Seduce Me in Flames Read Online Free PDF Page A

Qua.”
    She scoffed at that, pushing back from the side of the bath and gliding through the water. “Oh. Her again.”
    “Yes, her.”
    “She is easily taken care of. Poison her food. People die in prison all the time.”
    “Poison can be discovered.”
    “Not if it’s done well.” She smiled wickedly. “I have learned a great many things from socializing with the emperor’s concubines. I must say, they are some very clever, vicious bitches. Did you know there is a potion of easily gettable herbs that prevents conception just as well as modern medicine can? It can be administered on the sly, in a simple glass of nectar or lemon water and the person drinking it would never know she was taking it.”
    “Are you telling me that they were poisoning one another of their ability to conceive?”
    “Why do you think the emperor had so few children?A child meant power. Successive children would put the heir in threat. A concubine’s power is attached to her abilities as a lover and mother. Rob them of motherhood and what is left? A skilled lover can hold her own in the emperor’s favor for only so long before he would become disgusted with her inability to conceive. You know your brother. His barren concubines infuriated him. He threw them over for something fresh the way one might discard a dress that has gone out of fashion. The only reason the princess was born so quickly to him was because he had only two concubines at the time. Not so much backbiting. Not so much danger.”
    “It’s a wonder the prince was ever born,” Balkin said, his astonishment clear.
    “A wonder indeed. There is also a potion to purge a womb. Anyone could have slipped this to the prince’s mother at any time during her pregnancy. But your brother had the foresight to isolate her, remove her from the House of Concubines. The story goes that Irinia, the prince’s mother, would drink only from fresh running water sources and only eat whole fruits and vegetables—methodical practice designed to avoid all attempts at poisoning her.”
    “Clever indeed. I don’t know if I should be fascinated or disgusted.”
    “The point is, there’s always a way. A drop of poison, the slip of a knife, or perhaps catching a trifle of a cold.”
    He laughed at her then. “Germ warfare now? Will you stop at nothing?”
    “Nothing,” she assured him vehemently, standing once again so he could see the water rushing down her voluptuous body, the stark darkness of her nipples compared to her otherwise fair flesh. “You are the mighty Balkin Tsu Allay, brother to the most revered and most feared emperor of all time. His blood is in your veins and his temperament runs through you just as strongly.Why should you have to play second to an idiot boy or be held back by a scrubby little redheaded black-blood? You could be emperor,” she said passionately.
“Emperor.”
    “And you empress, I suppose.” Eirie could see that he was toying with the possibilities.
    “If you but command me,” she said with a gracious lowering of her eyes.
    “I have asked you to wed me all of twenty times, Eirie, and you’ve always said no. Yet if I were emperor, suddenly then I would be worthy of you?” His tone was sharp and bitter.
    “You are not emperor now, and you cannot command me to wed you. However, as your lowly citizen I would have to submit to your demand. You would be ruler of all. I could not expect to say no and leave with my life intact. I am not a foolish woman.”
    “No,” he agreed. “You are too clever by far.”
    The metal clang of the door shutting at her back made Ambrea cringe inwardly, but she showed none of that fear to the gaoler. She knew very well that he would be ordered to report every move she made, every reaction she had. Her uncle would be looking for any sign of weakness, any sign that she would crumble or cave to the demands being made upon her. And as strong as she was in that moment, she knew she was not without weaknesses. She knew, as