Lory fought hard to keep her face empty of shock.
Thank the Guardians for the Gilded training with Bleek. Had she not chosen to impersonate Anora Pervaille’s niece during their session, this would have been the first time since the Duke of Criulias had been exiled that the name Pervaille would have come up. The fact that Anora Pervaille was allowed to live in Criulias was considered a mercy of the king, but Lory wondered if that, like everything else, was a way of artfully hiding yet another ugly truth.
“Are you saying the Pervaille family is responsible for the attack?” She needed to make sure she hadn’t misheard him. “ThePervaille family.”
Was there even afamily? As far as the public was concerned, Gentry and Anora Pervaille hadn’t had children before they were separated through Gentry’s exile.
“How many Pervaille families that could be interested in weakening the king are there?” Niely shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “And that’s all I’ll say. Bad enough I let a pretty lady talk me into spilling secrets.” He winked as if that wasn’t the only mishap he planned on having tonight. “How about we go somewhere quiet, and you tell me a little more about yourself, Miss Vednis.”
Everything in Lory’s body screamed to get away from this man before his mindset of entitlement told him to take compensation for information freely given. The Guardians knew; she wouldn’t be surprised if she’d need to pull that blade from her pocket to keep him at a healthy distance the moment the restraint the hundreds of observant eyes inside the ballroom put on him was gone.
“I’m not sure, Lord Niely.” Lory set down her glass on the table and wound her fingers together in her lap, utilizing the naive expression she’d noticed Anees put on when she pretended to be a lady during Gilded training. “Captain Falcrest might not be so happy about me leaving without a word?—”
“It wouldn’t be without a word, Miss Vednis,” Niely reassured her, and Lory believed him. The bastard would make sure to rub it in Khayrivven’s face just to spite him. “Actually,why don’t we go over to tell Captain Falcrest goodbye right now. If I can’t give you any firsts tonight, perhaps it will be a first for him.”
His grin barely hid the sour edge in his tone, but Lory didn’t object. Whatever old grudge was going on between the two men, playing along with Niely’s plan was her way to return to Khayrivven safely. So she got to her feet, putting on her best conspiratorial smile. “Perhaps you could show me a first after all, Lord Niely.”
Fourteen
Lory
As Niely guidedher through the room, Lory could make out Khayrivven’s messy waves in the crowd clad in finery. He was chatting with yet another woman, shoulders relaxed and his back straight, the image of a courtier, even when the real Khayrivven was lethal, a beautiful predator stalking the shadows.
“Falcrest—” Niely pulled Lory close to his side as he stopped at Khayrivven’s shoulder, forcing him to turn to the side if he wanted to properly face them. “I see you’ve found new company.” He gestured at the woman in dusty pink who was playing with a long black curl,head slightly tilted. A silver tiara with pink crystals glimmered on her head, and around her neck, a long, silver necklace plunged between her breasts, drawing attention to her supple curves. She reminded Lory more of the women at Lu’Shen’s than of a lady.
“Maya. Enchanted to make your acquaintance, Lord?—”
“Niely.” The lord took the woman’s outstretched hand and raised it to his mouth, planting a not-so-delicate kiss on her knuckles. “I haven’t seen you here before.” His eyes lingered on the necklace for a heartbeat, then skimmed her chest and her hips in appraisal. “Something I’d like to change.”
Lory nearly laughed out loud as she took in the expression of outrage spreading on Khayrivven’s face the moment Niely glanced up at him.
Oh, he knew what he was doing. Such a clever Flame.
“You can make Lady Maya’s acquaintance some other day, Niely,” he griped at him, putting just enough bite into the words to make Niely’s eyes flash with delight.
“Oh, but now seems even better.” Niely dropped Lory’s arm, as if he’d forgotten he was about to rub into Khayrivven’s face she was about to leave with him, and Khayrivven winked at her behind Niely’s back.
“You don’t mind, Lady Maya, if I ask for this dance?”
A hint of a nod from the woman, and Niely was escorting her to the dance floor, his hand resting on the small of her back where a diamond-shaped gap in the pink satin exposed her soft, brown skin.
Lory struggled to fake an expression of disappointment as Niely turned his head, checking over his shoulder like a petty boy who’d taken someone else’s toy. Only when the twoof them disappeared in the dancing crowd did Lory playfully slap Khayrivven’s arm, then quickly looped her hand around his elbow to disguise the gesture.
“I’ve known you were ruthless, but this is outright devious,” she huffed, her laugh a hybrid of surprise and delight. “Also: the poor woman.”
Khayrivven gave her one of those smiles that made her knees go weak. “Maya knows how to handle herself. Lu’Shen always sends her best to such events.”
“Lu’Shen?”
Khayrivven placed his hand atop hers, gently tugging her into motion along the side of the dance floor.
“Lu’Shen isn’t just a brothel madame, as you might have figured out last time we visited,” he murmured, his chin brushing her temple as he leaned down. “She trains spies and helps Ashthorn out with the more delicate situations our … special units may get into.”
Special units like her, destined to become an assassin herself.
The old fear of being presented with the choice between taking a life or losing her own tightened her chest, but Lory breathed through it. Even with the comfort of Khayrivven’s presence at her side, this was still a mission, and she needed to be prepared for anything to happen.
She put on a smile the outside world would recognize as polite amusement, turning her head an inch so she could glance up at Khayrivven’s chiseled face. “Do all trainees receive the sameattentionas me?” she prompted, watching heat flash in his eyes at the reminder of their hours of pleasure at Lu’Shen’s, when—not unlike today—she’d been tasked withextracting a secret from a stranger. Only then, it didn’t matter what the secret had been, while today?—
