"Absolutely wonderful honey wine, Deveren!" came Pedric's voice at his ear. "Imported?" His host shook his head. "Only from down the street. When he's not pouring ale or serving terrible food, old Jankiss at the Cat and Dog makes this."
"Dear gods, you're joking!" Pedric stared with wonder at the goblet in his manicured hand. "You can get this at the Cat and Dog?"
Deveren laughed. "No, Jankiss makes it, but he doesn't serve it there. I pay him far better than any of his customers would."
"Sweet Love, I shall have to do what I can to undercut you and get some of this nectar myself," replied Pedric.
Deveren laughed, took another sip of the superb wine from lowly origins, and continued to peruse the room.
Damir, looking elegant in black hose and a short houppelande of royal blue, was deep in conversation with Lord Vandaris. Deveren smiled to himself. Though the celebration was allegedly being held in Damir's honor, Deveren's brother had eyes only for the man who could help him most-the white-haired, good-natured head of the Braedon Council. Deveren estimated that it wouldn't be long before Damir steered Vandaris into a less public corner for some more private political conversation. He was right; a moment later, Vandaris leaned over to his daughter to excuse himself.
"Good gods!" yelped Pedric, startling Deveren. "Who is that lovely creature?"
Deveren smiled to himself. "Won't Marrika be jealous?"
Pedric's handsome mouth contorted in a sneer of disgust. "The unlamented Marrika has been consigned to the pages of history, old friend. Now, tell me about this vision talking so affectionately to our dear councilman-" he stopped abruptly. "And don't tell me that she's his daughter!"
"Alas," said Deveren, mimicking Pedric's affected banter, "I must say that indeed the fair Lorinda is the child of our good Vandaris." His voice dropped, and there was no laughter in it now. "I'd steer clear of her if I were you. The last thing one of us wants to do is get messed up with a councilman's family-especially Vandaris."
Clearly, Pedric had not heard him. He was staring, enraptured, at Vandaris's only child. And Deveren had to admit, there was much at which to stare. The young woman was tall, and her lustrous hair fell free about her shoulders. Most of her sisters in high society wore their hair either bound or piled atop their heads, laced with jewelry. Lorinda did not wear much jewelry at all. but her gown, though simple, draped her like the finest ornament. Her face was likewise bare, free of the often garish cosmetics that wealthy women used to color their lips, eyes, and mouth. Her skin was tanned, another departure from the current, milk-white fashion, and she seemed to like to laugh a great deal.
"I knew she'd been gone and had finally come home. Everybody knew that. But-" Pedric, for perhaps the first time in his life, was at a loss for words.
"She's been gone twelve years," Deveren explained. "Lorinda was sent at the age of eight to be one of the Tenders at Love's temple in Kasselton. When the former Blesser stepped down, she selected someone else to follow her as Blesser, so Lorinda returned home. This is the first time I've seen her make an appearance in public. Perhaps I should ask after her, see if she wants anything." He dead-panned this last line, and took a step toward the beautiful woman.
"Ah, no, Dev, I think I'll go convey your greetings for you." Pedric was moving before he had finished the sentence, and Deveren watched him go, worry in his hazel eyes.
So, thought Pedric as he stepped smoothly beside Lorinda, she's fresh out of the temple, eh? Shouldn't be too hard…
"Good evening, milady Lorinda. Welcome back to Braedon. I understand that you've just recently returned." He smiled charmingly. "Love's loss. I can tell just by looking at your fair face that you would have made a superb Blesser of Love."
He reached for her hand to kiss it, but somehow Lorinda managed to gracefully evade him. The look she shot him was decidedly cool. "Thank you for your welcome, milord…?"
"Pedric Dunsan, Lord Asakinn. But I'd like it if you'd call me Pedric." Again he tried for her hand, snared it this time, and brought it to his lips. It was surprisingly callused, but not unattractive. He attempted to turn it over, to place a feathery kiss on the sensitive wrist, when suddenly the workrough hand of the beauty of the hour wasn't there. He almost kissed his own hand, but recovered quickly.
"I'd prefer to keep things formal, Lord Asakinn."
Her voice was icy. If she was playing with him, she was doing it well. Mockingly, Pedric shivered. 'Trifle cold in here for early summer, don't you think? The winds usually blow," and he paused for effect, "warm and soft."
The brilliant dark eyes narrowed. "Excuse me."
She wasn't playing. She was serious. The realization unsettled him.
"No, wait!" The plea held none of the false calculation of his earlier chat, and Lorinda hesitated. Pedric swallowed. Her fragrance, a mixture of rose and honeysuckle, was devastating.
"I'm afraid I've made a bit of a fool of myself," he stammered. Her full lips twitched. She did not contradict him.
He took a deep breath. All or nothing, then.
Out it came. "All right: I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, despite the fact that you're not wearing any of those horrible cosmetics, or, I don't know, maybe because you're not wearing them, and I mean that, and I'm fascinated by the fact that you spent twelve years in Love's temple, and I think I'd truly like to get to know you better." He finished, and looked at her pleadingly.
"You look like a puppy," she said, but not unkindly.
His heart lifted, just a little, and the old playfulness returned in some small measure. "If I had a tail, I'd be thumping it on the floor, but I don't. I must content myself with looking pathetic and hoping my mistress will toss me a crumb of her affection."
Mirth played about her face, and finally she surrendered to it. She laughed easily, like a child, and Pedric felt his heart speed up at what merriment did to her already lovely visage.
"I'm afraid I owe you an apology," she said. Her voice, when warmed with friendliness, was music. "Ever since I've been back, I've been… well… almost attacked by young men who think that simply because I served the goddess Love I'm ready to sexually oblige anyone who asks."
Pedric blushed at her frank language. Never had he heard a woman — well, at least a woman of quality-speak so bluntly before. He also blushed at his own guilt. That had, of course, been exactly what he had thought.
While all the gods were honored in Byrn, Love was perhaps the favorite. Depicted as a naked little girl playing with a fawn, Love was the gentlest and most forgiving of the divinities. Her Blesser had a unique, and powerful, role. When young men reached the age of thirteen, they were sometimes called to Love's Blesser. She would be their instructor in the art of physical loving; to be selected by her was an honor. Like all the priests, Love's Blesser had attendants, known as Tenders. These children were selected from the better families to serve for twelve years. When they reached the age of twenty, a Tender would either be chosen to replace the Blesser as the new Blesser of the temple, or else her time of servitude had ended and she returned home. Pedric had assumed that a child used to being around so much sexual activity would have matured into a woman with "loose morals."
"Just because the act is familiar to me doesn't mean I have no reverence for it. The Tenders, you know, don't participate in the Rite of Initiation, just the Blesser. And it makes me furious that people would think…!" Lorinda's tanned face flushed with anger and embarrassment. "It's- it's very difficult to come back to the world outside of the temple when you've been sheltered there so long, that's all. And I've probably offended you and I'll get a lecture from my father tonight."