"You wouldn't rather we search for a way to allow you to be your own master?" I asked him.
Booker's hands raised, hovering over my waist for a moment before landing lightly, still too afraid to touch me properly. But he stepped closer so I had to lean back to look up at him and shook his head, slow and deliberate.
"This is what I want. To care for you. You want that for me too," Booker said, smiling.
His own smile was so small and genuine, I wondered how it had taken me so long this morning to recognize he'd been meddled with. Booker was right—I did want to care for him. I trusted Auguste, the others too, but this was about more than his safety. It was his ability to make his own choices.
"What if I accidentally use my will when I'm…you know," I said, shrugging and blushing.
Ezra let out a soft chuckle behind me, and Booker lowered his head, firm lips against my ear. "It would be my pleasure."
I tried to pinch his chest for that answer, but of course, it was useless.
Magdalena cleared her throat behind us. "If it's any consolation, you will have to be focusing in order to influence Booker. While you're in the throes of passion is probably the least likely time for you to do anything of the sort accidentally."
"We can practice," Booker added in a scratchy whisper.
I shivered at the suggestion, glaring at him out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't resist my rising smile.
"Very well, yes. I'll take the tether," I said.
Booker kissed my temple, one hand moving down to cup my ass and the other reaching up to barely brush against the marks Birsha had left on my throat.
"Much as I hate to bring him into this, does anyone else think we ought to tell the sphinx?" Ezra chimed in from the back.
I tensed, and Magdalena released a weary sigh.
"Auguste too," Mr. Tanner said. "He'll want to know."
"Tonight then," Magdalena said with a nod. "They'll be informed, but it's Booker and Esther who make the choice. Now, unfortunately, I have even more unpleasant business to attend to."
Ezra caught my eye as Magdalena left the room, his lips pressed flat as I raised my eyebrows. Mary, I wondered. Had he told Magdalena of what we'd seen?
Ezra nodded once in answer, and a puff of breath escaped my lips.
Rooksgrave was turning topsy turvy.
* * *
"Will you let me heal those?"Amon asked, his hand reaching across the table to squeeze mine gently.
Jonathon sat up straighter, blinking at Amon. "Can you?"
Amon shrugged. "Not myself, but I have an oil of Heka which—"
"May I have some?"
Amon's eyes narrowed at Jonathon and then relaxed again as I answered his squeeze with one of my own.
"To study it. I'd only need a small amount," Jonathon clarified with an embarrassed half-smile.
"Then, yes. There is enough to spare, I think," Amon said.
Amon had taken the news of my attack with an entirely unexpected calm, only staring at my bruises and asking, "Birsha did this? I see."
"That'd be lovely, thank you," I said to Amon. We were having soup for lunch in my private sitting room. It was the easiest thing to swallow, but it still stung every time.
Amon sighed and pushed back from the table, patting his lap in invitation for me. I left my seat, straddling his thighs with my nightgown bunched on his lap. He looked down with a brief flare of interest, his tail swinging closer to coil around one calf and tickle my heel with the tufted end.
"What's in the oil?" Jonathon asked leaning closer as Amon pulled the bottle from his pocket. It was made of a murky yellow glass, and the cork was sealed with wax that Amon bit off and spit away.
"You would have to ask Heka," Amon said, a little tight, before adding to me, "God of Medicine and Healing."
My eyes widened at the news, but before I could ask any questions, Amon dipped his finger into the oil and then traced it over the dark marks on my throat.
"Oh!" I gasped at the warm burn of the oil, my throat flexing on the sigh. The oil had a strong fragrance that reminded me of Amon himself, and it made my skin tingle and almost crawl, but the relief was nearly immediate.
"It looks like it's stimulating the blood vessels," Jonathon murmured, leaning in close, not noticing the way Amon's nose wrinkled briefly.
"Better, Esther?" Booker grunted, crossing to join Jonathon in his staring.
I grinned at Amon's faint annoyance at our growing crowd, the way his lips curled back in a snarl as Ezra joined the others with a smirk on his lips. My thief was just following to be a pest. I rewarded Amon's tolerance with a little wiggle on his lap to scoot closer, sliding my hands into his jacket to rest on his chest. His narrowed eyes turned hooded, lips softening with amusement.
"Much better," I said with a nod, stretching my neck for them to admire. Ezra's eyes slid right down to the gaping neck of my nightgown.
"And your tether to the—to Booker, it will prevent Birsha from interfering with him again?" Amon asked.
I nodded, biting my lip and waiting to see if Amon's objections started now. They wouldn't shake my decision, but they would test Amon's commitment to getting along with the others.
He surprised me again, nodding slowly. "I think this is a wise course of action. He will be a good—" Amon grimaced as I pinched him and then blinked at me before clearing his throat. "The two of you will be safer with such a connection."
Oh, Amon was improving. I leaned forward to kiss him in thanks, just as there was a muffled screech from the hall outside. Amon rose abruptly from the chair with me in his arms. He twisted, trying to pass me to one of the others, not realizing it was Ezra. It didn't matter, we were all hurrying to the door together, Amon's shoulders rising with tension, Booker's steps heavy at my side, his hand catching mine.
But it was clear the moment Amon opened the door what was happening.
"I hated this fucking place anyway!"
I winced and Ezra sighed, setting me down on my feet, letting me wiggle past Amon to peer out into the hall. All down the hall, other girls had their heads poking out of doorways, even one with an elfin man at her side.
"Mary," Cassie hissed to me from the other side of the hall.