Tangled Web by Crista McHugh

the room.
    She unwound the palla from her head and tossed it on the cushions. Time to stop playing games. She removed the vial from between her breasts and poured the powder into one of the goblets on the table. Then she added a small amount of wine, swirling the liquid to dissolve the poison, before filling it to the brim. Even if Titus was paranoid enough to hire a food taster, he wouldn’t detect it until tomorrow. All she needed to do now was make sure he had a sip of wine before beginning with the evening’s pleasantries.
    Disgust filled her when she noticed her trembling hands. She balled them up into fists and forced herself to sit on the cushions while she waited for her prey.
    …
    “I think you handled those sycophants rather well, Titus,” Marcus said with a touch of laughter in his voice. “The only other thing I’d suggest is hanging the threat of execution over their heads if they follow you outside the throne room.”
    Titus chuckled. After being chased back his private quarters last night, he made it very clear that anyone who followed him past the door tonight would suffer the consequences. Anyone except Marcus, that was. They’d been friends practically since the cradle, and most of the court knew that. In fact, some of the nobles had begun whispering their thoughts in Marcus’ ear as soon as Titus’s father became ill, hoping to gain favor with the heir to the throne through him.
    “I’m just grateful for a few minutes of solitude.”
    His friend nodded. “Any plans for the evening?”
    Heat rose into his cheeks. Despite his determination to remain focused on the needs of the empire, his thoughts kept returning to the Alpirion temptress waiting for him in his chambers. Was it wrong of him to want to see her dressed like the women who adorned the exquisitely erotic paintings he’d seen hung in art galleries? “I’ll be dining with Azurha.”
    “Azurha?” Marcus cocked one eyebrow. “Is that her name?”
    “Yes.” He hoped his clipped reply would end the conversation, but his friend had other ideas.
    “Alpirion?”
    “Yes.”
    “You never struck me as the type who found the darker skinned women attractive.”
    Titus stopped and spun around on his heel. “Just because I’m forced to marry a Deizian woman doesn’t mean my tastes are exclusive to them. Azurha has these eyes that make me…” His voice drifted off as he remembered the hunger in those teal eyes as he made her come last night. His cock stiffened. If this conversation continued much further, the evidence for his desire would be on display for anyone to see.
    “So, in other words, she’s not your normal Alpirion slave girl?”
    “Far from it.” But she was also a gift from Pontus and, therefore, needed to be handled with caution. If he could gain her trust, perhaps he could learn the truth behind why his cousin sent her here.
    He pressed his hand against the plate outside his door, and his fingers tingled. Simple magic like this, he could handle. Reinforcing the barriers was an entirely different matter. He dreaded repeating that over and over again every day of his reign. Gods forbid if he needed to call upon stronger magic like his grandfather did when he finally conquered the Alpirions.
    His thoughts turned to the one Alpirion waiting for him in his chambers. What kind of magic would he have to summon to gain her trust, to get her to surrender herself to him without letting the terrors of her past dictate her actions?
    The door opened, and Azurha rose from the cushions in the middle of the room. His breath caught. Yes, she was every bit as alluring as he imagined she would be in that dress. The sheer linen hugged her breasts, doing little to conceal her dark areolas before flaring out over her sensuous hips. The only thing that kept her from matching the paintings was the way her hair had been pinned up in an Elymanian style instead of cascading down her back.
    A smile touched her full lips when she met his gaze. If