The Born Queen - J. Gregory Keyes [143]
“You didn’t peel it,” she murmured.
“Oh, I see where I stand now,” the earl of Cape Chavel said. “One day a suitor, the next a Hadamish serving girl.”
“You can be both,” Anne said, lazily opening her eyes.
Gulls fluttered overhead in the sea breeze.
“This is a nice place,” the earl said.
“One of my favorites, Cape Chavel,” she replied.
“Really?” he said. “Can’t you see your way clear to call me Tam?”
“Can you see your way clear to peeling a grape?”
He tugged at the sleeve of her dress. “If that’s a manner of speaking.”
“You’re too bold, sir,” she said.
“I wonder if your legs are freckled,” he replied.
“Huh. I wonder if they are.”
“There you go.” He pressed another grape to her lips. This time it was peeled.
“Very good, Cape Chavel,” she said. “You’re learning.”
“But we still aren’t on a first-name basis?”
“I think we should be after a few more years of courting. Are you in a rush?”
“No,” he said. His voice became a bit more serious. “It hardly seems necessary now.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve beaten back the army of Hansa. The Church has withdrawn and is suing for peace.”
“Who told you that?” she asked, pushing up on her elbows.
“I guess—well, that’s the word going around.”
“I’ve no idea what Hespero wants,” she said, “but I doubt very much that it is peace. He’s foolish even to come here, given the crimes he’s implicated in.”
“I stand corrected, then.”
“Continue to recline instead,” Anne said.
“As you wish.”
“Are you saying you no longer wish to court me?”
“I’m not saying that at all. But if our courting is pretense to encourage Virgenya to send troops, well, you don’t seem to need them.”
“I don’t, do I?” Anne replied. “But I’m going to get them anyway. And not by any pretense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Charles slighted me, and he slighted the empire. What sort of empress would I be if I allowed my subject kings to treat me like that? No, I think we will change the head beneath that crown.” She cocked an eye at him and reached to stroke his hair. “I think it would sit well right here,” she told him.
The earl blinked, and his mouth opened. Then he smiled as if he’d just understood a joke.
“Your Majesty is in a jesting mood.”
“No,” she said. “I’m quite serious.”
A troubled look turned his features.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“I hope Your Majesty doesn’t think—You can’t imagine I had this aim when we began our friendship.”
She shrugged. “I don’t care if you did. Loyalty is good, but so is intelligence. When you cast your lot with me, I wasn’t the dog favored to win this fight. You took a risk with me, and I won’t forget that.”
“I’m not sure what to say, Majesty.”
“I don’t require you to say anything,” she said. “Just don’t pass the news around. I expect your uncle may put up a bit of a fight when you go to claim his hat, and right now we still need our army here. It’s not over yet. Even now Hansa is sending another army, larger than the first.”
“You’ll crush it as easily.”
“It will be easier,” she agreed, “now that I know how to do it.”
“I think you overestimate my uncle’s bravery,” he said. “When he really comes to understand your power, he won’t stand against you. I doubt that any army from anywhere would.”
“Well,” Anne said in a speculative tone, “I was very ill treated in Vitellio and Tero Gallé. I’ve half a mind to add them to the empire. Certainly z’Irbina must be taught a lesson.”
He was staring at her again.
“Don’t be so serious,” she said. “Let’s just come back to this. Our courting is now pretense only for you to kiss me, and I would prefer you start on that now.”
And so he did. His lips were familiar with her neck and shoulder, her hands, the hollow beneath her throat. His hands were acquainted with the broader territory of her body and made themselves languidly busy there. He was not sneaky or apologetic, as Roderick had been. He didn’t pretend to have brushed her breast accidentally but went there with confident deliberation.
And if he explored where he was not allowed, he could tell, and he accepted it, and that was that. It didn’t seem to