Page 96 of Storm of Shadows

“Perhaps you’re thirsty for something else. You always used to be.” She rests her hand on my arm. “You couldn’t get enough.”

“Funny,” I say coldly, “I don’t quite remember it that way.”

“You don’t remember sneaking into my room, begging to spend the night?”

I snort. “You have a creative imagination, Henny.”

She ignores me. Maybe there was a time when I found her attractive, irresistible even – her magic is mesmerizing and powerful. But that time was short-lived. Fleeting even. I’ve felt nothing but disdain and disinterest for her for months and months now.

“I bet you miss it,” she purrs.

I shake my head.

“Especially when you’re not getting any from that little thrall of yours.”

Despite my best efforts to remain calm, to not rise to the little witch’s bait, my shoulders tense.

“Who says we’re not getting any? I’m very satisfied with our thrall.”

“Well,” she says, stroking her hand against my cheek, “it’s written all over your face, Beaufort.” She laughs again. “I know that look well – I kept you waiting, remember?” A growl simmers in my throat. “And also, the girl’s said it many times. She’s not your thrall – despite your and Dray’s best efforts.”

“Watch how you talk to me, Henny.”

“Oh,” she says, innocently, “I’m only concerned for your welfare, Beaufort. I know it can’t be easy for a man like you, in fact it must be crushing.”

“It is easy. I’m more satisfied than I ever have been,” I lie. I want our thrall so fucking desperately. It’s driving me insane. I can’t stop thinking about her. Can’t stop imagining all the things I want to do to her. I want to end the games and make her ours.

“But the girl is just that. A girl,” she hisses. “She’d be such a lousy fuck. You’re going to be so disappointed when you finally have her. I don’t understand why you’re wasting your time.”

“I’m not wasting my time.”

“We could go back to my rooms right now, if you wanted, Beaufort,” she says, sliding her hands down my front, her touchmaking my skin crawl. “Or we could find a quiet place – you always did like to have a bit of fun like that.”

“Not with you, Henny. Not any longer.”

Her eyes flash. “Don’t expect me to be so obliging when you come crawling back to me, Beaufort, begging for me to take you back. I know you, I know your patience is severely limited. And when you finally lose your patience with that girl, I may no longer be an option.”

She tosses her braid over her shoulder and storms back to her sister.

She’s right, my patience is limited.

In fact, it has finally snapped.

Chapter Forty-Three

Briony

Turns out Dray Eros wasn’t lying to me. Ten minutes after I drink the enchanted water the room is no longer spinning and I’m feeling my normal self.

I don’t lose any time. I hurry up the stairs and into Beaufort’s study. It was the only room of the three Princes’ I didn’t snoop through last weekend and the one I think may hold answers for me.

Beaufort has a reputation, one I don’t quite understand. Everyone assumes he knows what’s happening across the realm and there must be a reason for that.

When I reach his study, I find I’m not wrong. Across his desk lie scores of tiny little scrolled up notes – notes that judging by their size, must have been brought here by raven. Someone is sending him news. What news?

To one side of the desk stands a magnifying glass. I perch down on his chair and, unraveling one of the tiny notes, hold it up to the glass. The writing is titchy but under the glass it magnifies big enough to read. There are lines of text– one running onto the other. Figures related to the harvest distribution across the realm. Information about a court case in Granite Quarter. Details of troop movements and other meaningless bits and pieces. Nothing I can see Beaufort needs to know or would be interested in. However, among the standard lines of text are meaningless sentences. Ones that make no sense. Pure and utter nonsense.

Code.