AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A reflection of what your parents saw in you, I wonder? Or an aspiration? For I have not yet seen this little tiger roar.”
The comment burned, but Fabulosa was right. She had no right to so powerful a name. All she had done in Ardora was simper and betray people. She hadn’t even had the strength to tell Aurelius of the danger she’d put him in. After everything he’d done for her!
Teigra stayed that sinking feeling, remembering what Fabulosa had said in the Garden of Plenty. The woman wanted a sparring partner. And as unfamiliar as it was, this was no place or time for timidity.
“Well... what about you?” she forced herself to say, her mouth going dry. “Fabulosa? You can’t have had a difficult childhood?”
“Why, of course I didn’t! I was born the only child of one of Ondocis’s most eccentric spice traders, making our family’s fortune in flavors you would never have even heard of, let alone tasted. Tragically, they both died in a horrible storm when I was but a teenager, leaving the entire inheritance to me.”
There was something odd in the way that she recounted the story—cold and factual, more an epitaph than a memory.
“Why do I feel that you aren’t being truthful?”
Fabulosa’s smiled. “Oh, Teigra, I paid far too much for my backstory to be telling you the truth.”
“You... bought your family history?”
“Don’t look so surprised! Did I not tell you that in Ondocis there is nothing that cannot be bought? In the streets of the Gilded Market, one may purchase anything one wishes—from an exotic animal beyond our seas to a gorgeous beast to share your bed. To purchase a new name, a new title, and new life? Why, it is but a trifle for those with the coin.”
“And who am I addressing now? The real Fabulosa? Or the fiction?”
She smiled and supped the dark liquor. “You are addressing the one to whom you came with begging bowl in hand, little tiger. Which warrants the question, what do you wish that bowl be filled with?”
Teigra licked her dry lips. For a moment, she considered dancing around the subject, like she’d seen Aurelius do on so many occasions. Of picking up the glass and making polite small talk. Of having the conversation, without ever really having the conversation.
But she knew she’d just fail at that. She wasn’t as clever or as charming as Aurelius.
And besides, she didn’t need rumors and hints.
She needed facts.
“I... I want to know where Prince Calix may be found alone. Somewhere even his family doesn’t know about.”
The woman tutted. “Teigra, your high envoy has been here much longer than I. She would know the answer to that question.”
“I don’t... I don’t wish to burden her with this.”
The woman leaned back, revealing her smooth leg. “Keeping secrets from your master? And coming to the enemy for help? My, my. One can only wonder why this information is so important to you?”
Teigra did her best not to stare at the exposed skin. “My... my reasons are my own. Is it something that you can help with or not?”
Fabulosa swirled her glass. “I can. Although you surely know I will not give this information freely.”
Teigra gave a tiny nod. She’d been afraid of this and had avoided thinking about what the woman might ask for.
“We are both reasonable women. So, I will make you a reasonable deal. You will return to your embassy and make a copy of Ramuna’s social calendar for the next, shall we say, two months?”
Teigra’s stomach twisted. Doing that would betray not just Ms. Securia, but the whole polity as well—putting all those hard-fought negotiations at risk. Ripping the food from the table of the people back home.
She made to stand. “This was a mistake.”
Fabulosa swept to her side. “Good girl. I would have lost a great deal of respect if you had taken that deal. I can see you are a woman of integrity. You will not betray those who you serve so easily.” She brushed a fingertip around Teigra’s shoulders, causing a shudder. This close, Teigra could smell the woman’s perfume, red rose and something that smelled the way gold glimmered. “Instead, I will request something which is yours to freely give.”
“And... what is that?”
Fabulosa’s eyes glowed in the candlelight. “A kiss.”
“What?” she said. “Why... why do you want a kiss?”
