They may not see it that way,” I argued.
“Then they’ll have a fight on their hands,” Raina said. “I haven’t exactly been twiddling my thumbs this whole time. I’ve been making allies of my own.”
I was about to ask her who, when I became aware of the noise outside.
I startled as I looked out the window to see that the large tree just outside the solarium and several small trees nearby were all covered in hundreds of cawing crows.
It was as if the trees had suddenly sprouted black leaves that now hid their branches.
The collective ruckus the crows made pierced through the windows and echoed in the solarium.
“Sweet gods,” I said. “Where did all those crows come from?”
“Oh, don’t mind them,” Raina said. “That’s just my murder.”
I blinked at her. “Excuse me?”
Raina cocked her head. “My murder. A flock of crows is called a murder, and they’re my friends.”
I stared at her.
“That’s the other news I wanted to tell you,” she went on. “It looks like I inherited some of Ursan’s ability to communicate with animals after all. It only appears to work on birds, but it’s something.”
“You can communicate with them?” I asked, shocked. “All of them?”
“Well, more collectively,” she said. “It’s not like I have one-on-one conversations with each of them. They seem to be able to sense my thoughts, and they do things for me.”
“I…That’s wonderful, Raina,” I said, smiling. “I’m really happy for you. A little disconcerted, but really happy.”
“They just like to be near me when they can,” Raina said. “I can send them away.”
She turned to look at the crows, and a few seconds later, the entire mass of them took to the sky, momentarily blocking out the sun.
“That’s incredible,” I said to her.
I’d managed to communicate with an eel once when Axenus and I had gone down to the shipwreck for The Stalwart, but commanding an entire murder of crows was something else.
I was about to ask her more when a message leaf poofed into existence in front of me and floated to the table. I picked it up and read it.
“It’s from Jasper,” I said. “He wants to talk. He says it’s urgent.”
“Invite him here,” Raina said.
I stood and opened a portal to Seatherny. Jasper had said in his note he’d be in his sitting room if I was free, so that’s where I opened the portal. He rose from his chair and looked through it at us.
“Come join us,” I said. “We’re having a meeting for consorts and not-yet-Triumvirate ladies.”
Jasper hesitated. “Is Aidan nearby?”
My brows pinched. “He’s on the other side of the palace meeting with Bressen and the council.”
Jasper nodded. “Can you obfuscate me so no one can see I’m there?”
My frown deepened. “If you want. Jasper, what’s wrong? You’re worrying me.”
Jasper stepped through, and I immediately put up a glamour over him before closing the portal. He hugged me and Raina in greeting and kissed our cheeks.
Jasper was mortal and older than me and Raina by almost two decades, but both of us had taken an instant liking to the Lord Consort of Derridan.
Jasper was smart, good-natured, and generous with his time, as he’d demonstrated when he’d spent several days leading up to my wedding teaching me how to dance.
Once we finally got rid of the threat from Sandrian and Magdalene, I hoped me, Raina, and Jasper would be able to spend more time together.
“Come. Sit,” I said as I sat down again on my chaise, moving over to make room for Jasper. “Tea or coffee?”
Jasper waved a hand to decline the offer. “No, thank you. I can’t stay long. I just needed to talk to you when I knew Aidan was otherwise occupied.”
Both Raina and I frowned deeply at him.
“What happened?” I asked.
“There’s something very wrong with Aidan,” he said. “He’s been different since the temple. At first, I just assumed he was recovering from the lightning, but it’s more than that.”
“Different how?” I asked.
“Well, to start, he’s been very distant with me,” he said. “He’s not one to show affection in public, but when we’re alone together, he’s always been warm, even effusive. Now he’s…cold. Sometimes even cruel.”
I nodded, urging him to go on.
“He was also very…uh, aggressive in bed the other day,” Jasper said with a slight blush. “I’m normally the more dominant one, but we’re flexible depending on our mood, and the other day…”
He trailed off as if unsure how to explain.
“He hurt you,” I guessed.
Jasper met my eyes. “Yes. It wasn’t just rough, it was almost violent. I’ve made excuses since then to avoid having sex.”
I laid my hand over Jasper’s. “I’m so sorry.”
“There’s more,” he said. “I went into the library the other day, and Aidan had one of the female servants pinned against the shelves.”
“What?” both Raina and I said together.
“He let her go when I came in and told me he was scolding her for not cleaning well enough, but there was definitely more to it,” he said. “The woman looked frightened when she ran by me out of the library, and what he was doing definitely didn’t look like scolding.”
“What do you think happened to him?” Raina asked. “Why would he act this way?”
Jasper shook his head. “There’s one other thing.
We were talking about something the other day, I don’t even recall what, but when I asked him a question, he brought up one of the other contestants from when they had the trials to select the new lord.
I was confused because I didn’t see what the man had to do with anything, but then I pretended to know what he was talking about. ”
“And this man was significant why?” I asked.
“He was disqualified from the trials because they learned he lied about who he was,” Jasper said. “He claimed to be a lord, but he wasn’t.”
Raina and I looked at each other.
“I’m not sure I understand,” I said.
“To be honest, I’m not sure I understand either,” Jasper said.
“It just made me wonder. After that, I started making little mistakes on purpose in what I said to Aidan. Whenever I spoke to him about things he should know, I’d be sure to get subtle details wrong to see if he’d correct me.
In the past couple days, I’ve made at least a dozen mistakes, and he hasn’t challenged me on any of them.
What’s more, every now and then Aidan himself will say something that’s a little off.
The other day I asked if he remembered how many years we’ve been married, and he was off by one.
That’s not a number Aidan would ever forget. ”
“What does that mean?” Raina asked.
Jasper looked between us, pain and terror written across every line of his face. “This is going to sound insane,” he said slowly, “but I think it means the man I’ve been living with since the temple isn’t Aidan.”