Chapter 26
I stride to Alaris’s office before I can talk myself out of it.
The hallway is quiet. My legs ache from the saddle and my hands are still stiff from the cold. There’s no scroll tucked in my fist. I have no excuse for being here but my own choices, and I feel every swallow, every heartbeat.
I knock.
“Enter.”
Alaris sits at his desk, a pen in his hand. He looks up and the pen stills.
“Ly.” He sets the pen down. “Dashol said you left this morning.”
“I did.”
He slides back in his chair and lifts his chin, keeping his eyes on me. “What happened to ‘I’ll leave and you’ll never see me again’?”
“I came back to clear up a…misconception…of my own.” I take a deep breath. “But first, I owe you an apology. I lied to you. I tried to steal from you—”
“Don’t sell yourself short.” He gives me a humorless smile. “You did steal from me.”
“I…did. And I’m sorry.” I keep my face controlled, even though my toes are curling against the leather in my boots. “I thought it was a matter of life and death. But now I see there is a bigger matter of life and death, and I want to help with that.”
He waits, not filling the silence for me.
I suck in more air. “I came back because I think I can help with whatever you’re planning. With the wither.”
I can see it now: the difference between even the barest movements of his breath and expression, and these moments when he goes unnaturally still. His face is completely blank, but that’s his tell when he’s trying to hide something.
“And who says I’m planning anything?”
“You have a map of it in a secret compartment in your bedroom.” I raise my eyebrows. “Do you expect me to believe you’re just tracking it as a hobby?”
“Maybe I am.”
“Your hobby is treason?”
He says nothing.
“You said the wither is caused by the emperor. Then I’m in a unique position to help.”
“Really? I have no use for a thief.”
“I’m not a thief!” I stutter. I steady my voice. “I’d never stolen anything before the voidstone.”
“Even if that’s true”—his gaze drops to my mouth for a beat—“theft isn’t the only way you broke the terms of your employment.”
My cheeks burn as I flash to myself in his lap, unlacing my dress. “I’m sorry, that was…” I can’t call it a mistake when it wasn’t. I raise my chin. “I crossed the line. If you want, I’ll go.”
He holds my gaze a long moment, then sighs.
“The hawks have been insufferable for a single day without you. If you want to stay, we can consider it a temporary hiatus in your employment. Everything that happened in that room was between me and a thief. Not a lord and his hawk keeper.” He stands and walks to the window, crossing his hands behind his back.
“But you don’t need to get involved in anything else.
Let me handle what needs to be handled.”
He’s being generous, but I’m not risking staying put for the safety and comfort of the aviary. “I didn’t ride back for the hawks, Alaris.”
“Then why did you ride back?”
If I’m going to earn trust, I’m going to have to offer it.
“As I said, I think I’m in a unique position to help.” I steady my voice. “I didn’t grow up in Delvos. I grew up in Illios. In the Citadel, actually…”
He raises his eyebrows in a rare expression of surprise.
Three knocks ring through the office. Before either of us says another word, the door swings open.
“My lord?” a lady’s voice calls out. A head piled with coiled curls sticks through the doorway. Her skin is rouged, matching the magenta shade of her dress. “Am I interrupting?”
She lets herself in, taffeta crinkling with every step. Her gaze darts from Alaris to me. Her eyes squint above a tight smile. “I believe you’re expecting me, my lord. If you are done with your maid—”
“Hawk keeper,” I say, before I can stop myself.
“Current hawk keeper, ex thief,” Alaris mutters. He walks toward her, arms spread. “Mirvol, of course, I’m sorry for not receiving you. I was distracted.”
I tap my foot. It’s clear what she’s here for. I was just working up to revealing the truth, and now I won’t get the chance.
And maybe I’m annoyed at the reminder that what we shared last night wasn’t unique in the slightest for Alaris.
He’s a good leader, as I’ve seen with the people of Culdridge. But he is also a pleasure seeker, who spends a decent amount of time with revolving lovers.
It doesn’t mean I can’t respect him or help him. But I can’t deny the bitter twinge in my stomach.
I have to work not to scowl as Mirvol crosses the room to his side, putting one gloved hand on his chest.
“I’ll go then,” I say tightly.
“Wait.” Alaris’s eyes shift between me and her, a curious gleam behind them.
What is that look?
“Ly, would you accompany us for a moment?”
“Where?”
He smiles, slow and mischievous. “To the bedroom.”
My jaw falls open. Surely he knows we won’t be continuing what I started last night, and certainly not with another person in the room. My eyes dart to Mirvol, and I note her similarly shocked expression. She looks me up and down, her eyes narrowing.
I am about to refuse, but her obvious dislike of the idea stalls the rejection in my mouth. His lover isn’t keen on the idea either, and that sparks my curiosity. What could he possibly think we will both want in his bedroom at the same time?
Curiosity wins. “Lead the way.”
The lord, still smiling, offers Mirvol an arm before sweeping toward the door. Getting left to follow sparks my ire again, but Mirvol looks back and gives me one final scowl, which propels me forward.
I trail behind his broad shoulders and her swishing taffeta, heartbeat thumping. Aren’t they about to have sex? Does he really think the three of us should look at something together before he boots me out and gets to it?
I can’t stop myself from picturing his large, well-muscled body bent over her, biting her shoulder as he pushes into her from behind.
My cheeks flame. The idea of those long fingers curling around her hips as he thrusts…
I can see it. From everything I’ve experienced, and felt, I know he is an attentive and skillful lover. I lick my lips.
But I don’t want to think about them together.
I shouldn’t think about him like that at all.
We pass a maid who bows her head, no doubt accustomed to seeing the lord returning to his bedroom with a well-dressed woman on his arm. But her eyes widen as she sees me tagging along. I wonder if she notes the confusion on my face, mirroring hers.
“We’ll require privacy in my wing,” he says to her.
She dips into a quick curtsy and leaves.
It’s jarring to see him back in this role of the cavalier seducer. It’s as if all the serious things that have passed between us didn’t happen at all.
My steps slow. What if he really is imagining he can coax us into a tangle of three? I have no experience with that, and no desire to share. But if she wasn’t here, and he offered, was there a world where I would accompany him back to his bedroom for more than a bath…?
We’re at the door before I mix myself up further in unhelpful thoughts.
He opens the door for Mirvol and keeps it open until I follow. I scowl at his gleeful expression. He’s got me on the back foot, and he’s enjoying it.
All traces of Mirvol’s smile are gone as she crosses her arms and waits. Alaris closes the door behind him, smirking. I stand as far away from both of them, and the bed, as I can, placing myself next to the couches in the sitting area.
Mirvol doesn’t keep her distance. She walks straight up to him and threads her arm through his.
“Well?” Mirvol speaks first. “What is going on here? I didn’t travel all this way to share.”
“Why would I share what I don’t even want to begin with?” I say, rankled. It’s probably not the most flattering way to speak about my employer, but Alaris is the one creating misconceptions. I’m simply clearing them up.
I glance at him and see a smirk, his eyes moving over my face slowly. They taunt me, like he knows the desire I showed last night wasn’t an act.
My cheeks flush. “If you don’t want me here, I will happily remove myself—”
“Stay,” Alaris says. “Mirvol has something to show us.” He looks expectantly at her.
Mirvol tilts her head, her smile stiff. “What do you mean?”
Alaris pats the arm she’s looped through his. “There is no need to pretend.” His voice is smooth, but firm. “Show me what you’ve brought for me.”
Mirvol stiffens and gives me one more glance. “You’re sure?”
He nods.
“This is something good, Alaris. If you aren’t sure…if she breathes a word…”
“I’m sure. She’s a recent recruit.”
Mirvol straightens, dropping her grip on Alaris. She stalks over to join me in the sitting area. I stumble back a few steps, still unsure what is going on. She slides a hand beneath her dress, exposing most of one leg. She roots around near her thigh.
“What are you…?”
She pulls out a tightly wound piece of parchment. She straightens her skirts and begins opening it on the table. I sink to the couch as Alaris comes over. He watches as she smooths out the paper, holding the ends down with weights.
I’m still catching up to the fact that she’s not removing her dress to seduce me.
“I’ve learned of another tunnel,” Mirvol says, tapping the edge. “It runs beneath the outer and inner walls and opens in this courtyard.”
I skate my eyes over the sketch before me. The shapes are familiar. It takes a minute to recognize that it’s an aerial view of a section of the Citadel. I tense, understanding jolting through me. This woman, dressed like a flower, rouged and scented to smell like one, isn’t here for sex.
She’s here with information.
Mirvol is here to help with the wither.
“And the nearest guards?” Alaris asks.
“Posted here and here.” Her fingertip stops at two points along the wall. I’ve never seen the grounds from above, and the light pencil sketch makes it hard to tell which part of the complex I’m looking at. “But they don’t watch the entrances. It’s sealed, but only by a wall of bricks.”