Page 13 of Untouched Queen by Royal Command

‘I know that, Your Majesty.’ She glanced towards the tapestry. ‘Take your time looking at it. Even if you don’t plan to use it as directed it’s an amazing piece of artistry. I’ll make tea.’

He watched as she walked away from him, tracking every curve as if it would somehow allow him to see inside her skin. Only once she had withdrawn from sight did he turn his attention back to the mood-gauging tapestry on the floor in front of him. He’d never seen such a thing.

Some of the panels were easy enough to figure out. There was an orgy scene, with bodies entwined in the throes of ecstasy. A gentler scene in which a man reclined while a woman read to him. Another scene depicted people eating from a table covered in delicacies. A bathing scene. A sword-fighting scene. Another showing a reclining man being entertained by dancers holding fans. A dozen men and women stood around a table, deep in sombre discussion. A sleeping couple filled another panel. With every step another mood or need satisfied. A man lashed to a wooden X, his back a mass of welts as he writhed beneath the whip. A beautiful woman holding that whip, her expression one of complete control and focus. Punishment delivered, but not in anger, and the man on the cross looked…grateful.

His courtesan had returned with tea; he could hear her off to one side and see her in his peripheral vision.

‘You do all this?’ he asked, keeping his gaze fixed on the whipping scene. ‘Put a man to the lash and strip the guilt from his soul before putting him back together again?’ The next scene showed the same woman tending the man’s wounds.

‘I’ve been trained to, yes.’ She approached from his left and held out a porcelain cup filled with pale amber tea. ‘Will you sit?’

He took the tea and let his fingers brush hers. She stilled, and so did he.

He didn’t believe in instant attraction. He’d never been a slave to his body’s baser demands. But if one tiny touch could send this much heat and awareness coursing through him, imagine what she could do with full body contact?

‘It’s a trap,’ he said at last.

‘How so?’ Her gaze was steady, her features as smooth as marble.

He gestured towards the depictions of service laid out before him, and it was all very tempting, except that beneath the surface pleasures lay a darker truth altogether. Mind, body and soul. She wasn’t here to serve. She was here to own him. ‘What wife could ever compete if I had this at my disposal? Where else would I go but here, where every whim would be served up to me on a gilded plate? By the time I’d satisfied every corrupt thought lying dormant in my soul it would be too late for either of us to escape. I’d own you, in ways you’ve never dreamed of. And you’d own me.’

‘Well, that’s one interpretation,’ she said. ‘There are others.’

‘Tell me some others.’

‘Ignore the sexual element and take advantage of my political prowess instead. Arun is a stabilising force in this region. Many would like to keep it that way, including those I answer to. Including you.’

‘Am I not doing that already?’ Because he thought he was.

‘Your plans to unify water resources across four neighbouring nations haven’t gone unnoticed. This region will grow to become a power bloc—provided you can hold it together.’

He had Theo, Casimir and Valentine right there with him, a shared vision for their region. ‘I can hold it together.’

‘Indeed, we think so,’ she said. ‘But who will explain your ambitions to a wider world that might fear such a power shift?’

‘And I suppose you can help me there.’

She couldn’t fail to pick up on the sarcasm in his voice but she paid no heed to it. ‘The Order of the Kite has contacts you don’t yet have. I can make introductions, facilitate communication channels that you will then keep open when I leave.’

‘And what’s in it for you?’

A tiny smile graced her lips. ‘World peace?’

‘You’re a saint,’ he said. ‘But I still want to know—what’s in it for you personally? I don’t understand why a modern-minded woman with your kind of looks and education would choose such a role. I don’t know what your angle is. Do you want to marry a man of power and gain power and status through him? What happens after me? Do they send you onto the next visionary King in need? And the next after that?’

‘I only need to do this once,’ she replied quietly. ‘I serve you until you release me, at which point my debt will have been repaid. Then I’m free to choose my own way.’

‘What debt?’

‘The Order cared for my mother through a long and arduous decline and she died with peace and dignity. They saved me from a life in the gutter.’

‘And how old were you when this happened?’

‘Does that matter? Others turned away from us. They didn’t.’

‘It matters.’

A small frown appeared between her eyes. ‘I was seven.’

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