After all, keeping one, insignificant secret couldn’t possibly make up for what she’d done. That my wrists bled gold because she’d fetched the chains for Asher without being asked to do it.
“I just…” She shook her head. “Just wanted you to know.” With a dainty sniffle, she dabbed at a misty, artful droplet then clapped her hands. “Anyway.Sasha. I owed her a debt,” she said, organizing makeup brushes from largest to smallest. “For years. She’d have disagreed with me, of course. But it’s a debt I was never able to repay. Not while she was alive, at least.” Alicia met my eye, then went very still. “I’ll miss her every day, for the rest of my life.”
Nodding, just the once, I glanced away at the sound of shouting coming from the floor below. Distracted from this moment that held too much unspoken weight.
An argument was breaking out between players whose energies I could not sample, I was left to listen and guess. Hoping it wasn’t Lieutenant General Hastings returned to clap suppressor cuff on me and leave me dead in all but name.
“I left a box,” Alicia said, drawing me back. Abrupt, pushy in a way I didn’t completely understand. And her eyes, sparkling and green, were filled with anxiety when she too glanced toward the door and the argument unfolding on the floor below. “The last time I was here. Have you seen it?”
I frowned. “I haven’t seen anything but the backs of my eyelids in what I’m told is more than a week.”
“It was smaller than this one,” she pressed, tapping her makeup kit with the point of her index nail. “Black. About this big. Tarnished buckles.”
Bewildered, I flicked my fingers toward the bathroom door, and said, “Then go look for it in Asher’s mess. I won’t stop you.”
“It was precious,” she said, as if I hadn’t spoken. Making no move to do as I said, and look for herself. “A final gift, from the Head Priestess.”
Distant cursing proceeded the heavy thunder of feet racing up the stairs.
“I think,” she said in a rushed whisper as our alone time came to an end, “when you’re feeling up to it”—a quick, smile laden with meaning I didn’t understand—“when you’ve got a few private momentsto yourself,you might look under the captain’s desk. That’s where I would start.”
12
The bedroom door bounced off the wall, announcing Asher’s return with a violent flourish. “Vile whore,” he snarled an instant before he rounded the corner to the bathroom. “Come,” he snapped, and clicked his fingers in my general direction. A dark, angry cloud of temper crackling all around him as he exited the bathroom mere seconds after he’d entered it.
But my chains did not burn with a compulsion I couldn’t refuse.
The compulsion ignited in my blood.
“But, my lord,” Alicia began, scurrying after him. “Mila hasn’t had time to eat anything—”
“Yes,” he snapped. “I assumed as much. I’ll feed her myself,” he added, and sent his hand through his hair, then issued a bitter bark of laughter. “My apologies, Alicia. I’ve just been reminded of my duties to the Rawlings name. And the throne. And a half million other obligations I’ve been ignoring while I’ve beenvacationingover the last week. It would seem my afternoon has already been booked.” His lip curled. “Mila and I are off to endure a picnic with my lovely fucking bride to be.”
Alicia’s brows jumped, almost meeting her hairline. “A picnic,” she said, halting and dubious. “That’ll be… nice, sir.”
He pinned her with a black glare that did little to conceal his opinions on the subject. “Thenyougo, and I’ll stay here and finally close my fucking eyes.”
“I haven’t had time to do her makeup,” Alicia returned, unaffected by the venomorthe threat of spending time with Carina. “If you were looking for a reason to stall.”
“I’m hungry,” I said, and pulled myself up. Swaying where I stood, enticed by the idea of a picnic, despite the threat of the company. “You’ll have to paint my face later. If there’s food, I’m going.”
For a moment, neither Alicia nor Asher said a word. Both merely turned to stare at me in open-mouthed shock.
And then, head thrown back to issue a startled bark of laughter, Asher grinned, his mood shifting in an instant. “Oh, believe me,” he drawled, “I’m happy to paint your face whenever you want, pet. Just say the word.”
Tittering behind her hand, Alicia’s eyes glittered but she did me the courtesy of keeping whatever comments she might make a mystery.
Confused, I sent a bewildered glance between the pair, then said, “I don’t understand.”
“No,” the captain hummed, “I know you don’t, my little innocent. That’s what makes it particularly…precious.”
Taking several mincing steps toward the exit, I shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. As long as there’s food, paint away.”
“An offer I won’t soon forget,” he cooed, watching me cling to the vanity as I moved. Only extending his hand when I was close enough to reach it.
It was a gesture I accepted without hesitating—and the reward was a rush of elite energy he sent coursing through my fingertips. Filling me with vigor, he lent me strength enough to stand without sweating, then pulled me close, pressed his lips against my ear, and whispered, “A taste. Just to hold you over.”
Without meaning to, I groaned. Spine going loose, I became all too aware of the throbbing need in tender flesh as it was awakened at his call. By the licking flames of his heat as it blazed through my blood.
