“Not yet.” Mireille squirmed along the bench. “But honestly, this conversation has me seriously considering it.”
“I don’t think it’s a very good idea.”
“Why not? I can tell he still wants me. Quite badly based on how quickly I finished him earlier. Maybe if we bang the hatred out, we could go back to normal? Go back to being friends? Like we were up at the estate before…before everything went to shit. Maybe if we hate fuck each other, all this tension and angst will go away.”
“When in the history of the world has thateverworked?”
“We could be the first.”
Cassandra patted Mireille’s hand. “Sure you could.”
Mireille pushed up out of the tub, then grabbed a rolled towel from the shelf. “Come on, we should get going.”
Cassandra sat in the churning water a moment longer, gazing up at Mireille. “This was…nice.”
Mireille smiled, one of those rare genuine ones that lit up her whole face. She was unearthly beautiful. Cassandra understood why Ronin had never gotten over her. “I agree.”
Cassandra climbed out of the tub, shaking out her feathers.
Mireille handed her a towel. “But next time we do this, I’m going to need alotmore intricate details aboutyoursex life.”
Cassandra laughed, wrapping herself up in the plush towel and wiping down her limbs.
And for the first time in the High Gods knew how long, she could actually feel some of her burden lifting.
Maybe this was the help that the Goddess had intended for Mireille to give her after all.
A friend to offer some gentle laughter on a rough day.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
“Ican’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Cael grumbled, leaning against the back of a leather couch in the Stoneridge library.
Xenia dusted off the shoulders of his pine green jacket. “Come on, pterodactyl. How hard could it possibly be to spend an afternoon reading love poems to your fiancée?”
“Lovepoems?” Cael groaned. “Since when was that part of the plan?”
“You need to get close enough to swipe the necklace without her noticing. And how do you expect to do that unless she’s a pool of melted butter in your lap?”
Cael narrowed his eyes. “You are alarmingly okay with this.”
Xenia shrugged. “I’m not above using your dashing good looks and charm to get us the intel we need.”
“And what ifIam?”
She smiled, baring her cute, blunt teeth. He wanted to feel them on his skin. “Then you’ll stoop to my level. Because we have no other choice.”
“Don’t we?” He moved in as close as he dared without touching her. There were a few other patrons scattered about the hall, not close enough to hear their conversation but closeenough to read their body language. “We could always, I don’t know, do what I suggested in the first place andignorethis little side quest? I fail to see how opening that box will help us get the tracking device out of your neck or figure out how my father ensnared the dragon?”
She shook her head, her curls wafting her sweet, orange blossom scent and his cock twitched in his pants. He woke up to that scent each morning and it lingered long after they parted. Having her in his bed every night was torture. Pure, blissful torture.
“I’m working on that,” Xenia promised. “I’ve only read through about three-quarters of the literature in here on your father’s history. I plan to spend the entire day today searching through the rest. We’re close, Cael, I canfeelit. Just like I canfeelElodie is hiding something. I walked past the dining hall the other day and she was standing in there staring at those stuffed animal heads on the wall. Like she was hypnotized. Who does that? I’ve seen her skulking around the library, too. She startles every time I turn the corner and catch her. And remember how I caught her walking into your father’s office? What ifshe’sthe one who’s been feeding intel on the rebels to the Emperor?”
He let out a long sigh, and even though he suspected this was a time-wasting distraction—if Elodie wanted intel on the rebels, there were certainly better places to find it than Stoneridge—he was helpless to deny Xenia anything. A small part of him maybe even agreed with her.
Elodie’s behavior did sound odd. And if the contents of that box could illuminate her motives, perhaps it was worth a try.
Besides, if therewassomething damning in there, maybe Cael could use it as leverage to get his father to call off the whole damn thing.
