His words came out stuttering and stumbling. Kathe laid a hand on his arm, as if to reassure him that she understood, and turned to the runner. “That is settled, then. Uwe, please go to the kitchens. My mother has an errand for you.”
Apparently she had some authority, because the runner immediately vanished through a low doorway Gerek had not noticed before.
Kathe laughed softly and shook her head. Her gaze swept up to meet his, and to his surprise, her cheeks were edged with an embarrassed flush. “I am sorry, Maester Hessler,” she said. “I have ordered you and Uwe about most unfairly. Especially Uwe. But you see, I would like to keep away from the kitchens just now. My mother…” She drew a deep breath. “Let us say she finds the latest pastry cook unsatisfactory. It’s better if I find useful work elsewhere until she’s calmer.”
“So I-I am useful work?” Gerek said.
Kathe visibly winced. “That was unkind of me. I am sorry again.”
“You don’t need to be sorry,” he said at once. “I-I should— I am sorry. I was rude.”
She had removed her hand from his arm. Now she touched him again, but briefly this time, as though she were not certain of his reaction. As though it mattered.
“Come,” she said with a semblance of her former cheerfulness. “Let me show you the library first. You will like it, I know. Or would you rather I found you a room where you could sleep a few hours? If I know Lord Kosenmark, he will set you to work at once.”
“Or perhaps you should leave him to us,” said another voice.
A woman leaned against the pillars of the entryway. She wore a diaphanous robe that left her lean body in shadows, even in the bright sunlight pouring through the windows. She smiled at Gerek, but it was not a friendly smile.
“Nadine, you should not tease,” Kathe said.
“I merely follow your example,” Nadine replied.
Kathe ignored her pointed comment. “Why are you awake so early? Do you have an appointment?”
Nadine stretched out in one languorous movement. She was like a wild cat, Gerek thought. A panther from the mountains, strong and lovely and dangerous. Apparently his expression betrayed his thoughts, because Nadine paused in mid-stretch and drew her lips back from her teeth, which showed white and sharp against her brown skin.
“Nadine,” Kathe said. “I’ll tell you again. Do not tease.”
Nadine merely laughed. “You eat too many prunes, Kathe.”
To Gerek’s relief, she flowed back into the common room to join another pair of courtesans—one woman and one man—who were gathered around an expensive-looking musical instrument. As Nadine rejoined them, the man ran his fingers over a series of levers. A bright, rippling melody echoed through the common room.
He let his breath trickle out. His first encounter with a genuine courtesan. Not a very successful one.
“Come with me,” Kathe said, as if nothing had happened. “We should visit the gardens.”
* * *
HOURS LATER, GEREK Hessler sat alone in his new office, one floor below Lord Kosenmark’s spacious private suite. After he and Kathe returned from the gardens, Lord Kosenmark had summoned Gerek to his office. There, they had talked—rather, Kosenmark had talked, and at length, while Gerek did little more than attempt to retain the tumbling flow of names and titles and historical events from the pre-empire early days, to the destructive civil wars that fractured the empire, severing Veraene from Károví, Morennioù, Hanídos, and the northern kingdoms.
He rested his head in both hands. He had done it. He had inserted himself into Kosenmark’s household.
It was but the first step. In all that excess of talk, Kosenmark had given nothing away. He had not mentioned Armand of Angersee or Markus Khandarr, the king’s chief councillor and mage. Nor, of course, anything about his activities since Armand dismissed him from court. There had been one teasing detail—a brief mention of minor Károvín nobility—but then the subject had veered to trading agreements between the two kingdoms, and Gerek had not dared to turn the conversation back.
He wished—again—that Dedrick had confided more during his final visit to Gerek’s family. It had taken place directly before Dedrick went for the last time to Duenne and court. Gerek was certain his cousin had gone at Kosenmark’s request to spy on the king.
And what shall you do if you can prove it? his brother had asked.
I don’t know. But it’s not right, what happened to Dedrick. And no one else