AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Her boldness never ceases to amaze me,” he said.
Lady Sascha speared the meat with her fork. “Why are you not angry?”
“I am feeling a multitude of things, yet anger is not one of them.”
Sascha narrowed her lids. “A lower house daughter threatened a peer of this realm, Ajali. I should have her arrested,” she snarled.
“Ahhh, but you will not do so.”
Sascha inhaled sharply and stared at him in apparent shock. “You are indulging her threat? She is…different, Ajali. She presents herself as an unskilled warrior, yet she flashed faster than I could track. She is a killer. I saw it in her eyes.”
“I will meet with her,” he promised.
“How will she be disciplined?” she snapped. “How can you accept someone of no status trying to impose on your desires, Ajali?”
“She has not imposed on me, Lady Sascha.”
Fury flamed her cheeks.
“Be calm, Sascha. Let us enjoy our meal, I will seek her out after our dinner and get an explanation. I will assess how best to discipline her at that time.”
“You said discipline as if you intend to do so with pleasure.”
The jealous bite in her tone had him assessing her intently.
“Is it that you are of the impression that you are not in a harem?”
She clearly struggled to regain her composure. “You have been absent from my bed for weeks, Ajali. I miss you. Do you not miss me?”
“I miss our conversations, our dinners such as this one. Yet, to admit that I miss our pleasure together would be a lie.”
Lady Sascha flinched from his brutal honesty.
“Is it the hari Tehdra? Are you really consumed by her charms? Or is it because she placed her life in harm’s way for you?”
“The discussion of Tehdra is over, Lady Sascha. Tell me of the house of Assai. How fares your father?”
He ignored the flare of pique in her gaze and steered the conversation in another direction. He was still amazed that Tehdra thought to warn Sascha from his bed. Her actions were unsupportable. The countess could file a grievance against her, and the house of Assia was immensely powerful. If she was arrested and he stepped in and pardon her without a hearing, it would be revealing a weakness. Would Tehdra think to warn all his haris? He found himself anticipating their confrontation. He should probably ignore it. It was this fascination for her that prompted him to try and purge her from his system with another concubine. He wrestled his mind from her. In due time, he would understand what possessed her to act so rashly with a peer of the realm of Nuria.
***
Tehdra launched herself from her bath as the door flung open and Ajali stepped through. Heat surged through her in shocking waves at his mere presence. Ours, hissed against her mind in hunger.
“The countess Lady Sascha de Baron of the house of Assai has laid an accusation against you.”
“And you barge into my bath to tell me this?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Cold, are we?”
“You invited others to your bed after what we shared.”
“Ah, so you have indeed threatened a countess to stay out of my bed.”
The fascinated humor in his voice caused something dark to unfurl inside her, and her beast howled in rage. “I am pleased that you are amused,” she said with biting sarcasm. “Why are you undressing?”
Sensual lips quirked. “As you have deprived me of a bed mate, I must seek my satisfaction elsewhere. Your charms will do.”
With a growl Tehdra flashed from the bath to stand toe-to-toe with him. “You think wrong,” she snarled, sweeping her foot out. As he toppled, she spun behind him and flung him into her bath.
