No Greater Pleasure Read Online Free PDF Page B

been assigned. But here in Glad Tidings, we don’t waste food. Alchemy is not so profitable as to allow that.”
    Quilla paused in the refilling of his tea, which he’d drunk despite his protest about the sweetness. “My lord, the food would not be wasted. It could feed the stable staff or someone in the kitchen.”
    He scowled. “I suppose you pride yourself in thinking of a retort to my every comment?”
    This was going to be harder even than she’d first imagined. “It’s my place to know what you desire and to provide it without you having to ask. That is why you brought me here, isn’t it?”
    He looked her over without expression. “Yes.”
    “If you truly don’t wish me to bring food in the morning—”
    He waved a dismissive hand. “No. It’s fine.”
    She nodded and took a step back. “If it pleases you.”
    Gabriel said nothing else for a while, during which time, Quilla Waited. She used the time to meditate on the Five Principles. True patience is its own reward. Of the Five, she thought she would need this one most of all. She felt his gaze upon her, and she looked up with a smile.
    Gabriel was not smiling. “Do you do everything only if it pleases me?”
    She nodded. “Of course. That’s my function here.”
    “But what of what pleases you?”
    “I am your Handmaiden, my lord. I am your comfort. I am here to give you what you want before you want it. I’m here to give you what you need before you even know you need it. I am here so you will not have to think about anything else other than your own comfort and your own pleasure. If what you ask of me is within my ability to grant, I will do it. I will do whatever it is that you want, whether it be serving you on my knees or taking a whip to my back, if it pleases you, I will do it.”
    Quilla paused to contemplate him. “You do understand, don’t you, what I offer? That this is my pleasure and my purpose? To provide you with absolute solace, beyond dusting your books and making you tea?”
    “Why do you do this?”
    “You mean, beyond because you sent for someone, and they assigned me?”
    He nodded, watching her.
    She’d never had a patron who had not had at least the minimal instruction in the Order’s history and reason. She had seen no signs Delessan practiced any faith, but she assumed that even if he were not one of the anointed he’d have at least a basic grasp of the canon.
    “I do this,” Quilla told him, “because for every patron to whom I bring absolute solace another arrow returns to Sinder’s Quiver.”
    “And when his Quiver is filled, the Holy Family shall return to this plane and peace shall be restored.”
    His answer pleased her. “You do know.”
    He shrugged. “Foolishness.”
    Quilla lifted her chin. “You need not believe in my reasons for providing service, my lord. You need only be served.”
    “And ’tis all the same? You clean for me and help me around the workshop, you cater to my every whim, and in the end you’ll have done your part in bringing back the Holy Family.”
    “I do so believe, yes.”
    “And do you think this will happen in your lifetime? Is that why you work so hard at pleasing me?”
    Quilla shook her head. “I do not do it with hope that Sinder’s Quiver will be filled in my lifetime. That would be a selfish reason. Selfish is the heart that thinks first of itself.”
    Delessan stared at her, one hand to his chin. “This is what your Order teaches you?”
    “It’s one of our Five Principles. Yes.”
    He didn’t ask her what the others were. “There is no such thing as an unselfish heart.”
    “No,” she agreed. “But ’tis not impossible to rise above selfishness and find selflessness in its place.”
    She thought he meant to speak, but then without another word, he turned and stalked to his worktable and proceeded to ignore her. Quilla stared after him, bemused. What had Florentine said about him? Dark, like. Kind beneath, but dark on the surface.
    Truth be told,