The other woman’s narrow jaw was clenched, and Touraine understood why. After just a couple of days in Luca’s household, Touraine already recognized the way the princess needed everything to be propped just so, and everyone under her orders. Luca thought she knew people, and expected them to do as she thought. Or she would make them do as she thought.
Luca hadn’t expected Rogan, and what an oversight that was. Now she would have to reconsider her plans for everyone who had seen Touraine dragged across the dance floor until Luca came to her rescue. Touraine didn’t know the intricate webs of Balladairan noble ties, but she knew gossip. Luca’s reputation might not be ruined, but tonight was a blow.
No wonder Luca’s knuckles were clenched white on the arms of her chair.
To Touraine’s own surprise, the fingers eased up, one by one.
Finally, the princess exhaled sharply through her nose. “An insult to my staff is an insult to me. As such, I will seek redress. Your job is to act with the dignity and self-control as befits someone of my staff. Do you understand me perfectly?”
Touraine stiffened at the rebuke. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“Good. You’re dismissed for the night.”
Luca closed her eyes and leaned back again with a sigh.
Touraine hesitated, caught between the two prongs of Balladairan obedience: avoiding wrongdoing and doing good work. It was the delicate dance she’d been doing her whole life.
“Was there something else?” Luca asked.
“The modiste girl. I wondered if she might be a rebel.”
Luca opened one eye. “What makes you say that?”
Touraine shrugged. “The things she said. She didn’t sound impressed by us.”
Luca sniffed and closed her eye. “I half expect any Qazāli with money to have some deal with the rebels. She did speak as if she was on their side.”
Touraine looked wistfully around for a chair, but none were close enough for debriefing. That, and Luca had not invited her to sit.
A tense silence. “Excellent. Maybe the rebels will use your indiscretion against me as well.” Could acid freeze? If so, that was how she sounded. She cleared her throat. “Help me up.”
Luca half pushed herself out of the chair, strain clear on her face.
Touraine went over, arms out. Luca shooed her back.
“Don’t be stupid. Get the chair. Corner of my room.”
Touraine retrieved the chair. It was normal for Luca to be angry. A plan had fallen through; her weapon had misfired. Touraine wasn’t above being afraid of where that anger might turn. No matter how unfair it was, she couldn’t let Luca see her as a liability. Right now, Touraine was definitely that. She needed to give Luca something in return. She’d learned young that fairness and Sands rarely went together.
As she wheeled Luca across the threshold of the bedroom, her face warmed with the memory of this morning. The way Luca had looked at her as Touraine helped her dress. The husky whisper of Luca’s voice.
Touraine could help Luca out of the sleek trousers now. She could make the rumors true, and Luca probably wouldn’t mind as much as she seemed to.
It’s the truest rumors you deny the hardest.
It was one thing to dodge Rogan in the compounds or the field. It was another impossibility entirely to deny the Balladairan heir. Even she wasn’t that stupid.
And Luca had already given her so much. What gifts would she give to a lover?
Touraine stopped beside the bed and stood in front of her. Luca’s mouth was twisted with her mood. She raised a pale eyebrow.
Touraine bent over the wheeled chair and kissed Luca on the mouth. No small satisfaction knowing it would catch the scholar off her guard.
It did. Luca tensed but relaxed into it almost instantly. As if it were a matter of course that Touraine would give her this.
And then Luca’s hands were pushing against Touraine’s chest, pushing her off, even as she held on to Touraine’s vest. The princess’s face was bright pink.
“You want this?” she asked, shrill with surprise.
Fear kept Touraine frozen in place. Her mouth worked, but she couldn’t get the words to come out. Say yes. Say yes. Make your life easy for once, you sky-falling idiot.
“I didn’t think so.” Luca let go of the vest and sank back into her wheeled chair with a huff. “That’s got to be the worst kiss I’ve ever had. If you’re going to pretend to want me, you’ll need to pretend harder.”
Touraine let out a strangled cry, caught somewhere between insulted and flabbergasted.
“Well, no offense to you. I’m sure you can do better under other circumstances.” Luca shrugged and sighed, shaking her head. The corners of her lips twitched, the only warning before she exploded into laughter and Touraine followed her, chuckling nervously.