Page 68 of By Mistake
"Only that he treated his staff like garbage, and I'm certain once they're convinced they're well and truly safe, and won't be punished for it, they'll happily tell you all you could want to know.People like Farthing don't see servants as people, and so seldom guard their tongues or actions around them."
"Very true," Oresti murmured."Let's be on our way then, hmm?"He stepped out with the lieutenant he'd put in charge of everything to explain he was leaving and to send word to the palace if he was needed.
When he returned to the others, Shimari took their arms and whisked them away from the house.Instead of reappearing in the palace, however, they emerged in the garden of Andrus's house.
"Why did you bring us here?"Andrus asked."Not that I'm sad to be home.The palace is lovely, but…"
Oresti smiled faintly."I'm growing rather fond of being here instead of there too.Will not break my heart to make this my permanent residence at some point, withdraw slightly from court, especially as I can no longer continue incognito as an investigator."
"You can't?"
"Of course not," Oresti said, caressing Andrus's cheek with his thumb."Investigator is a time-consuming job; I did very little else with my time.I have not one but two lovers now who deserve my time more.Anyway, my primary duty is to serve my father, and with the fanciest of demons at my side, I do not need the resources of the investigators as I did before.I think I might spend my time on those journals, matching what they contain to various happenings, see just how deep the scheming, lying, and cheating of the Farthing family goes."
Andrus smiled faintly."I give it a week before you're bored with sitting still and must find some problem to run off to solve."
"I give it two days," Shimari added.
Oresti rolled his eyes."I have plenty of ideas for how to occupy and wear myself out, and there is a bed very close by if you'd like me to demonstrate some of them."
"Closer than you realize.This way, little humans."Shimari walked off further into the garden, headed straight for the gazebo.The people he'd hired to clear out the gardens and put them in order had been hard at work over the past few days; the gazebo had been thoroughly repaired and freshly painted in a handsome green, and there were small bushes of yellow roses all around it that would likely climb up the gazebo eventually and make it all the more beautiful.
Rather than climb up into the gazebo, however, he stopped right before the stone steps.Crouching down, he placed a hand on the steps.They flared with magic, golden orange and faintly sparkling—and then the stairs slid forward as Shimari smoothly stepped out of the way.
"Another secret underground space?"Oresti asked."What is with your relatives and going underground?"
"You wanna talk about relatives?"Andrus retorted."Only one of us has ancestors who stole a throne the very second it went vacant."
Oresti laughed and ventured close, peering down at a new, short set of stairs."So what's down here?"
"Find out for yourself," Shimari said with a soft smile.
Oresti went first, on the chance there was any sort of unexpected danger, though Shimari would have long noticed anything like that.Habit was habit.At the bottom of the stairs was a short tunnel that would lead right to the middle of the garden, halfway between the house and the gazebo.A door was at the end of the tunnel, and he had about a hundred questions regarding who had built all this and how.
The center of the door was carved with an intricate set of interlocking lines, like they were knotted together, forming the shape of a tree before continuing on to make a circle and then each of the four lines cut straight down the rest of the door.Magic practically tingled in the air.Oresti pressed a hand to the door and two of the four lines lit up in a soft pink, filling from the bottom up until half the circle and half the tree were filled.
"Now you," Shimari murmured.
Andrus stepped forward and placed his hand on the door as well.The remaining lines filled with blue light, and as they reached the circle and tree, the blue and pink merged into a soft, glowing purple—and then the door opened with a muted click.
Oresti pushed it open and had to duck slightly to slip through.
Inside was…a lover's nook.There was no other way to describe it.There was a bed that had been neatly made, and a small shelf behind it that held unmistakable oils.Additional blankets were neatly folded at the foot of the bed, and there was a rack built into one wall meant for clothes, with a couple sets still hanging there, awaiting wearers who would never come.Old-fashioned, but still beautiful.The whole room didn't even have a speck of dust, likely from some sort of preservation magic.Difficult stuff at this level, but likely an easy enough thing for Sendrus and Kolik, especially if they'd had demonic assistance.
The rest of the wall space was given over to shelving that contained a mixture of magic books, novels, but mostly all sorts of knick-knacks, from a charming little music box made of dark-stained wood and painted with colorful flowers, to another box, ornately carved with the same tree that was on the door, that contained what proved to be love letters they'd written each other whenever they were separated while in service.
There was also a costly necklace of yellow diamonds, pearls, and emeralds in the shape of delicate flowers.Field daisies, a sign of loyalty and love.They'd been left carelessly on a gold dish shaped like a seashell, as though hastily discarded and meant to be put back on soon.Oresti picked it up, unsurprised it was faintly warm, thrumming gently with magic similar to the choker necklace still snug around his own throat.
Shimari's eyes burned as he stared at it."Kolik bought that for Sendrus as a gift for the anniversary of the day they met.Sendrus was fond of flowers, which was why the garden used to be redolent in so many of them.An absurd amount, honestly, but he loved to sit in the gazebo and admire the flowers, especially when he could hear music from the nearby temple."
Oresti stepped in close to Andrus and fitted the necklace around his throat, then stepped back so he and Shimari could admire how perfect it looked."Would look even better withjustthe necklace, of course."
Andrus rolled his eyes, but there was no hiding his smile or the flush to his cheeks."Yes, you've mentioned before you like us wearing only jewels for you, spoiled brat."He reached up to touch the necklace."It's beautiful.Probably for the best it was left down here.My family would have been forced to sell it a long time ago, and I hate the idea of that, even though I'm normally perfectly happy to sell off such ridiculous, indulgent baubles."
Oresti kissed him, then Shimari, then sighed happily as they kissed."Delightful though it would be to stay down here and make this place our own, as Sendrus and Kolik would no doubt approve, we should probably return to the palace for now."
"We absolutelyare notcommandeering my great grandfather's love nest—" Andrus's words were cut off as Shimari took them away to the palace.
Eighteen
