Scarlet Nights. Lucinda Betts
at the row with her elegant fingers. She’d painted her nails the same red as freshly spilt blood—and her lips.
Kamir didn’t move. “He is my commander.” Kamir pointed at Axel. “And that means it’s my job to protect him…even from you.”
The Virgin smiled then, the candlelight catching the dark ringlets of her hair. “I assure you, that won’t be necessary.”
“But what will?” Kamir asked.
The tiniest sigh came from her lips. “Sit, please.”
This conversation was not proceeding. Axel sat, even though the seating arrangement put him and Kamir right in the center of the room—next to the strange contraption that Axel had seen thanks to the bath attendants.
“You’re not going to give us any hint?” Kamir asked. He stood stubbornly and kept his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“I cannot.”
“Cannot or will not?”
Axel didn’t figure his second would have any more luck wheedling an answer from the Virgin than Axel had had with the bath attendants. So, when the Virgin turned toward them and straightened the silk sheath covering her lush breasts, Axel paid attention.
“I will tell you this,” the Virgin said in a husky voice. “Everyone…” Her eyes raked Axel. “Everyone will enjoy it—even you.”
Something in Axel’s gut twisted then. No monarch would do what he suspected the Supplicant Queen was about to do. No monarch would sully his religion by subjecting him to hers.
“What kind of land is this, that the prisoner enjoys his punishment?” Kamir asked. “Your words make no sense.”
The flirtatious look fell from the woman’s eyes for a moment. “It’s a harsh land, with a harsh monarch,” she said. “But be glad the king doesn’t see fit to punish you.” She eyed the swords at their hips. “Although that might be more what you’d expect.”
“A duel would be much cleaner than what I suspect will go on here tonight,” Kamir said.
The Virgin smiled. “Oh, there may well be a duel here tonight. It’s simply the choice of weapon that remains in question.”
Somehow Axel didn’t think the woman meant bows versus daggers. “I expect to leave here in the morning on my own volition,” Axel said.
She gestured toward the far bench. It was padded in scarlet velvet. “Please,” she said to Kamir. “Sit.”
“Very well.” Kamir entered the pew area. “What choice do I have?”
Only when Kamir sat did she turn. “Enjoy your evening.” Her parting words held no sarcasm, did they? She left before Axel could decide.
“So,” Kamir said as he arranged his sword. Like Axel, he wore clean court clothes. His second managed to look at home in the finery, but maybe that was simply a function of his black skin. “What is this punishment? You have any idea?”
Axel shrugged. “The bath attendants didn’t give me the details, but the best I can figure, we have to watch some ritual to make amends.”
“That doesn’t sound too retaliatory,” Kamir said.
Axel lowered his voice. “They worship the harlot goddess. I don’t think their idea of retaliation meshes so well with ours—which is probably a good thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think they’re going to make us watch something that the One God would find very offensive.” He nodded at the contraption.
Kamir sat for a moment in silence, his eyes turned toward the thing made from a dark polished wood, carved holes, and leather straps. “What is that?” he asked finally.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think we have a choice—we have to watch them use it.”
“Use it?” Kamir asked.
“For sexual intercourse.”
“But that’s barbaric.”
“So is the harlot goddess,” Axel said. “We need to accept what we can’t alter, which means we need to remain focused on our task.”
Kamir wasn’t ready to let it go. “You can’t be right.” He shook his head and examined the room. “This is an opulent court. Look at all the silk and gold. Maybe you’ll have to pay a fine?”
Axel shrugged. “The queen said we can leave in the morning. I’ve no reason to doubt her. She has her own way to inflict pain—just be glad it’s only in our heads.”
“If it is only in our heads.”
“Of course it is.” Axel kept his voice low. “Tell me about the slavers. Did you catch them? Did they talk?”
“We caught them.” Kamir nodded. He seemed willing to follow the change of subject, which gave Axel some relief. The last thing he needed was his second-in-command in a frenzy among the people of this court.
“What’d you learn? Anything?”
“Crane made them talk,” Kamir said.
“And?”
“Their leader’s in Occam.”
“Occam?”
“That’s a good thing,” Kamir said. “Occam’s only a day’s ride from here.”
“They’re in more dangerous places than Occam.” Axel lowered his voice further. “I chased one into the palace.”
“What palace?”
Axel smashed down his impatience. “This palace.”
“You chased the slaver into this palace?” Kamir shot a furtive look around the room. “By the One’s balls, you did not.”
“How do you think I got arrested?”
“They said you smashed some statuary.”
“On my way into some secret entrance.”
“But that means—” Kamir looked at him. “That means the Supplicant Queen is housing slavers.”
“Exactly.”
“Does she know?”
“How should I know?”
“You didn’t tell her?”
“What if she’s in on it?”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“What can I do?” Axel ran his hand through his hair. “I’m a prisoner, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“A prisoner who can leave in the morning.”
“True.” Axel nodded.
Kamir sat silently for a moment, likely thinking the implications through. “Maybe we should still go to Occam,” he said. “It’s less than a day’s ride if we cut through Horse Thief Basin.”
Axel nodded curtly. “I thought the one I chased here was the leader. Perhaps I was wrong. He had inside help, though.”
“We can be in Occam tomorrow before sunset and clear up the mystery, assuming we survive the night.”
“We’ll survive,” Axel said. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning, before the sun rises.”
“I told the men you’d say that. They’ll be ready. The horses are getting fat in the queen’s stables.”
“And Grey?” Axel asked. He couldn’t think of the slavers without his brother’s face flashing through his mind. How had he come this close to finding his brother, only to fail? “Did they know anything about him?”