Page 152 of The Amber Sunburst

“Very much so, sir.” She lets her hood fall back a touch, and looks at him through her eyelashes. “I understand you are responsible for their organization.”

The Educator hums. “Rather grim, planning the events that will decide one’s replacement upon one’s death, but interesting still.”

“You do not look very close to death.”

“No, I suppose not.” He laughs, shooting her a handsome smile and glancing down to where her robe is slightly open and her cleavage is visible. Kallias was right—men are disgusting.

But at least she can use that to her advantage. Time to start making real moves.

She toys with her tinkling gold facemask, feigning discomfort, and shifts her robes around.

“Are you alright, young one?” he asks, concern just this side of genuine.

“Of course. Hot in the layers and the mask is all.”

The Educator nods in sympathy, and puts a hand on the small of her back. “I have some chambers here if you’d like to cool down without all the prying eyes,” he suggests. Is he seriously trying to seduce her in the middle of the Trial that he planned to find his successor?

“You’re truly Forms-sent, sir. I would be honored.”

“Come along, then,” he says with that smile of his, guiding her with his hand that wanders a bit further with every step.

They climb the stairs until they reach a bedroom with an amazing view of the sea. She wanders toward the window and takes a quick glance backward to see if the Educator has stepped outside for her privacy. In a not very shocking turn of events, he has not. Instead he stands leaning against the closed door, watching her like a cat ready to pounce.

It works to her advantage, given that she’s trying to make herself into a distraction, but she has to wonder how it’s meant to go.

She looks behind her again, this time with her chin tilted down, and shrugs her robe off a shoulder. His eyes narrow in on it immediately. Then, she turns back to the window and lets the whole thing drop.

When she goes for her mask, she hears, “Leave it on.”

She taps the glass window pane in nothing but tiny shorts and a lacy scrap of a top, and says, innocently, “What an amazing view.”

The Educator sits on the small couch at the foot of the bed. “Yes, quite. Though not as nice as what’s in front of it.”

She turns around and smiles shyly before biting her lip and dragging her eyes down his body.

He pats his lap and says, “Come here, little one.”

She valiantly manages to stop herself from gagging when she does. She straddles him and places a hand on his shoulder, with the other clutching the decoy bracelet behind his neck.

When he lifts an arm to touch her hair, his sleeve rides up enough for her to see it. An unmistakable twinkle of metal. Keys.

He palms the spot where her neck meets her shoulder, and grabs it tight.

“You are very beautiful,” he says. “Just so… unique.”

She hears that a lot.

“You look quite like someone I once knew,” he adds, and that she does not hear a lot.

“I’m glad you like it,” she says, letting his hands touch where he wants and his lips latch onto her neck.

She makes small, pleased noises, and pulls his hand with the keys onto her thigh, hoping it keeps his attention for long enough that she can attach her own bracelet clasp and swiftly remove his.

Somehow, some way, it does. She pulls back quickly once the job is done.

“Sir,” she sighs, like she’s disappointed. “I must return downstairs. The Mothers will be looking.”

He moves both hands to her thighs. “I don’t think you have to leave just yet,” he says, and it isn’t a suggestion. A man used to getting what he wants.