"But of course, midama." Biryani bowed, hiding his face, but not before Kass caught his smirk.
Pok, but it was difficult to carry on a love affair in front of people who had known you since you were born!
Chapter 30
How fortunate she'd asked for a broom! Kass had memorized Veranelle's secret passages by the time she was nine, but it was obvious no one had come this way in a long time. Cobwebs everywhere-uninhabited, she hoped. What felt like mouse droppings underfoot. Soft rustlings ahead, behind, down all the numerous side passages. Rats? Bats? A gulp of stale, damp air set off a fit of coughing. Juggling lantern and broom, Kass clapped her fists over her mouth. Pok! What if someone heard her? By morning there'd be rumors the castle was haunted.
She shouldn't be in the passages at all, of course. She'd planned to show Tal the way, have him come to her. That's how it was supposed to work. Secret passages were for men to crawl through, while their ladies waited in bed, splendidly draped in sexy nightwear.
Yet here she was. Perhaps if she'd asked for something modern and sensible like a laser torch instead of a flickering lantern . . . ? But then she might actually catch a glimpse of what was making all those not-quite-identifiable noises echoing down the narrow, stone-floored passages, and she really didn't want to do that. Lantern light was, after all, traditional for finding one's way to an assignation at Veranelle. Kass vividly recalled her mother's shock when Kass had revealed her knowledge of that bit of castle folklore. She'd been fourteen at the time. Ryal, her father, had merely laughed, though Kass was certain he'd rushed to check the heavy tapestry that concealed the peephole above his headboard.
Ugh! She'd walked straight into a spider's web. The broom clattered onto the stone floor as Kass swatted at her hair, her shoulders, her arms-anywhere the web's spinner might have taken refuge. She stood very still, quivering. Did she feel something crawling?
No . . . but that didn't mean nothing was there. Fizzet, but she hated spiders. Tomorrow she'd have a cleaning crew in here. No more of this nonsense!
Kass bent down, picked up the broom. Was this the test of love then? Fighting her way through a den of spiders to demonstrate her devotion?
And when she finally got to Tal's room, would she find him so disgusted with her that he'd returned to Liona Dann? Face grim, Kass once again lifted the broom high, sweeping away the cobwebs in front of her.
A short distance later, a pinhole of light shining into the passage brought her to an abrupt halt. Tal had removed the tapestry? She could see into his room?
Did she want to?
After creeping through rat-infested corridors and doing battle with an army of spiders, you're simply going to stand here all night?
Kass put an eye to the peephole . . . and had to stifle a snort of mockery. At herself. For all she saw was the laundry maid carefully putting Tal's shirts, undershorts, and socks into an antique chest of drawers.
Perhaps he'd found solace elsewhere?
Idiot! Love was insidious, a spawner of nightmares. And that wasn't why she was here. She needed to talk to Tal about Torvik Vaden, she needed to tell him-
The light in Tal's bedroom winked out.
Liar! You know quite well why you're here.
Kass lifted the lantern, moved a few more steps along the passage, and felt for the hidden latch she knew was there, although she had never before violated the privacy of the inner chamber of her father's suite. There! She heard the click, but paused, listening closely. Not a sound.
She pushed, the hidden door swung open. The room was truly empty. When she'd begun this trek through Veranelle's inner workings, Kass had simply thought to step inside and surprise him. She'd never considered Tal might not be here.
Well, why wasn't he here, contrite and waiting? Why didn't he know she'd come to him?
Because he was an arrogant, rock-headed Reg who didn't feel things the way she did.
Kass rubbed her fingers across her forehead, recognizing her idiocy. Tal was her soulmate, not so easily dislodged by a lovers' quarrel. He would come.
She walked to the huge four-poster bed, which was draped in elegant burgundy satin embroidered in gold. Setting the lantern on the thick, tightly woven rug, she stripped off her clothes, folded them neatly and tucked them into the top drawer of the antique chest. She blew out the lantern and climbed into bed, pulling the bedcovers up to her chin.
Tal Rigel was worth the wait.
As Tal turned down the corridor that led to his quarters, he cut the corner too close, hitting the sharp edge hard enough to bring him up short, his head resting against the wall. He was drunk. Must be at least a decade since he'd been this stupid. A cousin's wedding-eve party-aye, that was it. And he hadn't been that careless since.
But Kass . . . miserable female. Didn't she know he couldn't live without her? So he'd had a few drinks with Dorn and Mical. Safe at home, so why not? A few drinks while they commiserated over female capriciousness had led to toasts to Astarte, to Scorpio, to the fydding Sorcerer Prime who scared the hell out of them but was worth a battlecruiser or two. Then toasts to battles fought, comrades lost . . . the lives they'd once had. Toasts to old loves and new. Women in general, Omni bless them.
Which had reminded him of Kass and why they'd begun drinking in the first place. So he'd dragged himself to his feet, a suddenly grim if still functioning drunk, and headed back to his suite. Only to crash on the final turn. If anyone saw him like this . . .
Tal pushed off the wall, squared his shoulders, blinked in a futile attempt to clear his vision. S'sorrokan's door was guarded, of course, and the last forty feet to his room were not going to be private. Stepping carefully, he turned the corner and paced down the corridor. Not his normal confident stride, he had to admit, but surely a captain who had just come back from a lengthy and successful mission could be forgiven a touch of weariness.
A friendly nod to the guard and he was through the door, with only the width of his office to negotiate before he made it to his bed. Omni be blessed, he was almost there. And the guard hadn't smirked. At least not to his face.
No lights, his eyes ached at the thought. Plenty of illumination drifting in through the windows. Fyd! Somebody must have moved the conference table. With his hand on the bedroom door, Tal paused to rub his bruised hip and contemplate his sorrows. Tal Rigel, the captain who could drink his way from one end of a town to another. Now look at him.
All Kass's fault.
He opened the door with the exaggerated care of the seriously drunk, shut it gently behind him. No noise to bring the guard running in. Should take off his boots . . . boots bad for all those fine bedcoverings. But he'd have to sit down, tug them off-both of them-get up again, walk to the bed . . .
Too much effort. With a last burst of effort Tal staggered toward the dark outline of his bed and fell on it. Omni be thanked, he'd made it. No one to see his disgrace. He could let himself go.
The bed squirmed.
Not possible.
The bed heaved. Tal pushed back. Mallick! Couldn't the stupid bed realize-
He hit the chest of drawers hard, crumpling into an ungainly sprawl with his backside on the rug, one leg bent under him, his back and head against the unyielding wood and even harder metal drawer pulls. Fyd, that hurt!
"Tal, I'm so sorry!"
Kass? He hadn't drunk that much. He'd never had hallucinations in his life.
"I fell asleep, forgot where I was. I'm so, so sorry."
He'd swear that was Kass kneeling in front of him, but Kass never went around stark naked. Tal blinked, but she was still there, babbling at him, the words swirling around him but not making sense.
"I had such grand plans . . . secret passage . . . surprise . . . smothering me . . . ruined . . . so, so sorry.
"Dimi!" she shouted, suddenly scooting back. "You're drunk."
Tal's head rang. "Go away," he mumbled to the vision. "Mustn't see me like this." He knuckled his forehead and simply refused to look. Give her a moment, and she'd be gone. Mind over matter. He'd wished her into his bed, and there she was. And, just as easily, she'd be gone.
A flurry of something over his head-a drawer being pulled out? Couldn't be.
He gave it another minute or so. Looked up. And, sure enough, his lovely naked hallucination was gone. Omnovah be blessed. He didn't know what he'd do if Kass actually saw him in this shape.
Tal pulled out one of the drawers a few millimeters and used it to lever himself to his feet. Pok. Come morning, it wasn't just his head that would be aching. Somehow he'd jarred every bone in his body. And how the hell had he flown ten feet from the bed into a chest of drawers anyway?
Something soft drifted down, evidently from the top of his head. Automatically, his fingers grabbed it.
Panties. Female panties. Pink.
Kass's panties.
Fyd!
Chapter 31
He'd send for her. As soon as he'd had some sleep and sobered up, Tal would send for her. Sleepless at four in the morning, Kass had thought her reasoning logical. At high noon in the g'zebo, maybe not.