Naamah's Blessing

callused palms gliding over my breasts. The combination of gentleness and coarseness was tantalizing and exquisite, my nipples growing tight and aching under his touch. “I like you best in no clothing at all.”
    I laughed breathlessly. “I do not think that would go over well at Court!”
    “Why ever not?” One hand dipped beneath the silk folds pinned around my waist, stroking my thigh. He kissed the side of my throat, and I let my head fall back on his shoulder. “You are very, very beautiful,Moirin.” His hand slid between my thighs, one finger parting my nether-lips and slipping inside me, the heel of his palm rubbing against Naamah’s Pearl. “And very, very wet.”
    Holding me effortlessly in place with one arm, Bao kissed my throat, teased and fingered me to a gasping climax.
    Afterward, he unpinned my sari, unwinding the complicated folds with care. “I will miss these, after all.”
    “So it seems.” I regarded him languorously, hooking my fingers in the drawstring waist of his loose Bhodistani breeches. I could feel his taut phallus straining beneath the fabric and blew softly on it, then looked up beneath my lashes at him, and licked my lips. “Shall I bid farewell to your attire?”
    He grinned. “You need to ask?”

FIFTEEN

    G ods, there was so much to be done!
    In the days that followed, Bao and I had a series of unsatisfying interviews with applicants for the post of royal nursemaid. All of them came with excellent credentials, having served in similar posts in one or more of the Great Houses of Terre d’Ange. Most of them struck me as competent; none of them struck me as possessing the combination of steady patience, discipline, and compassion necessary for coping with a willful, neglected child. Far too many of them seemed to possess a sense of entitlement based on the patronage of the families they had served in the past.
    With reluctance, I declined them all and continued the search, praying that the harried junior nursemaid Paulette wouldn’t reach her wits’ end.
    Bao continued his studies with Desirée and her tutor in the mornings, spending his afternoons at Eglantine House.
    I paid a visit to Bryony Associates, the banking-house where I had deposited a letter of credit over four years ago. I was pleased to find that Caroline nó Bryony, who had issued the original letter at their establishment in Bryn Gorrydum in Alba, had been transferred to the City of Elua, and was happy to serve as my personal factor.
    Unfortunately, she informed me that while a substantial balance remained, it was insufficient to purchase a suitable house in the City.
    “You’ve plenty of funds to see you through the winter,” Carolineassured me. “You can rent quarters at one of the finest inns in the City. Come spring, if you’re still looking to establish a household, we’ll send to Bryn Gorrydum to issue a new letter of credit.”
    I toyed with the signet ring my mother had given me, the ring bearing the twin crests of the Black Boar of the Cullach Gorrym and the swan of House Courcel. The ring marked me as a descendant of Alais the Wise, permitting me to draw on the trust my ancestress had created generations ago for her errant offspring who had fled civilization to live in the wilderness among the Maghuin Dhonn. “I had hoped it might be done sooner.”
    “I can imagine.” Caroline nó Bryony gave me a look at once shrewd and sympathetic. “Moirin, if you were the only descendant, I would gladly advance you funds against the trust. But there are others. I dare not, without knowing for sure none of the others have made claims. And that I cannot determine until spring when the Straits are calm enough to pass.”
    “It’s not likely.”
    “No.” She sighed. “It’s highly
unlikely
. But there are rules governing such matters, and Bryony Associates are strict about such matters.”
    “I understand,” I said.
    Caroline wrote out a letter of introduction in her graceful hand. “Present this at the Sauvillon Inn if you wish. I promise, it’s a very elegant establishment.”
    “I’m sure it is.” I didn’t doubt it; but I also didn’t doubt that taking lodgings at an inn, no matter how fine, failed to create an air of permanence that would reassure wary D’Angelines. “Thank you for your kindness.”
    Rising to bid me farewell, she gave me a rueful smile. “I wish I could do more. You’re a long way from the half-wild young Maghuin Dhonn savage who appeared in my quarters all