Wyvern's Prince by Deborah Cooke

[Disguisedagent]

Gemma pivoted at the sound of a key in the lock to the corridor. The maid!

“Here’s your only chance to get out of here,” the toad muttered. “Do I have to explain it and can you figure it out all alone?”

“Oh, shut up or I’ll leave you behind,” Gemma had time to say before the door swung open and the maid entered the room. She seemed to be startled to find Gemma waiting for her, even though she carried a tray with a steaming bowl upon it.

“I trust you slept well, my lady?”

“I did, thank you,” Gemma said with a smile. She acted like a fool, the better to win the girl’s trust. “That smells delicious. Could you set breakfast on the balcony for me? I love the view of the trees! Look at the sunlight on my ring!”

* * *

Venero was impressed by Gemma. At the sound of the key in the lock, her manner changed completely. He could have been watching a different person than the woman he’d been arguing with just moments before.

He admired anyone who could play a role when necessary. He didn’t like deceit much, but sometimes a small deception served the greater good. If the maid under-estimated Gemma, they would have a better chance of escape.

But it was more than that: he’d seen Gemma nude and he couldn’t forget it. She was beautiful. Ideal, even. She had creamy breasts, which he thought to be the perfect size, and the way her nipples tightened in the cool morning breeze had been particularly distracting.

He’d wanted to touch her.

No, he’d wanted to caress her. He’d been sure he’d despise her, given her shape shifting abilities, but the reaction Gemma provoked in him was the very opposite. He wanted her in all the ways he couldn’t have her. And that was strange: he liked ornamental women as sexual partners, and skilled warriors as companions. He’d never met a woman who he admired in both ways. Arista, for example, had been a good companion and partner in battle, but he’d felt no sexual desire for her at all.

Of course, Arista hadn’t really been a woman, so maybe that explained everything.

Venero’s reaction to Gemma was so uncharacteristic that it confused him.

Maybe that was the result of his recent celibacy. Years as a toad had left him with many unsatisfied urges. Maybe any attractive woman would have provoked such a reaction in him. Maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe he’d reward them both with a satisfying interlude after she helped him to earn his own freedom.

He hoped she got them out of here and soon.

Venero forced himself to listen and watch.

Gemma was all grace and solicitude, complimenting the maid so much that Venero thought she overdid it a bit. The girl blushed and beamed, though, more than happy to move a table for her gracious lady and get a cushion for the chair. She admired the ring at Gemma’s insistence, and smiled at the way the light flashed in the stone. She set out the meal, barely noticing how Gemma moved behind her.

Venero blinked as Gemma incapacitated the maid, her attack as quick as lightning and more effective than he expected. The maid was struck and she fell, but Gemma caught her. She was stripped naked, gagged and trussed helpless in the blink of an eye. She was unconscious but he guessed not injured.

He recognized the move from Arista. It was a trick of those trained on Cumae to stun a victim just long enough to see that individual bound, and it wasn’t easily done. It required a perfect balance of force and gentleness, as well as meticulous timing.

As he watched, Gemma touched the maid’s temple with a care completely at odds with the inflicting blow, a gesture Venero remembered well.

It had to be true, then, that Gemma had trained on Cumae. It was part of the story of the royal family of Incendium that the second daughter of the king had trained on Cumae and led a regiment of mercenaries on her return to her home planet, but Venero had always thought it was just propaganda. He hadn’t been able to believe that any princess would undertake that kind of physical challenge, much less succeed at it. Gemma’s moves proved that she had done it, and probably graduated at the top of her class.

He was impressed, so impressed that he almost forgot to watch Gemma dress.

Urbanus moaned a little more loudly then, recalling him to the situation. Venero hopped toward Gemma. “Hurry!”

The girl’s lashes fluttered as Gemma was putting on her boots. The maid blinked and frowned, then wriggled as Gemma pulled the lavish coverlet over her.

“I am sorry,” Gemma whispered. “It’s my only way out. Are you quite comfortable?”

The girl nodded, her amazement echoing Venero’s own. Gemma pulled her wedding band from her finger then and pushed it onto the girl’s smallest finger. Her hands were more plump than Gemma’s.

“Since you like it,” Gemma whispered. “Sell it if you like.”

The maid’s eyes widened and Venero knew she’d never imagined that she’d even touch such a ring, let alone possess it.

But Gemma didn’t look back. She seized the bucket from the water and the key from the door, then nudged her pet with her toe. As soon as she opened the door, the pavofel shot through the gap in a streak of vivid blue-green.

“Oh, my lady! The pavofel!” Gemma cried, mimicking the maid’s voice.