KINGSLAYER

♕ 8 | 4 ♕

"Czar Ermalai, this is Klymene Lykaios, my childhood instructor," she said as they shook hands.

"You appear even more spectacular up close, Your Majesty," Jaylah heard Klymene saying. She was buying her time.

Blessedly, Alexander was in the front of the group, standing just as menacingly as anyone would expect a normal mercenary to be. Quelling everything within me, Jaylah held out a hand to shake his. "Khan, correct?"

He did not seem to have any intention of responding, but if he did, Jaylah gave him no time to. Pulling him in ever so slightly, she said in the Eastern Language when Ermalai was too preoccupied by being flattered, "There is a loose stone near the statue of Tilemachos."

Giving no sign that he understood her, he tightened his grip to nearly crush her bones to dust as they shook hands. Jaylah gritted her teeth to avoid snapping at his impudence. None of the guards seemed to think anything was amiss.

Jaylah instantly backed as far away from him as she could. But Ermalai called her name, demanding her attention before she attempted to leave. "My son is looking forward to dinner tonight," he said, doubling as an announcement to the entire congregation that Adrik and Jaylah did indeed engage in lovers' activities.

Perhaps Jaylah was simply feeling combative because of his dismissal, but she met Alexander's flat gaze and said, "As am I."

When they were gone, Klymene muttered low enough only for Jaylah to hear, "Having seen him up close, we are in more danger than I estimated." Jaylah did not know which of the two she was referring to. "We need to know what goes on in that group. The team of spies is a must."

But Jaylah's mind remained on Alexander's defiant actions. She had just invited him into a place where he would have her alone. A cleaner crime scene. He would think she was desperate enough to approach him in such a way. But she had not forgotten Klymene's advice.

Manipulate him the way you've done for years. You will beat him at his own game.

♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕

Dinner was even more spectacular than usual—an entire glistening hunk of honeyed chicken, thick slices of pale bread to spread margarine or caviar on, bowls of pickled mushrooms, a Navrikan-originated meat soup with fresh cabbage called shchi, whole fish placed onto slices of lemon arranged in flower-like patterns. It was whatever they desired. An entire table filled with food meant for only two people. Meanwhile, Navrika's peasants starved.

Jaylah glanced at Adrik from across the table. Tonight, he dressed even more expensively, wearing a navy jacket with the silver shoulder tassels that eluded to his Czarevich status. The two rows of buttons that fit tightly over the trim cut of his body gleamed bright under the chandelier. It was a bit less traditionally Navrikan and more influenced by the latest styles in the east.

She blinked when she realized he was exchanging her once-over with one of his own. Her low-necked sky-blue gown seemed to be a success. It was precisely what one would wear to impress their lover and flash a bit more skin than usual.

"If you missed my presence during the day, you could have simply sent for me," he said, before taking a small bite of the chicken.

"If I called for you in every instance that I missed your presence, you would soon grow very tired of my summons." Jaylah only said it for the display in front of the servants who catered to us. The woman who was refilling her glass went a bit pink.

He chucked. "I would never grow tired of someone that surprises me more at every turn."

"Nor could I. Keep surprising me, then."

"Carry out the unexpected. Noted." He took another bite. "Like the time I threw a handful of mud at you when we were children."

"If you throw a handful of mud at me, I will break our engagement." But Jaylah was good-natured. Lorenzo had mentioned the same incident in his letter. "I also seem to recall a certain Czarevich slipping in said mud. Will you be repeating that event as well?"

"I will not," he declared. "But I do recall that day well. You laughed so hard. I don't believe I'd ever seen you laugh like that before."

"You had sludge covering your entire face like a mask. Even I am not so stoic that I could sit through that without breaking."

"Yes, if it pleases Her Majesty, I believe we should deliberate over every detail of my great shame."

"Granted, it was better for it to occur when you were eight rather than now." Jaylah made a point of smiling. "That would be sensationally shameful."

He gestured toward her with his fork. "Stop imagining it."

"Your father would have to cut you from the royal bloodline."

"Perhaps it wouldn't be so terrible if I repeated the event," he mused. "After all, it made you laugh. And that was when I knew I had feelings for you beyond friendship. No friend's laughter should elicit the emotional response I felt that day. But I thought for so long that I was too little to ever win you."

Jaylah waved a hand. "You won me eventually through those letters all these last months." After the night was over, surely the servants would be gossiping about that tidbit of information to anyone who would listen. "Those lovely messages were likely the only thing that could win me at all. You know all about my standards."

"I do. And I thank the blessed Gods every day that I live up to them."

"There was no Godly intervention. It was just you." Gods. Jaylah wondered if Adrik wanted to wash out his mouth with soap as badly as she did in that moment.

He chucked again, throwing his hands up as if having lost a battle. "Whoever taught you to be such a flatterer does not get enough credit. I cannot compete."

All Jaylah did was shrug, not having an answer. Like much of manipulation, flattery was mostly based in deceit. And she was good at that.

When the dinner was over, they stood up from the table, letting the servants deal with the uneaten food. They were utterly alone in the passage between the dining room and the hallway, so Adrik leaned in to mutter, "Thank the Gods that went smoothly. I believe the word will spread."

"It will. The servants were watching as if it was an exhibition at the theatre."

"I meant what I said about the flattery," he added. "I did not take you for a smooth-talker."

"I have had all too much practice."

"I meant what I said about that day in the gardens, too. Minus the emotional upheaval. That was a good day."

It had been. Thinking back to then and being here now, Jaylah truly imagined for the first time that she and Adrik could return to their previous friendship. It would take time, but she had so few people like him. Perhaps it would be a nice change.

"To many more," she said before they parted ways.