Lupi 04 - Night Season

didn’t ask. I guess he will, though.” She took two quick steps, though there was nowhere to go. “I guess I’ll have to tell him.”
    â€œLies can be useful in our profession,” Ruben said calmly, “but I think you don’t want to use your father. Did you tell him about the baby?”
    Cynna’s mouth opened. Nothing came out. She felt her cheeks heating and decided she would sit down, after all. One of the hard chairs was right behind her, so she used it. “You heard.”
    â€œTash mentioned it. She assumed I already knew.”
    No privacy, no privacy at all on that damned barge. “I only just found out myself, and I haven’t told anyone. Except Cullen, that is, and he already knew. Everyone here seems to just know somehow. I thought…I should have told you.”
    â€œI’m sure you would have. Events have forced us along at a rapid pace. I take it Mr. Seabourne is the father?”
    Cynna nodded, miserable. She felt like such an idiot. She wanted to tell him she’d been on the pill, that it hadn’t happened because she was careless. She couldn’t make herself speak.
    Ruben waited another beat, giving her a chance to continue, than said crisply, “Tell me about the ugly dress.”
    He didn’t call her Agent Weaver, but she heard the switch clearly—and with great relief, though she’d probably obsess over his reaction later. “They’ve got all these ideas about how color signifies caste and profession. Adrienne was explaining…ah, she’s my maid. A human.” She glanced around, then looked a question at him. He answered with a slight shake of his head, so she went on, “This room doesn’t work so well for you, does it? Everything’s too low. Makes it hard to transfer.”
    â€œMy man is seeing about obtaining different furnishings as well as more appropriate clothing. I was offered a pale blue gown with an orange and green robe.”
    She grinned. He’d said “my man” like he’d had a personal manservant all his life. “I’d like to see that.”
    â€œYou won’t.”
    The door swung open. “It’s boring here. Where’s Cullen Seabourne? I want to go swimming.”
    Gan’s fashion sense fit right in. She wore an electric blue robe over a snug little sheath striped in yellow and green and purple. No shoes, but she had added socks to the ensemble. “We can’t swim now,” Cynna said. “We have to meet with the Council soon.”
    â€œYou have to meet the stupid Council. I don’t.”
    â€œI do.” Cullen sauntered through the doorway. He was looking very mild and peaceable, except for his eyes. Blue could burn. “I suspect you’d be bored, though, so you’re right. No reason for you to go to the meeting. You trust us to make the right decisions, don’t you? Or maybe it’s the Council you trust.”
    Gan glared at him. “I’m not stupid.”
    â€œThen don’t say stupid things. Your life may not depend on recovering the medallion, but your testing does.”
    Emotions did a quick-march all over Gan’s ugly, expressive little face. She wanted to argue so badly. She settled for kicking one of the pillows. “I’ll go to the stupid meeting, but I don’t have to be here .” She stomped out the door, leaving it open.
    Cynna grinned. “Guess she told you.”
    â€œI’m abashed. You’ll get your pants.”
    â€œGood. What has you so pissed off?”
    â€œMe?” His eyebrows lifted. “Why do you say that?”
    â€œPissed may not be the right word. Temper’s a quick thing for you—it comes, it goes. This is different. Something got to you.”
    â€œYour maid,” he said in that light, pleasant voice, “offered me sex.”
    McClosky had come up behind him. “That upsets you?” He was dry, amused. “I would have thought—”
    Cullen spun to face him. “That I enjoy coerced sex? Because that’s what it would have been. She didn’t want me. She’s afraid of me. Afraid, period, I believe, but specifically afraid of me. Did your servant offer you sex?”
    A hint of color flushed McClosky’s cheeks. A veil of anger darkened his eyes. “He may have hinted, but I didn’t get angry with him for it. This is a different culture. We can’t judge.”
    â€œCullen