14. Ratter

RATTER

“ R ada, my love, you need to wake up.”

“Don’t want to. Feels too good.” It was true. The fire felt better than it ever had before, the flames licking every inch of me. Of course, the blindfold I had on meant I didn’t know which of my lovers was supplying the flames. And whatever was holding my wrists and ankles meant I could not remove it to find out.

Goddess, I loved these males, all of them. And they loved me, too, and delighted in finding new ways to express it every day. And every night.

I shivered as something flickered with more heat on my inner thighs. That had to be my dragon. Or… “Serak?”

His wicked laughter, the double-toned voice I’d grown to love, echoed in the room, and a long tongue of heat moved down to my toes, then back up the inside of my other thigh, taunting me. Before I could do anything more than gasp, a mouth moved down one arm… and another, with a forked tongue, traced lines on the other.

Pleasure threatened to overwhelm me, and pain as well, the heat building too high, too fast… until a wave of frost spilled over my face.

“Wake up, Ratter!”

I cried out, sitting up at the same time, a knife in my hand before I could clear the water from my eyes. “What in the hells? Wait… Where?”

I looked around, completely lost. We weren’t in the cellar, for some reason. I recognized the place. It was the next street over, the courtyard of a brothel owned by a woman who’d helped me out more than once.

Serak was a wreck, an empty bucket in one hand, his clothing… “Burned?” I’d been lying on the flagstones of the courtyard, and I scrambled to my feet to examine him. His shirt was in tatters, covered with bloodstains and ash, holes burned through it. His trousers were almost as bad, and he’d taken off his boots at some point. “What happened to you? Wait. What happened to me?”

I looked down. I had on my clothing from the night before, but it was in perfect condition. My cloak felt soft and clean; my leather belt and the brass fasteners that held my weapons in place practically shone. Even my special shoes were free of dirt and… I gasped. The laces were new, and the treads perfect. Had I been assaulted by a mysterious cobbler, who’d stolen my shoes and given me new ones?

My head was spinning, and I took a moment to breathe. My memory was fuzzy. I’d fallen into the cellar, and then… and then what?

“Did I pass out?” I mused aloud. “We were getting the dagger. I gave it to you for your Solstice gift, and we—” A blush raced over my cheeks. “Oh, Goddess, we kissed. Did I pass out?”

Serak’s face creased into a huge grin. “It was a pretty fantastic kiss,” he said, resting a hand on the dagger that hung from his belt loop. I eyed it, something about it being so close to him making me nervous. I shook away the odd thought. “Yes, you passed out. Overcome, it seemed like.” His grin widened. “Overcome by my prowess, possibly. It was a kiss to remember.”

Not that I could. My mind had been clouded in that cellar, especially when that smell—his scent, and mine—had filled the space.

My scent. Oh shit. The thought had me freezing.

“Did you, ah, did you notice anything surprising down there?” When he didn’t answer immediately, I chewed at my lower lip, embarrassed, and slightly worried that I’d need to kill him. If he knew the secret I’d been keeping…

“You mean the smell?”I gasped, a wave of sadness that I was going to have to kill him rushing through me, before he continued. “The cellar stunk almost as bad as an outhouse, but other than that? I suppose I was too lost in the moment to notice anything else.”

Our gazes locked, and I could read everything he wasn’t saying there. He knew. He absolutely knew, but he wasn’t going to say anything.

“When I couldn’t wake you, I carried you up here, and… well, I thought we both needed to wash off, but you seem to be none the worse for wear.”

I sniffed my armpit. “Goddess’s tits, you’re right. I should be covered with dirt.” I narrowed my eyes. “You swear nobody bathed me while I was out?” I knew of more than one herb that could make a person conk out hard enough to sleep through a bath. Though if Serak had been the one to bathe me…

He whispered, “What kind of a man, what kind of an Alpha would I be to take such advantage, my lady?” His breath moved the hairs by my ear as he spoke the next words so quietly, I wasn’t sure he was speaking at all. “It is only in my dreams that I have seen your body. Scented you, bathed you, and… knotted you.”

Knotted? Fire raced to my cheeks. A sudden, strong waft of mint had me closing my eyes and thinking about pustulant boils and pig farms to make the scent fade. Shit. I needed to get away from this Alpha before everyone in Turino suspected what I was. What only the two of us knew.

The two of us. Vilkurn had taught me long ago that the best way to get two people to keep a secret was to slit the throat of one of them so they couldn’t share it. I knew he’d want me to kill Serak, but I couldn’t do it.

I moved away.“Keep it in your dreams, Alpha,” I warned, but glared at the cloth tenting the front of his trousers. “Looks like you needed the cold shower more than I did.”

He stepped back, taking in my state and his own with a short laugh. “Sorry about the cold water, but I knew you had somewhere to be.” He reached up and scratched his hair with one hand, and his tattered shirt moved enough that I could see something on his stomach.

In a second, I had his shirt off and wadded in a ball with one hand, and my other on his abdomen. “What in the name of the Goddess is this? ” I hissed, my fingers tracing the strange marking in between two of the ridged muscles. It looked like a recent stab wound, but scarred over. I grabbed his shoulder, the one I’d stabbed just days before. That wound was gone.

“How?” I whispered, slightly scared. Flashes of the night before were coming back. He’d made a magical flame. The flame had dropped down. And then he’d kissed me… Yes. We’d kissed one last time, and something had gone terribly wrong.

I exhaled, my breath on his shoulder smelling the way it had for weeks when I was a child. Honey and rich spices that I didn’t know the names of, but felt like I should. Like they came from a place that was more my home than anywhere else I’d ever been, even my city.

“Serak. Did… Did the Goddess come for a visit?”

His eyes fucking twinkled. “Why would you ask?”

“When we kissed,” I said, my fingers trailing over the golden, tanned skin of his abdomen, idly tracing the lines as I tried to remember what had happened. “When I blanked out. Did She…” Suddenly, I was pissed. “Did you kiss the Goddess?”

He burst out laughing. “Now, what kind of a gentleman would I be if I kissed and told?”

I threw the wadded-up shirt at his stupid face. “Just tell me!”

He stepped close and cupped my chin in his hand, tilting my face up to his. His eyes swam with secrets and something like regret. “Yes, Ratter. The answer is yes. Last night, I kissed a goddess.”

It was so romantic, I felt slightly nauseous. I scowled up at him, even though my heart was doing ridiculous flips inside. “Just tell me. What happened? After the kiss. Where did you get that scar, and why do I think there’s something I should know about what caused it?”

Something important.

His gaze shuttered, and his smile dropped away. “I made a choice. And now, I must face?—”

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by a shout from the street. A grubby face appeared at the gate, one of my younger spies. Her mouth formed a perfect o as she noted how close Serak and I were standing. “Oooh, he was right. Uh, Boss says stop flirtin’ with the Pict spy and get to the castle!”

“Pict spy—” I began, but Serak was already on his way out of the courtyard, pulling the tattered shirt back on.

He called over his shoulder, “Hurry up. Verdanians are punctual.”

I followed behind him, feeling something unusual. Like, my balance was off, or… I checked my cloak pockets and breathed a curse. My vials had been replenished. Every pocket that lined the cloak had been restocked, the metal, wood, and ceramic containers all back in place. The garrote wire was still inside the hem, and the thin metal rods that made the very best skeleton keys for picking difficult locks were all inside the front seams. I frowned, unfastening one last pocket. There was a brand-new vial of veninspire, a poison Vilkurn had taken out of my cloak years before, and promised to give back when I was old enough.

This had to be his Solstice gift, though I didn’t understand how he’d gotten me to fall unconscious long enough to give it to me. Or why he’d done it, and cleaned me as well. I didn’t have time to wonder for long, since we were at the western castle wall within minutes.

I stopped, stunned at the sight that greeted me. It was barely dawn, but it looked like half the castle had turned out to wave me off. “Ratter!” more than one of them cried.

Serak paused, the sun behind his hair making an odd, fiery crown as he held up one hand and blew me a kiss. Then he vanished behind the gathered crowd as my crew greeted me, running out to meet me with most of the queen’s brood as well, each small hand held by one of my sisters or brothers. They peppered me with questions about the night before, but I waved to the rest of the gathered crowd.

“No time, rats. Gotta catch a donkey cart to Verdan. You know how it is.”

“Yeah. Pockets to pick, people to poison,” Verity said. “They look ripe for fleecing. I’m jealous.”

The royal family, and my family, were all gathered by the gate, but the caravan of horses, carts, and a few donkeys waited a few hundred paces away. Verity was right. Most of them wore far nicer jewels than was safe around someone like me, and not nearly enough weapons.

I grinned back at my sister. “You can come next time.”

The first of the queen’s consorts to approach was Axe. His massive, scarred handsmoved quickly, his dark eyes dancing. “ You can’t leave Turino yet, little thief. You’ve saved the lives of everyone but me ,” he signed.

I arched an eyebrow, signing back, “ Are you not counting the times I saved you from death by harp?”

“Harp?”

He’d given me and all my siblings small harps when we’d been adopted. The others had all taken lessons with Axe, with varying degrees of success. I had been a complete failure as a musician, and had pretended to lose my harp after three lessons. Axe hadn’t pressed the issue.

“Yes, death by harp. Vilkurn tells me my playing is almost as deadly as veninspire.”

“Did you pack yours?” he asked, his dark eyes gleaming with humor.

“Of course I did,” I replied. “ I can make a person fling themselves off a cliff, just to avoid having to hear me play. And the strings make decent garrotes.”

To my surprise, he reached over and tousled my hair. “Come back in one piece, little thief. Our city won’t be the same without you.”

“I will,” I said aloud.

“We’ll hold you to that promise, Ratter,” King Rigol said, walking forward to greet me with Vali on one arm. Holding Vali’s other arm was Dashiell, who nodded sheepishly at me. I winked back and took the king’s offered hand, dipping into a bow.

The queen let go of Dash and took my hand next. She had something in her palm.I took it and slid it into a pocket without missing a beat. “We’re going to miss you so, Ratter. Your Aunt Cilla would come to say goodbye, except?—”

“Her heat,” I said quietly. “Give her a hug for me, and tell her I’ll write.”

“I will.” Leaning forward, she whispered, “That’s from her. Enough to get one like us through at least a half year. Ask our sister Valerie for more if you need.”

I nodded slightly, understanding. It was either contraceptive herbs or the cycle-suppressing ones that were harder to find, and only for Omegas. I tried not to be annoyed that everyone seemed to know what I’d thought was a secret.

Vali’s consorts were all there as well, which surprised me. One of them, General Tarn, had been on a long, tricky diplomatic trip. I winced as he gave me an admonishing look. “Ah, Ratter. The bane of my political existence. The current King of Mirren asked that you be delivered to the Northern capital for immediate execution. I attempted to convince him that banishment was a better alternative. I failed.”

“Current king?” I asked, while Vali hugged me one last time, almost as tearfully as Haven had.

“Well, he called for the death of one of my favorite people in the world,” Tarn said with a predatory smile. “So I made certain our diplomats will have a more intelligent monarch to deal with the next time we reach out.”

“After the damned war,” Vilkurn grumbled, stepping close. “Be careful, apprentice.”

“Yes, Boss,” I replied, my voice raspier than it should be. “When am I not?” He sneered, but I went on. “Thanks for the gift.”

He blinked. “The horse? You’re welcome. Her name’s Rogue, by the way.” He nodded to a small black mare that stood beside the last cart in the line. The ones at the front were starting to head out, and I didn’t have time to figure out why Vilkurn wasn’t acknowledging his gift. He was the only person who could have laid hands on that many poisons. It was the only possibility.

I hugged my dads, Haven, and my crew one last time, then ran to the mare, greeting her before mounting easily. She was the perfect size, with a bit of mischief in her eye, too. We were going to get along quite well.

I clicked my teeth, and Rogue broke into a gentle trot. After an hour or so, one brave idiot slowed his mount to join me where I rode, a half mile behind the caravan. He was an Alpha, one I hadn’t seen before. He had the look of a merchant’s third son, his clothing slightly worn and stained with either this morning’s breakfast, or last night’s ale.

“My lady, might I say, this morning is glorious, but you… you are a vision even more divine.”

“You may not,” I replied amiably.

He took it as a challenge. “But I must! Your eyes shine like hammered silver, your skin like the sun has kissed it, though the moon shimmers beneath, lending a mysterious glow. The Goddess favors you, lending you Her beauty on this mortal plane.”

This time, my tone was a promise of death. I was still pissed that She’d done something to make me lose a chunk of time from the night before. “Stop.”

“My admiration cannot be stopped, my lady. Your hair gleams in the morning sunlight like dark obsidian— ahhh! ” The dagger to his throat finally did the trick, and he fell from his horse, his head making an unsurprisingly hollow sound when it hit the earth.

Vilkurn would have been proud. I’d promised not to kill any more Alphas in Turino and I’d kept that promise. I hadn’t gone for one of my new poisons, or slit his throat, and when I rode away, he was still breathing.

Well, I was pretty sure he was.

I clicked my teeth, encouraging my mare to catch up to the group. The Alpha hadn’t been wrong. It really was a glorious morning, I thought, as I examined the hilt of my dagger. It was in perfect condition, though it felt light somehow, the obsidian gems glossy and bright.

Serak hadn’t even noticed when I’d taken it from his belt sheath, and replaced it with one of my own. I didn’t feel guilty at all for taking it back. He was a spy, after all, from a nation no one trusted, especially me. Who knew what he would’ve done with it, if I’d allowed him to take it back to his Alldyns Vug, or whatever he’d called it. Anyway, he’d gotten a good trade for it after all. A kiss from a Goddess.

Maybe someday, when we were older, I’d let him have it back.

Or maybe not.