She muttered to herself, and I caught the phrase “controlling asshole.” But she moved cautiously to the bed and climbed in.
“Oh, God and Goddess.” She lay flat on her back, voice thrumming with pleasure. “It’s like lying on a cloud. How are you such an angry bastard after sleeping on something like this every night?”
“Glad you like it,” I said, and shackled her to the headboard.
“The hell?” She shot up into a sitting position, staring at the silver manacles that chained her left wrist to a gap in the decoratively carved wood.
“I don’t trust you not to loot the chateau and run off while I’m asleep.”
Judging by the fury and frustration plain on her face, she’d been considering exactly that.
Her movement would wake me, and I was confident I’d be able to catch her. Tonight. But she’d be here for weeks, and I couldn’t go that long without a single good night’s rest.
“You don’t think the servants will noticethis?” She jerked her arm, yanking the chain tight.
“They’ll assume it’s erotic play.”
I turned my back on her scowl and tapped a crystal on the nightstand, which dimmed the lights in the chandelier. Then I crawled into bed beside her.
“If you try anything,” she said in the darkness, “I’ll cut off your dick with my teeth.”
And wasn’t that a lovely mental image to fall asleep to?
“You have nothing to fear from me,” I replied, then considered that wasn’t quite true. “Unless you betray me or fail to steal the jewel.”
She rolled away from me with a huff and pulled the sheet over her head.
Not exactly a tender goodnight between lovers, but she was here. She couldn’t escape. The plan was in motion.
I lay on my back, waiting for her to fall asleep first. Her scent swirled around me: soft, slightly floral, but not too sweet. Almost herbal. It was unlike anything I’d smelled before.
Her breathing deepened all too quickly as sleep took her.
Chapter 10
Valen
“Have you been looking for me ever since you caught me in Tullus’s manor?” Emmeline asked the next morning. “Would you really have turned me over to the city guards?”
It was early—too early for such pointed questions. We sat at a small table awaiting breakfast. I usually ate meals here rather than in the formal dining room, the window in the cozy nook letting in sunlight during the day cycle. But dusk had fallen, and that meant two straight weeks of night before seeing the sun again.
“Rest assured,” I said crisply, “you’ll find yourself on trial for theft if you back out of our agreement.”
“That doesn’t answer—”
“Hush.”
Nin and the cook arrived with the food: delicate fruit tarts that gleamed with sugary syrup, small quiches topped with tomato slices arranged to resemble flowers, freshly baked bread, and steaming hot sausages. It was a much bigger spread than they usually served me. They must be trying to make a good impression on Emmeline.
If the look on her face was any indication, they’d succeeded. A few more seconds, and she might just start drooling.
“Enjoy!” Nin called as she and the cook departed.
I observed Emmeline, waiting, but she didn’t press for an answer to her question. I had been tracking her for months, of course. If the black market dealer she’d sold Tullus’s treasure to hadn’t been a snooping double-crosser, I would have never gotten her name. And I didn’t make idle threats, so Iwouldhave her arrested if she betrayed me. But my empty stomach twisted at the thought. She didn’t deserve imprisonment for stealing from Tullus of all people. Hell, Iadmiredher for the theft.
I pushed away the twinge of guilt and focused on more immediate problems. Emmeline would need training to mimic courtly manners, but the question was how much? I needed to determine where we were starting from before I could estimate—
She grabbed an entire quiche and stuffed it into her mouth, moaning like a woman about to orgasm. I’d never seen anyone chew and swallow so quickly. Then she tore apart the bread loaf with her bare hands and devoured it, crumbs falling onto the table.
