Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,34
to yell at me about how stupid it had been to risk his fief over a servant until I filled him in on what had really been going on.
When he finished with me, I went looking for A’marie. I couldn’t find her, and it wasn’t long before I started to drag. I wasn’t as tired as last night—or, technically, yesterday morning—but tired enough to convince me to pack it in.
Once again, I woke to see A’marie standing over me. This time, she had her clothes on, but she still looked cute.
“Hi.” I covered a yawn. “Are you supposed to just come in here whenever you feel like it?”
“I can start knocking if you want.”
“No, it’s okay. I was just thinking that if you want to get rid of Timon, and you guys all have passkeys… ”
“Lord Timon doesn’t sleep in the hotel or anyplace else where we can reach him. And even if he did, we probably couldn’t kill him.” Her silvery eyes narrowed. “Are you really going to punish me?”
Just then, I smelled bacon, and my mouth watered. I wasn’t starving like yesterday, but I was hungry. “Did you bring breakfast?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll let you off with a warning.” I threw off the covers, revealing the shiny green silk pajamas I’d found in the dresser. I thought I looked stupid in them, but even if A’marie thought so, too, she managed not to giggle.
Like before, there was a ton of food, I invited her to share, and she said again that she wasn’t supposed to. The show of reluctance might have been more convincing if I hadn’t noticed the second set of silverware on the cart.
Everything was good. I enjoyed it until, for some reason, I suddenly remembered Wotan stuffing raw meat into his mouth. Then I set my fork on my plate with a bite of ham still stuck on it, wiped my lips, and pushed back from the table.
“Have you had enough?” asked A’marie.
“I guess so. Except for another cup of coffee.”
“I’ll get it.”
As she poured, I wondered what to say next. I decided to go with the obvious.
“Thank you,” I said. “And I don’t just mean for bringing this. Thanks for helping me during the game.”
She swallowed a last bite of guava-and-cheese turnover. “You’re welcome.”
I hesitated, and she sucked the sugary stickiness off her fingertips. “I just don’t understand why you helped me,” I said at last. “I thought you and your buddies want me to lose.”
“Lose,” she said. “Not die or go crazy. And I was afraid that was what was happening.”
“So was I. But are your friends mad at you for what you did?”
Now it was her turn to hesitate. “Kind of.”
“I’m sorry.”
“They’ll understand after they’ve had a chance to think it over.” She frowned. “We’re not all monsters. Although I couldn’t blame you for thinking we are, when you mostly spend your time with Timon and the other lords.”
“I don’t think that,” I told her. “You know, I looked for you last night, but you’d disappeared.”
“I had to leave the room to burn the handkerchief, so no one could use it against you anymore. And then I figured it would be safer to stay away from Leticia for a while.”
I sipped my coffee. “That was probably smart.”
“If you really do feel grateful,” she said, “will you do me a favor?”
“Sure,” I said, feeling cautious, and not liking myself because of it. “If I can.”
“You can,” she said. “I just want you to meet some people. They’re already here in the hotel.”
She waited while I brushed my teeth, shaved, showered, and pulled on a clean knit shirt and khakis. Then she picked up a candle in a silver holder and led me to a set of service stairs.
It was black in the stairwell, and almost as creepy when we reached the ground floor, even though there were a couple hurricane lamps burning. A spider web blocked the top half of a doorway, and the bride and groom figures from a wedding cake lay on a little round table. An upright piano on casters stood against a wall. The dust in the stale air tickled my nose and tried to make me sneeze, and roach droppings crunched under my feet.
“We don’t use this part,” said A’marie. “The kitchen and laundry are over that way.” She waved her hand to show which direction she meant. “So I was pretty sure that if I hid people here, Timon wasn’t likely to come across them.”