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The innuendo lilting her voice clarified matters precisely. Ryenil had finally sent him a servant to fuck, no doubt in hopes of keeping him away from a noblewoman. Though anger seethed in Ber’s gut, he lowered the scarf from his face and gave the maid an apologetic smile. He couldn’t forget the role he had to play.
“I fear I was consumed by memories of my wife,” he said. More like he’d been deepinhis wife, but he couldn’t exactly mention that. “There are remnants of her scent in the closet still. If I hold her clothing close…”
“Oh.” Sympathy softened the maid’s eyes—until she skimmed her gaze down his body. Then her lips twitched. “I see. I’ll leave you to it, Your Highness. Do call if you need any aid.”
She fled before he could finish dismissing her, her expression full of a suspicious amount of amusement. Or at least suspicious until he looked down. The tie to his pants had loosened, nearly exposing him, and a white blotch stained the front of the fabric. Ber chuckled at the closed door. The maid must have thought he’d gone in there to pleasure himself while sniffing at Tes’s clothes.
Shaking his head, he strode into the bedroom and changed into an old, comfortable pair of pants and a loose tunic. It was the kind he preferred when preparing for bed, so ifanother conscientious—or ambitious—servant interrupted him, his appearance wouldn’t seem unusual. At least the maid had been easygoing rather than power-hungry, though he couldn’t deny his wariness of both.
As a prince, he’d had more people—male and female—attempt to sleep with him than he wanted to count. Not that he could blame them for trying to gain a little power through his cock. In all the history he’d learned and across no few of the places he’d visited, he’d seen the success of the strategy more than once. Sadly, some rulers did bestow status for a single night of pleasure.
The Eyamiri line didn’t tend to be among them.
Ber returned to the sitting area—and his earlier pacing. He dared not usher Tes out of the dressing room yet, not until he was certain the maid had truly gone. Tes would be out in the open during the walk to the secret tunnel entrance. Though it was only a short distance, he couldn’t shake his uneasiness. He needed to keep any interruptions at bay.
With that in mind, he tapped his energy against the carving on the edge of the door that held the summoning spell, and within moments, another servant stood just inside the door. “May I help you, Your Highness?”
“I wish to sleep soon,” Ber said. “But I intend to soak away my aches in the bathing chamber first. Bring my nightly tea in an hour, and no sooner.”
The servant curtsied and hurried off to do his bidding. It wasn’t an unusual request, since Ber often took a soak if he’d been training late, and his requirement for privacy had been established for centuries. That meant he had a solid hour to see his wife to safety. Minus the time he actuallydidspend soaking, of course. Keeping up the guise was imperative.
Quietly, he opened the dressing room door and waved Tes through. She slipped past him without a sound, not even aswish of fabric coming from her skirts. He stared after her as she rushed to the stretch of wall hiding the entrance. Had she been training during their time apart? It was phenomenal how silently she moved.
But there was no time to marvel. As soon as she had the door open, he followed her inside. Only when they’d closed the entrance behind them did he pull her against him once more. She rose up on her toes slightly to kiss him, but the soft contact was far too brief. Before he knew it, she’d already pulled back.
“That maid was suspicious,” Tes murmured.
He lifted a brow she wouldn’t be able to see in the darkness. “You heard?”
“Yes,” his wife confirmed. “And she gave up too easily.”
“Based on my disheveled state, I think she assumed I’d stroked myself to climax with one of your dresses.” He shook his head at the memory of the maid’s face. She’d been amused, yes, but also bolder than he would have expected. “I’m also inclined to agree. While I’m not arrogant enough to believe every servant is eager to fuck me, I can’t fathom that she wouldn’t have taken advantage of the situation in some way, even if sex wasn’t involved.”
Tes’s sigh hissed through the air. “Servants close enough to my father to be given such orders only remain in his brutal service for one thing. Status. She had tacit permission to get close to the crown prince, but she made no real attempt to do so. See if you can find out why.”
“I will, my love.” Thanks to said maid’s interruption, Ber couldn’t risk accompanying Tes through the tunnels, nor could he linger to share another kiss. “You’re going to the usual spot?”
Her body shifted against his as though she’d nodded. “I have a little food in my bag, so I’ll be fine resting there until tomorrow. Don’t risk us both by checking on me.”
He frowned. “But if you need—”
“I should be able to reach you mentally with little effort thanks to our link, and you should be capable of contacting me,” Tes said. “If the king is suspicious, however, he might send more people to check on you through the night. You’ll certainly be watched tomorrow. As close as we are to stopping him, I’ll flee into the city if you take risks just to see me.”
Knowing she was so close—sleeping in the same castle, breathing the same air—would be torment if he couldn’t be by her side. He pulled her body tighter against his. “We could spend some quality time here before you go. For old time’s sake. Some of my favorite memories involve sliding into you while you cried out against one of these secret walls. Ah, remember the time we left court early to slip into the tunnels to spy? Admirable how you still kept watch as I pounded into you from behind.”
She was close enough that he could hear her breath catch in ragged little puffs as she inhaled. Unfortunately, she pushed him against him instead of following through on that sound’s promise. “You don’t have that much longer until your tea arrives, and I’m already sore. Perhaps you should go stand in a cold stream of water before you take your soak.”
Laughing, he nipped at her bottom lip before forcing himself to let her go. “If you insist. I hope you sleep well, my heart.”
She might have been joking about dousing himself in cold water, but he seriously began to consider the idea as he hobbled his way out of the tunnels. And it wasn’t just his passion that needed cooling. A helpless flame of fury built inside him with each step that carried him away from Tes. If not for King Ryenil, so much about their life would have been different.
Ber could have been cuddling in bed with his wife, savoring the beauty of their new link. Then later, he would have kissed her warm cheek and left her sleeping so he could soothe their son in the nursery. Instead of his brother,Bercould have been the one to pace his child to sleep in the darkness. But no. He didn’t evenknow what his own son looked like. The child would probably cry at him, a stranger, if he drew near.
Every day that I can’t slit Ryenil’s throat is a bad one,he snarled to himself.
But as always, he had to shove his own emotions deep.
Once he reached the bathing chamber, he followed Tes’s advice and attuned the cleansing stream to cold. He leaned against the wall and let it pour over him, the shock drawing a hiss from his lips. Unlike fire, his pain and anger weren’t so easily quenched. No matter how long he let the water rush down his body, he burned with the memory of all the things he’d lost.
