Bruli stumbled over his words. Smiling, sipping wine to hide his clumsiness, he still could not help staring at the slowly increasing expanse of her thigh.
Nacoya had been right; testing further, Mara said, ‘Bruli, I must beg your leave to retire. But I hope you will have time to return to us in’ – she pouted, as if thought were very difficult for her, then smiled – ‘say, two days.’ She rose with all the grace she could muster, artfully allowing her robe to fall more open than before. Bruli’s colour deepened. To Mara’s gratification, he returned an emphatic assurance that he would return upon her pleasure. Then he sighed, as if two days seemed a long period.
Mara left the garden, aware that he watched her until she disappeared into the shadows of the house. Nacoya waited at the first door, the glint in her eyes revealing that she had observed the entire hour’s conversation.
‘Do all men have their brains between their legs?’ Mara inquired. Frowning, she compared Bruli’s behaviour to what she remembered of her father’s stern manner and her brother’s rakish charm.
Nacoya hustled her mistress briskly away from the screen. ‘Most, thank the gods.’ Pausing before the door to Mara’s quarters, she added, ‘Mistress, women have few means to rule their own lives. You have the rare fortune to be a Ruling Lady. The rest of us live at the whim of our lords or husbands or fathers, and what you have just practised is the mightiest weapon at our command. Fear the man who doesn’t desire a woman, for he will see you only as a tool or a foe.’ Almost gloatingly, she patted Mara’s shoulder. ‘But our young calley bird is smitten, I think, as much as working on his father’s behalf. Now I will hurry to reach him in the outer courtyard before he takes his leave. I have a few suggestions on how he may win you.’
Mara watched the old woman hurry energetically away, hairpins leaning precariously to the left. Shaking her head at the follies of life, she wondered what Nacoya would advise this silly young suitor from the Kehotara. Then she decided she would consider that in a hot tub. This display of womanly charms for the purpose of inflaming Bruli had left her feeling slightly soiled.
13 – Seduction
The boy’s eyes opened wide.
Seated on his mat before the outer screen, the runner turned towards his mistress with a wondering look upon his face. The boy was new to his post, and Mara guessed his expression portended an impressive arrival in the dooryard. She dismissed the new warriors, both recruited only that morning. They took their bows, and as a servant arrived to show them to their barracks, Mara inquired of her runner, ‘Is it Bruli of the Kehotara?’
Young and still easily impressed, the slave boy nodded quickly. Mara stretched briefly and arose from amid stacks of parchments and tallies. Then she, too, stared in amazement. Bruli approached the great house in an ornate litter, obviously new, with ribbons of pearl and shell inlay gleaming in the morning sunlight. He had dressed in silk robes, bordered in elaborate embroidery, and his head covering was set with tiny sapphires, to enchance the colour of his eyes. Kehotara vanity did not end there. As if watching a pageant from a child’s tale, Mara noticed that his litter bearers were uniformly matched in height and physical perfection; with none of the ragged, beaten look of toil, these slaves were like young gods, tall and muscular, with bodies oiled like athletes. A full dozen musicians accompanied the Kehotara honour guard. They played well and loudly upon horns and vielles as Bruli made his entrance.
Bemused, Mara waved for a servant to tidy the scrolls, while Misa helped her refresh her appearance. Nacoya had been up to her own machinations. On his last three visits the Acoma First Adviser had fended the boy off, warning of her mistress’s impatience with a suitor who did not display his wealth as a sign of ardour. Twice Bruli had dined in the garden, Mara again feeling like a piece of meat on display at a butcher’s stall. But each time she laughed at some stupid joke or feigned surprise at some revelation about one or another Lord in the High Council, Bruli was genuinely pleased. He seemed totally infatuated with her. At their last meeting, Mara had briefly allowed him to express his passion with a parting kiss, deftly disentangling herself from his embrace as his hands closed around her shoulders. He had called out an entreaty, but she ducked through the doorway, leaving him aroused and confused in the dappled moonlight of the garden. Nacoya had seen him to his litter, then returned with the certainty that the young man’s frustration served to fan his desire.