Page 38 of The Empty Throne

He started upstairs, since he was alreadythere, going room to room, marking the size of each on a notepadfilched from Lindquist's office. The first few bedrooms wereunremarkable, as were the storage closets he examined.

When he got to the fourth bedroom, though, hedidn't need his notes to see it was slightly smaller than theothers he'd inspected. How had he missed that before? Distracted byLindquist, no doubt. He was usually the one to blame forBittersea's moments of weakness.

The next room also proved to be smaller thanexpected, and on the opposite side. There was a secret spacebetween the two. How fun.

Were they having this much fun looking for abloodstone at the Kuluris Estate? Probably not. Kite had verylittle sense of adventure and a very strong sense of work himselfto death. Even as a child he'd been more focused on schoolwork andduty than having fun for ten minutes.

Setting his notes aside, Bittersea startedexploring the room. Given the space was between the two, thatlimited where the entrance could be. The wall proved to have noseams, though, not that he could find, and the few pieces offurniture against that wall moved without a problem.

All right, time to try the other room.

Unfortunately, he ran into the same problemthere. Nothing at all seemed to give way to a secret door. Not thelamp, the bookcase, the wall itself. Nothing.

Fine. What was left?

The hallway. Hmm.

Stepping into the hallway, Bittersea studiedthe wall between the rooms. Two sconces, a bare table that wouldusually have flowers or candles or other nonsense on it. A paintingabove the table, of a man caught out in a snowstorm, holding alantern aloft as though that would somehow show him how not tofreeze to death.

Interestingly, on either side of the tablewere strips of wood, dividing the section of wall into even threes,where the rest of the hallway was in ones or twos. Well, well,well.

He was getting increasingly annoyed he'dmissed this on his previous visit, though to be fair, he'd beenmore focused on all the different surfaces Lindquist had pushed himagainst or over.

Bittersea moved the table out of his way,then ran his fingers along the strips of wood. No seam, butsuspicious give on the right one. Shifting closer to it, he ran hisfingernails beneath the strip, pulling gently.

Something gave but didn't budge. Bitterseapulled more firmly, and with a muted creak the secret panel gaveway, swinging outward and nearly smacking him in the face. Pushingit all the way open, so it rested against the wall, the hiddenhinges working soundlessly, he stared in satisfaction at therevealed door, slightly recessed, its lock inviting the key inBittersea's pocket.

Opening the door, he pushed it inward. Thesmell of dust and cold struck him, but the room wasn't nearly asbare bones as he'd been expecting. The walls had been properlyfinished, and while the floor hadn't, there were old rugs coveringit. It wasn't very wide, just enough for two of him to stand sideby side. At the farthest end was a small writing desk, and beneathit was an old safe, the kind meant to slot into a wall to be hiddenby a painting or something. Interesting.

On the writing desk, right in the center, wasa single small envelope in the cream paper that Lindquistpreferred. Across the front, in Lindquist's brisk but elegant hand,were two words:Moon Shadow.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Lindquist's brows rose in that imperious,explain yourself to me servant way of his. Somehow, what wasinfuriating in Bittersea's father and uncles was just one morething that made Lindquist unfairly attractive. If this what waspeople felt all the time, it was no wonder they were all such amess. Bittersea's life had been much easier before he'd startedseeing Lindquist as something other than one more irritatingbastard best avoided. "Like what?"

"Like a concubine eyes the new jewelry herlover is bringing her."

Lindquist gave sharp bark of laughter. "Isthat really how I look? No, I was lost in thought, mostly. You'rebeautiful. Even when I hated you, there was no denying that.Beautiful like moonlight… or perhaps the shadows cast by moonlight,somehow nothing like the shadows cast by the sun. Only visible inthe dark, where they should blend in and yet don't. Found indarkness but not quite part of it."

Bittersea rolled his eyes. "It's a goodthing you're a lord and not a poet."

Instead of being offended, Lindquist justchuckled and abandoned his book, standing up and striding over tothe window where Bittersea sat staring out at the slowly recedingflood waters.

Lowering the leg he had on the seat, bent torest his arm on his knee, Bittersea turned to face him, ignoringthe thrill that slid through him at having Lindquist between histhighs. This whole venture was meant to be simple: kill the womanHis Majesty had hired him to get rid of, leave. Somehow that hadturned into a wrecked boat, and him and Lindquist alone hereplaying dark, twisted sexual games. Still it should have beensimple.

He was a killer. Heenjoyedit.Lindquist was made of honor and integrity. They had absolutelynothing in common. This whatever they had, or were building, wasgoing to end in disaster. Probably at the tip of his knife or theend of Lindquist's infamous hammer.

If only he could get that through his ownstupid head.

Lindquist cupped his chin between finger andthumb in a way that Bittersea would have tolerated for no one else.Fingers would have been removed. Instead, he felt another piece ofcommon sense wither. "Stop being rude every time I give you acompliment."

"Stop sounding like an insipidfourteen-year-old with their first—" Bittersea let Lindquist cuthim off, though he wasn't certain what to do with a kiss thatwasn't part of their games. It was softer, almost sweet, not thekind of kiss even the stupidest, most reckless person gave tosomeone like him.

At least, it seemed that way. Bittersea hadenjoyed plenty of fucks over the years, but he never let anyonekiss him.

He did not remotely like the bereft feelingthat hung in his chest when Lindquist drew back. "What wasthat?"

"I can't kiss you just because I wantto?"

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