Page 14 of The Lord of Whispers

“I’m heading to House Heroux this afternoon,” Jay announced to me as he topped off my coffee, the smell of the fresh brew permeating through the room.

He poured my coffee from the same glass French press he had poured my coffee from the last several weeks.

“What’s the occasion?” I asked, pretending not to be disappointed that he wouldn’t be spending the day with me in the library.

Jay traveled a fair amount. But on the days when he was home, he usually spent breakfast with me and then time afterward in the library for my lessons. My lessons had expanded beyond any content that could be found in textbooks. Jay had started to teach me skills that he found useful in his agents at the High Court—how to listen without speaking, when to speak without saying anything, when to use a smile or a touch of the arm instead of words.

I had to admit that I had nursed a bit of a schoolgirl crush for Jay. He could be stern with me but only in a way that pushed me to do better and try harder. He was distant but never unkind, and I couldn’t help but wonder as to what was underneath his high lord facade.

But I knew my crush was just that—a silly crush and nothing more. There were always people going into and out of the manor when Jay was in town, messengers and agents who came to report to the high lord. But I also heard and saw the many women coming and going from the manor when Jay was home. I could tell from the hushed tones and clicking of heels that disappeared down to his wing of the manor late at night that those visits were of a different nature.

I wasn’t surprised, honestly—there was no sign that Lady Vitruvian lived in the manor. She was always gone and then there was the way Jay talked about her, referring to her as simply “the lady” most of the time. It all started to make sense. He was circumspect, but he didn’t exactly try to hide the women who ran through his bedroom week after week. All signs pointed toward his marriage being something more of form rather than substance, the kind of arrangement I knew was not uncommon among those at the High Court, due to the unions that often occurred for reasons other than love.

“Just a High Council meeting,” he responded, as if regular meetings with the King were something to be casually thrown about.

Then I remembered that for Jay, meetings with the Kingwereeveryday occurrences. I had picked up on the fact that Jay was not only Contra but also a good friend to the King.

“And you’re coming with me,” the high lord commanded casually.

I perked up at this unexpected announcement. I’d spent most of my time at the High Court so far studying in Jay’s library for my liaison exam. What little time I wasn’t studying, I spent hanging out with Luke and Rhett at the bars and restaurants away from the High Court that they referred to as “off campus.”

“It’ll be just the High Council meeting with the King,” he clarified. “But the Houses will bring their favorite liaisons, advisors, counselors, and there will be an informal meeting of sorts between them as well.”

My stomach clenched at the thought of being one of Jay’s “favorites.” Then I internally chided myself for not being fully over my crush on the high lord, after all.

I realized the meeting would be a test of sorts to see if I was ready to be thrown in with the wolves at the High Court. Although the only official test that I knew of to complete the liaison program was the written test, I knew that to succeed as a liaison, I had to do more than make good marks. This part of my role as liaison was what Luke and Jay had spent most of their time preparing me for lately. They’d armed me with insider knowledge of every House and every member of every House—who were allies, who were at odds, the internal power struggles within Houses. But they also shared knowledge with me of a more intimate nature—the state of a lord’s marriage, tension regarding lines of succession, financial troubles, the kind of stuff most people didn’t talk about openly.

I was ready.This battle of the minds was exactly what I had pictured in my head all those years ago when I had set my sights on the liaison spot.

“Sounds good,” I responded, downplaying the anticipation I felt. “You’ll have to give me a few minutes to change, though. I dressed for the library, not House Heroux, this morning.”

Jay gave my outfit an appraising look. I wore an asymmetrical gossamer skirt that showed the top of one of my thighs through a high slit. My skin burned under his attentive gaze, but I didn’t shy away.

“I’ll be here,” he responded coolly, freeing me of his commanding presence.

I went upstairs to change and get ready for my day at House Heroux. Although it had only been a few weeks, I had an extensive new wardrobe, compliments of the high lord. After my first lesson with him, I’d awoken to a box with a pair of exquisite heels inside that had been slipped into my room over the night. Then one evening, I returned to my room for the night to find an entirely new ensemble of the finest dresses, skirts, blouses, heels, and also more intimate items—thigh-highs, lacy nightdresses, and silky, frilly, lacy, matching bra and panty sets.

My style was simple and sexy—a look I’d curated, knowing I didn’t have the resources and, honestly, the interest to indulge in trendier items. I found the latest style of clothing to be restricting and often spent too much time worrying whether I was going to have some kind of wardrobe malfunction and end up showing even more skin than I intended. My new clothes had a lot more strings, slits, plunging necklines, and sheer fabrics than my prior wardrobe. However, my new wardrobe was more in line with the style of the High Court, which veered toward sexy and minimal skin coverage.

I had thanked the high lord the following morning for my new wardrobe, but he made very little of the gift and went back to his work. I was thankful that he had not made much fanfare out of the gift. The truth was that it was difficult for me to accept gifts. I had a fierce independent streak that didn’t allow me to accept help or gifts from others. I’d never wanted to be in anyone’s debt for anything, so if I couldn’t afford it on my own, I just made do without, and if I couldn’t do something on my own, I found another way to make it work.

The fact that the high lord had probably gifted me the wardrobe for his own benefit more than that of mine made the present a little easier to accept. As a representative of House Vitruvian, he needed everything about me to reflect the excellence of his House, and I guessed that the wardrobe I’d brought to the High Court didn’t meet his standards.

I usually leaned into black in my clothing choices, but other than my undergarments, my new wardrobe was almost entirely shades of blue, the color of House Vitruvian. I slid on a thin, white silk bra and a matching thong. Then I pulled on a pair of tall, nude stilettos that came to a point at the toe and buckled around my ankle. I wore one of my new dresses, a dark royal blue number, form-fitting, that hit mid-thigh, with a sheer silk overlay that went to my ankles. The hem was shorter and the neckline was a bit deeper than I would have gone with normally, but I would fit right in with the other ladies at the High Court.

* * * *

I caught a glimpse of the King as he headed through the expansive room at House Heroux. He had an overbearing figure and was tall, not quite as lean as Lord Vitruvian, with tawny brown hair curling past his ears and sky-blue eyes. Jay followed the King, and as he walked through the room, each conversation he passed by was extinguished just short of his arrival, like their words were a fire and his very presence sucked all the oxygen from the room.

The King and his Contra met each other in their last few paces and walked shoulder to shoulder toward double heavy, wooden doors until reaching the threshold, at which point Jay paused as if just remembering that it was not he who was King. Jay allowed the King to go in first before leading the way for the others. High Lord Rein moved into the room after Jay, followed by High Lady Tragon, her shoulder-length auburn hair disappearing behind the closed doors.Inoted that no one appearing to be Luke’s father was there for the High Council meeting.

With Jay no longer in sight, the conversations in the room started back up with renewed vigor. Luke appeared next to me while I still stared at the doors the High Council had disappeared into.

“Ah, welcome to the inner circle, Lady Armand,” Luke joked, beaming with a smile.

“Lord Bellamy, how very nice to see you again,” I replied, picking up on his use of my title and copying his formality.

“The pleasure’sall mine, my lady,” Luke quipped, a playful look in his eye.

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