“I’m not asking you to judge. I’m asking how you feel.”
“I feel like these questions have nothing to do with the trader who fled to the sanctuary of your palace.” “I see.”
Axel straightened his linen shirt—and immediately regretted it when dust and horsehair billowed into the elegant room. “As you can see, your majesty, I’m not fit company for you. Will you accept my apology and allow me to take my leave?”
She gave him that half smile. He wondered if any man alive could look at that smile and not think of fucking her. “So you can hunt down your…traders?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Axel de la Couere, tell me now.” She paused and touched his arm. “Is the man you chase truly a trader? And what of the men your men chased? Are you certain they are traders?”
For a crazy moment, he considered telling her the truth. His heart told him the truth was needed here. But his eyes, wanting to look anywhere but at the beautiful face before him, caught on a huge pennant hanging on the south wall: a black trefoil in a field of scarlet. The same pennant hung in the secret stairwell.
He moved his gaze back to hers and held them steady. “They are truly traders,” he said finally.
Her eyes closed for a moment, and she nodded. “Very well.”
“Am I free to leave?”
She stood and he followed. “No.” She walked toward the door with her panther’s grace. “You will enjoy the pleasure of a bath in our Temple Chamber.”
“But my men—”
“Your men and your lovely mare have been attended. They await your return in the morning.”
He bowed then, deeply grateful. It’d be better to pick up the slavers’ trail now, but the morning would work nearly as well, especially if it meant a bath. “Thank you, your majesty. Thank you for your kindness.”
She paused at the door and gave him that heart-stopping smile. “Oh, I don’t know about kindness. You’re to be punished tonight, for breaking the statue in my fountain and for trespassing in my palace.”
“Punished? I don’t understand.”
She opened the door, the huntress smile still in place. “But you will.”
3
Enduring a Punishment from the Supplicant Queen required a peaceful and accepting mind, among other things. So Solstice strove for calm and focus—but Aster wasn’t making it easy.
“Lady Solstice, please hold still.” Standing on a step stool, Aster was replacing the many tight braids in Solstice’s hair. She removed the violet beads and put in scarlet. The red beads would gleam in the candlelight during tonight’s ritual. “You really must keep still.”
“I’m sorry.” The tugging at her scalp hurt, but pain wasn’t usually something Solstice avoided. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. “Truly, Aster.”
“Well, it isn’t like I can blame you. I’ve never seen the queen this angry. I wouldn’t want to be in your skin tonight.”
Solstice didn’t either…although the dark side of her mind admitted she was secretly intrigued. The Supplicant Queen understood how to wrap pleasure around pain, and everyone in court knew Solstice liked to play rough. To achieve a Punishment severe enough to capture Solstice’s attention, Queen Sureya would have to pull out all the stops.
Solstice just needed to know which stops.
“Has she told you what role I’m to play tonight?” Solstice knew she shouldn’t ask—it showed weakness—but she felt too upset to guard her tongue.
“Lady Solstice,” Aster said. She opened a small amphora with agile fingers. “I’ve never known you to care whether you wielded the whip or enjoyed the kiss of its lash.” She flashed her a sly grin. “Besides, it isn’t as if I could tell you…if I did know.”
Solstice took a deep breath. “Of course you can’t tell me.” But walking blind into one of the queen’s Punishments was like walking blind into a cage of hungry tigers. She would be better able to please the queen if she could prepare her mind for this ordeal. “And I apologize. I’m simply…nervous.”
Aster tugged at the binds holding Solstice’s hands above her head. “Nervous? You? I’ve never seen you nervous.”
Solstice let a little vulnerability shine through her eyes. “I’m uneasy.”
“This will calm you.” Aster stepped down from the stool and walked toward the table. She poured oil from the amphora into her palm. “The queen wants you to look spectacular tonight, and I’ll do my best to obey her command,” she said. “Although a body like yours makes my work simple.”
Solstice didn’t comment as the woman spread the oil over her skin. A large mirror stood opposite, and she could see a shimmering glitter within the oil. Her skin and hair would sparkle in the candlelight tonight.
“What of Lord Grip?” Solstice asked. “What has the queen done with him?”
Aster laughed as she began to oil Solstice’s ass. “Is it true you love him and were planning an elopement?”
A shocked expression took hold of Solstice’s face before she could stop it—and Aster saw.
“I thought not,” Aster said.
This wouldn’t do. Solstice couldn’t let her pride get the upper hand. “I love him, but we weren’t planning an elopement.”
“Ah.”
Solstice wasn’t sure Aster believed her, but she let it go. “Do you know where he is, or what the queen plans to do with him?”
“I haven’t heard.” Aster shrugged. “But what about the handsome trader from the west, the one with hair like gold? How do you know him?” Aster rubbed the oil over Solstice’s breasts, and her nipples pebbled. “Some people were saying you might elope with him instead of Lord Grip.”
“Elope with Lord Axel?” Solstice laughed and shook her head, which wasn’t easy with her arms tied above her. She wished she could get his look of disdain out of her mind. “Where do people get these ideas? I hadn’t seen Lord Axel in years—before today.”
“So you do know him. Tell me about it. Is he your long-lost love? Your first lover?”
Solstice snorted to hide the regret. There was a time when she would have welcomed him in her bed. But that time passed as his scorn took hold of his heart. “He worships the One God and holds all others in disdain.”
“No.” Aster’s tone made it clear she didn’t believe Solstice. “Who would do that?”
“I don’t know.” Solstice gasped at the skill of Aster’s clever fingers. “But that should tell you how many lovers he’s had.”
“None?”
“Exactly.”
Aster walked back to the table with a knowing grin. “So you’re the jilted love, jilted for a god. That’s a bitter draught to swallow.”
Solstice knew when she’d met her match. “Aster,” she said. “Just stop this.”
“Stop what?”
“I feel like I’m giving you all sorts of information, and you’re giving me nothing.”
“Nothing?” Aster continued to let her warm palm caress Solstice’s breast. “I give you nothing?” Her hand, slick with oil, slid to Solstice’s thigh. “I could give you something.”
Desire flickered in Solstice’s veins. Her Temple training was too complete for any other reaction.