Poisonous Lies by Abby James

Author:Abby James [James, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

He’d not seen Merriala for some time now, thanks to Sargon, who’d kept his mother on a tight leash, forbidding her movements, stripping her of her privileges as mother to the commander-in-chief. The three of them had occasionally spoken of her, using Sargon’s spies to keep tabs on her. She was even a prime suspect of Miss Tule’s. There was a lot they knew about her plots, but in equal measure, if not more, there were a lot of her secrets hidden from them. After all, she’d not risen to where she was, wife to the second-in-command, without cunning.

Ryker slowed as he approached her. She stood in the center of the paving, blocking his way, so there was no confusion as to who she had appeared for. The dark shadowing on her eyelids reflected the deep purple of her eyes, Sargon’s eyes, not that he would want to acknowledge there was anything of her in him. But whether he liked it or not, there were enough similarities if you bothered to look close.

She was a striking woman. Ryker had always understood Logan’s weakness in marrying Merriala. No other courtesan could compare. But Logan’s mistake became Ryker’s teacher, and he’d never taken a courtesan, despite the tradition and Madame Lorraine’s vocal displeasure. Sargon had weakened once or twice and allowed Madame Lorraine to arrange a little gift—one had even lasted six months—but Ryker had and always would refuse.

“Ryker, my dear. It’s a pleasant surprise.”

“I’m sure.”

“You find me without a breakfast partner.” She smirked and flicked a quick glance toward The Blue Piper.

“What do you want, Merriala?”

“I think you may find my conversation stimulating.”

“Don’t count on it.”

“Really, Ryker, you’re still hanging to your burden of animosity after all these years?”

Merriala had loathed Sargon’s friendship with Ryker in school. Sargon was the son of a high-ranking officer and Ryker the orphan living with his aunt in middle-class suburbia. She’d hated the fact Ryker had somehow managed to retain his place at Rigonday, a school for boys of the elite, despite his aunt’s inability to afford the fees, and she’d tried on countless occasions to have the boys separated or Ryker thrown out; all of this he’d learned through overheard conversations while enduring another round of detention in a boxed room next door to the headmaster’s office. A few locks picked and some snooping through the headmaster’s office at night gave him a greater insight into Merriala’s venom. He’d found countless letters to the headmaster addressing her concern for Sargon’s involvement with the orphan boy, who had no right to his place at the school.

Ryker was the troublemaker, the one to encourage Sargon and Chett into mischief that had them regularly threatened with expulsion. Living in the headmaster’s office for most of his schooling, Ryker was subjected to a running monologue on replay about how the school waived his fees so he could continue to study at Rigonday, and how much of a disgrace he was with his disrespect for the privilege so generously given to him.

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