Page 27 of A Taste for the Peculiar

Avirin

Across the drawing room, Cascade converses with her guests. She leans against one of the tables, but her body is still angled toward Lord Riften and Avirin, limbs elongated like an invitation.

Avirin swallows. She wants to cross the space. She wants to approach Cascade. She wants what Lord Riften suggested, but the room feels suddenly like a long gauntlet of uncertainties.

Lord Riften’s fingers brush the small of her back. Not pushing. Not urging. Just a steadying reminder that he’s there.

Resolutely, Avirin starts to move. From the way Cascade’s leaves and branches shift, it’s as if she’s been waiting for Avirin to reappear. “Have you decided to play after all?” she asks in a tone that makes Avirin’s stomach knot.

There’s a secondary meaning to her words, the beginning of a different game that Avirin is starting to understand. “Yes. We’d like a…private table with you, if it’s available.”

Cascade shoots Lord Riften an impressed look, but Avirin can’t see what expression he returns. When Cascade gestures toward an empty table in the far corner, Avirin tries to quell the nerves rioting in her chest.

Lord Riften pulls out a chair for Avirin before he sinks down next to her. Across the table, Cascade reaches into the pocket of her trousers and retrieves a deck of playing cards. “Queen’s Cup?” She twirls one of the cards between her slender fingers. “Will you both be playing this evening?”

Lord Riften rests their arm across the back of Avirin’s chair. “Lady Avirin will hold the cards. I will aid her only if she requires…assistance.”

Cascade gives him a pointed look as she shuffles.

“You’ve been working hard lately,” Lord Riften explains, “keeping everything under control. Lady Avirin knows a bit about that.” Their lip quirks. “I suspect the two of you could brighten each other’s spirits. I believe you’ll find yourselves complementary…and Selbie agrees.”

Avirin’s toes curl in her shoes. There it is again, an undercurrent to the words that she doesn’t understand. But Lord Riften has not led her astray thus far. Wherever they are taking her, Avirin is certain she wants to go.

Cascade reaches beneath the table to produce a bottle of deep red cider. She pours herself a drink before she pushes the deck of cards across the table toward Avirin. “As our esteemed guest, you may do the honor of dealing.”

Avirin hesitates. “But that puts you at a disadvantage for the game.”

Cascade’s smile is as sticky as sap. “It’ll be worth my while.”

Heat climbs up Avirin’s neck, but she does as she’s told, much to Cascade’s pleasure. Once Avirin has finished dealing, Cascade lifts her cards and runs her eyes over them. “What would you like if you win tonight, Avirin?”

Being called by her given name strikes her, and not in an unwelcome way. “If I win?”

“When a guest enters a private game with me, I aim to give them the prize they’re after.”

A lump forms in Avirin’s throat. She can’t possibly say it. Discussing such activities with Lord Riften is foreign enough, but speaking them to this near-stranger? To suggest what Avirin is truly thinking…

Cascade peers over the tops of her cards. “I do need to hear it from you, Avirin. You might be surprised how amenable I am.”

If you cannot speak the words, I cannot imagine you’re prepared for the act.

Avirin remembers Lord Riften’s words from the first lesson in the alcove. Has she really failed to make any progress since then? Her body grows hot with embarrassment. She grips her cards and tries not to crinkle them. “I mean to procure a husband. To learn how to please him.” It feels foolish speaking it aloud, but she forges ahead, refusing to let the words dam up behind her lips. “But I don’t yet have the full scope of things. I hope you’ll teach me. I hope you’ll show me what it entails when a husband lies with his wife.”

Cascade’s face shifts in surprise. She lowers her hand to get a good look at Avirin. “My, my.”

Avirin tries not to shrink under her gaze, ignoring the heat of Lord Riften watching beside her.

Cascade drums her fingers on the table. “Are you certain it’s a husband you want?”

Avirin’s thoughts go fuzzy with possibilities. “I’m…afraid it has to be.”

Thoughtfully, Cascade purses her lips. “Surely someone closer to you could provide this experience. I wonder why they wouldn’t.”

Lord Riften’s fingers flex near Avirin’s shoulder. His mouth draws tight, eyes never leaving Cascade’s, as if he can’t look at Avirin.

Cascade doesn’t blink. There’s a long moment of tension before understanding crosses her face. She leans back in her chair and returns her attention to Avirin. “I won’t teach you how to please a husband.”

Avirin’s heart sinks.