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"Not so very strange," I said. "Not so strange as you being here with me."

"Mmm." The sparkle returned to her eyes. "What if I'm your destiny? Did you ever think of that?"

I smiled. "My diadh-anam says no. But I wouldn't mind if it were true."

"Your diadh-anam." Jehanne repeated. "You're an odd creature to be sure, Moirin mac Fainche." She regarded me. "Is the magic real?"

"Yes."

"Will you show me?"

"Close your eyes." I set down my wineglass and took her hands in mine. I closed my own eyes and breathed in slowly. I could taste the air from the courtyard garden, but it was Jehanne's marque that came to mind. Night-blooming cereus. It was said to have a wondrous, intoxicating scent. I couldn't imagine it was headier than hers. I breathed in the scented twilight of my imagination, exhaled it softly. It settled over both of us like a caress. "There."

"Oh!" Jehanne's voice was soft with awe.

I opened my eyes. All around us, the chamber had grown soft and dim and magical. "You see it?"

Her hands tightened on mine. "I do."

I let it go. "That's my gift as I was taught to use it."

"It's lovely." Jehanne gave me a long, deep look I couldn't interpret, then sighed with regret and withdrew her hands from mine. "And time passes apace, my lovely witchling. Are you ready for your Showing?" She plucked a bell from the table. "I'll send for Etienne. We were often paired when I was an adept here."

"No." I caught her wrist.

"No?"

"I don't want to see you with another," I admitted.

Pleased and delighted, she laughed. "Ah, but I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't teach you aught of pleasing men. Isn't that what you came for?"

I shrugged. "Be remiss."

Again, Jehanne's eyes danced. "Oh, I have a better idea." She climbed gracefully from the bed and crossed the room to rummage in a cabinet, producing an object and brandishing it. "I'll teach you to perform a languisement that will make grown men weep." She read my face. "You've never seen an aide d'amour?"

"No." I eyed the large ivory phallus she held, cradling the sculpted ballocks in the palm of her hand. Until this very moment, I hadn't imagined such things existed in the world. "No, I have not."

Jehanne smiled sweetly. "Then I'll be sure to demonstrate all its uses."

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

I returned to Raphael's townhouse in a state of dazzled fulfillment. Jehanne.

I could feel her touch everywhere on my body, her scent clinging to my skin. It seemed impossible that Raphael wouldn't take one look at me and know.

"Are you going to tell him?" she had asked before I left.

I hadn't thought that far ahead. "I don't know." A flash of my initial anger returned. "Will it ruin your precious game if I do?"

"No." Jehanne was unperturbed. "But he might take issue with it and dismiss you from his house. Men don't like being played for fools." She laughed at my expression. "Moirin, you're looking far too sultry at the moment to glower effectively. Now come here and kiss me farewell."

I sighed and obeyed.

She wound her soft arms around my neck, returning my kiss with ardor. "Don't be too angry with Lianne Tremaine. She hasn't the faintest idea what I did with the information she gave me."

"Was she spying for you?" I asked.

"Oh, yes and no." Jehanne drew a line down my throat with one fingertip. "She was perishing of curiosity in her own right and our interests happened to align. Don't make a fuss. All she did was pass on gossip, for which I rewarded her generously. It's not wise to trust a poet with one's secrets, but it's not wise to cross them, either," she added. "One good satire can make you the laughingstock of the entire City."

"Will I wake to find myself that very thing on the morrow?" I asked wryly.

"Are you having regrets?" Jehanne searched my face. The concern in her voice sounded genuine. "Oh, say you aren't, please."

With the last chords of pleasure still echoing through my body, it was hard to refuse her. "Not yet, no."

That satisfied her. "Then you