Page 59 of The Time Of Queens

“You will be my personal maid, so I will need you to remain close and at the ready to do my bidding.”

I rolled my eyes once more and grumbled.

“Ah, so a personal slave is what you are after. Wonderful, for that is just what I have always wished to be in life,” I snarked sarcastically, making him throw his head back and laugh.

“Gods, but you are a delight, my dear.”

“Gods? Well, I guess you must sin a lot if you are in need of more than one god,” I quipped, making him chuckle again.

“Oh, my sins are great indeed,” he replied and for once, I didn’t doubt it, seeing as he was half Demon and had just essentially kidnapped a maid.

“Then I would suggest employing a priest, not a slave,” I suggested, making him laugh again.

“Why? When I can just confess my sins to the one I intend to sin with,” he replied, making me nearly choke on a swallow.

The wink he added made me mutter,

“You’re insufferable.”

“Am I?” he asked, feigning innocence.

“Yes, and anyway, the joke’s on you,” I told him, now forming my own plan in my mind.

“How so?”

“I am a crappy maid, and I have a feeling that by the time I get back to Witley court, I will have forgotten everything on how to serve my new insufferable employer.”

Again, his hand covered his smirking lips as he ran his fingers along his day-old stubble.

“Then no doubt we will have to add extra time on to your employment. For training purposes, of course.”

I sighed and let our tit-for-tat go long enough to say,

“Honestly, I don’t know what you are hoping to achieve in all of this.”

Which was when he looked to the window and told me,

“Time, Miss Williams, sometimes all a man needs…”

“…Is Time.”

22

SECRETS TO SPILL

LUCIUS

Well, attending Witley Court certainly just got more interesting, that was for sure. For I didn’t recall ever seeing my King so changeable nor so unsure in his manner ever before. Of course, it was often remarked upon that I was the one known as being calmly collective and unmoveable in my wits. As for the King, this was abundantly less so, for he was known for his unpredictable temper.

But what I hadn’t ever witnessed before was how one little lady’s maid could affect him so. And one he foolishly claimed not to be his Chosen, for even I could see it was her after only but a day. I didn’t care what he said about this mysterious woman he had encountered in his room nights ago. For she was not the one with the power to affect him so.

Of course, it had to be noted that indeed she was a beautiful little mortal, and even made my fangs ache to emerge for a single taste. For it also had to be said that her scent was certainly enticing. But we had lived on this mortal plane for more than one millennia and encountered a world of beauties in our time.But none before her had ever held such power over the King of Kings.

It was of little wonder that Vincent believed she had bewitched him. Something he still spoke of now, as he had decided to accompany me in my search at the inn. For he seemed far more intent on finding this mysterious girl than his brother did.

“My brother’s mind is not sound, for I have never seen him this way, Luc,” Vincent told me, prompting me to irritate him further with logic.

“Then perhaps I should remind you, ‘If thou rememb'rest not the slightest folly that ever love did make thee run into’.”

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