Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
“I’m not sure they know how to cook,” I muttered.
“The fare they’ve provided I have noted has been substandard. Your father does not have skills in hiring staff.”
What he had skills at was hiring staff that he thought might turn a king’s eye.
A knock sounded at the door.
“Come!” Mars commanded.
The door opened, and I pressed closer to him, not looking in that direction.
His arms held me tighter.
“The fire needs stirred and fed,” he ordered. “And my queen and I will be enjoying our bed for the rest of the day. Bring wine, cheese and bread now. Fresh water and cloths in the queen’s boudoir. Later, we will be requiring supper. We shall ring when this is desired.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” I heard, and I recognized the voice. It was Olive.
She didn’t sound happy.
She would be less happy after Mars went on.
“I would suggest whoever cooks does so with the heretofore undemonstrated desire to please us, for if we dislike the fare we’re offered, whoever made it will be dismissed.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” came from the direction of the fire.
Hmm.
Definitely unhappy.
I grinned.
“Don’t dally,” Mars finished.
“Of course, Your Grace.”
She did not dally for, shortly after, I heard the door close.
The minute it did, Mars pushed us down in the bed and rolled me to my back on the mattress with him atop me.
“I must clean us up,” he murmured. “Hopefully there’s still water in my cabinet.”
“All right.”
He touched his lips to mine and made to pull away.
But I moved quickly to wrap my fingers around either side of his neck and he stopped.
“Thank you for being so understanding,” I said softly.
His expression grew tender (or more so).
“If I am ever not this, Silence, that would be a failure as well,” he replied. “One that you should not abide, no?”
I had a choice to kiss him or shed a tear.
It took no time a’tall to make the decision.
My husband approved of my decision.
And thus, it took some time for him to clean us up for we got lost in the embrace.
60
The Chalk
Chu of the Trusted
Northwestern Dune Dessert, by the Tebes River
FIRENZE
Serena washed in the river while Chu watched, recalling again the unsettling occurrence that happened between them some days before.
He had called her to him, not to their usual room in the Heden District, but to an osteria there.
He had then shared what his king had told him to share, not as a Master to his slave, but as a Trusted of the King of Firenze to a general in the Nadirii army.
What he found unsettling was her reaction.
Her appealing face took on an efficient expression.
She then asked a series of swift, succinct questions about the evidence they had to support their suspicions.
After that, she said, “Carrington is a fool and half the Go’Doan I find shifty. How do you wish to proceed?”
And at this, that unsettled feeling bloomed.
“We will work together, on both,” he told her.
She, Serena of the Nadirii, a known firebrand who had only one use for men and was not particularly fond of team efforts, simply nodded.
And that unsettled feeling grew.
But she asked, “What do you wish Heloise and Genia to do?”
“I do not know who they are, so I don’t wish them to do anything.”
“They’re my lieutenants. They remained behind in Firenze with me.”
“Then, as they are your lieutenants, you clearly trust them, thus I wish you to brief them, we will introduce them to Lorenz and Guard, and they will assist here in keeping watch over the Go’Doan that are left and searching for the priests who escaped while we travel to Wodell.”
This she did not support, and she verbalized that.
“I’d prefer they stay with me.”
“We’re going to be spying, mouse. That endeavor is much more successful when it is not attempted by a battalion.”
“Two warriors is not a battalion, and I am not your mouse when we are not at play.”
He leaned to her, touched her tunic at the side of her breast, watched her eyelids go heavy, and he pointed out the obvious.
“You are my mouse at all times, Serena. Now have you ever acted spy?”
She shook her head, and he knew she was more attuned to his finger lightly caressing her over her tunic than his words.
“Would you like to learn?” he asked.
She nodded.
He sat back and removed his hand.
She looked disappointed.
Chu allowed himself to enjoy that look for a moment before he ordered, “Give direction to your women. I will send a message to you when we will all meet. It will not be long, little mouse, so do this packing. And pack light. We must make haste to Wodell and we don’t need our horses heavy. Yes?”
She nodded again.
“Go,” he commanded.
She did not go.
She took a moment to study him and he could not read her face as she did.
She then went.
He watched her walk away, and after she was gone was when Chu realized he remained unsettled by her manner.