Page 38 of What Fury Brings
That fair skin of his couldn’t hide the red tint that entered his cheeks. She’d never seen another man blush before. Were they so prudish in Brutus? She rather liked seeing how she affected him.
“Excellent. I think you’ll find that your decision is well supported among your allies in the palace. Even your cousin seemed upset by the whole thing.”
“Good.”
As though their talking summoned the woman, Glenaerys appeared, one man on each arm. She stared at the noblewoman seated across from Olerra until the duchess took the hint and vacated it. Olerra’s cousin had one man sit at her feet while the other stood behind her, massaging her shoulders. They were both lean and handsome, but they blended in with all the other men in the room. Perfectly housebroken. Almost too pretty to look at. Too smooth for Olerra’s tastes. She liked that her prince had calluses and scars and a bit more roughness to him. It made him stand out. It made women turn their heads.
“How was your trip toBrutus, cousin?” Glenaerys asked. “So strange, I could have sworn you’d told me you were going to Kalundir.”
“Did I? I must have misspoken.”
Glen looked furious. Olerra tried not to look smug.
Glenaerys glanced over Olerra’s shoulder. “Do you find him more pleasing when he’s all bound up, or have you not managed to convince him he wants to be here?”
Without missing a beat, Olerra said, “I didn’t pay money for him. I took him. Which means breaking him will actually be a challenge. I like challenges.”
Glenaerys’s perfect nose scrunched at the implied insult.
“Speaking of which,” the queen said, “when can we expect you to make designs on a husband of your own, Glenaerys?”
“When one is needed. Honestly, with all my nighttime activities, you’d think I’d be with child by now.”
The man sitting in between her legs looked up at her with a grin.
“Really, I’ve far more chances of getting pregnant than Olerra does with only one man seeing to her.”
Andrastus froze underneath her yet again. She felt him pull at the manacles behind his chair.
Olerra lowered her hand to his thigh, hoping it was a reassuring touch. He didn’t jerk away, so she left it there.
The queen said, “At least Olerra will soon have a husband to oversee any children such a union will produce. Who will raise your common-born children, Glenaerys? Your whores?”
“Why not? They’re naturally loving.”
The man behind her applied more pressure to a knot in her back. The one at her feet stroked up and down her calf.
“They’re uneducated,” Queen Lemya said.
“Good thing I can afford tutors, then. And nursemaids and playmates and anything else my daughters may need. Now, why is the conversation all about me? I personally want to hear more about Olerra’s soon-to-be husband. What does an uncivilized Brute think of the Amarran palace?”
Olerra had to nudge Andrastus before he realized her cousin was addressing him.
“It’s different than I’m used to.”
“Grander, you mean?”
His jaw clenched. “Different.”
“He’s not very talkative, is he? What do they teach the men over in Brutus?”
The question was clearly rhetorical, yet Andrastus said, “How to be warriors.” He looked at the two docile men seeing to Glenaerys with disdain.
“Oh, isthatwhere your true skills lie? Not in pleasing your mistress but in fighting? What a useless skill since Olerra would offer you more protection than you ever could her.”
He didn’t respond, so Olerra said, “I like that he’s a warrior. He has more stamina than the average man from Amarra.” That earned her a few claps of approval down the table, as well as another blush from Andrastus.
Glenaerys’s face took on a wicked gleam. “Let’s put that warrior claim to the test. Why not have a bout between your new man and one of mine?”
