The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood #14) - J. R. Ward Page 0,153

handkerchief from her bodice, she blotted cheeks that were dry and tended to eyes that were neither red rimmed nor smudged. “He is to be cremated this eve. And then we shall have the Fade ceremony. He always said he wished to be fade on the property.”

“Then that is what you need to do for him in his final repose.”

“I have sent my houseguests away. It seemed improper to have them under this roof whilst such arrangements are being made.” More of the dabbing. “I am so very alone. I shall need you now more than ever.”

Assail bowed as he felt Throe seethe. “My pleasure.”

“Perhaps you shall sit in with me and the solicitor—”

Throe spoke up. “No, I will be there to support you. This needs to be private.”

“He does have a point,” Assail murmured as he stroked her cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “And I am happy to tarry herein for however long it takes. Provide me with a parlor and I shall amuse myself with something from your library, perhaps?”

There was a chiming from the front door, and the butler materialized out of a back room. As the doggen hurried forth to answer the summoning, Throe cocked a brow—as if to point out that this was indeed how proper guests were to be received.

And then Saxton, the King’s own solicitor, strode into the mansion.

Saxton was more suited to the Regency ton than to modern life in many ways, his thick blond hair curled back off his face, his suit handmade for him by an expert, his cashmere coat and Louis Vuitton briefcase suspending him between the polar opposites of fashion dandy and industrious lawyer.

“Mistress,” he said with a bow. “My condolences for your loss.”

Cue another round of dry-eyed theatrics and hankie waving—and as the drama hit, Assail stepped out of the conversation, although he did catch Saxton’s eye. As they nodded to each other discreetly, Assail had the distinct impression that the attorney knew exactly why he was in the household.

Ah, Wrath. Fingers in everyone’s pie—and that was a good thing, Assail was coming to believe.

“Allow me to show my friend into the study,” Naasha said. “And then we shall have our meeting in the library. My doggen will take you there the now and accept your orders for refreshment. Throe shall be joining us as an adviser of mine.”

Assail was careful to take formal leave of Saxton, as if the two did not know each other at all. And then he was following Naasha into a room that smelled like potpourri and wood smoke. As she closed them in together, the pair of sliding doors were as ornate as full-cut statues and had as much gold on them as the Bulgari necklace the female had at her throat.

She walked over to him. Sniffling delicately. “Will you relieve me in my mourning?”

“Always.”

He pulled her against him, because she wanted him to. And he kissed her gently so that he didn’t smudge her matte red lipstick—also because she wanted him to.

“My darling,” he said as he passed a light hand over her coiffed and cascading curls. “Do tell me. How did you find out your beloved had passed?”

As she spoke, he memorized every word she said: “I went in to greet him before his First Meal was served. He was lying back in his bed, as peaceful as can be—but he was cold. So very cold. He was gone. In his sleep—which is a blessing.”

“A good death. A fine death for a worthy male.”

She kissed him again, licking into his mouth—and he could taste Throe on her, smell the scent of the other male all over her.

“Be here when I am finished?” she said with a hint of command.

Assail’s inner dominant balked at the order, but his logical side overrode the instinct. “As I said, I shall wait for however long it takes.”

“The will has many provisions.”

“And I have naught else to do than attend upon you.”

She positively glowed at that—and it was all he could do not to roll his eyes. But then she was dancing out of the room, ready to go find out all that she was to inherit.

“Bye for now,” she quipped before sliding the doors back into place.

As the clipping of her high heels on the marble faded, he looked around at the ceiling. No security cameras that he could see, but that was just the most obvious place to put them.

Before he attempted to depart the study, he had to know