“Unless it fails.” Helena wore her cruel smile proudly as she approached the table. Ignominy wafted off her like a fragrance. “Then you’ll have no other choice, Dominic, but to go to extremes. Not only is the Conventicle losing patience, but there are others involved. You’ll be forced to be practical, which is what you do best.” Her eyes were merciless as they bored into him and then turned to me. Was there any love between them? “Allow yourself the pleasures of his seduction. Let him have you tonight. If the sounds of passion I’ve heard from others are any indicator, it will be enjoyable for you.”
Gross thing to acknowledge about your brother, but do go on.
I swallowed. My eyes flicked to Dominic, who, immune to her cruelty and antics, watched his sister with a casual indifference.
“You can fuck him tonight. Take your pleasure from it. But know that he’d roll from atop you and slit your throat in the process.” She provided a vivid portrait of Dominic’s ease of violence and indifference. And the images that resurfaced about earlier only reinforced it.
With a great deal of effort, I kept disappointment or shock from showing. I wished I could’ve found the audacity to look her in the face and say something like “If I’m going to die, it might as well be under a hot guy.” It would have shocked the smirk off her face. But I couldn’t be that cavalier about dying. I wanted to live.
The expressionless look Dominic directed at his sister was a reminder of the casualness with which he approached murder and violence. He was a person who honored his promises, but he’d never promised to not kill me.
Backing away, I kept a careful eye on them both. Before I could turn and leave, I glimpsed Helena’s look of victory and Dominic’s indecipherable expression that made her air of triumph fade. For a long time, they held each other’s gaze. The taunting defiance that she’d reveled in dwindled into apprehension. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes briefly. Had she managed to finally cross the line?
He dragged his eyes from her and let them follow me as I walked away. He didn’t stop me from leaving, nor did he deny her statement.
Sleep didn’t come easily. Helena’s incendiary words stayed with me. Holding on to the optimism I shared with the prince was becoming increasingly difficult. My tossing and turning stopped when someone knocked at the door. I didn’t answer.
“I know you are awake. I heard you.” Had he been standing at the door, ruminating on the acceptable way to say “I know murdering you is my last-ditch strategy, but can we push that aside and be friends?”
I rolled out of the bed, marched to the door, and yanked it open.
“What!” I growled. I sounded formidable. If words had the power some people claimed they did, they would have ripped his head off.
He didn’t speak for a long time, his eyes traveling the length of my body and settling on my lips, as if he had a hard time believing that level of anger came from them. Then they met my eyes.
“My sister was out of line.”
“Did she say anything that wasn’t true?”
He answered with a sigh. I took it as a tacit confirmation.
“May I come in?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
He nodded. “I need the Trapsen.”
Closing the door in his face felt better than I could have ever imagined. I went to the dresser where I’d placed the Trapsen, grabbed it, opened the door, and shoved it into his chest. He took hold of my arm and pulled me into him. I could smell his scent intermingled with the redolence of wine and feel the firmness of his body.
This dude has killing you as an option if things don’t work out tomorrow, I reminded myself and cursed my hormones. They had lamentably poor self-protection instincts.
“The only way you don’t survive this is if I don’t,” he whispered. “That’s my promise to you.” He inched in closer, his lips warm, his breath breezing across my lips. “Okay?” he breathed. It was such a featherlight touch I wasn’t even sure it was a kiss.
He released me but I kept the miniscule distance between us.
“Okay?” he repeated.
Relief flooded through me and lifted a burden I hadn’t realized had weighed so heavily on me. Perspective changes judgment. All the things that I considered questionable about him—propensity for violence, power, calculating strategist, and arrogance—were things that would ensure we both came out of this victorious.
“Goodnight, Luna,” he said before walking away. I watched him until he disappeared around the corner.
“That is his oath, not mine,” Helena clarified, her voice acrid with disdain. I turned to find her just inches from me.
I pointed to my face, devoid of any emotion. Fatigue made it easier to maintain. “This is my ‘not giving a fuck’ face. Sorry if it looks similar to my ‘your little act is getting tiring, so get a new spiel’ face.”