Page 156 of Unrivaled
The question was asked without a single touch, but I could feel his hands on my hips, the whisper of his words against my ear.Desire simmered in my veins.I reached out with my free hand to feel the softness of his hair.It tangled around my fingers easily.It would’ve been so simple to twist my wrist, to wrap that hair around my fist and drag him down.Ways I could incapacitate him ran through my head.Why?This wasLuca.He probablycouldmake me happy for tonight, and that was all I needed.A distraction.Something better than the rush of doubts and what-ifs that threatened.
“There were some disagreements,” I said, my voice mild.
Amusement touched one corner of his mouth.“You’re right of course.”I watched the way his lips formed the words, the subtle way they dipped and moved.They’d be so soft.Would the rest of him?His shoulders, his belly, his skin?Would he melt for me?If I’d met him today, if I thought he was a dashing rebel, I’d climb into his lap and see if he could live up to my hopes.“I’d forgotten.I apologize, that’s?—”
I shifted closer, tightening my fingers in his hair, and heard the way his breath hissed in.“I’ve talked a lot today, Luca.I’m tired of thinking.”
Wordlessly, he reached out, took the cup from my hand, and closed the distance between us.
CHAPTERFIFTY-SIX
ISOLDE
Target attended Man in the Mountain at my request.Target mentioned all the key names you had given me.Discussion of shared memories.Both men grew drunk.If this is truly the Man in the Mountain, either he is excellent at keeping secrets close, or he suspects Fran or myself.Will continue to observe.Fran remains pliant.Safety: cider.
—Raincloud to Nightingale
23rdDay of Autumn’s Son Moon,
Age of the Locways, Year 272
La’Angi Keep
Liza was smiling as she left Luca’s rooms, the tray in her hand now empty.She smoothed one hand over a hip, and the smile took on a hard edge when she saw me.“Done.”
“Were they drinking?”I asked her.
“One had sipped,” she said, with a shrug.“I told them it’s best warm.”
It was as good as I’d get.The drug would take some time.It amused me to think he might even know the simple mix I was using on his guards, if I cared to question him about it.I had quite a few hours, if Luca stayed as late with Audrey as he often did—but he wasn’t the only one whose arrival would be cause for concern.In the shadows, I ran through what I knew in my mind and breathed slowly and deeply.
Smart?No.Charismatic?No.Determined?Certainly.I’d been asking questions today, really asking them.I’d been listening, too, to the responses.
Luca wasn’t leading any effective rebellion, but he’d made enough small, stupid decisions that Icouldsee him unleashing a plague on the land without considering the ramifications.
Anineffectiverebellion was perhaps worse than an effective one.Especially as Audrey was the next rung on the ladder he wished to climb.He had his finger firmly on La’Angi’s pulse, which made sense with Chay’s information.With the help of my own connections, I’d isolated three people who were reporting back to him.One of them I’d suspected, but the other two I hadn’t.Worse, I wasn’t the only one sniffing around, asking quiet questions.Lady Emilie, an older widow here with her children, seemed to be representing Black Borough.Whatever games Luca was playing, there were others on the board who were objecting to them.
I’d been lulled by his stupidity.That wouldn’t happen again.
When I reasoned enough time had passed, I picked up my basket and went to the door to Luca’s borrowed rooms and knocked.
No response.
Perfect.
Just to be sure, I knocked again as I surveyed the hall.No one moved in the shadows.
The familiar steel of the lockpicks responded to my manipulations.I crouched before the lock, anticipation fizzing in my belly.Be stupid enough to have evidence.Audrey wasn’t going to like this.The plague was still too personal to her.She’d struggle to separate the betrayal from the scope of this horror.If what Chay said was true—and why would he lie?—this was far greater than the inevitable disappointment that came from dealing with men.
The lock gave way.I let myself in, but didn’t lock it behind myself in case they stirred.I stowed the lockpicks in my embroidery.Luca’s two men were asleep, the spiked mulled cider not far from their hands.
I tossed it, then replaced the cider from the jug, which hadn’t been spiked.Quickly, I went over their persons, checking the obvious places, pouches and pockets, the groove behind their belts, the folds of their shirts, the sides of their boots.
One of them had a piece of parchment.I unraveled it.
23rd.North stables.Third call.
Carefully, I replaced the note whence it had come.That wasn’t proof, and the third call had been and gone.I suspected I knew which stablehand it’d come from.He was one of my three.
