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“A self-serving creature like you would think she sees that in others.”
“Your own goals are so transparent and simple, the complexities of others’ must bewilder you at every turn.”
“Women. You always think yourselves so mysterious. I’m afraid I penetrated that territory a long time ago. You can stop pretending to be such a novice yourself.”
“I have nothing to hide. Examine my conduct. Anyone in Tenebra will tell you I am a retiring, dutiful lady who prefers spending her time in Lady Hadrian’s weaving room or the gardens at the Temple of Kyria.”
“You keep trying to hide behind that masquerade. But you are no devout. Neither are you a simpleton.”
“What do you know about women? You think because you’ve passed an hour with them at the Temple of Hedon so many times, that makes you an expert? I dare say those ladies could tell you more about yourself in five minutes than you have understood about our sex in your entire lifetime.”
“Oh, I am far from insensible of your secret wiles.”
“Men like you have tried all my life to tell me what I am. I do not form myself to your declarations.”
He took her hands again, and this time yanked her close, closer than decency allowed, so close she could smell his expensive, fragrant mouth tonic when he spoke. She tried a pirouette to distance herself from him, but he held her fast, chasing her with a flawless elaboration on the dance that kept them turning, turning eye to eye.
“You are the worst monster a woman can become,” he said. “A schemer.”
She leaned close to him and whispered in his face. “Are you afraid yet?”
ENCORE
“What Chrysanthos betrayed duringthe dance was definitive,” Cassia said to the shadows in Lio’s library. “He is still ignorant of my true purpose. He does not suspect me of being the heretic he is hunting. That makes it well worth it, doesn’t it?”
Lio could not find it in himself to answer right away. He raised the spell lights.
“It made a good bedtime story,” Cassia went on. “Zoe was thrilled to hear of how I danced with a war mage and had the last laugh. Perhaps her nightmares about the Order of Anthros will be easier tonight.”
Lio took her cloak, hanging it on the hook by hand.
“Lio?”
“You’re right. You did learn valuable information. Chrysanthos is in the dark about you and his own comrade.”
“Now that Chrysanthos knows Skleros dosed me, he may wonder what else the necromancer has done without his knowledge. He might even believe Skleros started the guest house fire. We can use this to drive a wedge between them.”
“Yes. No.”
She took his hands. “I’m sorry. I wanted to save our dance. But there was nothing we could do.”
“There are so many times when there is nothing we can do.”
“We knew that would be the case during the Summit. We accepted the difficulty, along with all the other challenges.”
“Yes, of course. We must carry on.”
Silence fell between them. Lio thought about offering to make coffee and changing the subject. But the words he was not saying boiled up in him like undisciplined magic.
Cassia looked up into his eyes and ran her hands down his arms. “You are truly unhappy about tonight. What can I do to make it right?”
“It is wrong of me to give in to these feelings. I will master myself.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I’ll go make us some coffee.”
She halted him. “I don’t blame you for being angry.”
