But Maddek hated that she needed help from anyone but him.
* * *
• • •
Maddek’s jaw didn’t unclench until they reached their quarters. There attendants and maids flitted about, preparing Yvenne’s bath while Maddek and his warriors took measure of the security of the chambers.
Cadus had honored the request for privacy and separation. Their quarters were not within the palace at all, but were a separate residence called the Queen’s Nest. Standing amid terraced gardens overlooking the sea, the structure appeared to Maddek not like a bird’s nest, but more like a snail’s shell—or the spiral seashells he’d seen in numerous decorations since entering Drahm. Though rounded, their quarters were not built around a central chamber, but in a swirling layout that raised the floor a level with each turn—and the only route to the main bedchamber was through a circling path of parlors and chambers. And although the bedchamber opened to a wide balcony, it was more defensible than he’d anticipated. From the residence, only one door led into the chambers. From outside, soldiers would have to scale steep walls to reach the balcony at the apex of the nest.
It was not secure. But it was as secure as could be had here. As he joined the warriors and his bride on the balcony, Maddek saw his satisfaction mirrored in the other warriors’ faces. Yvenne stood at the balustrade, her gaze turned toward the sea. Perhaps watching the ships sailing, for she’d never seen any before this day.
Soon she would be aboard one. “After the soldiers arrive and are settled in the garrison, I will send Danoh and Toric to the docks.”
“The soldiers won’t arrive,” Yvenne said, tilting her face up to the sun, her eyes closed. “Such a large number are forbidden to enter the city without the prince’s approval, and Cadus will not give it. Only my brother and Gareth of Toleh will be allowed through with a small personal guard.”
Now his surprise and relief was echoed in the other warrior’s expressions. “He will refuse the soldiers entry through the gate?”
Yvenne nodded.
“Still we will secure a ship,” Maddek said.
She gave him a sideways glance. “You do not trust Cadus’s protection?”
“I do not trust your brother.”
“As I do not.” Turning, she leaned elbows back on the marble balustrade. “This night he will attack us in this nest and claim he saved me from a brutal rape at the hands of Maddek and his Parsathean guard.”
The warriors froze, eyes all locked on her face.
“That will not be his first choice. After arriving, he’ll make an appeal to the prince, asking Cadus to hand us over to the alliance council so they can conduct a new investigation. That would be simplest for him, as he could kill all of you on the return journey to Ephorn. But Cadus has given a vow of protection and he will not rescind it.” She looked to Maddek. “So this is what Bazir will attempt, instead. As it is my moon night, my brother will think you too distracted between my thighs to prepare a proper defense against the Rugusian guard. Then Bazir will tell the council he killed you while defending himself and his sister in a royal house.”
Sharp pain knifed through Maddek’s chest. “That is what Zhalen claimed that my father did. Made him into a rapist and an oathbreaker.”
And suffered no consequences for it. Not yet.
She nodded. “Bazir will claim that you were taking your vengeance against me, since you were forbidden from touching my father or my brothers. It will be easy for him to persuade the council of that view.”
All too easy. Because that view had once been truth, though Maddek wouldn’t have raped her. Only thrown her skinned corpse over the Syssian wall.
Ardyl frowned. “The prince knows you intend to marry.”
“You think Cadus will not be murdered, too, and his death laid at the feet of a vengeful Maddek and his Dragon?” Yvenne asked her. “Bazir will leave no one to tell a different story.”
“But we will be prepared for his attack,” Kelir said.
“We will. And Maddek would be justified in killing him, too—though there will be fewer questions if it is my arrow that pierces Bazir’s eye. For if I kill him, Maddek will not be in defiance of the council’s order not to touch Zhalen’s sons. They need not know you helped me draw the bowstring.”
Sheer bloodthirst sharpened the smile she turned on him then. Cunning. Vicious.
A queen.
“Leave us,” he told the warriors bluntly.
So hot and hard he was, Maddek barely trusted himself to touch her. Instead he crowded closer, gripping the balustrade at either side of her cocked elbows. Boldly she held his gaze, head tipping back, never retreating even though the rigid press of his body captured her within the cage of his arms.
“So this is what I made use of this day.” Raw need roughened his voice. “A scheming and manipulative queen.”
She grinned up at him. “So I am.”
More than a queen. “And a warrior, finding a defensible position and planning your attack. You brought us here not for the prince’s protection. You brought us here to give us an opportunity to destroy Bazir—but destroy him by using the very rules that he would abuse.”
An aroused flush rose beneath her skin as she nodded. “In this palace, he has but three routes to victory. One is by persuading Cadus to turn us over to the alliance council, but Cadus has already offered his protection to us. The second is by overwhelming Cadus’s defenses with the force of two hundred soldiers, but it would be near impossible to justify his actions to the council. So only treachery within the house remained.”
A harsh laugh shook through him. “My father used to say that wars were not won and lost on battlefields, but in throne rooms. I never truly understood what he meant until this day. You have taught me a king’s lesson without even trying.”
“Have I?” Her brow creased in a small frown. “I would not have taught you that wars are won in throne rooms. I would say that battles are won in throne rooms, just as they are on battlefields—but they are fought with tongues instead of swords.”
War or battle, it was a lesson well learned. And her tongue was so sharp and clever and quick. His gaze fell to her mouth. So desperately he longed for a taste. But never would she tell him if she was hurt, so Maddek only knew by her breaths whether he wanted too hard and took too much.
Hands circling her waist, he lifted her atop the balcony’s balustrade. Her fingers clenched on his arms for balance but he would never let her fall from that seat.
Perched on the railing, she was as tall as Maddek, her eyes on level with his. Her linen-wrapped thighs clamped around his sides when he pushed between them. After the ache of denying himself her kiss, no time did he waste taking another taste, pushing aside the front of her robe and revealing her breast.