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  She opened her mouth and moaned when another wave of pleasure broke loose, and she twitched and shivered in his arms. His groan was guttural and there was a wave of energy loosed in the room.

  Usorn sighed against her lips as his hips flexed against her in lazy reaction. Ari smiled and nipped at his lower lip.

  Her lips were swollen, as were other parts of her body. Her evening had been eventful to say the least, but at least she answered one burning question, Usorn did actually desire her.

  Now, she just had to find out if he would want her again or if this was simply a one-night stand.

  Chapter Seven

  Nexica woke her the next morning. For a moment, Ari had forgotten everything that had gone before.

  “Come on, lady. Time for a bath, and then, I need to work out whatever you have done to your hair.”

  Ari sat up and rubbed her eyes, noted that the sheets were wrong, the bed was wrong and it was also empty.

  Ari stumbled along with Nexica and was dunked into the pool, being scrubbed from head to toe.

  When her hand moved between Ari’s thighs, the burn of the soap brought her awake with a shriek. “What the hell!”

  Nexica chuckled. “Friction burn. You should have been more careful, but then, so should he.”

  Her hand gentled, but she was still thorough. Nexica bullied her out of the water and wrapped her in towels. It was business as usual for Nexica, just in a different environment.

  “How are the boys?”

  “Recovering. The vid indicates they fought for ten minutes before they made it inside. That must have been what woke you up.”

  They had shared many jokes about her lack of urge to leave her bed. It had to take something special to get her up and running. Apparently, two men getting beaten nearly to death outside her door was one of those things.

  “What happened to the men who broke in?”

  Nexica paused with her brush halfway through Ari’s hair. “They are dead, lady. The emperor killed them all. I have rarely seen the results of such fury, but at least your clothing was closed in the wardrobe and your kit was in the main room. It was all spared the result of his wrath. I brought your things with me.”

  Ari swallowed. “Where will I stay? Will I be given new quarters?”

  Usorn walked in, his tunic and trousers neat and a gleam in his eyes. “You will stay here. It is safer. The empress’s quarters are empty and you may use them as an office, but you will sleep in the same bed as I do.”

  Nexica had her head bowed, and she wasn’t moving. For the first time, Ari began to clue in that his affable nature might only be aimed at her.

  “I am still going to be carrying out my duties.”

  He nodded. “Of course you are. I am depending on you. Do you really spend your evenings writing out marriage contracts?”

  “Yes. It is perfectly natural for the new couple to want a copy of their official agreement. I make them and attach my seal to it so that it is official only in the matter that it was written by the Imperium Scribe of Hredu.”

  Ari sighed, “Nexica, keep brushing or I will not be able to put the seals on them before I get to work today.”

  She saw Nexica smirk in the mirror, but she started brushing.

  Usorn cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you ignoring me?”

  “No, but I can’t be your scribe and your lover at the same time. You don’t want that either or you could have had any number of women in your bed as damsels in distress. I am single minded, and when there is work to be done, it is where my mind goes. Last night, I had no goal other than finding somewhere safe, so I got myself to the safest place I could think of.”

  She smiled. “I am not ignoring you. I am taking the only action available to me.”

  He sighed. “This is going to come up for discussion. Plan to have dinner with me tonight.”

  Nexica nodded minutely.

  “Plan has been logged.” Ari grinned.

  “Don’t wear the makeup.”

  Nexica jerked on the lock of hair she was working on, but Ari ignored it.

  “How are my keepers, Emperor Usorn?”

  “They are recovering, and those responsible for the arrangements last night have been identified. You will meet them today.”

  “Until then, it is business as usual?”

  “Indeed.”

  She smiled and cocked her head at him. “Excellent. Now, get out so that I can get ready. The uniform doesn’t go on by itself.”

  He inclined his head and left the room.

  “So, you have just dismissed the emperor?” Nexica finished with her hair and helped her to her feet.

  “No, I have just made it clear that I was only brought here for a job and to stand in the way is just stupid.”

  “You seem a little aggressive this morning.” Nexica sat her down at a table with two chairs and started working to pin up her hair.

  “Must have been the soap.”

  Nexica chuckled for a full five minutes.

  The morning went with the usual petitions. Ari wrote them out and they were carried in to the emperor.

  Her guards were so tense; she had four on duty unless one was off getting her food or tea.

  When it was time to enter the emperor’s business quarters, she was settled at her desk, which was now right next to the emperor’s.

  He had been scooting her closer to him for the last few weeks, but apparently, today he decided to throw his hand in.

  She prepared her parchment and waited.

  The double doors opened and vid cameras flew in ahead of the party. A woman was hauled in with two men; their features were all similar enough to show a familial relationship. Guards and other figures followed.

  Usorn turned toward her and nodded. “Mark today’s date.”

  She wrote as he spoke, accusing the Orkiv family of conspiring to remove Scribe Longway from the palace by means of her assassination.

  Ari listened to the testimony provided by a woman in a dark cloak in her position as a death speaker. She had taken in the knowledge of the dead assassins, and they had all agreed on one point. Lady Huramba Orkiv had hired them in the presence of her father and brother to kill the new scribe.

  The lady confessed to jealousy, and she thought that if the scribe was killed, others would think it was a bribery attempt gone wrong, as had happened in the past.

  Usorn turned to Ari with a question, “Scribe Longway. Was there at any time a reason for a woman who is not my lover to be jealous of your position in my life?”

  Ari looked up once she had written in the question. “There was not. Until last night, we simply worked together.”

  She wrote it down.

  “What happened last night?”

  “From the point of the attack?”

  “From when you were aware of the attack.”

  She wrote the comments down. “May I write as I speak?”

  “Please.”

  She explained the whole thing, from the moment she had become aware of the thumping, to the point at which she hid to one side of the door. The run down the halls was apparently a pivotal point.

  “Why did you not ask the hall guards for help?”

  She looked up in surprise. “There weren’t any. I didn’t see them, or if I did see them, they did not register.”

  “They were in the hall. You did not see them, but they recorded you. Fortunately, there was only one woman with your skin tone in the palace. Continue. What happened next?”

  Her hand kept writing. “I ran to the gardens and I hid. I don’t know how long I was there, but then you came, cleaned me up and kept me safe.”

  Her brain was in neutral, she was cold. No fear, no hate, just nothing looming before her. The woman across from her had hate. It burned in her. The men next to her had it as well. They were dangerous people, but only to her or anyone who got in their way.

  “What would
you do with them, Scribe Longway?”

  “I would ask what their intentions were from this point onward.”

  Seeing someone go mad with rage was something Ari had never imagined before. The lady fumed, foamed and shouted that the scribe would die and she would watch her die.

  The screaming was abruptly silenced, and she collapsed to the ground.

  The other two men behind her dropped as silently as she had.

  “Justice was seen to by the emperor at forty-five minutes past the hour.” The death speaker intoned it. “The family Orkiv asserts their desire for the death and pain of Scribe Longway even after death. To this, I shall affix my seal.”

  Emperor Usorn nodded, his mouth tight. “Removed from endangering the population at large and the scribe specifically at forty-five past the hour.”

  There was an emotional energy in the room, and Ari finished the trial notations as the vid cameras recorded the standing fury of the emperor and the dead on the floor.

  “Have them taken to their home country for burial. Everyone is dismissed.”

  He jerked his head, and the guards carried the deceased out with calm. The death speaker bowed, came to the document and raised her hand to the shadow of the hood. She bit down and extended her bleeding finger to the page, placing the mark next to her declaration of death and the thoughts that followed.

  Ari nodded and fixed her witness seal. The vid cameras left. The death speaker left the room, and it was just Usorn and Ari.

  She brought the parchment around and placed it on his desk. He was still vibrating with tension. She put her hand on his arm and inclined her head. “Your document, Emperor Usorn.”

  He sat and woodenly affixed his seal. “Get out.”

  “No.”

  She stroked his hair and stood next to him.

  “I am staying here until you look at me.”

  He nodded and started to sort through the petitions of the morning. “Get to your desk.”

  She felt a ripple of hope and went to her desk. Instead of doing what he implied, she brought her tools to his side and she leaned over. “Ready when you are.”

  “You are seriously planning to write bent over my desk?”

  She gave him a bland look through the heavy layers of makeup. “That is exactly what I am planning on doing. Emperor Usorn, ready when you are.”

  He sighed and got started. She smiled and bent over, writing as he spoke.

  The first few documents were all business, but as they finished the negotiation for a new iced-treat shop permit, he finally cracked. His hand caressed her backside as he listed the conditions for the permit. She paused in her writing and he continued speaking so she had to catch up.

  The next petition was regarding the acquisition of public land for gardens. As she wrote out the details, her skirt slowly crept upward. She stood next to him the entire time, despite the curl of his fingers around her thigh and easing in between them.

  She breathed deep and focused, keeping herself on task despite the tingling in her limbs.

  An hour of torture was her punishment as he drew out the details of the air traffic restrictions with far more words than were actually necessary.

  She was up on her tiptoes and holding her breath by the time she finished the final stroke.

  He withdrew his hand from between her thighs and her skirt dropped back in place. His fingers glowed with the wetness he had coaxed out of her, and her face caught fire under the makeup when he slowly licked it off. His eyes grew heavy lidded, and he sighed, “Why did I rush last night?”

  She took her tools and backed away, putting everything back on her desk. Words were beyond her. Her vision was red and heat pounded in her veins.

  “You are suddenly quiet for someone who defied a direct order.”

  She shivered and her voice was husky as she replied, “Nothing to say.”

  He looked her over and nodded. “See you at dinner. Don’t be late, Ariadne.”

  She didn’t run, but she wished she could. Her legs wouldn’t have put up with that kind of silliness.

  Chapter Eight

  The guards took her back to the imperial quarters, and Nexica came at her with the makeup remover and herded her into a room off the living area.

  “You have been given the empress’s quarters. I moved in here this afternoon.”

  “You get to stay with me?” It was a bit of a relief.

  “I get to stay in the servant quarters off the empress’s suite. They are about the size of your previous bedroom.” Nexica grinned. “It will definitely save me time in the mornings.”

  The bedroom had a dressing table and wardrobe. She was sat down at the table, and Nexica began to remove the layers of paint and makeup from her skin.

  “So, you are not thinking that I am a little bit trampy for being moved into the imperial quarters?”

  Nexica snorted. “Not hardly. I have been with you long enough to know that you don’t go seeking physical affection; I also know that His Imperial Majesty has been after you since before you arrived. There was a reason that he picked you out of all the scribes offered him, and it wasn’t your penmanship.”

  “Why didn’t you mention that before?”

  “It is not my concern. My concern is to keep you presentable and at work on time. That is challenge enough.” Nexica swabbed and worked carefully and meticulously on Ari’s face.

  Ten minutes after she started, she removed the last fleck of makeup and sighed. She went to the bathroom, got a wet washcloth and came back to press it to Ari’s face.

  “I have a new gown for you, but the dressing will have to go fast. The sun is setting, and you are due for dinner in twenty minutes, including walking time.”

  “Let’s do this then. You get the gown, and I will get out of my clothing.”

  With their assignments set, Ari removed the sleeves from her arms, and she carefully removed her blouse up and over her head. Not snagging on the headdress was the tricky part, but she got it off and shucked out of her skirt.

  The breast band was all that she wore now, and when Nexica held the gown out and jerked her head, Ari removed it as well.

  The gowns of Hredu were always wrapped. The headdresses that the women wore excluded the possibility of the gown going over the head. Stepping into one meant that a woman had a maid on hand to assist her. It was a class situation, and while she worked for a living, Ari was in the emperor’s household and she got the instant status of a lady of the court.

  The gown was dark red, heavy silk and fastened on with a series of latches and strings until it fit snugly from her armpits to the top of her hips. The catches were covered with a gauzy silk wrap that wound around and around to hide them.

  Nexica was sweating and swearing as she got Ari into the black slippers that matched the gown.

  “Done. You are ready.” Nexica was sitting on the floor and breathing hard. “I am going to kill that dress designer.”

  “You did an amazing job.”

  A three-panel mirror showed her that she appeared striking. Nexica got a gold mask on a stick and handed it to her. “Just for the hallways.”

  “Thank you, Nexica. I really mean that.” She squeezed Nexica’s hand with a smile.

  “I would accept your thanks if you got going and arrived on time.” Nexica winked. “Lady.”

  Her maid bowed low, and Ari knew when she was dismissed.

  Chuckling, she left the empress’s rooms, moved through the central causal space, and when she was a hand’s breath from the door, it opened to show Captain Kredik. “Are you ready?”

  She put the mask over her face. “When you are.”

  Four imperial guards supported two of her keepers and the good captain. They walked her through public areas and to a private dining room.

  Usorn was waiting for her as she stepped through the door. “You are late.”

  “By how much?” she lowered the mask.

  He shrugged a
nd smiled. “Forty-five seconds.”

  She chuckled. “My fault. I threw a shoe. I hit Captain Kredik in the back of the head with it.”

  “You are joking.”

  She held up her hand and walked to the door, “Captain?”

  He came in and his shoulders were shaking.

  “Turn around, please.”

  The clear impact mark was on the back of his glossy helmet.

  “Thank you, Captain Kredik.” She patted him on the shoulder, and he left the room, closing the door behind him.

  She approached the emperor, and she bowed low. “Good evening, Emperor Usorn.”

  He sighed and closed the distance between them. “Stand up, Ariadne.”

  She rose, and he swooped down for a kiss. She dropped her mask and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on tight.

  Ari felt herself rise, and she moved her arms to support her against his shoulders. His lips curled against hers, but she didn’t care. He could dangle her upside-down; she was just relieved that he was out of his mood. After a delightfully thorough greeting, he leaned back and set her on her feet again.

  “You really are not afraid of me.” There was wonder in his tone.

  “Why would I be?”

  “You saw what I did earlier. I could do that to you now.”

  “I could stab you in your sleep. Just because a person can cause you injury does not mean that they will. Even the assassins that you splattered were only killed because they were there to kill me.”

  She stroked his cheek and smiled. “If you are not afraid of sleeping next to me, then there is nothing you can do to instil fear in me.”

  “It seems you are trying to set some of that fear in me.” He grinned and pressed his cheek into her hand.

  “Yes, well, if I had known that you sought me out specifically, you may have been in danger far earlier.”

  He gave her an innocent look and took her arm, leading her toward a table set for two. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Right. There were thirty-two more-qualified scribes in the area. Why did you choose me?”