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“ButnotAlarie,” I said, meticulously straightening my cufflinks. “Ok?” I added, forcing some modicum of friendliness into my voice, making it seem as though it were a question—although we both knew I wasn’t asking.
Luke stood as well, making a show out of pulling at a nonexistent wrinkle in his crisp white shirt while he considered his options.
“I think she may be a good fit for the House, Luke,” I continued, my tone edging toward sternness.
Luke and I usually saw eye to eye on things. Iusuallydidn’t have to make him come around to seeing my point on things.
“I don’t need you two scaring her off,” I added.
I had not accepted a liaison for many years. I had neither the time nor the desire to train them. For the last fifteen years or so, Luke had worked for my House and had filled a role none of my other agents could fulfill. But I knew that eventually Luke was going to have to leave House Vitruvian. Luke’s parents severely underestimated the value of his set of skills at the High Court, but they would eventually realize his true worth.
Luke’s particular repertoire of skills was particularly useful for me. As Contra and spymaster to the King, I was in constant need of information. With my diminishing powers, I now found myself relying upon a network of eyes and ears as my source of insider knowledge of the High Court happenings. And when Luke smiled at someone—lord or lady, it didn’t really seem to matter—information flowed more freely. Just having Luke in the room at every court function had reaped bounties for me over the years. Once his parents realized how mistaken they were about him, I had no doubt that Luke’s resources would be turned to House Bellamy’s benefit.
It was too soon to tell, but I was feeling optimistic about my decision to take on Alarie as a liaison this year. I’d expected her to be intelligent, based on her grades alone, but it was her cunning nature that I was most pleased by when I thought of Alarie as mine to mold. Given enough time and training with me, Alarie may even have the skills to replace Luke when it came down to it.
Luke acquiesced to my reasoning on Alarie. He knew she would be around for at least one year, which was longer than any relationship he had had in the last several decades.
“What about you, Jay?” Luke asked suspiciously.
Although I was married, Lady Vitruvian and I had an arrangement of sorts. She stayed away from the High Court most of the time, by her own preference, and I was free to roam as I saw fit. I was judicious, but Luke knew that, as much hell as I gave him and Rhett about their serial dating, I was no stranger to nighttime visitors of my own. I gave Luke a sideways glance.
“I’m not blind, if that’s what you’re getting at,” I replied, making my way to the door of my study.
I reminisced on some of the tantalizing ideas I’d come up with upon first seeing Alarie before I’d realized that she was my liaison.
“But I’m not that stupid, either,” I said, shaking my head, as if that would remove my thoughts of her lips from my mind.
And that was as much of an explanation as I was willing to give Luke.
“I’m assuming you can control that friend of yours as well,” I said, referring to Rhett.
I walked out of the study without waiting for an answer to my last question that, again, was not truly a question.
5
Alarie
Other than Jena and Luke, I did not see many people over the next few days while Jay was away. I had not expected to see Jay on a regular basis. After all, he was Contra to the King and undoubtedly had more important things to do than train his lowest House member. But I’d liked the idea of him being around for my lessons. I continued with my lessons, working through the stack of books and papers I found in the library with a note from Jay instructing me on how to proceed each day in his absence.
Lady Alarie,the note read in Jay’s slanted masculine scrawl. I still wasn’t used to being addressed as a lady of the High Court.I’ll be gone for the remainder of the week. Focus your studies on House Tragon today and then move to House Heroux. Yours very truly, Jay.
Yours. I’ve always considered “yours very truly” to be an overly familiar sign-off and never understood its usage in professional correspondence. But it was not an altogether uncommon, if dated, practice. Shrugging the thought off, I began to skim the text before me.Lila Mouchard is from a town on the northern border between Valencia and Alancia… she married into House Tragon… the Mouchard estate is located in northern Valencia…I wondered what Lord Vitruvian was doing at that moment and when I would get to see him again.
* * * *
“Morning, Al,” Luke said, making himself at home and taking a big bite of the toast from my plate.
I looked up from my book. It was the third morning Luke had come to spend with me while Jay was away.
“Morning, Luke,” I greeted, rolling my eyes and going to grab more food.
If Luke was going to join me for breakfast, all the food on my plate would not be enough for him, much less for both of us.
“What do you have going today?” Luke asked, the grin on his face already telling me that he had something in mind.
“Still working through the reading materials Jay left me. Why?” I replied, interested.
“All right, we can get some work done. But then we’re going off campus for lunch,” he offered.
