The Contract (13 page)

Callie shook her head. “I couldn’t.  Devlin … he would lose all respect for me.”

“If he wants you, maybe this is the push he needs.”

“I can’t,” Callie repeated.

“Then you’ll go, and I’ll have no one,” I said a little wildly. “Please, please try.”

She studied me. “Kat, you have Maximus now.”

I barked a laugh that made the guards turn and glance at me. “Hardly,” I said bitterly.

Callie looked as if she might cry. “Katrina, I can’t seduce anyone. I don’t know how.““Get him alone and press yourself to him and kiss him. Either he’ll kiss you back, or he won’t,” I said.

“Oh.” Callista was blushing now. “And if he says, ‘go away?’ Or gasped in horror? Katrina, I’d just die.”

“Callista, he’d have to be dead not to respond to you.”

“Katrina, have you ever considered that, because of his problems he might not feel like that towards any lady?  Have you ever thought about that?  Maybe that’s why he won’t marry.”

I stared at her. “No, that’s not it,” I said before I thought.

Callie sat up straighter. “You know what the reason is, don’t you? Tell me!”

“Callie, I can’t. I promised him. But I swear that isn’t it.”

“Please, please tell me you didn’t discuss me with him.“As I might have mentioned before, I can lie when I need to. And this was one of those times.

“Callista, would I do that to you?” I said earnestly with just the right amount of reproach, I thought.

“No, no. I’m sorry I accused you,” Callie said. “But I can’t throw myself at him. I’m sorry, Kat.”

“Well, maybe he’ll surprise you yet,” I said without much hope.

Callista put her hand on mine. “Katrina, I’m so sorry about this. I’m sure your father loved you if he did all this to protect you.“Something in her voice made me look up at her. She looked kind, concerned and…there was something else there, something darker. I thought about what she’d said.  I’d never told her my father had tried to protect me.  I’d only said he was an assassin.  “The gossips certainly know more than I gave them credit for,” I said as casually as I could.

Callista abruptly stood and brushed off her dress. “They always do,” she joked, but her voice was nervous.

I stood as well, catching her hand. “Callista, look at me please.” Again I heard that ring of command in my voice, and I thought of Max.

Callista looked up at me.“How long have you known?” I had been going to ask if she did know, but thought this might work better.

Her eyes dropped immediately. “Oh, Katrina,” she said, pulling away from me.

“Callista,” my voice was firmer now, definitely shades of Max. Apparently bedroom tricks weren’t the only things he was teaching me. “How long?”

“I—I have to go,” she said, but I’d snagged her hand again, and I wouldn’t let go.  “Callista, my friend and cousin, I love you like a sister. Tell me,” I tried coaxing.

She looked at me, tears filling her eyes. “Katrina, I’m so very sorry! The Regent told me when I came here. He wanted me to befriend you.”

I stepped away from her. “That’s why you became my friend?“She reached out for me. “No, that’s not it. I mean, it was at first, but do you think I’m so false that I could fabricate all my feelings for you?”

I felt like a door had shut, closing my heart in a cold, lonely room. “So he told you everything?”

She looked nervous. “I—please, if you tell him, he’ll be furious. He told me then I must never let you know.”

“Why?”

But she just shook her head. “Katrina, please,” she said, tears dripping down her face.

I turned and walked away from her. I heard her following, or perhaps it was the guards. I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. I would walk for the rest of my life if I needed to. Max had known and had kept it from me. Callista had known and kept it from me. Maybe everyone had known that I was a royal bastard, that the father I spoke about so lovingly was an assassin. And the most horrible thing of all is that I’d thought—I’d thought Max had just wanted me. Not because I was politically an asset, or because I had royal ties but because that day he’d caught me, he’d seen something in me that he’d liked—something that he’d wanted his children to have. I felt like the biggest fool in the world, and there was absolutely no one I could turn to.

Chapter Twelve

I sat in the room I shared with Max and thought. I’d come here because it was the only way to escape the guards. I was pacing and thinking and pacing some more when Max came in without warning. “Katrina, you keep everyone waiting to eat dinner!”

I looked up. “I asked for food to be brought here,” I said calmly.

“You hide? I’d thought you had more courage than that,” he taunted.

I tried to get upset, or hurt, or feel something. But I just felt cold. Maybe I’d used up all my emotions, or that door that had shut inside of me was permanently locked. I shrugged and went to him. “As you wish, my lord,” I said dully.

If Max was surprised, he didn’t show it, seeming as emotionless as I felt. I went to dinner but didn’t pay any attention to any of the talk around me. My mind fluttered from one ugly fact I’d learned to another, like a rat chasing its tail. Katrina was sitting at the table, looking at me occasionally. I hadn’t spoken to her, however, other than to answer direct questions.

Max finally rose, and Callista had to tap my shoulder, or I wouldn’t have noticed. He nodded at me. “Come with me,” he said gruffly. He spoke to the two guards briefly, and they left us. Max took me back to our room. He entered and barred the door. “I suppose you are angry?”

I shrugged, thinking he was right, I should be, but I wasn’t.

“No.” Was he angry? He had been earlier. But I figured if he was mad he’d certainly tell me.

He frowned at me. “What game do you play now?”

“I’m tired, I suppose,” I said.

“Then let us retire early,” he said.

Again I shrugged and began to take off my skirt. I went and took out a nightdress, but Max said, “You won’t need that.” I let it fall out of my hands onto the floor. I was glad he wanted me and hoped it would melt some of the coldness that seemed to be freezing me. Max doused the candles and came in the bed. He didn’t reach for me initially and was quiet. Maybe he was waiting for me to say something, I don’t know. Finally he sighed and reached over for me, touching my shoulder. I turned to face him. He moved closer and framed my face with his hands. “Katrina, you’ve had a difficult day, I know.”

“I doubt you know,” I said quietly.

“More than what I told you?” he asked, holding my face, so I couldn’t look away.

I thought of Callista and Kasta. “My lord, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” he said, curiosity curling in his voice.

“Will you continue to bed other women now that you’re wed?” My voice sounded no more than polite, and barely interested.  Max let his hands drop away. “Why do you ask me that?”

I shrugged. “Oh, I just wondered what the rules were there. I mean, I always thought that married people just turned to each other for such things, but if I’m mistaken in that, I’d like to know.”

Max said carefully, almost feeling his way along, “This is not a fit conversation.”

I laughed humorlessly. “Really? But do you not wonder? Do you not think to yourself, ‘I wonder if Katrina plans to take a lover?‘“Max blinked. Apparently, he did not wonder about this.

“You will never take a lover,” he said in a low voice.

I spoke in the same intense voice, “Then neither will you.”

“You are telling me what I’ll do?  I don’t think so, Katrina.” He’d tightened up now.

“Maximus, I swear by my father’s life—“Max clamped a hand over my mouth before I could swear anything.

“Don’t do it, Katrina. Besides, you have to swear by someone’s life who’s living. And the idea is that the person’s life is forfeit if you do not do as you swear. Be careful, wife, lest you bring someone else into your argument with me.”

I sat up, pushing away his arm so I could speak. “Max, maybe I’m strange. No, I know I’m strange, but I will not share you with another woman.”

Max looked up at me, putting his hands behind his head. “And I say you will not dictate to me.”

I thought about that. “Fine, then if I get any hint that you’ve bedded anyone else, I’ll make sure I do the same. Now I’m not dictating to you, just telling you what I’ll do. You just do as you wish.”

“So you think that because you now know you have royal blood that you can decree what will happen? This is why I didn’t want you to know.”

“No!” I said, my eyes snapping fire at him. “I don’t care who my mother and father are. I am your wife, and your body is mine. I will not share it.”

Max sat up now too. He took my chin. “Katrina, I swear I don’t know whether to laugh and kiss you or beat you silly.”

“I choose the laugh and kiss me,” I said quickly.Max let his thumb trail along my lower lip. “Your jealousy is…intriguing.” His voice regained its warning tone. “But have a care. For when you forbid me something,” and here he laughed at the very idea, “you push me to show you I will do as I please.”

I said, frowning, “Are you saying I am pushing you to bed another?”

Max frowned back, his frown more fearsome than mine. “I will do what I do,” he said.

“And I will do what I do,” I returned.

Max considered me for some minutes. “Neither of my other wives would speak of such a thing.”

“Humph,” I said grumpily.

“What made you think about this?” he asked.

I narrowed my eyes. “Callista told me it is acceptable for a man to bed anyone whether he’s married or not. I do not agree.”

“Yes,” Max said mildly, “I can see that.” He seemed to be more amused now than angry. But his eyes had flared briefly as I mentioned Callista.“Why can you and yet I cannot?”

Max’s amusement left suddenly. “So this is about you? You wish to bed another?” His voice had become more menacing with each syllable.

I sighed and let myself flop back on the bed onto my back. “No. I don’t.” I turned my head to see him. “But know that I would if I had to.”

Max stared at me for a full minute. Then he started to laugh. “Katrina, you never cease to surprise me. I am not bedding anyone else, nor did I think to. However, it isn’t right for a wife to dictate such restrictions to her husband.”

“Right or not, I’m doing it,” I interrupted.

He looked at me, considering. “Do you want to do this, Katrina? Do you truly want to tell me what I can and cannot do?”

I looked up at him. No, I didn’t want to. Or I did, but I knew that it wouldn’t work. Tell Max he had to do something and he’d do the opposite just to be stubborn. I softened my voice. “Max, if you bed another, I’ll…” No, I couldn’t threaten. “It would hurt me so badly that I doubt I’d ever recover.”

Max lowered himself to one elbow. “Wife, if you bed another I’ll kill both of you,” his voice was calm as if stating a simple fact.

“That doesn’t seem too fair if you did it first,” I pointed out.

Max raised one brow. “Do you believe me, Katrina?”

“Max, this isn’t about me.”

“Do you believe me?” he asked again.

“Yes,” I said slowly. “So now what? I just let stupid Kasta tell me how you are when you’re with her? I simply turn my head and pretend that it isn’t a horrible thing? Or do I take one of your knives and kill the both of you while you sleep? Don’t forget, husband, I am an assassin’s daughter.”

Max was quiet for so long I began to worry that I’d gone too far this time. Then he rose and went to the chest where I’d found his knife before. My heart began to speed up. Was he just going to kill me now? Had he had enough of my odd behavior, of my jealousy? I tried not to cry or otherwise show fear. I doubted with a man like Max it would matter if he’d made up his mind to be done with me.

He took something out and returned to the bed. He sat down and showed me what he had in the firelight: the jeweled knife I’d seen before.

“This was from your father. It was part of the debt he owed to me for hiding you. It’s considered special and even comes with a name, Precipice. I rarely gave it much thought over the years, yet didn’t ever sell it or give it away. I have ignored it, yet it looks as it was newly forged.”  He frowned at the knife that gleamed, finally turning his gaze back to me.  “Now I give it to you.” He turned it about in his hand and offered it to me, handle first.

I didn’t move. “I don’t understand.“Max reached out, and I flinched.

He frowned and shook his head. “No, I’m not angry. Perhaps you have found weakness in me, but I find I like your fire. You fight for what you want, and I certainly understand that.”

Slowly I reached out and touched the knife. “Mine?”

“Yes. Take it.”

“But…” I took the knife and watched the gems glow in the firelight. “I’m a woman. You…I’ve never seen another woman here wear any weapons, nor do they learn to use them.”

“No. You are the exception.”

I rose to my knees and moved closer to him. “You will make an exception for me?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And I may wear it?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

I carefully set the knife on the table near the bed. “Thank you,” I said, my heart in my mouth. I reached up and put my arms around his neck. He let me pull him down and joined me in a long kiss.

He pulled away to look at me. “Should I worry that my life is now in danger?” he asked.

I wished I could see his expression, but the firelight was behind him. “No, Max. I doubt that no matter what you did I could kill you.” But then I grinned at him. “Of course, given the right provocation, I could probably hurt you a little.”

Max chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest. “So be it. Just do not listen to rumors and attack me on some foolish maid’s loose talk.”

“And you should do the same,” I said.

“Then we have a pact between us. No stealthy attacks, no matter that your father was an assassin. You will give me the chance to defend myself, and I’ll do that same.” He still seemed amused, as if it was laughable for him to fear me. Maybe it was.

“Max? Can I ask you something?”

He chuckled. “Can I stop you?”

I shrugged at that. “Temporarily, probably,” I said.