When laced into his clothing, Laurent's dangerous grace lent him an almost androgynous quality. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that it was rare to associate Laurent with a physical body at all: you were always dealing with a mind.
C.S. PacatStichwörter: captive-prince laurent
It was with a shock that he felt the touch of Laurent's fingers against the back of his wrist. [...] Laurent was shifting the fabric of his sleeve, sliding it back slightly to reveal the gold underneath, until the wrist cuff he had asked the blacksmith to leave on was exposed between them.
'Sentiment?' said Laurent.
'Something like that.'
Their eyes met and he could feel each beat of his heart. A few seconds of silence, a space that lengthened, until Laurent spoke.
'You should give me the other.
Stichwörter: damen captive-prince laurent
Torveld favoured Laurent with another of those long, admiring looks that were starting to come with grating frequency. Damen frowned. Laurent was a nest of scorpions in the body of one person. Torveld looked at him and saw a buttercup.
C.S. PacatStichwörter: captive-prince laurent
Nicaise had picked up a gilt three-pronged fork, but had paused before sampling the dish in order to speak. The fear he'd shown of Damen at the ring seemed to still be there. His knuckles, clenched around the fork, were white.
'It's all right,' said Damen. He spoke to the boy as gently as he could. 'I'm not going to hurt you.'
Nicaise stared back at him. His huge blue eyes were fringed like a whore's, or like a doe's. Around them, the table was a coloured wall of voices and laughter, courtiers caught up in their own amusements, paying them no attention.
'Good,' said Nicaise, and stabbed the fork viciously into Damen's thigh under the table.
Even through a layer of cloth, it was enough to make Damen start, and instinctively grab the fork, as three drops of blood welled up.
'Excuse me a moment,' Laurent said smoothly, turning from Torveld to face Nicaise.
'I made your pet jump,' said Nicaise, smugly.
Not sounding at all displeased: 'Yes, you did.'
'Whatever you're planning, it's not going to work.'
'I think it will, though. Bet you your earring.'
'If I win, you wear it,' said Nicaise.
Laurent immediately lifted his cup and inclined it toward Nicaise in a little gesture sealing the bet. Damen tried to shake the bizarre impression that they were enjoying themselves.
Nicaise waved an attendant over and asked for a new fork.
Stichwörter: damen forks captive-prince laurent nicaise
Damen bridged the nine chilly inches at the first opportunity. 'What are you doing? You were the one who warned me about Nicaise.' He spoke in a low voice.
Laurent went very still; then he deliberately shifted in his seat and leaned in, bringing his lips right to Damen's ear. 'I think I'm out of stabbing range, he's got short arms. Or perhaps he'll try to throw a sugar plum? That is difficult. If I duck he'll hit Torveld.'
Damen gritted his teeth. 'You know what I meant. He heard you. He's going to act. Can't you do something about it?'
'I'm occupied.'
'Then let me do something.'
'Bleed on him?' said Laurent.
Stichwörter: damen captive-prince laurent nicaise
He's the captive Kastor sent you to train?' said Torveld, curiously. 'He's--safe?'
'He looks combative, but he's really very docile and adoring,' said Laurent, 'like a puppy.'
'A puppy,' said Torveld.
To demonstrate, Laurent picked up a confection of crushed nuts and honey and held it out to Damen as he had at the ring, between thumb and forefinger.
'Sweetmeat?' said Laurent.
In the stretched-out moment that followed, Damen thought explicitly about killing him.
Stichwörter: damen captive-prince laurent torveld
I don't have sleeves to carry handkerchiefs in,' said Damen. 'I wouldn't mind being given a knife.' 'Or a fork?' said Laurent.
C.S. PacatStichwörter: damen forks captive-prince laurent
This place sickened him. Anywhere else, you simply killed your enemy with a sword. Or poisoned him, if you had the honourless instincts of an assassin. Here, it was layer upon layer of constructed double-dealing, dark, polished and unpleasant. He would have assumed tonight the product of Laurent's own mind, if Laurent were not so clearly the victim.
C.S. PacatStichwörter: damen vere captive-prince laurent
The guard said, 'Our orders are no one in or out.'
'You can tell the Prince that,' said Damen, 'after you tell him you let through the Regent's pet.'
That got a flicker of reaction. Invoking Laurent's bad mood was like a magical key, unlocking the most forbidding doors.
Stichwörter: damen captive-prince laurent
You have to admire it,' said Laurent, in a detached voice. 'It's the perfect time to attack Akielos. Kastor is dealing with factional problems from the kyroi. Damianos, who turned the tide at Marlas, is dead. And the whole of Vere would rise up against a bastard, especially one who had cut down a Veretian prince. If only my murder weren't the catalyst, it's a scheme I would wholeheartedly support.
C.S. PacatStichwörter: captive-prince laurent political-scheming
Seite 1 von 4.
nächste letzte »
Data privacy
Imprint
Contact
Diese Website verwendet Cookies, um Ihnen die bestmögliche Funktionalität bieten zu können.