law anyway?” Maldynado threw it out there casually, hoping he might startle a response out of her.
“Why, I didn’t, my lord. You did.”
Maldynado halted. “What?”
“That’s what your family will assume when the word reaches them.”
“You didn’t kill her just to frame me,” Maldynado said. “My family has enough reasons to hate me already. You want her position in Forge or something?”
“My position is fine. Regardless, I did not kill her. Your comrades barged in, causing a guard to accidentally shoot her.”
“Uh huh.” Maldynado nudged Brynia so she’d resume walking. She wasn’t likely to tell Maldynado anything useful, and he lacked the stomach to use force on a woman. Maybe Sespian would have better luck questioning her.
“Are you sure you don’t want to duck into one of those cabins for a few moments of enjoyment?” Brynia asked, doing her best to dawdle by insisting on walking around each puddle instead of through it. She stopped and leaned her breasts into him. “I won’t even try to kill you afterward.”
“How thoughtful,” Maldynado said. “I know you’re trying to avoid chatting with the emperor though. Up the stairs, my lady.”
“I’m not worried about a conversation with that timid boy. I simply thought you might enjoy the embrace of a skilled lady. Besides, after listening to Mari speak longingly of your honed body, I’m curious to know if her distress over your rejections was founded. We won’t be able to find out later if your reluctance to dally with married women remains true.”
Reluctance to dally? With whom? Mari? What did that have to do with anything now?
“Uh huh,” Maldynado said, as if he understood her every nuance, “up the stairs.”
“So stuffy.” Brynia sighed. “You look like you ought to be fun.”
“I am fun. I’ll even give you a ride to prove it.” Maldynado adjusted his hat and hoisted her over his shoulder. If she wouldn’t walk, he’d carry her.
Brynia’s response, whatever it might have been, was muffled by the fact that her mouth was pressed into his back. He strode up the steps, taking them two at a time. He faltered, and almost clunked Brynia’s head against the railing, when he found Yara waiting on the catwalk that connected the stairs with the wheelhouse. Inside, Sespian stood before the six-foot-wide wooden wheel, windows on all sides offering him a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the dark river. Lamps brightened the interior while two lanterns burning on either side of the door illuminated Yara, highlighting the dampness of her short hair.
“My lady.” Maldynado greeted her with a nod and said nothing of the woman slung over his shoulder.
“The emperor was hoping you’d show up with that.” Yara waved at Brynia as if she were a package from the postal service, then brought her hand to her mouth to cover a yawn.
Sespian must have recently relieved her from the day shift at the wheel. Maldynado wondered why she was lingering in the rain instead of going straight to her bunk. Maybe she’d come outside, heard him talking to Brynia, and hadn’t wanted to interrupt.
“I better deliver it promptly then.” Maldynado knocked on the door.
“I see you got your hat back,” Yara said.
“Indeed, I did.” At the emperor’s beckon, Maldynado strode inside and plopped Brynia onto the floor. “Brought you a gift, Sire.” He held up a finger. “One moment.” He patted Brynia down, found a dagger strapped inside her thigh, and, since she wore trousers, had to have her drop her drawers to remove it. Even though she’d been offering to drop them all night, doing it in front of Sespian and in an utterly non-sexual way seemed to disturb her dignity, if the pink tinge to her cheeks was anything to go by. Good. Maldynado didn’t want her at her most vixen-ish to talk to the boy. “There we go.”
Apparently taking his job as helmsman seriously, Sespian had only partially turned from the river, and he kept one hand on the wheel. “Thank you.”
Brynia refastened her trousers and stared Sespian in the eyes. “Your plan won’t work.”
He might have snorted with indignation or given her a wave of dismissal. Instead, he blinked a few times and looked at Yara. “She thinks we have a plan at this point? That’s encouraging, yes? That our enemies are ascribing us with more competence than we actually possess?”
“I’d say so, Sire,” Yara said.
Maldynado wondered if Sespian was being intentionally disarming, the better to tease information out of Brynia. He didn’t know how much shrewdness to grant the kid. At least he wasn’t leering at Brynia’s chest the way Akstyr had.
“Want me to stay while you chat with her, Sire?” Maldynado asked.
“No, we’ll speak alone.” Sespian nodded to Yara. “I’ll have you step outside, too, Sergeant.”
Yara adopted a lemon-sucking expression, but merely said, “Understood, Sire.”
When Yara strode past Brynia, she deliberately bumped shoulders. Yara had a good six inches on the other woman, and Brynia nearly fell down. Yara pushed open the door and stalked out without looking back. Her abruptness seemed to startle Sespian.
“We have some unpleasant history with the prisoner,” Maldynado told him. “She wanted to feed Yara to mechanical alligators. And, even more egregious, she stole my hat.” Maldynado walked outside, closing the door behind him. “Wait there, will you?” he called to Yara.
She stopped at the top of the stairs. “Why?” The word broke under the force of another yawn. She’d probably been dreaming of sleep.
“Never mind,” Maldynado said. “I’ll stand watch myself.”
Yara frowned. “Over them? It sounds like the emperor wants privacy.”
“She seems to be an accomplished seductress whereas the emperor seems… naive. Brynia might feel inhibited if someone’s standing out here, ogling through the window.”
Yara leaned against the railing. “Would that inhibit you?”
“Depends on who’s doing the ogling.” Maldynado leaned on the railing next to Yara. “You can get some sleep. I can ogle by myself.”
“I’ll bet.” Yara gazed down the stairs but didn’t leave. “I’m surprised you didn’t take advantage of her offer.”
“Oh,” Maldynado said, disappointed that she’d be “surprised,” but he supposed he wasn’t known for chastity.
“Maybe not as much as I would have been a week ago,” Yara said.
Oh? Progress.
Maldynado stifled a yawn of his own and gazed at the cloudy sky, thinking again of snow and walks along the canal. The rain had tapered off to a mist.
Yara nodded toward the wheelhouse where Brynia stood, her breasts targeting Sespian like guns on a battleship as the young emperor spoke. “So, the future Lady Marblecrest, eh?”
“ What?”
“You don’t think she’s eyeing your brother? I thought that line about your reluctance to sleep with married women meant she planned to become your brother’s next wife.”
Maldynado stared at her, his mind fumbling about as he tried to remember if Brynia had said anything about Ravido.
Yara tilted her head. “You don’t think so? I thought she might have shot Mari to rid Ravido of the current wife and that she planned to be the one to deliver the news and console him over the loss. After Ravido becomes emperor, he’ll have lots of women courting him, but if Brynia sinks her talons into his shoulder first… ”
“Is that… all a hunch?” Maldynado was trying to decide if he was being dumb for not having put that together or not. It did sound plausible, but…
“We enforcers like to call them educated guesses.” Yara shrugged, as if to agree there wasn’t a lot of evidence to back it up.
Maldynado chuckled. “Well, I hope we don’t find out. I’d prefer that Sespian stay on the throne and my brother die a bitter old widower.”
“Agreed.”
Inside, Sespian was leaning forward, gesturing with one hand while he held the wheel steady with the other.
