Page 17 of What Happens in Hedone

Something else she would lose when she married. In truth she had lost that pure female companionship already, her years of schooling being over. Now she was—what? Parading out during Seasons and trips abroad, showing herself to advantage. Biding her time in her father’s house until she moved to the house of her husband.

“My guess is a school of some kind.” Jay’s voice broke her reverie. “Or a conservatory?”

“A university.” Pandora gave him a smile that mixed encouragement with provocation. Though older and with her affections otherwise engaged, even she was not immune to Jay’s charm. To the sheer magnificent presence of him, sultry power wrapped up in a gentleman’s togs.

Jay turned his palms up, abashed. Effie wanted, ridiculously, to crawl into his lap and have those arms come once more around her.

Iris sighed. “Azadokht Shahbanu. The wise and favored wife of Shapur the Great, the Persian king who defeated three Roman emperors. She helped the king found the Academy at Gundeshapur that became one of the greatest intellectual centers of the ancient world. She summoned scholars not just from across Persia but from Greece, India, even China. They studied astronomy, philosophy, mathematics, medicine. Do you English honestly know so little of Persia?”

“My ignorance is an affront, I agree. But I am interested in learning.”

Jay rose, and heat cascaded through Effie’s body, as if she’d been doused with a cooking pot. He was so very—Jay. He stepped around the chair holding the other gentleman, who stared at Iris with a kind of greedy despair, and held out his hand to Effie.

“May I escort you to dinner, o Queen of Queens?”

“At least he knows the proper title,” Iris grumbled, taking Cybele’s hand to raise the other girl to her feet.

“A moment while I divest myself of my riches.” Effie put her fingers to the clasp of the necklace she wore and found herself hopelessly clumsy. “I must return this to the treasury before I—drat this clasp.”

“Will you permit me?” Jay’s voice was as silky as a pour of warm water, drenching her again. Her nipples tightened, peaking the delicate muslin of her robe. Obligingly she pulled aside the hair at her nape. When his fingers touched her delicate skin, she shivered. He smelled of clay and salt and a faint trace of tobacco, and his body was a solid wall of heat.

An arrow of delight plunged through her belly to the place in bloom. A place which certain secret studies at Miss Gregoire’s had given her to understand the general workings of, but which no man had ever stirred.

“Thank you,” she said, breathless. Her bare fingers slid against his as she took the heavy chain.

Iris studied Jay’s face, then Effie’s. She tugged on Effie’s elbow, drawing her aside.

“Beware, Lady Erato,” she said in a quiet voice. “This man is a tradesman.”

“You know him?”

“He was at the Royal Pavilion this afternoon to consult about renovations the King is planning. The architect and builder brought him in to recommend his work, and he stayed to talk about another project my—guardian is investing in. I think he is a brickmaker.”

“He must be very good at his trade, if he is getting commissions from the King.”

Jay had spoken that morning as if royal commissions were only a wished-for dream. Not as if he might be the very man His Majesty would rely on to rebuild his palace. His status—his future—would be established if he had the King’s patronage.

If he moved in her circles, there was a chance he would see Effie again. Not at the beach, in an enchanted space carved out just for them, but on her husband’s arm.

But she had already settled upon him. She could not change course now.

She did not want to change course.

She placed her fingers on Jay’s forearm, to the same result as from earlier that day. Touching him made her feel a firework had gone off in her middle.

“Lady Hedone promised me a saffron cheesecake,” she told him. “And a hedgehog.”

“Not the small, spiny creature, I hope.”

She grinned at him. She adored when he was absurd. It offset the stern, rugged look of him so nicely. “It had better be a cake. Piles of almonds, and plenty of cream and butter in the paste, if she wishes us to remain friends.”

“You know Lady Hedone, then?”

She hesitated as he led her to the dining parlor, spread as usual with its delicious array. How much was it safe to reveal?

“We are friends from school, as it happens.”

He nodded, strolling down the room with her. “And you have a special affection for schools, my Sappho.”