This Rough Magic

Sophia started, when she saw the back of Nico's head above the chair. Usually her husband was in bed by now, not sitting in the salon. They slept in well-separated rooms, and he was seldom in hers, these days.

Fortunately, she'd already removed her cloak, so she quietly dropped it on the floor behind a settle—it would be difficult to explain why she'd been outside at this hour—then gave herself a quick inspection. The dress she wore was unremarkable enough. What was under it wasn't, but then she had no intent of letting him or anyone else see that. Her maids had been dismissed already. She was getting quite good at undressing without them.

'Good evening, my dear,' she said casually.

The captain-general swiveled his head, looking equally surprised to see her. He had obviously been so deep in thought he had not even heard her entering the room.

Probably been thinking of something really complicated, like what he'd had for supper. Sophia had no high opinion of Nico's brainpower. But then, what woman wants an intelligent husband anyway? A husband with money, power, prestige and prospects was more important.

Lately, she'd begun to realize that he had less of all of them than she'd thought.

He smiled rather abstractedly at her. 'What are you doing up at this time of night, Sophia?'

'I might just ask you the same question, husband,' she said archly, gliding toward him.

He yawned. 'I've given orders that the guard are to call me when this prince goes wandering about. I don't trust him. He's undermining my authority among the men.'

That won't be hard, Sophia thought sarcastically. Her trafficking with the guards who let her in and out of the fortress, unofficially and for small bribes, had given her an insight into his real prestige.

But all she said was: 'And?' with an enquiring tilt of the head.

'I was called to say he was up on the inner battlements.' He looked furious, in the petty way of a child. 'The fellow just happened to be there when a huge explosion went off behind enemy lines. And he says he knew nothing about what his man there was planning. Ha!'

He rose, came over, and put his arm around her. 'So what are you doing up, Sophia?'

Dangerous moment. The truth—

I sneaked out of the fortress to see a Satanist with whom I sacrificed a black cockerel, and then he painted fertility sigils around my nipples and vagina, before I performed certain acts on him with my mouth and then later on myself with a polished piece of vine-root in a pentacle pointed with black candles.

—was not going to be well received.

'I heard the explosion.' She hadn't noticed it, but he plainly had. 'I was worried, so I dressed and came looking for you.'

'It's fine, dear,' he said, patting her reassuringly. 'Just some saboteurs attacking the Hungarians.'

Best to distract him. 'It's so comforting that you're in control,' she murmured, leaning into him. 'You're so manly!'

She felt his chest swell under her hands. 'Yes, there's nothing for you to worry about.' His own hands were starting to wander.

Sophia stroked his chest, calculating for a moment. Her cloak was dropped just in front of the cabinet in which the brandy decanter stood. She certainly didn't want him going that way for a nightcap!

No help for it, then. She successfully managed to lead him to her bedroom. She blew out the candles in the fancy girandole, making everything dark, since there was no way to remove the insignia now.

The painted sigils felt hot, and so did she. For the first time in at least two years, she actually enjoyed sex with her husband. Not the sex itself—Nico was as clumsy and oafish in bed as the cavalry captain Querini—but what surrounded it. The knowledge of her duplicity, her sin, inflamed her.

Afterwards, as they lay in the warm darkness, she realized she could take further advantage of the now-rare moment.

'So why are you so suspicious of this prince? He could further your career.'

Her husband snorted. 'He seeks to ruin it, more likely! He is close friends with Petro Dorma. You know my father was a close friend of the late Doge, and also with Ricardo Brunelli, who was seen as the Doge-in-waiting. Casa Dorma's ascension has been a severe blow to us. The prince controls a sizable cavalry force, but the Knights will not take orders from anyone but him. He's refused to hand them over to me.'

'Refused?'

'In the politest way. But refused nonetheless. And he's meddling in the defense of the Citadel.' He patted her derriere. 'Anyway. Why am I boring you with all this politics, eh? Some things it is best a woman doesn't know.'

'You don't trust me,' she pouted, tracing patterns on his chest. The sigil Ogerda, which Master Morando had told her was the sign for control. He'd also asked her for inside news on the siege. She was determined to find out something for him.

'Of course I trust you dear, but it is quite confidential.'

'You're teasing me.' She started teasing him, quite a bit more physically.

'Don't stop.' His voice sounded somewhat breathless.

'Only if you stop keeping all these secrets from me!'

'Very well. If you go on . . . Well, you remember the prince's bodyguard?'