“I suppose so.” But Alec didn’t look satisfied. “Still—does Atre strike you as the sort of man who would stop to help a street urchin on a dark street?”

Seregil chuckled again. “Probably not the real story. Most of the doxies are half cutpurse, themselves. He must have propositioned the wrong one. Or ran afoul of some street toughs.”

“Maybe.” Alec paused, then asked, “By the way, did you enjoy your performance at the Three Dragons?”

“My amazing winning streak?”

“No.”

“Ah, the stripping naked in front of a hundred or so noblemen and women part of the evening. Enjoy isn’t the word I’d use, but it was satisfyingly useful.”

“Useful?”

“Absolutely! Before I met you, Lord Seregil was known for things like that. Well, not usually in such a public place, perhaps—”

“Perhaps?” Alec raised a skeptical eyebrow at that.

“At parties, mostly.”

“So you did things like that a lot?”

“Now and then, just to keep up my reputation. Mostly it was getting other young nobles into trouble stealing public statues or bluecoats’ horses while we were drunk, slumming in borrowed clothes, or daring each other to jump off Widow’s Cliff into the sea. You should try that, actually. Very invigorating—if you live.”

“And carrying on with actors, I suppose.”

“Oh, yes. And actresses.”

“Am I bad for your reputation, now that we’re spending so much time back in the city?”

Seregil grinned. “I’d say we reestablished my bad name tonight, wouldn’t you? I was lucky, though.”

“You did win a lot of money.”

“Yes, but I was thinking more of Foris’s search of my person.”

“What was so lucky about that?” Alec laughed. “He had you standing naked on a chair.”

Seregil winked at him as they passed under the glow of a street lantern. “Yes, but his search stopped short of the most obvious hiding place.”

“The most—?” Alec gave him a questioning look, then realization dawned and it was replaced by one of shock. “Bilairy’s Balls, Seregil!”

“Close.” Seregil grinned. He loved still being able to make Alec blush.

They were nearly to Wheel Street when suddenly Cynril and Windrunner both shied. As Seregil and Alec reined the horses in, two dark forms detached themselves from the deeper shadow of a side street and sprang up onto their horses behind them.