Page 9 of Skotos
I took a steadying breath and squared my shoulders. Whatever came next, at least the scenery was unforgettable.
5
Thomas
We’d just cleared a large parlor overflowing with starch and silk and were making our way into the reception salon when the scent hit me—white jasmine and myrrh, a memory I wasn’t ready to recall.
I caught the scent a heartbeat before I saw her.
That was always her way: She arrived like a rumor, then lingered like a legend.
A regal lady swept into our path with the flair of a Parisian opera diva and the wardrobe of an empress. Deep amethyst silk clung to her curves like liquid, and her jewels caught every ounce of light in the room and turned it into scandal.
And her smile—damn, that smile—had the disarming charm of a saint and the sharpness of a stiletto.
“Ah! Monsieur Wainright, Monsieur Archer!” Baroness Isabella von Hohenberg cooed. The woman was always well prepared and even betterbriefed, but to know our cover names, the ones we used now in Paris rather than those she knew back when we first met in Bern? It was uncanny to the point of unnerving.
Will froze beside me. His mouth opened, then promptly forgot how to close.
The Baroness swept him into an embrace that was far too warm for protocol—and far too intimate to be anything but calculated. I watched him disappear into her silks and wondered, not for the first time, if she’d ever been a spy herself.
“My darling boys,” she said, releasing Will and turning to me with a wink. “I had no idea the Americans were still sending their finest into the field, though I am not complaining.”
I bowed slightly, brushing a kiss against the back of her gloved hand. “Baroness, you haven’t aged a day.”
“Oh please,” she purred, fanning herself with a gem-crusted clutch. “I age in decades, not years.”
Will finally found his voice. “What are you doing here?”
“Why, I was invited,mon cher. Not everyone in this palace is here for business. Some of us are simply fabulous.” She arched a perfectly penciled brow. “And just how do you suppose the likes ofyou twomanaged an invitation to a state dinner?”
“We? Well, we, uh—” Will glanced toward me.
All I could do was shrug and stareat the Baroness.
And then, just for a moment, something flickered behind her eyes, a shadow of memory, a touch of the weight we all carried during the war. I saw her glance toward the crowd, as if cataloging the room not by title, but by threat. Then she leaned forward, motioning the pair of us closer.
“I do not believe in letting peace make one soft,” she said, voice lower now. “The wolves still prowl, boys, and you always did look good in wolf skin.”
She turned, her train sweeping behind her like a royal decree. “Come. Let us catch up. I want all the sordid details—but only after the soup, of course.”
We trailed behind her like a pair of ducklings chasing their mother, and I couldn’t help a chuckle that slipped past my lips. There she went—part grand dame, part ghost, every bit of her glorious.
Ahead of us, the Baroness paused to greet a minister’s wife with a double cheek kiss and a flippant comment about the poor lighting. The woman laughed, utterly charmed.
Will watched her, his eyes warm with something just shy of reverence.
“She’s exactly the same,” he muttered.
“And twice as dangerous,” I added.
He grinned. “God, I missedher.”
We arrived at our table moments later, ushered by a well-heeled attendant with gloves so white they nearly glowed. Place cards bore our cover names, printed in gold ink beside crisply folded napkins. Across from us, the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to France nodded politely as his wife offered a regal smile. The Spanish Ambassador, elegant and dour, lifted his wine glass in greeting. Then there was the actress—her name something scandalous, forgettable, and equally unpronounceable—and her ever-present “friend,” a woman with sharp cheekbones and an even sharper tongue.
“Ah, this is delicious,” the Baroness said, settling beside Will like she owned the chair and the palace in which it sat. “A table of diplomats, secrets, and velvet. What more could one want?”
Will raised an eyebrow. “A dessert tray within arm’s reach?”
