Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey [179]
"Oh, that old blowhard!" Claudia rolled her eyes. "Yes, but he's fine. He was asked to step down as a precaution. It's just as well. It seems he can't seem to lie well enough to fool one half-trained D'Angeline dilettante. It was past his time, anyway. He hasn't been active in over a decade. No, I meant someone like you. Or," she added, "your friend Eamonn, or even Lucius. I won't stand for that."
"Why Lucius?" I asked. "You said he doesn't know."
"No, but he's clever," she said. "If you keep asking questions, he'll start wondering. The Guild protects its own, but it protects itself first."
"Elua's Balls!" I flopped down on my back and stared at the ceiling. "Why? Why the secrecy? This doesn't make any sense. If it's so damned important, why would the Guild train Anafiel Delaunay, then let him walk away? Why did he refuse to swear allegiance in the first place?"
Claudia leaned on one elbow and ran her fingers through my hair. "You have such beautiful hair," she observed. "There's a sheen to it, almost like a crow's feather. Why did you cut it so short? I thought D'Angeline men grew it long."
I glared at her. "Claudia!"
"What?" She wound a lock around her fingers and tugged it. "I'd like to feel it against my skin, wrapped around me. Will you let it grow?"
"Will you answer my questions?" I retorted.
She sighed. "The Guild operates in secrecy because if the web were exposed, it could easily be dismantled in a dozen places. Knowledge is only power if applied as judicious leverage. Collectively, we can do this in a myriad of subtle ways, but only if the web remains intact. Anafiel de Montrève refused the vow of allegiance because his mentor couldn't promise him that he'd never, ever be asked to do aught against his beloved Rolande's interests. And he was allowed to do so because his mentor held a knife to his throat and impressed upon him that he would die, and Rolande, too, if he ever sought to betray the Guild's existence. On pain of death, and the death of his loved ones, he swore he wouldn't."
I shivered under her stroking fingers. "Is that a warning?"
"Yes," she said softly.
I gazed up at her. Her fox-brown eyes were at once tender and canny. I had thought I'd learned every inch of her, but Claudia Fulvia had taken me in more ways than one. I knew nothing. And despite it all, I still wanted her. Her unapologetic ardor had struck a profound chord in me. I wanted to kiss her bruised mouth, bite her swollen lip. I wasn't sure, yet, to what extent I believed her. But one thing was certain; I wasn't about to jeopardize anyone I loved. Better to play the game and learn.
All knowledge is worth having.
"I won't swear allegiance," I warned her. "Not if it means betraying Terre d'Ange."
"Oh, you D'Angelines!" Claudia tweaked my hair. "So stubborn and single-minded. No, Imriel, you'd never be asked to betray your country. But you might be asked to support, oh, say, a trade measure that the Queen opposed. Nothing that would harm Terre d'Ange," she added indulgently. "Just something that benefited another. And in exchange…" Her shoulders moved in a shrug. The silk robe she wore slipped a few inches, revealing the shadowed valley of her cleavage. "You would gain knowledge. Knowledge that might help your country."
Her hand slipped beneath the folds of my borrowed robe, fondling me. I closed my eyes, allowing myself to succumb to the inevitable arousal. "What sort of knowledge?" I asked hoarsely.
"Oh, well…" Claudia leaned over me, planting soft kisses on my closed lids. Her fingers worked at the knot on my robe's sash, undoing it. "You might find out who wants you dead, Imriel de la Courcel."
"I've a good idea," I said. "There's a long list."
Claudia kissed my lips. "Are you sure?"
By the time she parted my robe and straddled me, grasping my rigid phallus and guiding it into her moist cleft, I was no longer sure which of us was play-acting. Inch by slow inch, Claudia impaled herself on my shaft, sighing with pleasure. I grasped her haunches, aiding her as she ground herself to climax.
"Sure enough," I