Kushiel's Justice - Jacqueline Carey [41]
"Ah, Naamah!" she panted.
The adjoining door opened. "Sidonie?”
Sidonie glanced up, dark eyes wide and blurred with pleasure, honey-gold hair clinging to skin damp with sweat. "What is it?”
"I'm sorry." Amarante looked apologetic and amused, and not in the least startled to find her half-naked royal mistress straddling me. "Your mother sent a messenger. I told him you were napping, but he's waiting.”
Sidonie sighed. "All right." She got up, which Elua knows, I couldn't have done at the moment. In seconds, her bodice was laced and her hair twined in a lover's-haste knot at the nape of her neck. I stared at her in amazement and began to wonder what I'd gotten myself into. Her lips curved, her Cruithne eyes reading my thoughts. "We'll talk later.”
"All right," I said faintly.
The women exchanged one of their glances, and Amarante raised her brows. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll clean him up.”
"My thanks." Sidonie kissed her and left.
I groaned. Amarante laughed and fetched a linen towel from the washbasin. "Here.”
"Give me a moment." I rested my back against the edge of her bed and contemplated her. "Why are you doing this, my lady?”
"Should I be jealous, you mean?" she asked, and I nodded. "Are you?”
I thought about it. "I don't know. But Mavros said you were loyal to Sidonie.”
"I am." She sat in the chair beneath the window. "She has a lonely path. I think she deserves to have one person who won't break trust with her for any reason. I think, too, that it will make her a kinder person in turn, and one day, mayhap a gentler ruler. And for so long as she wishes, I'm content to serve in that role.”
"And are you always impossibly wise and compassionate?" I asked.
Amarante laughed again. "No.”
"That's good to know." I levered myself to my feet and went to use the washbasin, feeling remarkably self-conscious about it. Amarante waited, unperturbed.
"Prince Imriel," she said when I'd finished. "You asked why. I was raised in Naamah's worship, and we honor love and desire over politics. If you and Sidonie wish to bruise your hearts on each other, it is your right. But if you hurt her a-purpose, I will call down Naamah's curse on you.”
I nodded. "Fairly spoken.”
"I'm glad you think so." Her apple-green eyes glinted. "And next time, mayhap you'll make it as far as the bed.”
I left the Palace in a daze. Fire, had I said? Name of Elua! More like a firestorm. I should have known. I had known, or suspected. Still, it hadn't prepared me for the reality. Sidonie, my cool, regal cousin. My body was quivering like a plucked harp-string and I wanted more, so much more, than this half-thwarted encounter that left me with damp breeches and heightened yearning. I'd known desire before. Claudia Fulvia's ardor had kept mine at a fever pitch for days on end.
This was different.
For the first time, it scared me. She was right, of course. We were the last two people in the realm who could afford a casual dalliance. Only it wasn't casual. It wasn’t casual because of the Queen's disapproval and the menace in Barquiel L'Envers' stare, and worst of all, the unnerving ache in the hollow of my chest, a terrible surge of tenderness.
Naamah's curse didn't frighten me.
Her blessing was another matter.
Chapter Nine
I attended my first session as a member of Parliament some days later, although the Marquise de Lafoneuil would be displeased to know that the matter of the cooper's tax was not addressed. Ysandre had convened the meeting to give ear to Diokles Agallon, the Ephesian ambassador. It was a partial session, as many members would not be travelling