Page 26
Was she becoming boringly predictable?
Smiling brightly and full of rage, Lorelei watched him step through the raised flap of the tent door. Holding perfectly still, she watched the door fall closed behind him.
Then she exploded into action.
The portal she drew in the air was shamefully basic, but she didn’t have time for any ornamentation. She dived through that rough hole in the world like a salmon lunging upstream, and she landed in the gas-lamp-lit burgundy evening parlor of her Balravian hunting lodge, where she could finally let out all of her feelings.
“Arrgggh!”
“So, it’s still going that well with the Golden Beacon, is it?” Snorting, Lorelei’s cousin Katrin released the hilt of her sword and turned away from her watchful stance by the darkened window.
Snowflakes brushed softly at the glass outside, while a warm fire crackled in the fireplace. Two glasses of red wine sat on a curving side table by a deck of cards, but both of them looked untouched.
From the nearby couch, Ilse gave Lorelei a sweet smile. “That was quick. Have the two of you won the tournament already?”
“No, we have at least two days left. But—Ilse?” Lorelei blinked, distracted by the pile of lacy napkins being sorted on her second lady-in-waiting’s lap. “Are you preparing to host a party here while I’m gone?”
“No, silly. I’m just getting the lodge ready for when your friends arrive.”
“My friends?” Lorelei’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Darling, you aren’t tipsy on frog spit right now, are you? You must know I haven’t invited anyone.”
“Well, someone’s battering at the spells that hide this lodge,” Katrin said flatly, “and for all of our sakes, the two of us hope it’s one of your fellow Queens of Villainy, not a corps of the Emperor’s Gilded Wizards.”
“Ugh.” Sagging, Lorelei grimaced at both of those equally daunting options. “It can’t be Imperial Gilded Wizards. They’re only called in under the command of the high general—and Gerard isn’t there to do it.”
“So it’s ‘Gerard’ now, is it? Already?” Katrin turned to Ilse’s couch with a sigh.
“I told you!” Ilse gave her a mischievous look from under her lashes. “I win. That means another swordfighting lesson for me.”
“Really?” Katrin asked with heavy meaning, leaning closer. “After everything that happened last time?”
“Save your flirtation for later,” Lorelei commanded. “Right now, I need help urgently.” Yes, time passed differently in the fae world, but she still ran a fine balance when it came to how long she could afford to remain here.
“Of course.” Katrin straightened immediately. “Only tell us what to do.”
When Lorelei landed back in her tent ten human minutes later, she found it still empty, to her relief, but the clamor and commotion in the camp outside had lessened to a worrying extent. Luckily, it hadn’t yet disappeared entirely—so she hadn’t lost all of her sense in the past day. When she sailed out the door, clad in a shimmering rose-pink and gold concoction made of scandalously layered strips that combined eroticism with comfortable ease of movement, she met Gerard waiting just outside, his strong back turned to the door, his legs planted in a guarding position, and his watchful gaze scanning their rapidly emptying surroundings.
“Very impressive,” she said warmly as she eyed him up and down. “But oh, dear, that poor, ruined tunic does rather lessen the effect, doesn’t it? Fortunately, we should have at least ten more minutes before the first trial begins. Why don’t you take your turn changing outfits now?”
His eyebrows rose at the suggestion—perhaps due to the lack of any spare clothing in the tent when he had left it—but he was wise enough not to waste time with questions. Instead, he ducked back under the tent flap and then emerged, less than five minutes later, clad in a clean new set of uniform trousers, shirt, cravat, and stiffly buttoned-up military jacket. He looked every inch an Imperial commanding officer once more … and Lorelei bit back a sigh as she absorbed that depressing transformation.
“I take it you abducted my travel trunk at the same time you abducted me?” he asked wryly.
“It was the only polite option,” she assured him. “You see, none of the men’s clothing left with me across the years would have been nearly large enough to fit. You wouldn’t have cared for it at all.”
His expression was skeptical. “And you were, of course, terribly concerned about my preferences when you chose to abduct me.”
“Of course!” Lorelei said piously. “I might be wicked, darling, but it’s never necessary to be cruel.”
Even more important, putting him back into uniform was a desperately needed shield to erect between them. This way, she would have a visual reminder of exactly why she’d brought him here in the first place … and why she needed to keep her hands off him.
That shredded fae tunic had simply offered too much temptation to resist.
As he sighed and stepped towards her, he began to offer his arm with the automatic courtesy of any Imperial officer to a lady—and then hesitated, apparently catching himself in the act. A rare flush rose on Gerard’s cheekbones as he looked from her to the arm he still held half-raised between them; for the first time that she could remember, he looked uncharacteristically and delightfully awkward.
Had he actually forgotten for a moment that he was her prisoner and begun to believe she was his true partner? That realization was enough to send her mood shooting skywards. She was winning this battle, after all, no matter how often she might stumble along the way!
Wincing, Gerard cleared his throat. “I beg your pardon.”
