She didn’t dare meet his eyes.
Finally, he coughed and set down his now-empty bowl. He reached for his steaming tea and took a sip of it, his gaze set on her the entire time. “Well, we should discuss what happened last night.”
Biyu lowered her bowl on the table and clutched her tea instead. It warmed her fingers and she stared at it, keeping her attention averted from him. “I already told you what happened last night.”
“You told me a story that doesn’t make much sense.”
“The guard fell asleep. I tried escaping, but I looked for my cat first. Then you saw me. That’s what happened.” The lie came out more easily than before, flowing through her as if that was truly what had transpired. She finally raised her eyes to meet his, and she didn’t wince back at the suspicion she saw there, the thinly veiled mistrust. It seemed to take everything in him not to glare at her, but she could see the twitching of his lips. Like he wanted to scowl. Snap at her. Or worse. “Why would I willingly go to the mage quarters when they could easily find me and bring me to His Majesty? I truly had no idea where I was, and I was frantic to find Jade so we could leave together.”
Nikator took another sip of his tea. Those blue eyes burned into her from above the rim of the cup. He set it down, then sprawled his muscular arms along the top of the couch. She hated how her attention flicked over to the way the material of his shirt stretched taut over his broad chest, outlining the corded muscles. He appeared casual. Calm. And very much not the murderous warrior he was. Like he hadn’t tortured three men a few hours ago. Like he wasn’t planning something nefarious.
Then, finally, he said, “You’re a fucking liar.”
She nearly dropped her own cup, then took a quick drink to keep from blurting something else. “I’m not a … a liar.”
“Oh, please.” Another eye roll. “You and I both know you weren’t there because you lost your cat.”
“I really was?—”
“Drop the act. You’re not as innocent, naïve, and harmless as everyone seems to believe.” His eyes narrowed once more. “What were you doing in the mage quarters, Princess?”
“I told you already!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“That’s your own fault,” Biyu said with a frown. “What do you think I was doing there, then?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. What do you gain from the mage quarters? Or were you perhaps in the library?”
“The library? Why would I go there?” Sweat trickled down her spine.
She didn’t miss the way he was watching her carefully, looking for cracks in her demeanor, in the way she spoke, or carried herself. He was trained in these matters.
Nikator continued to assess her, his eyes flicking over from her head to her toes. She wouldn’t give him a reason to suspect her any further, even though she was lousy at lying and keeping a cool demeanor. Liqin always told her that, too. She was never good at anything, really. But she had to be now, because it would be the difference between life and death.
Biyu pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and he tracked that movement. She eyed the dark leathers he wore and the shadows beneath his eyes, indicating that he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night; and how could he if he had been torturing those three guards, carving their bodies up, and then propping them at the front entrance of the palace to give off a deadly message? A gift.For her.
“Why did you …” Biyu set her tea on the table and fiddled with the sleeve of her dress, forgetting that she was supposed to remain calm and unbothered, but she couldn’t help but fidget. Not when an uncomfortable question loomed between them. “Why did you torture those men? You didn’t have to. It doesn’tmatter to you whether I’m … abused by them or not. So why did you do it?”
A muscle on his jaw twitched. “No one is allowed to touch you. Disgraced as you are, you are still a royal. And that means something.”
Of course he was upholding the image of royalty; if people saw that they could do whatever they wanted with her, a MuRong from the previous dynasty, then it only showed how easy it was for a royal to be used and abused. It didn’t look good for the current royal family.
Something akin to …disappointmentreleased in her chest.
Which was ridiculous, because why did she care that he had made such a horrible display of power for something other than her own safety?
It was a message to everyone and to her, of what he was capable of, what he would do to her if he found out the truth.
“You said earlier that you dismissed my guards. Do you mean …allof them?” she asked, trying to change the subject away from herself and the cruelty he had showed to those deserving three. “Because I assure you, not all of them are bad people. Some of them are great guards; I don’t think they should be fired from their positions, or … or lose their livelihood. Furthermore, I wasn’t under the impression that you held power in this palace, so how did you dismiss them so easily?”
Plus, it only hurt her to have her guards dismissed; the whole reason Yat-sen had wanted her help wasbecauseof how incompetent her guards were. They didn’t think of her as a threat and didn’t treat her like one, which made her the ultimate trump card. But if Nikator fired all of them and hired new ones in their place—new guards who would see the display he had set in front of the palace and who would know to act accordingly—it would then make her plan more complicated.
Nikator was still watching her in that careful way of his. Calculating. Weighing his options. He took another sip of his tea, which had cooled. “What do you know of the Peccata?”
“There are … six of you?” she asked, probing for an answer—because nobodyreallyknew how many warriors belonged to His Majesty’s lethal force—but he gave none. So she cleared her throat and continued, “You … are all powerful and … foreign? None of you are from Huo, but you speak the language well enough.”
When she didn’t add anything else, he waved his hand, ushering her to speak more.
