“At least I dress the part,” Liz snapped. A curious silence fell as the other four party members looked at her, examining her clothing and her hair.
“What part,” James finally asked, as mildly as he possibly could, “would that be, exactly? Sister.” Eliza’s scowl deepened and James flashed a grin, gesturing for Belinda and Marius to sit. “Come on, then. No need to stand on ceremony just because you’ve got a woman now.” He scooted over until he bumped into Eliza, sending her out of her sprawl and into a more dignified position. “Asselin, move,” he commanded, and the stocky man did, taking James’s former place at the back of the booth. Marius offered Belinda a hand as she sat, deliberately allowing her to move in to the place across from James so she wouldn’t have to face Eliza directly. Belinda saw what he was doing and smiled. Eliza saw it, too, and her glower darkened further.
“All right, now, tell us how you’ve bewitched him in just two meetings,” Asselin demanded. “We can all see some of it—” His gaze dropped to her bosom, an entirely matter-of-fact and friendly leer. “But his wretched mother’s been trying the last three years to get him married off and not a woman’s caught his eye.”
Belinda felt Beatrice draw around her again, stiffening her spine a little and making her chin lift. Felt her own reservations crop up as Gregori’s death came back to her, as the night of dancing in Aria Magli turned cool in her blood. Those were not real things, she told herself, coincidence and drink, nothing more. But they framed her response in ice, making the provincial of her: “In Lanyarch, my lord Asselin, bewitchment isn’t a word used lightly.”
Oh, yes: the noblewoman whose skin she wore would make a fine player in Lutetian politics, one part warm and approachable and one part Lanyarchan provenance. Half the court would think she could be used and the other half would want to use her. Asselin rolled his eyes at that country rudeness, but James again made a small gesture, lifting his fingers from the table fractionally. It stayed Asselin as effectively as it had Marius, and the stocky lord let out an explosive, apologetic breath.
“Forgive me, Lady Irvine. I spoke lightly. I confess to knowing very little of your homeland. Perhaps a discourse on the topic would lend itself to my greater understanding of Marius’s sudden”—he glanced at Marius, whose expression was guarded and warning, then at James, who held one eyebrow in a faint arch—“infatuation,” Asselin finished with all due diplomacy. “Perhaps I’ll even find myself moved to visit there myself, and find as fine a wife as Marius seems to have done.”
“Surely you speak too hastily, my lord,” Belinda said with a faint smile. “I’m a widow as of yet, and not a wife again.”
“He does speak hastily,” Marius growled. “Leave off, Sacha. Jealousy ill becomes you.”
“Oh, come, Marius, you wouldn’t have brought her here if y—”
“Sacha.” James interrupted, the name as mild as his question to Liz had been. Asselin held another irritated breath and let it go with an outward splay of his thick fingers. There was more argument in him than Belinda had expected, more wit and therefore more reason to be cautious.
“If I did not think the lady might enjoy the finest company Lutetia has to offer…” Marius said blandly. “Although if this is the best I can do, perhaps I should consider moving. They’re not usually this dreadful, lady, I promise you that.”
“No.” Belinda smiled, watching Eliza’s eyes darken with resentment. “But I’ve unbalanced your equilibrium, haven’t I? I’m sure you’ve all known each other—since childhood?”
Three of the four looked accusingly at the fourth; Marius lifted his hands in a supplication of innocence. “I’ve told her nothing, lords and ladies. Can I help it if she’s of a quicker wit than the rest of us combined?”
“Speak for yourself.” Eliza looked Belinda over as if she were a side of meat gone bad. Belinda’s eyebrows rose very slightly, wondering at the distaste behind the other woman’s attitude.
“Is it only that I’ve disrupted the power balance?” she asked Eliza, forthright curiosity overcoming subtlety. “It must be appealing, having three handsome men ready to jump to your service. But is another woman really so challenging?” She smiled, knowing she was very likely setting the scales against herself, but Eliza’s enmity was worth the blank anger that slid through the stunning