I blinked, so he’d won that round. “How much?”
“As much as it takes. I don’t want you hurt because of me. Not again.”
I had a sense that wasn’t all of it; who in Oblivion knew his real motivations? Unfortunately, he also had a damned point. The practitioner was still out there, and he wanted me for something, even if it wasn’t my Aetheric prowess. There was a chance he’d trace me back to the manor, send someone to find me. If I was here, it would be much harder to get to me. I didn’t want to be a coward, to feel like a mouse hiding in a wall. But I wasn’t sure I’d survive another round of his testing, and I was worried about Wren.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, trying to think of a better solution. Asafersolution. And not a single one came to mind. Not as long as the practitioner was out there.
At least we’d get paid for it. Maybe we could earn enough to pay off our bonds.
“I have conditions,” I said when I opened my eyes again.
He managed not to grin with victory, but it was clear in his eyes. There was power in that look, in the sight of a beautiful man who knew he’d won a fiercely contested battle.
He crossed his arms. “Proceed.”
“Put a guard on the Lady’s manor in case he tries to get to Wren.”
“Yue is already there; I sent her when Luna brought you here.”
“Good. And Wren and Luna can visit whenever they want.”
“I’m fairly sure Luna doesn’t need my permission to go where she wishes. I’ll tell the guards about Wren. I did ask the Lady to let her stay as well. She refused.”
“Of course she did. She loses power if we’re both inside the palace. And Wren would have refused anyway.” She wouldn’t want to live within yet another wall; she’d also probably say it would be easier to save me, if necessary, if she was outside it.
“Next,” I said, “I can go wherever I want in the palace.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Do you want to go into my private rooms?” There was a dare in his eyes, a challenge that I almost wanted to call, just to show him that I wasn’t intimidated. And because I was curious about where he found solace from all the rest of it. Were his rooms luxurious? Full of jewels and furs and tapestries that showed stories from older times? Or were they simple and spare? The rooms of a soldier? Was he, in the quiet and solitary times, more like Nik, or the prince?
None of it was my business, I reminded myself. “No,” I finally said.
“And you can’t go into the palace treasury.”
That pulled me immediately out of his rooms and into this one. “There’s a palace treasury?”
“I probably shouldn’t have admitted that to a thief.”
“Especially not a skilled one.”
He cocked his head to the side. “How skilled are you?”
“Would you like me to show you?”
“Not at present. Stay out of the treasury and my rooms. With those caveats, you can go wherever you want.”
I nodded, couldn’t think of anything else to add. “And there’s truly no work for me to do?” I didn’t know how to structure a day without it.
“No. You can sleep. Eat. Walk the grounds. Stare at the river. The palace has a library. Maybe you could find something about the Aetheric weapons. Maybe there was a prior attempt.”
“I’m not much of a reader,” I admitted. I must have learned to read when I was younger, as I could do it when I’d arrived at the manor. Neither Wren or I owned a book. We’d flipped through the storybooks in the bookseller’s shop, but only until she shooed us out the door for not having coin.
“Now that we’ve reached an agreement as to terms,” he said, “I have something for you.”
“Is it Wren and sweetwine?”
