“I must say, this is an unexpected privilege,” Aileena murmured. “I had believed I displeased you during our last encounter.”
“The only one who did anything displeasing was me.” Keris shook his head when she opened the door to a room facing the street. “A quieter room, if you would.”
Shrugging one graceful shoulder, Aileena opened the door on the opposite side, revealing a room dominated by a large bed made up in lavender silk, the drapes a deeper shade of purple shot with silver thread. He smirked. “I thought you didn’t entertain Valcottans.”
She shrugged. “Business is business.”
“And a cock is a cock.” He went to the window and pulled aside the drapes to peer at the alley.
She gave a soft chuckle. “I wouldn’t say that, Your Highness.”
He turned around to find that she’d removed her dress, now wearing undergarments made of golden chains and glittering jewels. Gilt and glass but becoming nonetheless. Yet despite having tasted the pleasures Aileena had to offer, his cock did not so much as twitch at the sight, his mind’s eye filling with the memory of dark eyes, silken brown skin, and a body honed by a life spent working on her feet, not her back. But more than that, it was Valcotta’s words that filled his head, her fearless voicing of things that most were too terrified to even think. “Speaking of business, lovely, I’ve something of a proposition for you…”
20
ZARRAH
“Have you lost your goddamned mind? The Empress left specific orders not to raid.”
Bermin crossed his arms, scowling. His throat was swollen and bruised from the battle. “Orders I don’t agree with. She seems content for Valcotta to look weak while Maridrina’s strength only grows.”
Zarrah ground her teeth. “It’s treason, cousin. The only thing saving you from execution is your title.”
Bermin rasped, “I’d rather die a thousand times than sacrifice my honor.”
“Honor, is it?” She spit the words in his face, fury rising in her chest. “What exactly did you prove today other than that we are as murderous as they are?”
Her cousin stared at her in confusion, which only fueled her anger.
“It wasn’t soldiers you attacked today; it was unarmed farmers and their families. Perhaps you might explain to me how slaughtering children proves your prowess as a warrior, for I say it does the opposite.”
Grimacing, Bermin wiped her spittle from his face. “What is wrong with you? Honor in vengeance. As it has always been.”
And for so long, she’d helped fuel the pattern. Had believed her actions righteous even as she’d condemned the Maridrinians. Except today as she’d looked at the bodies Bermin and his soldiers had left in their wake, she’d seen not righteous vengeance but coldblooded murder.
“You will abide, Your Highness. Or I will send you back to Pyrinat. It is your choice. Now get out.”
She twisted away, not watching him leave in favor of staring out the window at the city, shadows stretching long as the sun set. Her gaze moved east to the bluffs, the dam little more than a shadow in the distance. It drew her like a compulsion, beckoning her, because there was no one here who would understand. No one she could tell that a Maridrinian had put the spark of an idea in her head, and that against her will, it now blazed like a bonfire.
No one she could tell, except perhaps for the Maridrinian himself.
21
KERIS
After a few minutes of haggling on a rate, Keris had kissed the courtesan on the cheek and handed her triple what they’d agreed upon before slipping out the window into the Nerastis night.
He had no reason to believe Valcotta would be there. And yet his heart pounded rapidly as he exited the city limits and headed up the old dam, the roar of the waterfall growing with each step he drew closer.
Why are you here? a voice whispered from deep inside his head. What is it about this woman that causes you to risk life and limb to speak to her?
“She listens,” he replied to the voice. Except it was more than that. Valcotta didn’t just listen: she heard.
Stepping onto the top of the dam, he moved around the curved stone, coming to a stop at the edge of the spillway, his eyes drinking in the sight on the other side.
Moonlight gleamed off her dark hair, the short locks brushing her polished cheeks as the breeze blew against them. As always, she wore a thick leather bodice that was molded against her slender body, the same breeze toying with her hair blowing the loose fabric of her trousers taut against her curved thighs. Only her arms were bare, but the sight of them did more to him than the naked courtesan he’d left eating candies on the bed in the brothel.
“How did you know I’d be here?” she called across the rushing water.
His memory of her voice had been a pale comparison to the reality of it. A voice he could listen to for the rest of the night. And for many nights to come.
“I didn’t. Only hoped that fortune would favor me with your presence.”
She tilted her head. “You’re the first Maridrinian to ever call my presence a favor of fate.”
He smirked. “With a face like yours, I cry false. I’m sure you leave half-cocked Maridrinian corpses everywhere you go, Valcotta.”
She burst into laughter, easing the tension that had been seething through him since the raid. Calming his heart even as it made his pulse race.
“That is the worst compliment I’ve ever received in my life.”
Keris gave a deep bow, then motioned for her to step back. Clenching his teeth because he knew this would hurt, he sprinted to the edge and jumped. His boots made no sound as he landed, but the impact sent pain lancing through his shoulder, causing him to stumble and catch his balance against her shoulders.
Her skin was feverishly warm even through his gloves, and as Keris inhaled, the scent of lavender and leather and steel filled his nose. A warrior, yes, but also very much a woman, and they stood only inches apart, his hands gripping her shoulders and one of her hands pressed against his chest, holding him steady.
“You’re hurt.” She lowered her hand from his chest. “You shouldn’t have jumped.”
She was probably right, but the reward of being close to her felt very much worth the risk. “It’s nothing. An old injury come back for a visit.”
“There is little worse than uninvited guests.”
God help him, but he wanted to drown in her voice. “I hope you speak metaphorically of my shoulder and not literally of my presence on Valcottan soil, for if it is the latter, my feelings will be tremendously hurt. I might weep.”
She smiled. “Why are you here?”
“Why are you here?” When she shook her head, he sighed. “I was reminded today exactly why I didn’t want to come to Nerastis. Why I don’t wish to be in Maridrina at all, for that matter.”
“Then how fortunate you now stand on Valcottan soil.”