Page 17 of Untouched Queen by Royal Command

‘I lost focus. If there’s some other place you’d rather we practise we’ll take it, Your Majesty. We practise daily, together and alone. It’s not just exercise. It’s a way of life for those who guard the temples of the High Reaches. It’s contact and communication. Learning how to read a person’s movements. It’s non-sexual. Instructional. There’s no harm in it,’ she said in the face of his continued silence.

He gave Tun and Ari a glare far sharper than any knife. ‘Then why are you hurt?’

‘I’m wiser in the face of Ari’s takedown. It won’t happen again.’

‘What did the older one say to you with his sign language?’

She hadn’t thought he’d been in any position to see that. ‘He wanted to know if I was injured.’

‘He could have asked.’

‘You were there and seeing to me. Discretion was best.’

‘Tell them not to use sign language again in front of my men. It breeds suspicion and there’s already far too much of that around here because of you and the old ways you’ve brought with you.’

It was true; the people here continued to see her as other. ‘People fear what they don’t understand.’

‘They also fear rare beauty, overt displays of power and influence and those who never stay down, even when beaten. Especially when beaten. Tone it down, Sera, or I’ll shut you in your room full of temptation and beautiful things and leave you there.’

‘I’m never going to please you, am I? You give me functions to organise and I organise them. I come meekly when called. I’ve stacked the midwinter ball full of accomplished single women for you to meet. I’ve set up introductions with people of influence. What else do you want?’

‘I want sweet dreams,’ he grated. ‘I’d prefer them not to be about you. My sister has just flown in. She says she’s already been in contact with you by phone. She wants to meet you.’

Sera wasn’t ready for guests, sweaty and aching as she was. She wanted to ask more about his dreams. ‘I’ll need half an hour before I’m properly presentable.’

‘You don’t have it,’ he said, and opened a half-hidden door in the castle wall. ‘After you.’

She had sawdust in her hair and on her sleeve and down the leg of her loose cotton trousers. ‘Are you always this petty?’ she asked, and watched his eyes narrow.

‘It’s an impromptu visit and my sister schedules herself so tightly that she never has much time,’ he countered. ‘Believe me, I like spontaneity less than you do but she’s here now and you look fine as you are. Through this door and keep walking for a minute or two. After you.’

She stepped inside and kept to a brisk pace. The corridor was narrow but well lit. The next door he bade her to walk through opened into a large sitting room with a wall full of windows overlooking palace gardens. An elegant woman in a tangerine sundress rose from a chair as they entered. Sera took note of her poise and careful smile before dropping to the floor in a curtsey, suddenly light-headed at the piercing pain coming from somewhere near her ribs. Maybe she had taken some damage after all.

‘Moriana, meet Lady Sera, Courtesan of the High Reaches,’ Augustus said from somewhere beside her. ‘Sera, get up.’

‘Augustus, she’s not a hound,’ Moriana protested.

‘If I don’t tell her to get up she stays down.’ Augustus scowled as he bent forward and curled his hand around her upper arm and drew her to her feet. ‘You are injured. Don’t lie to me again.’

‘I’m okay.’ If he would stop looking at her as if she were a stain on his shoe she might feel less dizzy and disoriented.

‘Have I caught you at a bad time?’ his elegant, well-mannered sister asked as Sera swayed and tried to find her centre and her balance. Augustus’s hand tightened vicelike around her arm. ‘I hope Augustus hasn’t had you cleaning out the stables.’

‘No, Your Highness.’

‘I found her engaged in hand-to-hand combat with two of her guards.’

‘For exercise,’ Sera stressed.

‘Find another form of exercise.’ His eyes burned black.

‘I’ve been doing martial arts for fifteen years. If you tell me to give it up I will because I’m duty bound to obey you, so here’s a thought. Don’t ask me to.’

The quiet clearing of a throat reminded Sera that they weren’t alone and she bowed her head in shame. She wasn’t presentable or amiable enough for guests. ‘I can do better,’ she offered quietly, and it was a blanket statement that covered a multitude of sins. ‘I will do better.’

‘Oh, for f—I’m trying to protect you.’ He turned to his sister. ‘She’s here. She’s all yours. I have other things to do. If she collapses, leave her where she falls.’

‘Augustus!’

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