Page 13 of Poisoned Empire

“It’s being analysed by our curse mages. We’ll know in a few hours if it’s anything more than a trinket,” Marduk answered.

“Marduk, did you sense anything in the other candidates?”

“Amethyst’s daughters should be considered suspect.”

“Nicephorus, I want you seated with the Sapphire women, and Marduk, you can take Amethyst. I’ve had the ballroom cursed so anyone under the influence of a complex spell will faint. Give everyone you suspect a dance partner at that time so that none of the women come to harm.”

He could only hope the enchantment was finely tuned enough to detect the use of the ritual. It had certainly taken some doing to exclude all manner of common spells from triggering it. At times like these, Belisarius wished he were a curse mage, so that he could create the enchantments himself rather than having to rely on those not privy to his plot.

“Consider it done,” Nicephorus replied.

“Easy for you to say. You don’t need to make small talk with a poison mage,” Marduk grumbled.

“That one certainly has a sharp tongue, I’ll grant you. Show no fear.” Belisarius grinned with a confidence he didn’t feel.

Chapter 6

Oneofthesethingsis not like the others.

Amongst the sparkles, silks and polite small talk of the noblemen and her sisters, the beast mage sat in his military leathers and coarse tunic, his knives hidden from more wholesome types. Thankfully, Selene was not at all respectable. She wondered just how far she could prod the enormous man who seemed not at all for chit chat. Given the other men at the table turned a lovely shade of green whenever she met their eyes, word had already spread as to her mage gift. Well, if she could not be loved, at least she would be feared.

“You have not introduced yourself.”

“You may call me Marduk or Strategos,” he replied.

So, this one was the top military commander of the imperial army. He suited the role.

“Then you may call me Milena. Tell me, Marduk, do you have a total of seven knives concealed on your person, or have I missed one?” She widened her eyes in imitation of innocence. One of the men in powder blue crossed with a bureaucratic red pallium choked on his wine.

The beast mage sized her up as if seeing her for the first time, narrowing his eyes. She supposed he frightened most with that glare, but there were scarier things in this world, and she had a part to play. Selene beamed in response.

“I believe your imagination has gotten the better of you, Domina. I am unarmed.”

He wanted to play at being boring? The man was seven feet tall, crowned with horns, and he worked for the prince. Boring was simply not an option. How to tease him?

“Do you sharpen your horns, Strategos Marduk?”

“The only things I sharpen are my swords, Domina.” His glare invited no further questions. It was a challenge she couldn’t resist.

“Well, those and the seven knives on your person, correct?”

The rest of their table had gone quiet as they witnessed the spectacle. The beast mage harrumphed in reply. If she’d been the sort of woman to keep score, which she was, she would’ve awarded herself a point.

“While this has been a splendid chat, I’m here hunting an altogether different beast.” Selene winked at Marduk. When she stood and walked behind him, his whip-like tail snaked out and grabbed her calf beneath her skirt. Naughty man! Now she was curious as to where he’d hidden it all this time.

“The crown prince is not to be disturbed during his meal.”

Selene didn’t have to lean down to whisper in the man’s ear, such was his height.

“I suppose I’ll just have to titillate him instead.” She exuded a diluted poison from the skin of her leg. It would sting and burn, but nothing more. “Now, unless you mean to seduce me with that delectable tail of yours, you’d best remove it.”

He loosened his grip but not completely. She went in for the coup de grace. She put her hand up against his ear, as if telling him a secret, and licked the shell with a poison that tingled. His tail jerked back, and she skipped off out of his reach.

It was time to be outrageous and eccentric. Time to play with the prince.

Iliana had never understood the urge to drink more than a glass or two of wine in a single sitting. Tonight, it was the sole balm to dull her crushing anxiety as she flirted with a nobleman named Nicephorus. He wasonlythe praetor, the highest administrative official in the land, someone with the power to execute her many times over. Of all the gentlemen at her table, only his questions made her heart race. While the others chose perfectly neutral topics, the fair-haired, fair-skinned, green-eyed man’s questions cut too close.

Surely, he knew her sisters were broken. He asked their opinions about art and literature, about their passions and interests. When they couldn’t answer with anything more than vagueness, a strange expression would cross his face, and she felt the noose tighten around her neck. Desperate to keep his attention from wandering back to the lifeless eyes of her half-sisters, she monopolized his attentions.

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