As Janessa returned to the harem quarters, she passed by a room with a door that was ajar. Inside the room were Antyny’s advisors. There weren’t any guards around to hurry her back, so Janessa paused outside the room to listen.
“I do not trust that concubine.” That was the voice of the only woman on the King’s Council. “Did you see how much attention she paid to our plans?” One of the men on the council laughed in response.
“Oh, please! The only thing that whore was paying attention to was King Antyny squeezing her breasts like an udder.”
“Only halfway through the meeting did he start doing so and distract her,” the woman corrected. “Before then, she was watching and listening to us. But of course you did not notice that. You did not look at her eyes once! You spent the entire meeting gazing at her body like a dog faced with a piece of meat.” The man stammered a bit, but was saved by another man’s voice.
“Look, even if she was paying attention, what of it? You expect her to do something with that information?”
“I would not put it past her,” the woman said. “King Antyny said he used his magic to make his harem under his control. If the spell were to weaken, she might want to take her revenge.”
“This is preposterous,” scoffed the first man. “Janessa is a mere concubine!”
“You dismiss women far too quickly,” the woman scolded. “We need to keep our eyes on her.”
“I agree,” the second man said. “And when we next meet with King Antyny, we can tell him of our worries.”
“I think you are blowing this out of proportion, but fine,” the first man muttered. Janessa’s blood ran cold. She quickly scurried away from the door, then adopted her calm, feminine walk the rest of the way to the harem quarters. Her mind raced. Clearly, she had to be more careful about paying attention to the rebels’ plans. If Antyny invited her to another meeting, she had to more properly play the role of a concubine whose only care in the world was the next time she would have sex. And in the meantime, she needed to preempt any doubts the King’s Council would put into Antyny’s mind about her.
Janessa walked into the harem quarters, a plan already forming in her head. When Antyny came by later, she would pass her odd behavior off as…