Chapter 5: Dinner for Three

The envoy had laid the long black table with silver for three.

Rina sat at Kaldrith's right hand in a deep green dress the steward had let out in two hours, and she kept her smile on.

The ring box sat beside her plate.

The envoy raised his glass at the far end.

"To the Lady's health," he said. "And to the king's good gift. Will you not wear it?"

Rina opened the box.

A gold ring lay in the velvet, with a green stone as big as a thumbnail.

She did not put it on.

Under the table, a large warm hand settled on her thigh.

Kaldrith did not look at her.

He lifted his own glass and watched the envoy over it, and his thumb began to move in a slow line along the inside of her knee.

Her breath snagged.

She kept her face still.

"It is very handsome," she said. "May I see it by the lamp?"

"Of course."

She tilted the ring toward the flame.

Kaldrith's thumb slid an inch higher, and her voice almost went.

"The stone is a little loose," she said carefully.

"It is well made. The king's own goldsmith."

"It has a hinge."

The smile on the envoy's face stayed very still.

Rina pressed her thumbnail to the edge of the stone and it swung open, tiny and neat.

A pinch of white powder sat in the hollow.

Nobody at the table moved.

Under the cloth, Kaldrith's hand tightened on her thigh until she felt each claw press through the silk.

"What a strange place for a stone to open," Rina said brightly, and her voice only shook a little. "Is it a perfume?"