Page 132 of This Monster of Mine

He eyed her, raising an amused eyebrow. “I thought you’d seen your fill when you searched it.”

She hadn’t thought it possible to blush even more. “How did you know?”

“You tucked my bedspread in.”

She dropped her head to his chest. “Havïd.”

“What did you tell Aelius afterward?”

“That you’re all oranges and wine.” She ran a hand through his hair, reveling in the fact that she’d made the immaculate Tetrarch Kadra so disheveled. “And an absolutely stunning voice.”

The knowing look he gave her was a reminder of how easily she had succumbed to what that voice had whispered in the night. Grinning whenshe went red, he rose, reaching an arm to pull her up just as there were several frantic knocks on his bedroom door.

“Drenevan, she’s missing! Sarai’s gone!” Cato yelled outside the door. “Aelius might have her! By all the Elsar, this is my fault. I should have noticed she wasn’t in her room.”

The missing woman in question groaned, head in her hands, as Kadra laughed.

There was silence on the other side of the door.

“Drenevan,” Cato said evenly. “She isn’t missing, is she?”

“She isn’t,” Kadra pronounced gravely.

“In that case, I’m leaving. Take all the time you need.”

She buried her face in the sheets as Cato’s footsteps faded. Slipping on his robe, Kadra smiled at her.

“The day awaits. Come, Petitor,” he ordered imperiously, and she laughed.

“I’ve done a great deal of that.”

“Evidently not enough.” Sweeping her up, he carried her to the bathing room, where she was immediately and immensely thankful that Cato had left the tower.

By the time they reached the vigile station, midnight had long since become dawn, and Gaius was impatiently pacing by Kadra’s office. Spotting them, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank the Elsar, I thought you’d been kidnapped after that trial, or—” He broke off, turning from her flushed cheeks to Kadra’s too-even features. A broad grin split his features. He rubbed his hands with glee. “Three hundred aurei to me. Betting’s finally over!”

“Betting?” Sarai asked as Gaius shoved the day’s worth of cases into their hands.

“On when he’d do the deed.” Gaius winked and stiffened as Kadra’s gaze turned deadly. “Congratulations!” he squeaked before fleeing, possibly to collect his winnings.

Sarai and Kadra turned to each other with matching scowls.

“Nothing better to do,” she pronounced.

“Far too much time on their hands,” he agreed.

But a smile played on their lips for the rest of the evening.

If she’d thought that becoming Kadra’s lover would somehow affect their work, those worries vanished quickly. They settled back into their rhythm, and as morning came, the scrolls before them dwindled: Kadra heading out on occasion to interview witnesses where a case’s particulars were lacking.

She’d darted glances at him while he worked, and grown fascinated by a particular muscle ticking in his jaw that she’d come to realize meant that he was inches from fucking her. She realized it when he pinned her to the wall of his office and ordered her to keep quiet, then dropped to his knees and tongued her before taking her once more.

Only Gaius had eyed them suspiciously when they emerged.

Afternoon became evening. Rolling up an account of a particularly grisly murder, Sarai paused as her armilla slid out from under her sleeve at the motion.Nihumbglowed a dull scarlet, an unwelcome reminder of the secret she was still keeping from Kadra.The Sidran Tower Girl.

Perhaps the time for asking should have been much earlier, before she’d allowed him into her heart. But, as it had been that night she’d healed him, part of her still didn’t want to know.

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