noticed her, too. The Lord’s pale eyebrows lifted, and he held up a hand.
Instantly, the courtier went silent. “Let her stay,” Elban told the guards, who had moved close, in case he wanted them to eject her. Then, to the courtier: “You’re boring me, anyway. You know what I’m going to say; assume I’ve said it, and we’ll all save ourselves a lot of time.”
The courtier scurried away, glowering at Judah. He was overdressed, and his eye makeup was running. The Seneschal cleared his throat. “Lord Elban—”
“You, too,” Elban said to him.
The Seneschal glanced at Judah. “I would advise against that, Lord Elban.”
Elban waved a hand. “The foundling will behave herself. Won’t you, foundling?”
Judah didn’t answer. The Seneschal bowed. On his way out, he paused next to her, for the merest breath. “Whatever you’re doing,” he said quietly, “be careful.”
Then he was gone. On the throne, Elban laughed.
“Such looks you give me, foundling. It’s extremely entertaining.” The room was vast, gleaming with polished wood. For a long moment, Elban watched her expectantly, enjoying her discomfiture. She tried to show as little of it as possible.
“Show me your arms,” he said, but when she held them out—trying not to tremble—he shook his head. “No, no. Take all that off. I want to see your scars.”
So she undid all of Darid’s careful bandages, stuffing them in her pockets. Maybe Elly could use them again. “Closer,” Elban said, and she inched toward him. He leaned over to inspect the two curlicues. Then he reached out with one long finger and scraped off some of the thick salve covering them. He wasn’t gentle and the motion sent a shudder of pain through her. “What’s this?”
“Just salve.”
He rubbed the salve between two fingers. “What’s it do?”
“Helps them heal.”
“Those scars are mine, foundling. If I don’t like how they turn out, we’ll do them again until I do.” He wiped the salve from his finger onto the front of her dress. She was better prepared this time and did not shudder. “Did you want something, or did you just come to quiver before me? Because I do like that. It’s the least disgusting I’ve ever found you.”
She stepped back, well out of striking distance. The place on her arm where he’d scraped her throbbed. “I want to make a deal.” Her voice sounded stronger than she’d expected. “You like deals, don’t you? Bargains, and trades?”
“I do.” Slowly, deliberately, his eyes moved up and down her body. She had often seen courtiers do that to each other, or to staff girls, but she’d never been on the receiving end, and it made her want to peel off her own skin. “But you have nothing to offer me.”
She hadn’t fainted when he burned her. She wouldn’t falter now. “Actually, I do. And it’s something you’ll want.”
He slouched down in his chair, leaning his chin on one long arm. “All right, foundling. Impress me.”
“Deal first. If you accept my offer, Elly marries Gavin and Theron lives.”
“We’re still on that, are we?” He yawned. “If you plan to offer yourself in the Tiernan’s place, I’m not interested.”
“You’re not interested in Elly, either. You’re only marrying her to hurt Gavin.”
“I don’t want to hurt Gavin.” But he was smiling now. “I want to break Gavin. He’ll be stronger for it, and he’ll need to be strong to keep my empire. I can’t think of anything you could possibly offer that I want more than that.”
Judah took a deep breath. “You lost an entire regiment on your last campaign. Surely you want to avoid that happening again.”
He was up and striding toward her before the words were all the way out of her mouth, teeth bared in a snarl. She forced herself to keep speaking. “Your soldiers were ambushed. Mowed down like grass. No way to warn them.”
Now his long white fingers were manacle-tight on her upper arm. One of his incisors was missing, making the canine next to it seem particularly long and sharp, and she found herself suddenly scared that he’d bite her. “Who told you that?” he said, shaking her hard enough to rattle her own teeth. “Speak of such things again and I will rip your tongue out.”
“If you’d had then what I’m offering now, it wouldn’t have happened. None of those men would be dead, and I know you don’t care about dead men, but you hate taking the time to train new ones, don’t you?”