Lee, Sharon - Liaden 11 - Mouse and Dragon

She tucked the card back into its envelope, placed it on the side table, and sipped her wine before turning her attention to the other invitation.

The embossing was Korval's familiar Tree-and-Dragon; her name was written in glossy black ink in a hand so firm the pen had scored the paper.

She broke the seal and drew out the card.

Since their second, not entirely cordial interview, she had not again met Daav's sister. Indeed, it might have been said that, busy as she had been with other matters, the lady had slipped her mind altogether.

Alas, she had not been similarly forgotten.

She drew a breath.

“Ah, Kareen,” Daav murmured, “so subtle.”

He held what she could only suppose was a like card; shaking his head at it sadly.

“I will not be attending this formal evening gather,” Aelliana stated.

Daav looked at her, one eyebrow up. “Whyever not?”

“Because it is a trap. Lady Kareen warned me that I would not be able to hold my place among the High. Now, she seeks to prove her course and shame me publicly. I will not attend.”

“Don't you wish to prove her wrong?” Daav asked, with every appearance of seriousness.

“I fear that I will rather prove her correct.”

“No, only think! Lady yo'Lanna's picnic is well before this evening gather. Recall that you will at that event be introduced to people whom she thinks you should know. I will grant that not all will be High House, but some will. Very certainly some, if not all, of those whose acquaintance you will make at Glavda Empri will also be present at Kareen's affair. And, you know, you will probably receive other invitations between—Kareen having been so kind as to give us more than half a relumma to prepare.”

She considered him. “You wish me to enter battle?”

“Not in the least. Only attend and demonstrate to Kareen why her equations are faulty.” He tipped his head. “If you refuse to attend this gather, she will only have another, you know. Refuse again and it will surely come to be known that Korval's dependent shows scant gratitude to the House.”

It took the breath away, that summation, but Aelliana had to admit that nothing he said struck her as being beyond Kareen's scope. Certainly, it was to the lady's benefit to publicly discover her rag-mannered and worse. Not to mention that such a public humiliation must also score a strike upon Daav.

Stomach tight, she returned that card, too, to its envelope and put it with the first.

“Tomorrow,” she said unwillingly, “I will send an acceptance.” She looked up and met his eyes. “In my own hand.”

He smiled, pride evident.

“We play on,” he said and inclined his head. “Of course, I shall accompany my pilot onto this chancy port.”

He placed his sister's card onto the smaller of the two piles, dropped the three remaining in his hand onto the larger, and picked up his other correspondence.

Aelliana sipped her wine, watching him lazily as he opened the first, and drew out a sheet of pale violet paper. He could have read no more than the first two lines before he dropped it, too, into the larger pile and opened another envelope.

Smiling, feeling very much at peace, Aelliana turned her attention to her own letter. The envelope bore the ship and planet sigil of the Liaden Scouts over the words Verisa pel'Quinot, Scout Academy. She broke the seal and withdrew a single sheet of white paper, light and crisp to the touch.

The letter itself was brief, consisting merely of a proposition, and a request for a meeting, if the proposition pleased.

Aelliana smiled. If it pleased? Of course it pleased! The inevitable presence of Scouts in her Math for Survival seminar had never failed to delight her. To be offered an entire student contingent composed only of Scouts and those whom the Scouts thought it worthwhile to train—

“Now there's the smile of a conqueror,” Daav murmured. “One rarely sees so much delight on a single face.”

“I have cause, I think,” she said. “Scout Academy writes to ask if I would consider teaching the advanced seminar there.”

“A coup, indeed! Will you accept?”

“Certainly, it is tempting. I very much enjoyed working with Scouts. At least I must speak with Scholar pel'Quinot and see what she envisions.”

“If talk comes to contract, recall that you have dea'Gauss to call upon.”

She began to say that she would scarcely trouble the gentleman with so trivial a matter, but pressed her lips together without uttering the sentence. Only see how well she had done with her other employment contract!

Perhaps it would be a . . . good idea to ask Mr. dea'Gauss if one of his staff might be available for the task.

“I will remember,” she said, picking up Scholar pel'Quinot's letter once more.

“I swear that the man is prescient,” Daav murmured, his tone an interesting mixture of humor and resignation.

She looked up. “Is there something amiss?”

“Likely not,” he said, giving her a half grin. “Mr. dea'Gauss has a matter which requires my personal attention, and asks that I meet with him at my earliest possible convenience.”

Aelliana glanced toward the dark-filled windows.

“Which will be,” Daav said, folding the letter back into its envelope and placing it on the smaller of his two piles, “tomorrow.” He lifted an eyebrow.

“We have finished reading our mail,” he said, his voice low and intimate.

Aelliana felt her belly tighten, and her breath came ridiculously short. She tried not to let him see these things, however, and calmly put her letter with the others.

“Your geas is lifted,” she said coolly, raising her glass for a sip.

Daav smiled. “Then I am no longer required to be a gentleman.”

Effortlessly, he came to his feet and approached her comfortable corner, his eyes on hers. She could not look away from his face; she could not move . . .

Gently, he took her glass and placed it on the table, keeping her hand in his. She found that she could move, after all; he raised her and she stood shivering and breath-caught as he loosened her sash. The robe fell open and he bent to kiss her breasts.

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Liaden 11 - Mouse and Dragon

Chapter Twenty-Four

Love is best given to kin, and joy taken in duty well done.

—Vilander's Proverbs, Seventh Edition

They had breakfast on the balcony overlooking the inner court, at not a particularly early hour. Daav had gone in to dress while she dawdled over her second cup of tea; he returned, overneat in his town clothes, to join her for a third.

“Is there anything that I might bring you from the city?” he asked.

“Nothing springs immediately to mind,” she answered. “Please convey my best regards to Mr. dea'Gauss.”

“Certainly. It may be that I will return in time for lunch; it may be that I will not. Mr. dea'Gauss was not as plain as he might have been regarding the nature of our business.”

“Mr. pel'Kana will see that I don't stint myself,” she said, smiling at him from a vast inner contentment. “In the meanwhile, I have my letters to write, and an appointment to fix. After that, I may walk in the garden, or find Lady Dignity and stroke her.”

“It sounds a full day, yet not overly fatiguing,” Daav acknowledged with a grin. He rose and kissed her, sweetly, on the cheek. “Will you sleep with me tonight, beautiful lady?” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

Aelliana shivered.

“Eventually,” she said.

He laughed at that and went away. She finished her tea as she wrote out her acceptances, taking especial care with the note to Kareen yos'Phelium, then dressed and placed a comm call to Scout Academy.