“Well, you know how he is, I’m sure,” she says to me.
I lift my brows and give her a look that tells her I amnotreliving my bedroom exploits with Ludis ever. The fact that I enjoyed sex with him makes it so much worse than if he’d been terrible.
She seems to understand, then leans forward conspiratorially , “He’s skilled, I’ll give him that. But it’s because he couldn’t handle it if he wasn’t viewed as an excellent lover. He would rather die than leave a woman without an orgasm.
“Really?” Antonia asks, a little too interested.
I glare at her and she presses her lips into a tight line, and returns her attention to Genevieve.
“But this is the good part. Because he makes sure I get mine first, sometimes, I say thank you, then put my clothes on and leave. He sat there with his mouth hanging open the first time I did it. Now, he kind of begs me not to leave. Occasionally I still do, just to keep him on his toes.” She grins.
I burst out laughing and Antonia joins in, followed by Genevieve. Picturing Ludis left when he thought it was his turn is a punishment for him I didn’t know I needed him to have. We laugh so hard, we have to wipe tears from our eyes.
When we catch our breath, I reach over and set my hand on top of Genevieve’s. My expression turns serious. “You’re not doing anything you don’t want to do, are you? We could end this right now. You shouldn’t have to…”
She squeezes my hand. “I’m enjoying myself. And it keeps the other men away from me. Keeps my parents away. Trust me, I’m getting the better part of this deal. Especially compared to what he’s getting out of it.”
“Any time you want out, you let us know. We’ll come up with a good excuse,” I tell her.
“I know. Now, tell me what we’re researching. I want to help. For the next few days, he’s riding the route to the castle and back. He’s looking for the secret markings tied to the trees to signal where the rebels plan to meet you to assist on taking the throne.”
We all laugh again. But better than imagining him on a wild-goose chase is the fact that we know we have a few blissful dayswithout him lurking around. That gives us more time to find what we need.
“Well, you’re not going to believe what we found today,” Antonia starts. She explains about the objects hidden under the floor, and my magic.
Genevieve catches us up on the other things she’s overheard or come across while playing mistress to Ludis. None of them seem especially helpful right now, but everything she learns might be needed eventually.
I have to say, she’s a far better spy than I ever was.
Thirty-Five
Sabina
The library has become more familiar than my own room in the estate. We’ve spent the last several days here, taking breaks only when our eyes need a rest. Aside from breakfast, we’ve taken to eating here, though we’re very careful to keep the food away from the books.
I rub my eyes, then look back at the tome in front of me. Samuel had several botany books delivered yesterday and I’ve been going through them as best I can. So far, not a single entry in any of the books is for a poisonous plant. It’s like they wiped all of them from their records.
“Did you know that there used to be whole towns of people from Ashendune who lived in Pendralia?” Antonia asks.
“I haven’t seen that in anything I read,” I say, grateful for a chance to think about something besides botany.
“It looks like they’d come here in the summer, during the most intense heat, and stay for the social seasons.” She looksup from her book. “I guess there used to be more formal social calendars at the castle.”
“When was that? How far back does it go?” I ask.
“It sounds like it was still ongoing whenever this was written. As if it had always been that way.” Her brow furrows. “Wait, was the emperor married before?”
“Before Caiden’s mother?” I ask.
She nods. “It says here that the empress would host days-long festivals with games for the ladies while the men would hunt. They’d culminate in public competitions where even the peasants were invited to watch people duel to the death.” She winces. “That sounds terrible.”
“That sounds like something the emperor would have loved,” I grumble. “Hey, is there anything about dragons in there?”
“Not so far, why?” she asks.
“No reason.” The last thing we need is another thing to investigate. I still worry about the captive dragon and wonder if there’s a way to free it. But I’m also not sure freeing it won’t result in mass casualties if it’s out roaming the countryside. Or leading to its brutal murder. That’s a whole other topic for another day. When I have at least one of these mysteries solved.
“Do you think the emperor would tell you more about his mother?” Antonia asks.
