The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

hire a valet to wake him at a civilized hour.
    Dawn was not a civilized hour.
    The light filtering through the shuttered window seemed too bright for dawn. What time was it anyway?
    Kinnsell rolled over on the lumpy bed, refusing to open his eyes. The other side of the narrow straw-stuffed mattress was empty. Barely wider than a ship’s berth, the cot still had plenty of room to share with an intimate friend when neither one required privacy and touching delighted rather than offended.
    Where was Maia? She had promised to join him when she finished with the innkeeper.
    He glared at the smooth layer of blankets beside him! Then he threw the covers off the bed and stood up. None of last night’s fatigue and heaviness in his chest lingered. He needed a good breakfast and a hot shower with real water, not the sonic sprays required during space travel.
    Then he’d deal with Maia and her disloyalty. If he didn’t need the woman as hostage for the bush lord’s loyalty, he’d dump her here within easy distance of the capital for the magicians to find her again.
    But the bushie was tricky enough to hold Marilell, Kinnsell’s granddaughter, hostage as well as his loyalty in return for Maia.
    “I should have kidnapped the child myself, rather than trusting any local.” But Katie’s servants had been on the alert for him. He’d not sneak into or out of the palace easily, where Lord Balthazaan and his wife had free passage through the place.
    “Ah, you have arisen at last, Master Kinnsell,” Maia said, entering the room with a cloth-covered tray in her hands. She fairly bounced as she walked, and her black eyes sparkled.
    “I thought I locked that door,” Kinnsell snapped at her.
    “You did. But you opened it again for me when I returned to you at midnight. As I promised.” Her eyes narrowed seductively. “Then we broke our fast together and you slept again while I moved about the inn, asking questions. I have learned a great deal.”
    “I bet you have.” Kinnsell glanced at the bed. She hadn’t slept there. Her scent didn’t linger on the sheets, nor were there any stains left by sex. She lied. He gnashed his teeth, wishing he could leave her here. Not yet. But soon, she’d know his revenge.
    “I have ordered a hot bath for you, Master Kinnsell. You slept through the one I offered yesterday. It will be ready for you by the time you break your fast.” She whipped the cloth off the tray to reveal fresh bread, hot from the oven, salted fish, creamy cheese, and a bowl full of berries that had been dried and reconstituted in a rich sauce that smelled of wine and cloves. His mouth watered.
    “Peasant food,” he sneered.
    Yesterday? Had he slept through an entire day and two nights? Not likely.
    His stomach growled its emptiness and then twisted into an acidic rejection of any food. How long since he’d eaten? A day and two nights?
    He couldn’t think of food. He had to know how he had lost so much time to sleep. But it smelled delicious, and his stomach grumbled again with hunger.
    “ ’Tis the same meal ordered every morning by Master Magician Nimbulan and he comes from the most aristocratic of families. He’s first cousin to Lord Balthazaan,” Maia protested. She stared at the food and then looked up to Kinnsell with troubled eyes. All trace of pleasure left her expression.
    “Does everyone on this planet—er, in this country—eat such coarse bread? Can’t you mill finer flour than that.” Kinnsell wanted to make her squirm under his displeasure even though he longed to grab huge bites of the stuff.
    “ ’Tis the spent wheat from brewing ale. The king considers this bread a delicacy!” A fat tear rolled down her cheek. She pouted, pursing her lips forward in invitation for him to kiss away her sadness.
    Recognizing the ploy of women everywhere—with or without the spell of allure from psi powers—Kinnsell obeyed. Just this once he’d allow her to believe herself in control of their relationship. He brushed away the tear with his fingers and kissed the corner of her mouth. He dropped a second kiss on the enticing mole just to the right of her mouth, then another and another. . . .
    Stop this! he ordered himself. “If the king eats this bread, then I will, too,” he said breathlessly, wanting to taste more of her. But he must regain control of himself and of her. “See if you can hurry the bath. We must leave as soon as possible,” he added less gently.
    Maia rewarded him with a