Kushiel's Mercy - Jacqueline Carey [115]
We passed a pleasant time lingering in the baths. I kept my promise to Princess Sidonie and bathed thoroughly, washing my hair several times over. Afterward, we bought food from one of the many vendors there and dined while strolling the colonnade. I felt an unaccountable excitement rising as morning gave way to noon.
“I’ve got to be on my way,” I said to Sunjata outside the baths. “Shall I see you later?”
“I’ll meet you here on the morrow.” He smiled wryly. “I’ve a commission to work on. A particular ring.”
“Ah, I see,” I said. “Good. Tomorrow, then. But why don’t you come to the villa? I had some business I wished to discuss.”
“I prefer this,” he said.
“Fine.” I threw up my hands. “As you wish.”
“Leander.” Sunjata caught my arm as I turned to go. He lowered his voice. “Listen . . . whatever you’re feeling for her, don’t fight it. It might be exactly what you need.”
“I’m not,” I said. “It feels more like it’s fighting me.”
He let go my arm. “That may very well be true.”
Before I could ask what in the world that was supposed to mean, Sunjata turned on his heel and set off at a brisk walk. I let him go. There was no reasoning with him when he was in an obstinate mood.
Besides, I had a date to keep.
Once more, I presented myself at the villa of the House of Sarkal. This time, I was bade wait a moment before I was escorted within. When I was, I found the princess already awaiting me, seated in the sunlight alcove and pondering the chess board. One of the Amazigh had taken up his customary position, his presence warning me to be discreet. Today the princess wore a silk gown the color of apricots. The decolletage wasn’t low enough to be unseemly, but I could see the swell of her breasts. My mouth went dry.
“Leander Maignard.” Her gaze flashed up at me.
I nearly greeted her by name. I swallowed it and bowed. “Your highness.”
“Are you thoroughly scoured and ready to match wits?” she asked.
“Both, my lady.”
“Well, then.” She smiled and gestured at the table. The chess board was positioned so that I would be playing white. “The opening move is yours.”
I sat opposite her and moved an ivory pawn. “So it begins.”
The princess mirrored my move with an ebony pawn. A heavy signet ring glinted on her right hand. I marked it, remembering she’d worn it yesterday, too. “Tell me, Leander Maignard, how do you spend your days when you’re not entertaining bored royalty? What business is it that his eminence of Cythera wishes you to conduct?”
I slid a second pawn onto the board in a deliberate gambit. “Lord Solon merely wishes me to obtain assurances of Carthage’s goodwill.”
She gave me a sharp glance. “Does he fear he has cause for concern?”
“Your husband is an ambitious man,” I said ambivalently. “His eminence is merely being cautious.”
“I see.” She declined my gambit, advancing a second pawn of her own in a countering move. “Believe me, Astegal has no ambition beyond securing the peaceable future of both our nations, and Carthage did not seek this quarrel with Aragonia. Once it is settled, he will look no farther.”
I said nothing.
“You doubt me,” the princess observed.
I glanced past her at the Amazigh guard. Between swathes of blue cloth, his eyelids flickered. This one, I thought, spoke more than Punic. “Of course not,” I lied. “Indeed, I have received similar assurances from one member of the Council already. I’m simply seeking to concentrate on our game.”
She sighed. “A courtier’s reply. Very well then, let us play.”
We played for a time in silence.
I found myself thinking about Sunjata’s advice. I watched the princess contemplate the board. The contrasts in her face elevated what might have been mere prettiness to beauty. Her features were fine-cut and delicate, but her eyebrows were drawn in a firm line. Not heavy, not by any means. Only strong enough to offset the delicacy, to create a suggestion of determination and vulnerability combined. A captivating contrast, like the one between her gilded fairness and those night-dark eyes.
“Messire Maignard,” she said. “You’re staring at me.”
Hot blood scalded my