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The woman placed a fingernail on the nape of Teigra’s neck. She ran it down the outside of her fabric, past her chest, down onto her stomach.
Teigra’s breath stuttered.
“My reasons are my own. Is it something that you can help with or not, little tiger?”
Her whole body felt strangely hot. She had never kissed a woman before. She had never kissed anyone before. And she was sure that she didn’t want to kiss Fabulosa! Quite sure! She wasn’t like Aurelius, or as it seemed, like Fabulosa. She was good and goddess-fearing!
But she needed this information. She had to repay Aurelius for her betrayal. And she doubted that the woman would make a third offer.
“Just... one kiss?” she whispered, looking at her full, ruby lips.
“Just the one,” said Fabulosa, pressing closer to her.
A hand came around Teigra’s side, cradling the small of her back and arching her body toward Fabulosa. Teigra’s fingertips grazed the soft, warm skin of Fabulosa’s exposed thigh. It was unintentional, but the way she yielded under her touch made Teigra shudder.
Fabulosa leaned in.
Teigra’s heart beat faster as she parted her lips, knowing it was wrong, but wanting the moment to happen. Just to be done with, she assured herself.
The woman’s lips came soft as lambskin, giving way to her hot tongue. Teigra’s body shook as a strange sensation came over her—the feeling of wanting to be closer to the woman. Closer than it was possible to be.
She wanted to touch the skin of her leg again, and trail her fingertips further into the folds of her fabric. To explore. To experience!
And then, it finished. The warmth of Fabulosa’s mouth withdrew quicker than she’d expected, leaving a strange hollow in its wake.
“You are quite the surprise, Teigra,” Fabulosa whispered, black-rimmed eyes staring into her own. “You are surely aware that your cousin asked me for this same information. I gave the poor boy a little riddle. If you are here, that means I overestimated him. I wonder if I will make the same mistake with you?”
“What information?” she said, her heart still racing. The woman’s taste lingered on her tongue.
“I told him that the prince may be found every Tuesday night, at the place that serves the biggest drinkers in all of Ardora.”
Teigra scrunched up her nose. Pubs? Some kind of rough pub with bad drunks? But surely Aurelius would have figured that out—
Her eyes bulged.
“Oh good,” said Fabulosa, draining her glass.
Teigra left the Ondocian embassy quickly. Her mind raced as she ran through dark streets.
It can’t be that simple, can it?
It’s past ten. Will he still be up?
When she arrived at the embassy, she ran right past Aurelius’s building, through the front door, and turned right, into the wing that housed the kitchen and dining room.
“What are you running for, girl!” said Mr. Placi, with his usual gruffness. He was in the larder, baking bread for their morning meal. “You’ll wake the whole house with that racket!”
“Mr. Placi,” she said, fighting for breath. “What pub do the giants drink at?”
45
AURELIUS
The Beautiful Bunch was mayhem.
The largest giant pub in Ardora was barely even a building—more a two-story pen of narrow corridors and shabby rooms to let, all surrounding a vast, open-air courtyard, packed tight with the largest drunks in town.
From the balconies above, dozens of oversized females in various states of undress posed and winked. On a platform in the corner, underneath one of those balconies, a band of kithara and aulos players filled the warm night with a pulsing beat.
