It was my turn to hesitate, unsure how the truth would be taken. Sorceresses were not well regarded everywhere, and if you took my stepmother as an example, it was not a prejudice altogether without cause. But Angelique appeared to be more curious than concerned.
“A very minor one,” I confessed. “But yes, I have a little of the talent for it.”
She nodded sharply, as if something she’d already suspected had been confirmed. “In that case…how would you feel about joining the hunts?”
The proposal took me by surprise. “I thought women weren’t allowed to go hunting here.”
“Women, yes, but…” She waved her arm in a dismissive gesture. “You’re a Skallan sorceress. It’s not the same thing. I’m sure I can arrange permission for it, and it would make everyone feel so much safer. The king got engaged to a Skallan in the first place for his own protection, after all.”
I stood there open-mouthed as that piece of news hit home. Again and again, this conversation was leaving me flat-footed, struggling to catch up with things I should have figured out days before. I was beginning to feel as dim as Angelique plannedto portray me. Jack had said outright that the Skallan princess was supposed to save Tailliz from peril. To be fair, I’d been distracted at the time by the monsters trying to eatme.
Gervase had broken off his previous engagement and sent out to Skalla for a bride because the situation had grown desperate, and the Skallan royal line was seething with sorcery. If either of my sisters had been sent along, he’d have been getting a good deal out of the bargain. But my sisters were both married, so he’d wound up with me instead. The least of us all. So far, my efforts to defend Tailliz against the terrors that beset it had consisted of beating a few of them with a large stick.
I wanted to go on the hunts. By then, I was desperate to grasp at any excuse to escape from the claustrophobic boredom and hostility of the women’s wing. But if I was charged with the defense of the king and failed miserably at it, I doubted warm regard would be my reward.
Angelique was still waiting for my reply. “I’m not sure how much I can do,” I said. “I’m not as powerful as”—I almost said “my stepmother” but caught myself in time—“as you might hope. I wasn’t being modest when I said my talent was a small one. I can’t magic my way past a few animated statues to plough a field.”
“Animated what?”
“It’s a long story, never mind. My point is, my capacities are strictly limited.”
She plucked a metal bowl off a shelf and toyed with it. It reflected the dim light, casting strange shadows across her face. “Even a tiny bit of magic would make me feel infinitely better if I knew for certain it was on the king’s side. It would only be until the princess arrives, so you won’t have to do it for very long. I doubt you’d be in much danger.”
When I didn’t answer, she tossed the metal bowl into the depths of the closet with a clatter and put her hand on myshoulder. It still stung from my not-completely-healed cuts, so I had to make an effort not to flinch.
She brought her face close to mine. Her eyes were wide and vulnerable, and I could feel the warmth of her breath on my cheek. “Please,” she whispered. “I’m begging you. My brother is out there every day with only those strange masked men to protect him.”
It wasn’t in me to ignore such a plea. Or at least, I found I couldn’t refuse one that came from her. “All right. If it would mean that much to you.”
She pulled away and turned her face to the side—embarrassed, I imagined, by how much of herself she’d just revealed. She took a moment to regain her composure. When she looked at me again, all traces of distress were gone from her face. Only her exhaustion remained. “Just do whatever you can. I’m glad someone will be out there to keep an eye on the huntsmen. You can’t trust someone who hides their true self.”
And with that, she flung open the closet door and swept off down the hall. I trailed along in her wake.
She’d cajoled me into agreeing so quickly I’d barely had time to think, but as I considered the idea, I realized joining the hunt might end up being well suited to my own purposes. I’d learned little about any murder plots while sitting around with a needle and thread, bored and browbeaten in the sewing room. And accompanying the hunt would also give me time to observe my husband-to-be. Spending the day out hunting with him would surely give me a better idea of what he was like.
But that was reasoning after the fact. I’d agreed to go because Angelique had askedme.
And for that matter, for all my rationalizing about getting to know Gervase, I wondered if it was the chance to see Sam again that had exerted the greater pull onme.
Part IV
A-Hunting We Will Go
Chapter Fifteen
An Inopportune Interruption
In the warm darkness, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around me. A pair of lips sought mine. I responded eagerly, sliding my hands beneath clothing, feeling the play of muscles under skin. I pulled myself closer until our bodies were pressed together.
Behind me, someone cleared their throat uncomfortably. Someone else tried without success to suppress a giggle.
I leapt away from my lover, embarrassment heating my face. I couldn’t believe I’d been caught kissing…kissing…
Who had I been kissing?
That could wait. “Who’s there?” I shouted, groping about for anything I could use as a weapon. There were assassins lurking in the kingdom. If they had come for me, I didn’t want to face them empty-handed.
“Um, we’re very sorry to intrude,” my older sister said, “but we thought it might be important.”
