Broken But Unburnt

Chapter 34 - Gisella

Chapter 34: Gisella

Palace of the Centauri Throne: Kingdom of Karil

In any other circumstances, Gisella would have positively refused a dress. The big, sweeping ballgowns of the elite had never been to her taste. They came across as gaudy, tacky, and so unforgivably vain. But this one was exquisite. Made to her exact measurements, it tapered where other gowns flared and cinched where others smoothed. She smiled at herself in the mirror as Sara, wearing a similar grin on her own lips, piled her hair atop her head in a tantalizing mop of curls that took her most of the afternoon to wrestle into Gisella's usually straight hair.

The gown was a midnight blue, dipping low in the neck, nearly to her navel, so that her cleavage was on full display. It was backless, tied in a slinky halter around her neck, and hugged her curves perfectly as it trailed to the floor, the only break in fabric the long slit on her left side.

You don't think I can seduce a king? Gisella thought, eying her reflection with a smirk. You don't think I can tempt a prince? You'll see what true seduction looks like this evening, Nicolas.

At some point during her inspection of herself, someone must have knocked upon the door for Gisella could hear Sara speaking with them.

"The captain is here," Sara spoke after a moment and Gisella thanked her, stepping away from the mirror and toward the door.

"Nicolas sent me to brief you on–"

The words died on his tongue as Ronin's jaw dropped. His gaze lingered, drinking her in much longer than was strictly necessary as someone undoubtedly assigned as her command.

"Brief me on..." Gisella goaded, enjoying the Captain's speechless blinking as he continued to eye her from head to toe.

"Toura," he blurted, forcing himself to meet her gaze, his cheeks blossoming a pink most unfitting for the Captain of the Royal Karilish Guard. "Relations with Toura are tense. They may be made more so if you blunder this evening."

"Nicolas told me the king was a cad," Gisella said, stepping out into the hall and shutting the door behind her as they began to walk toward the king's personal dining hall

"He is," Ronin replied with a nod, making a concentrated effort to look at everything in the hall but her. "But he's a cad that's been caught. His most recent scandal happened only a few weeks ago. Part of his cycle of behavior is that he beds some woman who claims her fifteen minutes of fame by telling the world about it and then he remains fiercely loyal to his wife for a few months before the whole cycle repeats itself. Unfortunately for us, he is firmly mired in the fiercely loyal bit of the cycle, meaning that he will look at you but he won't act."

"Well, if I had known that–"

"But his son. Prince Nariman, cares little for politics. He will be looking for a distraction all evening. Be that distraction."

"I know how to seduce a man, Captain. I don't need lessons from you," Gisella snapped, not exactly certain why she was so irritated by the insinuation but irritated all the same.

They had reached the hall just outside of the king's private dining room. She marched toward the doors but Ronin reached out and grabbed her, spinning her around to face him. She opened her mouth to berate him for daring to touch her but the genuine concern in his eyes stopped the words before they left her mouth.

"Be careful, Gisella," he told her, eyes boring into hers with an intensity she hadn't expected. "Lust is not the prince's only sin."

With that, Ronin turned and walked off down the hall to enter through the other door, the one befitting the Captain of the Guard. Gisella stared after him for a moment, blinking, a chill running up her spine. Pushing the thought from her mind, she turned and squared her shoulders once before striding into the dining room with a luminous smile on her lips.