Page 105 of The Duke and the Disciple

The music was a beautiful but mournful melody Aesylt recognized as an ode to the time before the Rhiagains, when the Derehams had still been kings. Of all the realm, only the north had ever had kings and queens.

She settled into formation with Pieter, who placed one hand against the middle of her back, the other still fixed to hers.

“I know what my sister was doing, having you wear this dress. But she underestimated just how well it would suit you. Others are noticing as well.”

Aesylt rolled her eyes. “I have no need of their kind of notice.”

“What kind are you interested in then?” Pieter asked as he guided them through the steps.

She was already exasperated. “One who judges on appearance is a fool. And it’s hard to be happy about dancing and laughing and drinking when my village is struggling and my research is always one bad submission away from being pulled altogether.”

“That...” Pieter leaned down so his mouth was beside her ear. “Is why I wanted to dance with you tonight. I have a confession to make.”

Aesylt reared back. “I don’t have the belly for another one of your games.”

“It’s been weighing on me, this dishonesty. The day in the garden... It wasn’t...” His eyes briefly widened as he shifted his head back and forth. “My first exposure to what’s been going on in the tower.”

Aesylt’s rebuttal disappeared with her shock. “You said you’d suspected.”

“Hypotheses are founded in educated guesses, but I didn’t need to guess.” Pieter eased her back into a dancing position when others turned their attention their way. “Iknewbecause your letter wasn’t the only thing I read that day in the tower. Your scholar’s notes weren’t locked up, as they should have been.”

The room gathered a hazy quality, a soft blur of light and sound that seemed to belong to another time.

“Aesylt, did you hear me?”

“I heard you.” Her mind and heart raced faster than the music. He’d read Rahn’s notes. He didn’t just know they had been intimate; he knew why, which was far more dangerous. “What do you want, Pieter? Money?”

“Money?” He sounded genuinely affronted. “If I wanted money, I wouldn’t have run from the most lucrative post in the Northerlands, would I?”

“What then?” She lowered her voice. “Sex?”

“You think I have trouble getting what I need?”

“You’re so mysterious, how would I know?”

“Aesylt,” he whispered. “I want tohelpyou.”

Sweat beaded under her hairline. “Oh, this again.”

“Have I not helped you thus far? Despite that you’ve been lying to all of us about the fun withastronomythe two of you’ve been having?” He guided them farther from the other dancers. “I know the Reliquary leadership is testing you, to see how far you’ll go. And you’ve risen to the challenge, haven’t you? Valiantly.” He snickered. “But you also know, at any moment, they could pull you from this project. This projectImryllenvisioned, created, and championed.”

She could hardly feel the hand he was holding anymore, and the other was tingling so violently, she had to drop it from his waist. Pieter had known, for weeks, and had been hoarding the information for the right time. “Whatdoyou want? You haven’t stored this revelation for nothing.”

“It’s not what I want, Aesylt. It’s what I can do for you. You’ve done everything the Reliquary has asked, but you need to do more if you want to hold onto this. And I know just the thing.”

As they spun around, she saw Nyssa, but Rahn wasn’t with her anymore. She searched for him, but she could hardly keep herself anchored to the conversation. She blinked when her vision doubled. The bonfires of the Nok Mora flickered behind her eyes.

“I know a thing or two about the men running the Reliquary myself,” Pieter said, “and men like them will keep pushing and testing until you break. You have to be ahead of them if you want to win.”

Aesylt heard him and even understood him, but she couldn’t fight the sense she was drifting away from him, from the oppressive soiree... from the very keep itself. She responded to ground herself. “And what grand gesture did you have in mind?” The heat left her in a rush, substituted by chills that left her skin peppered in gooseflesh.

“There’s a club in the village that meets when the moon is at its fullest. Most of us call it Revelry, but it has many other names as well, none of which matter.” Pieter leaned in close once more. “It’s very exclusive, invitation only, and I could secure two, for you and your scholar, with no trouble at all.”

She desperately needed to wipe the sweat rolling down her temples. “Are you going to say what it is, or am I expected to guess?”

“Hedonists.” He paused for her reaction, but she was too taken aback to offer one. “You can experiment all you want, collect all the experiences you can manage, and every last bit of it will win you the goodwill you deserve with the Reliquary.”

Everything he was describing was vague enough that he could have been talking about a social club for people with similar interests, but that was obviously not what he was whispering about. She breathed deep. “Speak plainly, Pieter.”

---