Filling the Days

[Morven]

Devika Sirideán

Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah

✥

Devika flattened a hand to her chest; made an expression that suggested disappointment at the relegation. Most Reds would have taken offence at both his manner and the insouciant way he lay flung back on his bed, with nary a hint of proper acknowledgement for the arrival of an Aes Sedai. Let alone the lewd topic of banter. But Vika favoured honey as much as the whip, and she’d grown up dockside. Her ardent stride brought her into the room, a twist of saidar unlatching and flinging wide the shutters as she did so. The burst of natural light did not much improve the view. He was a sweaty and debauched mess; one she studied with the same shrewd attention upon which he had subjected her moments before. Absent the absurd tilt of the head, of course. There was a carnivorous light to her gaze, though impossible to tell if she was thinking about his offer or something more intrinsic to her Ajah.

“I’m pleased your malaise has not affected your memory,” she said of his willingness to play teacher, “though I do hope you are regaling the Lord Dragon with more useful lessons. I suspect a man with so many wives does not need the kind of education you seem to profess your only valuable skill.” She came closer as bid, and looked down upon him with dark eyes. A manicured brow rose. When she leaned the gold draped about her neck shifted across the low neckline of her bodice. Vika's cool palm pressed against his slick forehead, but if the gesture was motherly, the words that followed were decidedly not – for all the sugary way she said them.

“The problem with being a teacher, Jorin, is that it is a very finite role. Are you sure you are still useful? The Maidens tell me you have been ill often of late.”