Page 25 of Golden Queen
"I can't climb across a rooftop in a gown, Petta." Each time I tried, I regretted it thoroughly. The small amount of climbing I had to do to reach the door to the servant's stairs was made much more difficult by the addition of skirts.
"Well, I could have brought you one, and you could have changed."
"It will be fine, Petta. I am simply meeting him—probably so that he can thank me again for helping him. Maybe he wants to pay me for it."
Petta looked at me and raised a brow as though to say,oh, he wants to pay for it alright!
"I meant,pay me for my assistance," I said, rolling my eyes.
But then I remembered that small smile Io had given me as he left the hallway—the one that I had fallen asleep thinking about—and awakened still thinking about. That smile made mewant. That smile, coupled with the fact that he wanted to see me again...
The taproom was full. We had to wend our way through a crowd of unfamiliar faces to reach the bar.
I wasn't concerned about being recognized by anyone who knew me. To most, it would have been unthinkable to imagine me standing in a pleasure house on Antevemer Street.
The common people had never knowingly seen me except from a distance, and the nobles did not use the front rooms. They used the much more exclusive private rooms to ensure no one ever knew they had been to a brothel.
And thanks to the recent trend of women bleaching their hair white, even my hair color didn't stick out as much as it might have.
Petta and Rhychulson headed to the back at my insistence. I was not willing to meet Io under the scrutiny of the man who had just confessed his desire for me. I still wasn't convinced it wasn't an elaborate joke, and he was simply waiting to reveal the punchline.
Anetta was working the bar, something she often did between clients. She brought me a glass of whiskey and gave me a slow, knowing smile.
"Is he here?" I asked. I was afraid to turn and scan the room, terrified that I would meet his eyes, and he would be disappointed in the way I was dressed.
"Not yet. But it's only eleven thirty. You're early."
I closed my eyes and sighed. "Now I'll look too eager. Should I...?"
Anetta leaned in across the bar. "You should do nothing but look pretty because he is here." I watched her eyes burn a bit brighter as she tracked him across the room.
And then I felt him behind me. It was a prickle at my neck and a heavy feeling, like someone had replaced the air with warm, slippery water. Tension coiled in my stomach.
"Sera," his deep voice came from just behind me. I had to swallow a sudden knot of anxiety.
I turned in my chair. "Io," I said. The word ended up coming out as half whisper, half plea. The sight of him, so big and so real, sucked the air from me just as before. But then that faint hint of pleasure crossed his features as I said his name, and I relaxed a little.
I started to speak, but he cut in. "Will you walk with me?"
"Yes," I said, surprised. Had I been expecting him to ask me to go straight upstairs and...take my clothes off with his teeth?
The note of disappointment that went through me at himnotdoing that surprised me.
I led him through the taproom towards the door. The very faint awareness of his hand at the small of my back as we walked across the lobby sent licks of fire up my spine.
When we were outside in the darkened courtyard, I led him in the direction of a few stone benches. We walked slowly, neither of us speaking.
Finally, he broke the silence. "I thought it best if we talk for a bit," he said.
I glanced over at him, narrowing my eyes in curiosity. He had his hands stuffed into his pockets, and he was watching me—looking rather like a cat ready to pounce.
"The truth is that I found myself thinking about you a lot, Sera."
"You did?" I asked as a tug of intense satisfaction rolled through me.
"Far too much," he admitted with a slightly baffled shake of his head.
"What were you thinking about?" I asked, more daring than I would have believed.
