Page 29 of The Half King
“A natural male trait, the disdain for pants,” he told her.
She peeked up with a grin that she found reflected in his eyes. They looked at each other for a moment until he seemed to remember his surroundings, and then he peppered her with questions. “What happened? Was there a fire? What are you doing here? What amIdoing here? I usually wake up with—”
“Lady Champlain,” Cerise interrupted. She rushed to the side of the bed, where the young woman was still unconscious. “This must be her.” She rolled the woman face up and discovered she was right. “I was so focused on putting out the fire that I forgot to check on her.”
Kian gently pried open Delora’s eyelids, revealing pupils so wide they nearly eclipsed her irises. He glanced over his shoulder at the guards while he sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”
“Smoke?”
“Not just smoke. Something else, almost…sweet.”
Cerise inhaled again and noticed it, too—a nearly imperceptible layer of scent below the acridity of scorched linens. “Yes, it reminds me of burning leaves in the fall.”
The king strode to the balcony and picked up what appeared to be a bundle of charred twigs. He sniffed at the bundle and then recoiled. “Dream weed,” he said. He pointed at Delora. “She would have burned in her sleep. They all would have.”
“Dream weed?” Cerise asked. “Is that a drug?”
“A strong one. The stalk makes an anesthetic when it’s dried and burned. But it’s not easy to find.” Kian crushed the charred bundle in his fist. “There are at least a dozen stalks here. Someone went to a lot of trouble to collect these.”
“So the fire was set on purpose,” she realized.
“With the intention of killing everyone in this room.”
“Was it the same person who loosed the panther, do you think?”
The king didn’t seem to be listening. His eyes were still fixed on Delora. “She was supposed to sleep in my chambers last night. She must have thought I was the target of the panther attack, so she moved to a different suite to protect herself. She even stationed guards at the door, for what little good it did.”
“Youarethe target,” Cerise told him. “It’s no secret that you appear next to Lady Champlain each day at sunrise. And it can’t be a coincidence that both attacks happened moments before dawn. Someone is trying to kill you. If Father Bishop hadn’t slain the panther, it would have sliced you to ribbons, and you would’ve bled to death before the sun could have set and made you whole again. And if I hadn’t smelled the smoke from my chambers, you would have materialized in a burning room, too drugged to—”
“Save myself, I know,” Kian interrupted. “It’s lucky for all of us that you…” He trailed off and narrowed his eyes, first at the guards and then at her. “My lady of the temple, why didn’t the dream weed affect you? You should be asleep like the others.”
Cerise realized he was right. Every guard who had responded to her call had collapsed in the hallway, and she had inhaled more smoke than all of them. She suddenly became aware of her sister’s pendant resting slightly heavier than before between her breasts. She touched the warm metal ring through her nightshirt and wondered if Nina had been right about the necklace’s protection.
“The goddess works in mysterious ways,” was all she said.
The king cocked his head to the side and studied her with an intensity that raised the tiny hairs at the back of her neck. His gaze bored uncomfortably into hers, almost as if he were trying to see beneath her skin. She could swear that it worked. Those slate-gray eyes made her feel exposed, and for the first time, she remembered she was undressed.
She crossed both arms over her chest. “I should put on some clothes.”
“Should you?”
There was a flirtatious tone in his question that brought a blush to her cheeks. She hoped he didn’t notice, but he probably did.
“Yes, and so should you, Your Majesty,” she said. “I’m meeting with Daerick so he can teach me about my role as emissary. I want to be prepared to assist you when you resume your duties today. And you will resume them, won’t you? You remember our talk in the garden?”
Instead of answering her, the king stared silently at Delora’s sleeping form. Cerise couldn’t tell if he was worried for his courtesan or simply deep in thought. Just when he opened his mouth to speak, Delora began to stir, moaning and clutching her head in both hands, and Kian moved to her side to comfort her.
“Lie still,” he murmured to Delora, brushing back her long, brown waves with so much tenderness that Cerise had to avert her gaze. She didn’t know why, but watching him attend to Delora made her chest ache. When he started making gentle shushing noises, she decided it was time to return to her suite.
“I’ll take my leave now, Your Highness,” she said. “Will you please remember that you made me a promise?”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Kian answered. After a long pause, he added, “Enjoy your lessons, my lady of the temple.”
With a dip of her chin, Cerise made her exit.
…
Gossip about the fire spread through the palace faster than the actual flames. By the time Cerise had bathed away the stench of smoke and dressed herself in a fresh temple gown, a trio of young maidservants had arrived in her suite and arranged a breakfast fit for a queen.
