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"You're quite the comedian this morning. Is it possible you've found your true calling, after all these years?"
"I wouldn't want to take that honour from you." The banter was a relief from the tense conversation of a few minutes earlier. I would have to step lightly to keep Dex from asking too many questions.
"Good call," Dex said. "I'm quite jealous of my reputation. It usually means I don't need to pay an Intimate."
"Are you bragging, your highness? Intimates need to eat too."
"Of course— Ah, here's Kerina and the lovely Viva."
"Hey," Viva greeted. Her cheeks were red as if she'd rushed to arrive at the stables ahead of us. She looked even more beautiful.
From the look on Kerina's face, she had pushed Viva every step of the way.
Viva gave me a nod, which in no way suggested Kerina told her anything.
Kerina, on the other hand, cast daggers in my direction with every glance.
Dex looked from them both to me and back again, but said nothing. Let him assume he knew what was going on. It wouldn't do him any harm. At least not yet.
I asked Hades to help Dex understand when he found out. He was going to be furious. I would be lucky to avoid the executioner, for real this time.
Dex shook his head and disappeared into the stables, presumably to choose his mount for the excursion.
A stableboy hovered toward him. "Wind is ready, sir," he said, a quaver in his voice as though he was scared of me for some reason.
"Thank you." I gave the boy a nod. He couldn't have been more than twelve. Young enough to still be in awe of his elders. He would learn, soon enough. We were all only mortal.
"Can you lead her out here, please?" I asked.
The lad straightened up, eyes wide as though he'd had a great honour bestowed on him. "Yes, sir!" He turned and trotted off.
"It looks like you have an admirer," Viva remarked. Her hair was tied back off her face and tucked behind her ears. Her blouse was the usual loose style of the women of the residence, but she wore trousers like Kerina's. They clung to her in a way I would have found appealing if I didn't wish she wore nothing at all.
I tried not to imagine her naked, lying on my bed in front of me, hair spread across my pillow, mouth—
I shrugged. "He should look up to the Keeper, not a lowly bodyguard like me."
"Probably, but there's no accounting for taste," she teased.
I grimaced. "I see Dex's humour is contagious."
"You say that like jokes are a bad thing."
"They're not, it's just—"
"Bain is a grumpy old man with no sense of humour," Kerina said.
"Hardly old," Viva said graciously.
Kerina gave a twist of her lips. "You're right, he just acts like an old man who long ago lost the ability to bend."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Perhaps this conversation can wait for a more suitable time."
Before I could say more, the stable boy led out Wind. The mare danced on the end of her reins.
"She's beautiful, sir," the lad breathed.
I favoured him with a smile. "Indeed she is. You're a good judge of horseflesh."
