extended beyond the duty to protect his life.”
Gill blinked. “I understand, Mistress. But we barely know Lord Guile. We just started.”
“And anyone who searches your belongings will not find any large gifts among them?”
His face hardened. “We’re new to the job, Mistress, not to honor.”
“Very well,” the White said. “You’re dismissed. Go get some sleep. You’ll likely be wakened rudely for more questions from others, but you deserve what rest you can find.”
She dismissed them and they left, grateful.
Karris turned to the White. “You seemed like you expected that.”
“Of course I did. I already interviewed them earlier. I wanted to see if they’d changed their story. And… I wanted you to hear that the man you love was somewhat innocent of both crimes.”
Karris blinked. The man I love? Both crimes? “What? What?!”
“He’s rebuffed that girl at least twice before. And apparently he had good reason to believe you were coming to his bed last night, seeing as you did.”
Karris squirmed, but had nothing to say.
“You know that Blackguards are forbidden to make love with their charges, don’t you, Karris?”
“Yes, Mistress.” She swallowed. She’d been stupider last night than she could believe. She was normally so rational!
“Have you spoken with Commander Ironfist about this matter?” the White asked. “Help me scoot down here, will you?”
Karris helped the White shift from sitting up in bed to lying down. “Um, no, Mistress. I–I’m afraid I acted impulsively last night, and before that I never thought it would be a, um, temptation.” She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
The White lay back. “Well, dear, if you had, Ironfist would have told you that he and I had a discussion about this very matter long ago. And then another much more recently.”
“You did?” Karris asked.
“Don’t interrupt, dear. We did. And we agreed that it’s a good rule. Keeps lines clearer. Keeps waters from being muddied.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Karris said. She straightened her shoulders, took a breath. Her head was still a whirl, but this was the life she’d chosen. She was a Blackguard, through and through. It wasn’t easy, but that was why she’d chosen it, because she’d known it was hard. Rules existed for a reason.
The White said, “And we also agreed that sometimes the exception proves the rule. And that you are that exception. If you wish to pursue a relationship with that impossible man, you may.”
A sound that may have had some faint resemblance to a squeal jumped out of Karris’s mouth. She froze, her lips pursed.
The White opened her eyes and grinned. “May Orholam have pity on us for whom we love, child. Now go find that incorrigible man, and keep him alive. I fear we’re going to have great need of him in the coming days.”
Karris hugged the old woman tight and ran from the room, pausing only to send the other Blackguards in.
Chapter 86
Gavin climbed out of the hell of his own making one foot at a time. The pulley and counterweights made it so he could go much faster, but the pulley made noise. From the depths, he couldn’t know if the noise high above would make any difference, so he had to err on the side of caution.
Some time later, he got to the top. He climbed through the hole, reset the floor as quietly as possible, dissolved the yellow luxin board, and listened at the door. Nothing.
After listening for a full minute, he opened the door a crack. Then more.
There was no one in the room except Marissia, kneeling silently on the floor.
“Marissia,” Gavin said, warmed by the sight of her. “I told you to go,” he said gently.
She looked at him then, and he was surprised to see a wash of fresh tears run down her cheeks. “I knew you’d come back. Please, my lord, don’t send me away. This is all I know. I-Please don’t reject me.”
Reject? “No, no, no,” he told her. “I’m not sending you away. But… Marissia, I’ve given you your freedom. I would be a faithless man if I tried to take it back from you. It’s a gift-”
“And I don’t despise it, my lord. Not at all. I treasure it. But I can’t accept it and still be your room slave. You would be lost without me, my lord.” She ducked her head. “My apologies. That was very presumptuous.”
“The truth often is. You’re right. I need you. But you could become my secretary. Orholam knows, your duties have already included everything a secretary does.”
“And more,” she said quietly.
“Well, yes, of course. And the more has been accomplished with aplomb,” he said, giving a little smirk. Then the smirk froze.
He’d just killed his brother, and the rest of life went on, not even pausing to notice.
“My lord…” she said, as if he was being dense.
“Yes?” he said.
“You love Lady White Oak.”
“Yes, I do.”
“It is one thing for a lady to tolerate the man she loves enjoying the companionship of his room slave. It is quite another for him to cheat on her with a free woman. Especially if you had made your favor obvious by freeing me.”
Ah. It was so much easier to free a slave when you thought it wasn’t going to cost you anything. Damn.
Good thing I don’t have anything more pressing to deal with than my loins.
Gavin rubbed his jaw. Popped his neck right and left. “Marissia, I made you a promise, and I would be a small man to-”
“I have a solution, my lord!”
“A solution?”
“That doesn’t dishonor the gift you’ve given me, but doesn’t make me go.”
Gavin cocked an eyebrow. “You want to stay? I mean, you really want to stay? Or are you just afraid of things being different? If you need more money…”
“My lord, I’ve already written up the contract. It’s not manumission, but it’s a promise that I can buy my manumission for one danar, whenever I want. That way, you’ve still given me the generous gift, and when I want, I can take it, without depriving you or making things difficult between you and Lady White Oak.”
More difficult, anyway.
“I still don’t… you’re a room slave, Marissia. You don’t even have rights to your own body. If you weren’t a slave, you could be a satrapah, a merchant queen, whatever you wanted. Instead…”
“What could I do in this life that would have more meaning than serving you, my High Lord Prism?” she asked.
“How can you say that? You know me. You know what I am.”
“Yes, my lord, I do. And I-” She closed her mouth, then said instead, “Please don’t make me leave.”
“I’m not going to make you leave,” Gavin said. She was brilliant. An amazing woman. He walked over to his desk, signed the new contract, and brought it to her. She’d already torn up the old one.
Strangely, she was weeping. He handed her the new contract and she took it, still kneeling, and hugged his legs.
He’d slept maybe one hour last night. He’d had interrupted sex with a strange woman whom he’d then killed. He’d lost the love of his life. He’d prepared himself to die. He’d realized everything he’d believed for the last twenty years at least had been a lie. He’d killed his own brother. He was fucking exhausted.
And yet, with this beautiful woman pressed against his groin, his body reacted. Sometimes he hated being a man.
After all the trouble you got me into last night, you’re really going to do this to me?
