Radiance (Wraith Kings Book 1)(62)
“And saved a few people from being trampled by those trying to get away from you.” He nudged her toward the next stall. “Try not to start a panic, wife.”
The low sound of her laughter teased his ears and recalled a moment hours earlier when she’d laughed the same way while torturing him with soft kisses planted down the center of his back. His nostrils flared, and he shoved the memory away before his breeches grew uncomfortable and he began searching for a secluded spot where he might swive his wife. Her sorcery shredded his ability to think sensibly.
They found the jeweler’s shop at the end of one of the lanes. Unlike his fellow townsmen, the merchant never revealed shock or surprise at Ildiko’s appearance. He inspected the necklace and broken clasp she presented to him and promised the repair was simple enough. A price and delivery date was agreed upon. A shrewd business man, he offered to show her more of his work. Brishen fled outside to wait by the door.
When Ildiko emerged from the shop, he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “Am I a pauper now?”
She gave him an arch look. “I doubt it. I bought one thing.”
He surveyed her person, noting neither bauble on her neck nor package in her hand. “What is it?”
Ildiko lifted her chin. “You’ll see it when they deliver it with my necklace.”
Word of the herceges’s visit traveled fast through Halmatus, and the town’s mayor was quick to issue an invitation to dine. Anhuset abandoned Brishen and Ildiko to their fate with a salute and a grin. “You’ll find the rest of us at the Crooked Shank tavern where the ale is thick and the company better.”
Her words proved prophetic. The food at the mayor’s home was fair; the company tiresome and ridiculous. Brishen liked the man well enough. The mayor’s wife was another matter. Despite Ildiko’s best efforts to put her at ease, the woman couldn’t stop staring round-eyed at her. Too busy gawking to mind what she was doing, she nearly poured wine into Ildiko’s lap twice.
Brishen breathed a sigh of relief when it was over and they made their escape. Ildiko looked no worse the wear for their trouble. “They didn’t serve scarpatine,” she said. “I consider it a successful meal.”
“Do you want to visit the tavern? I think Anhuset is right about the food and company.”
Ildiko shook her head. “No. I’ll cause too much of a stir. Let our escort enjoy themselves. You can give me a tour of the town, and I’ll have you to myself for once.”
He happily acquiesced to her wishes. Halmatus was small, surrounded by thick woodland. At its outskirts, Brishen paused and took advantage of the brief privacy afforded them. He tilted Ildiko’s face up to his with a gentle thumb under her chin. Her skin glowed lustrous as a pearl in the moonlight.
“Kiss me,” he commanded softly. “I’ve craved the touch of your mouth ever since we left Saggara.”
It didn’t matter to him if all of Halmatus heard his satisfied groans as she made love to him with her lips and the fine caress of her hands. They couldn’t quit this place or get home soon enough to satisfy him. His human wife had become a fire in his blood and spirit, as hot and bright as her red hair.
“We leave them alone for what? Two hours? And now we’re chasing after them like nannies after toddlers.” Anhuset’s waspish tones carried over the whispering lullaby of trees rustling in the breeze.
Ildiko’s mouth drifted over his in a fading kiss. “I think we’re in trouble,” she murmured.
“Fan out and find them,” Anhuset ordered. “Knock on every door if you have to.”
Brishen growled, annoyed and yet pleased by his cousin’s vigilance. He set Ildiko from him and took her hand. “Come. We’ll need to reveal ourselves before she puts the entire town in an uproar.”
Anhuset’s scowl forewarned Brishen he was in for a tongue-lashing. He halted whatever admonishment hovered on her lips. “Thought is often wiser than speech, sha-Anhuset,” he said in his coldest, loftiest tones. “Lest we forget who rules here and who does not.”
Her lips thinned to a tight line, but she bowed, along with the rest of their escort. “Are you ready to depart, Herceges?” she asked in an equally frigid voice. He nodded, and she sent the soldiers off to gather the horses and meet in the town square.
When it was just he, Ildiko and Anhuset, his cousin rounded on him. “Are you trying to worry me into an early death?” she snapped.
“Stop henpecking me,” he snapped back. “I have a wife for that, and even she doesn’t do it.”
Muffled laughter sounded next to him. Ildiko stared at them both with watery eyes and a hand clapped over her mouth. She lowered her hand and compressed her lips in an obvious effort to contain her mirth. “Sorry,” she managed to gasp out between giggles.
Anhuset didn’t share in her amusement. Her expression darkened before she bowed a second time. “I will see you both in the town square.”
Brishen remained unsure if that was a promise or a threat.
“You can trust us to be there, Anhuset,” Ildiko called to her.
“We’ll see,” the other woman said shortly. She strode away, back stiff with outrage.
“She loves you, you know.” Ildiko glanced at Brishen. “She would do anything you asked of her.”
Brishen nodded. Ildiko told him nothing he didn’t already know. “We’re bound to each other by blood and secrets. She’s the child of my father’s sister and the only true sibling I’ve ever had.” He met Ildiko’s gentle gaze and sighed. “She’s also older than me with an unfortunate tendency to either mother me or order me about if I allow it.”