George froze, tensing, and he loosened his hold on her. He wasn’t in the habit of forcing his attention on women.
“How do you know that?” she rasped.
Smoothly, he shifted one of his cords to settle against her ear, then he whispered into his end, “Like this.”
Her mouth fell open.
A grin split his face.
“Are you fucking kidding me? This whole time?”
“The whole time.” He willed the water by her ear to nibble on her lobe ever so slightly, and she shivered. He felt it.
Then she swung her arm up and slapped his magic away—he’d expected nothing less.
Isahn thought she was about to leave, sick of his shenanigans. But George only walked across the room to retrieve her robe, toss it down in front of him, and plop onto it, settling on the floor.
Isahn slid down the wall, joining her on the stones with his legs wide and his knees bent.
She nudged him on the forehead with her magic, and he grinned.
“All right, let’s talk.”
He’d just finished explaining what he overheard from Peros and the men he learned were named Gianis and Marinos when a door clanged somewhere down the hall.
Leaping up and snatching her robe, George backed away as she slid her hands into the sleeves.
A shadow blotted out the candlelight in the corridor, and Isahn swore someone had stopped there, watching him from just out of view.
With her head tilted to the side like she was listening to someone, George’s eyes went wide.
“I’ll be back,” she announced, slipping from the room.
Footsteps departed, and all he could make out were hushed whispers, then the far-off door closed with abang.
With his magic already revealed, Isahn took the opportunity to piss. He was just pulling his breeches back into place when the doorthunkedagain and footsteps returned.
Soft, cozy, and fresh, George waltzed into the cell with a blanket, a pillow, and a warm loaf of crusty bread.
“For me?”
“For you,” she rasped, hanging back and tossing the bundle his way. “Sleep tight. We’ll talk in the morning.”
The bedding smelled of roses.
six
George makes a bid.
Overabreakfastofbreads and spreads in the villa’striclinium, George broached the subject of the prisoner to her very hungover friends.
“We need to let him out.”
“What?” Hildy looked up, bleary-eyed, as she sipped her tea.
“Nope,” Dunstan grumbled.
Burke swigged his juice and shook his head.
