Page 20 of Tall Dark and Evil

“Come in,” Reiks shouts. To me rather than his bird, I hope.

Four guards on either side of the great doors eye me, up and down. They must have been given an accurate description of me, or perhaps a picture, because they wave me forward.

The hall I enter is empty, but for a large wooden desk and its thronelike chair. I advance to the center of the room. There’s some music playing somewhere, loud and angry, with a deep beat.

I wouldn’t have pegged him as a rock lover. I really can’t decide who he is.

“You called for me?”

“Yes, Frejr.” His voice comes from the left, so I follow it to a well-appointed bedroom that could have housed a family or twelve. Or a veritable orgy.

Another door leads to a room where I spy dozens upon dozens of pairs of shoes on the right. He’s in his dressing room. The bird flies past me to join his master. I decide to wait in the bedroom, lest I walk in on Reiks in his bath.

The music’s louder here, the beat deeper. In the confines of his bedroom, I find it too sensual for my taste. The beat of the drum is enough to make me blush as I glance at the humongous bed.

“I read your notes,” he says, or rather, yells, over the music. “Your penmanship is rather elegant, surprisingly.”

The compliment is given reluctantly enough for me to ignore it.

“You’ll find a list of names on my desk, as well as a stack of envelopes and the template of an invitation to the Lunar Club. You know what to do.”

Another task he could use any servant for.

I suppose I am his servant, given that I don’t have eleven million in spare change. “Fine. Before I get to it, I’d like to talk.”

“So, talk.”

I decide I’m glad he’s not in the room, though I’d rather avoid shouting. “A family friend mentioned a problematic issue with my service to you this year.”

The music falls to a lower decibel, and Reiks emerges from his dressing room, the bird perched on his shoulder. There’s nothing regal about him now. He wears a dark green shirt over jeans, his wavy hair, for lack of better imagery, styled as though he’s just had a tumble.

Which he might have.

“Oh?”

I clear my throat, willing myself to focus. “Yes. We’ve never interacted before, so there’s already been some talk at my following your raven around. Could you just send me the locations where you need me? Or, we try to find a way I might be of service while staying out of the public eye?”

He snorts. “No.”

“To the first, or the second proposition?”

“Both, Alis.” He pulls a bit of dried meat out of a pouch in his pocket and feeds it to Talon.

“Be reasonable. You might think meno one,but I am a Frejr.”

He chuckles, silver eyes dancing with amusement. “You’re not going to let go of the slight anytime soon, are you?”

Not a chance. I stay focused on the subject at hand. “Reiks, if we are seen together a lot, whatever we say, people are going to assume that you and I are involved. That’s bad, all right? I’m a demi. Anderkan would riot at their precious golden prince being anywhere near one of my kind. And my great-grandmother, Valina? She’ll love it. She’llpushthe narrative. You don’t know what she’s capable—” I’m halfway through my rant when I see his smirk, and I understand him.

My mouth falls open.

Oh no. He couldn’t.

“Youwantthat. You want people to see us together and think you’re consideringme, for some insane reason.” I can’t decide why he would, but for once, I know I read him perfectly.

Reiks grins. “Caught on, have you? That’s sooner than expected.”

“Why!” I almost scream.

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