“I try,” I murmured, scooping up the crystals and dumping them into the pouch. Rising, I offered it back to her.
“Thank you.” Loren took the bag, her hand gliding over mine in the process. “Thank you so very much.”
Fighting a grin, I nodded and gave her a curt bow before returning to my corner. I wasn’t there long before the blonde halted midway to the table with refreshments.
“Oh, my.” Dafina lifted a limp hand to her forehead. “I feel so dizzy.” She began to sway.
Good gods…
I went to her side before she ended up in a pile of blue silk, like the crystals scattered upon the floor. “Here.” I took hold of her elbow, and she all but fell into my side. “You should sit,” I advised, leading her back to the chaise near the Maiden. “Would you like me to retrieve a drink for you?”
“If you’d be so kind.” Dafina batted her thickly lashed eyes. “Mint water, if you could.” She looked at the others, waving her fan. “It is so terribly warm in here, is it not?”
“Not really.” Tawny looked on, unimpressed.
I had no idea what the Maiden thought as I poured a glass of the mint water.
“It must be the warmth that has made me so clumsy,” Loren chimed in as I handed the water to the other Lady in Wait, once more having my hand touched in a way that felt more like fondling. Loren had now sprawled herself across the chaise, curving her body so one would have to be utterly unobservant not to notice how low-cut her gown had become. How suddenly low-cut both of their gowns had become. “I do say, it has given me such a frightening headache.”
Tawny sighed, rolling her eyes.
Beside her, the Maiden dipped her chin.
Unperturbed, Loren pressed two delicate fingers to her temple, and I suspected she was on the verge of slipping from the chaise.
“Then I suggest you make sure you stay seated,” I said, thinking to nip any attempts of her rising in the bud. I gave her a smile that had opened many closed doors to me in the past, flashing a dimple. “All right?”
Loren stared at my mouth as she dropped her hand from her temple to the lace of her bodice, her boldness amusing. She nodded.
Giving them all one more smile, I returned to my station. When both Ladies turned their attention to Tawny, I breathed a small sigh of relief.
“You know what I heard?” Dafina asked, snapping her fan as she glanced in my direction. She lowered her voice, but I easily heard everything she said. “Someone has been a rather frequent visitor of one of those…one of those dens in the city.”
“Dens?” Tawny asked, and I realized this was the first time she’d interacted with them outside of commenting on their clumsiness and apparent weak constitution.
Dafina tipped her upper body forward. “You know the kind, where men and women often go to play cards and other games.”
Tawny lifted her brows. “You’re talking about the Red Pearl?”
The Maiden sat as still as the limestone statues I could see in the garden.
“I was trying to be discreet.” Dafina sighed, looking at the Maiden. “But, yes.”
I bit the inside of my mouth as I briefly shifted my attention to the glass panels above us.
“And what have you heard he does at such a place?” Tawny asked, the skirt of her gown moving and the toe of her slipper appearing—
The Maiden jerked slightly.
Did Tawny just kick the Maiden under the table?
“I imagine he’s there to play cards, right? Or do you…？” Tawny pressed a hand to her chest, leaning back in her chair. “Or do you think he engages in other more illicit…games?”
“I’m sure playing cards is all he does.” Loren raised an eyebrow as she pressed her fan against her chest. “If that is all he does, then that would be a…disappointment.”
I didn’t think she’d be disappointed.
Mostly.
I hadn’t returned to the Red Pearl since the night the Maiden was there, and I had been there nearly every night before that.
“I imagine he does what everyone does when they go there,” Tawny said. “Finds someone to spend…quality time with.” She tilted her head slightly to the Maiden.
I had to bite harder on the inside of my lip.
“You shouldn’t suggest such things in current company,” Dafina admonished.
Tawny choked on her tea while I almost choked on my breath.
“I imagine if Miss Willa were alive today, she would’ve snared him in her web,” Loren said. “And then wrote about him in her diary.”
Who was this Miss Willa?
“I heard that she only wrote about her most skilled…partners,” Dafina added, laughing softly. “So, if he made it onto those pages, you know what that means.”
I was flattered they’d already decided I would be skilled enough to make it into this diary.
Unfortunately, their conversation moved on from my perceived skills to the Rite, though I still occupied their thoughts based on how Loren and Dafina continued stealing glances in my direction.
But they weren’t the only ones.
The Maiden looked, too.
I couldn’t see her eyes, but there was a slight tilt of her head in my direction. What really let me know was the odd prickle at the nape of my neck that I would not ask Kieran about because, knowing him, he’d probably say it was my conscience.
“I do hope you-know-who isn’t in the city like some are saying,” Dafina said. “If so, they may cancel the Rite.”
“They won’t cancel the Rite,” Loren assured. “And I don’t think it’s an if.” She glanced at the Maiden, then sent her friend a meaningful look. “You know that it has to mean that he’s near.” Her chin lifted. “Prince Casteel.”
Damn.
Did she just say my actual name? Usually, I was only referred to as the Dark One.
Dafina frowned. “Because of the…” She glanced not-so-coyly at the Maiden. “Because of the attack?”
“Besides that.” Loren’s attention returned to the mask she was currently sewing a red crystal to. The corners of my lips turned down. How many damn colors were on that thing? “I overheard Britta saying so this morning.”
“The maid?” Dafina scoffed.
“Yes, the maid.” Loren lifted her chin even higher. “They know everything.”
That was true.
Mostly.
Dafina laughed. “Everything?”
She nodded. “People speak about anything in front of them. No matter how intimate or private. It’s almost like they are ghosts in a room. There is nothing they don’t overhear.”
“What did Britta say?” Tawny placed her cup down.
“She said that Prince Casteel had been spotted in Three Rivers,” Loren said. “That it was he who started the fire that took Duke Everton’s life.”
I did start the fire.
But Duke Everton was already dead by then.
“How could anyone claim that?” Tawny demanded. “No one who has ever seen the Dark One will speak of what he looks like or has lived long enough to give any description of him.”
“I don’t know about that,” Dafina countered. “I heard from Ramsey that he is bald and has pointy ears, and is pale, just like…you know what.”