Page 105 of Dark Rival

“Tonight, we will take your lover to Our bed.” Joan smiled maliciously at her.

Allie lost her desire to try to be subservient. She opened her mouth and heard Royce before she got a word of protest out.

Dinna speak.

She breathed deep.

I willna bed her.

He meant it, Allie thought. It was a promise. She was so relieved that she trembled.

“Speak,” Joan ordered.

She inhaled, trying to control her temper. She knew she had to play along with Joan’s need for power and control, no matter how humiliating it was, but Joan needed a little comeuppance. “Then you are in for the time of your life! There is nothing and no one as good as Royce in bed, is there?”

Joan’s eyes widened.

“I mean—” Her fists clenched. “He pleasures you all night, doesn’t he? Again and again and again, from supper to dawn? And even when the sun is up, he still wants more?” Allie hoped Royce did not screw the Queen the way he did her. She was counting on it.

And when Joan’s gaze flickered with more displeasure, she knew she was right. “We are always too pleased to care about the time.”

Allie smiled grimly again. “And afterward, of course, is the very best part.” She turned her smile sugary sweet.

Ailios, cease.

Allie ignored him. “The very best part!”

Joan seemed incapable of smiling. “What do you mean?”

She blinked innocently. “I mean that the best part is afterward, when he holds you and whispers how much he loves you.”

Royce choked.

Joan was red.

Allie just kept smiling. Take that, you witch! He loves me.

Joan became enraged. “How dare you speak to Us in such a manner! How dare you claim that Ruari cares for you—and not for Us! We are his liege! He has sworn homage to Us on bended knee! Have you no care for your Fate, Lady Monroe?”

Dinna speak a single word!

And as Allie heard his warning, she felt his tension. And she didn’t blame him. She had gone too far, but this woman was impossible. Tyranny or not, it went against her nature to simply take her abuse and grovel at her feet. But that was what she had to do, damn it, because there were no civil rights here. And what did outshining the Queen really accomplish except to piss her off? I should have held my temper, Allie thought.

Aye, ye should have, and ye must grovel now!

Allie inhaled. “I am sorry if I have offended you. I have foolishly fallen in love with Royce. But I understand he’s your lover and how I feel doesn’t count.” She now felt Royce slump in abject relief. “And I lied. He doesn’t hug me when we’re done and he never talks in bed. It’s only sex. When he’s not with me, he’s with one of the housemaids. I want to be special, but I’m not.”

Royce actually inhaled loud enough for Allie to hear him.

Joan, however, did not soften. “We do not accept your apology. You are the most disrespectful creature We have ever met. Only the rumors that have reached Us keep you alive.”

Allie tensed with dread. She finally looked at Royce and he gave her a warning stare. She turned back to the waiting Queen.

“Show us your healing power,” Joan commanded. “Now.”

Allie stood very still, recalling Royce’s admonition that, under all circumstances, she must not reveal her powers to the Queen. How she wished she could show this woman who really had power now. Carefully she said, “If you had a fever, I would sit by your bed and wash your forehead with cool compresses, to lower the temperature of your body. If you hurt your wrist, I would place a tight bandage there, to speed the healing. Do you have an ailment I can soothe?”

Joan stared with anger. “We have heard how you saved a dying boy.” She turned and signaled to one of her ladies.