“A cocktail I thought you might like. It has lavender, lemon, a drop of honey, and of course a shot of liquor.” How much should he divulge? Best to keep it minimal. “I used to have one of these when I was feeling stressed. I think it’s the lavender,” he said, and chuckled. “Or the liquor.”
The queen huffed a laugh and took a tentative sip, raising her eyebrows. She took a longer sip. “You made this?”
“I can make it, but no, not this exact cocktail,” he said. “I asked your attendant to make it while I was taking care of your dress. I didn’t want to leave you.”
“It’s fresh and not too sweet,” she said, and placed the half empty glass back on the stool. “Do I seem stressed?”
Gods, this woman. She always had to dive right into the heart of everything. “You seem affected,” he said, figuring that was a fairly safe thing to say.
Her fingers, which were lifting the glass from the stool, tensed putting the bones and tendons in her delicate hand on display. Did she not like seeming affected, orhimseeing her affected?
Caroline snorted. “I’m a queen. Queens don’t get affected.”
“But you’re also a woman. You’re allowed to admit things rattle you. That doesn’t make you weak.” His voice dropped an octave as he spoke. Why, why, why? he asked himself.
The water sloshed and Caroline dipped under, submerging her head fully. Johnneth leaned over, peeking into the sudsy water of the tub. How long was she going to stay down there?
When she finally popped up, she sucked in a long breath, and exhaled it slowly. “I will always do what I must, and I will not allow my choices to shake me. My responsibility will always come first, and my subjects will not get away with treating their queen with so little respect. I think I made that quite clear to Felix and his bride today, don’t you?”
Something about the somber way she spoke made Johnneth long for the times when she wasn’t acting out the role of queen. The brief glimpses of the observant, inquisitive, disciplined, yet fun and flirty woman she could be. He shouldn’t, but he enjoyed that version of the calculating creature soaking in the tub before him. But right now, she was the woman who was capable the total mind-fuck she’d delivered Felix today. A gust licked across the back of his neck making his hairs stand on end.
“You took his blood?” He’d seen the little ring-knife she used and witnessed her threaten to use it during the petitions, but she hadn’t actually taken the blood yet. He suspected that was exactly what she’d done. If a Dallimore had your blood, they had total control of you, and now she owned Felix.
“Yes,” she replied, as if she thought nothing of it.
“How many people’s blood have you taken?”
She shrugged. “I’ve lost count.”
“How can you keep track of who you’re trying to manage?” he stammered.
“I don’t. With most of the threads, I have a sense of who they belong to, or a face. Usually, the threat is enough. Can you imagine, one day you’re going about your business, and a mad queen decides to bring you to your knees out of nowhere because she’s having a bad day. Or forces you to jump in front of the next carriage or off a bridge. It sounds awful, I know, but it works to keep them inline. Outside of Dominique’s people, obviously. The sweet old man spoiled them.”
She sighed as she sank deeper into the water so that her mouth was right above the surface. Some of Caroline’s black hair floated at the top, thankfully obscuring the body below which the fizzled-out bubbles no longer covered.
He’d seen the consequences of getting tangled up with the queen.
“You’ll let them live, really?” He couldn’t help himself, all the questions and she was tolerating it. If she didn’t want to talk, she usually shut him down immediately.
She flipped over in the tub and hooked her hands over the edge. Her chin rested on its porcelain edge as she faced him directly. “Really. I always do what I say. You’re awfully curious today.”
He wasn’t sure if it was a question, so he said nothing. Johnneth looked toward the opposite wall but couldn’t help catching the mirror that leaned against the wall to the side of the tub. He also caught the arch of her back and the two rounded cheeks that bobbed above the surface. Opening, then closing his mouth, he suppressed the deluge of warmth that the glimpse of her unleashed.
“See something you like?”
Though his eyes were directed to the ceiling, he could feel her grinning over the fact that she was getting to him. “I’ll be right outside.”
Caroline lay there in the tub until the water had lost its heat. When Johnneth left, she’d scrubbed her skin until it was bright pink. She was glad of what she’d done, truly, but she couldn’t shake the icky feeling on her skin everywhere Felix had touched her.
When she finally dragged herself from the bath, she gave herself a long, hard look in the mirror. She was a queen and would always do what she had to do to ensure no one would escape her wrath, but Caroline deserved better. Deserved loyalty and love. A man that looked at her like—
Her thoughts drifted to the guard outside.Lookedat her the way Johnneth did.Like she was a sought-after prize, or a forbidden treat he was dying to get his mouth on. Men in her kingdom wanted to marry her. There were a dozen Lord Hastings who falsely believed they had a chance. That wasn’t the problem. And Caroline would send her dismissals to their requests for an audience with her, their lavish gifts, letters, and poems—all sorts of flamboyant gestures designed to get her attention. They didn’t even know her, only of her beauty and position.
Even with the ones she’d met, there was never a hint of passion there. The closest had been with Felix. They had chemistry, but he wasn’t clever enough to make her equal. To challenge her. A king to rule beside her. At some point, she’d need to choose. Twenty-four was still young, but eventually, as Angus constantly nudged her, she’d have to decide. A marriage showed stability, and the people would be more settled with a pair of rulers on the throne. And then there was the matter of an heir to pass the Gift on to one day. Still, she held out hope.
Gooseflesh traced up her arms as she imagined the guard’s supple lips making their way so slowly across her skin, erasing the memory of anyone who’d come before him. Sometimes when you looked at a man, you could tell what type of lover they’d be.
They’d been flirting since she’d selected him, the attraction between them obvious, but she hadn’t considered acting upon it. Caroline hardly knew anything about the man, except that every time they spoke, the instant lust that was between them was undeniable. He seemed intelligent, and he certainly cared deeply for others, which he demonstrated every time his face betrayed his disapproval of one of her punishments.
