I take a bath at legion speed, and the cold water focuses me. Then, once I’m dry, I dab on sandalwood cologne, glad I already shaved this morning.
I’ve just put on my suit pants when someone knocks five times in rapid succession. It’s Julian. I open my door, still shirtless.
“Ready to face the wolves?” He smiles. Then his grin disappears as he realizes I’m not dressed yet.
“Always,” I say.
He steps into the room in yet another white jacket. They’re all cut differently but immaculately tailored. He has a full room of expensive clothes in his villa.
Jules closes the door behind himself. I shrug on a white dress shirt, still wondering who was listening in the baths. Foreau does make a certain amount of sense, yet it doesn’t ring true.
“I know that face,” Julian says. “What’s wrong?”
“Someone followed me earlier, and I didn’t catch them.”
I finish the buttons and grab my blue suit jacket. I had to bring six suits to the mountain because the elite would be scandalized by me repeating an outfit. The suspicious deaths of the clerk and senator are just fine, but gods save fashion.
“That’s…unlike you,” Jules says slowly. “Followed you where?”
“To the baths.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Someone followed you while you were following Kerasea?”
I frown at him. “Talking with her. You heard me ask for a word before we left the throne room. Did you see anyone leave after us?”
“All of the pages, but the conclave was done for the day, so that’s hardly incriminating. Medea, but she couldn’t have outrun you.”
Medea. Her sentry might have been fast enough, but the same could be said for the other sentries.
For now, I have other matters to discuss with Julian. “I’ll need your help tonight after dinner,” I say.
Julian smiles. “You need my help…moving another body?”
I purse my lips. He won’t like having to haul the cook back up ten floors. I wonder if Kerasea can do her divining outside, but then I remember that she needs the eternal flame.
Ten floors it is.
At the look on my face, he groans. “Gods, I was joking! Who this time?”
“The same.”
He slowly closes his eyes and sighs. I don’t blame him, as moving a frozen corpse isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time.
“I need a new best friend,” he mutters. “Do I even want to know?”
“No.”
He groans. “No is right. At least I’ll enjoy dinner first. Let’s go.”
XLIII.
Torren
Dinner is served, and I am glad I didn’t make an excuse to search Foreau’s chambers tonight. His chair is vacant, his absence a protest. Given how the conclave ended today, I’m not surprised, but the senators ordinarily pretend that nothing said or done in lawmaking affects their friendships. So, it’s something to note.
The light purple of Kerasea’s dress catches my eye. The color makes the green of hers as vivid as a spring meadow. She is stunning as per usual, but softer, more like candlelight this evening.
I look away from her. This is exactly what caused a lapse in my judgment earlier. I should be thinking about what her servant girl was hiding last night. Zel’s secrets are far more important than the way Kera closes her eyes slowly when she tastes something delicious.
