Page 34 of The Rook

The frankness of her question caused him to laugh. “So eager to leave, aren’t you? You’re under orders from Destin to infiltrate my rebels, are you not?”

She slumped her shoulders and returned her gaze to the fire. His lips twitched at the grumpy expression on her face. Her lips pursed, and she schooled her expression, her feelings masked from him. His hands clenched on the box. He didn’t like Tempest hiding from him.

Look at me.

“Those are my instructions from my sovereign,” she murmured. “Which you are not. I do not belong to you, nor do I work for you. I’m tired of being ordered around with no explanation.”

His face softened. He knew exactly how Tempest felt, yet there was nothing to be done for it. They were both in an impossible situation. Uneasy allies.

“Stay here for a while, Temp. Make yourself at home here. Feel free to explore the place and go wherever you like. You’re not a prisoner here, but in the next few weeks, I’ll need your help if you’re willing to give it.”

“Doing what?”

“Any number of things.”

“I’ll not kill for you,” she said resolutely.

“I haven’t asked you to,” he responded.

Tempest snorted. “It’s only a matter of time. I know what your type are like.”

“My type?” he asked, a little bit annoyed.

She faced him fully and stared him down. “The power-hungry type. I stare at one every day I’m summoned in the palace.”

Rage, hot and fast, exploded in his gut. He leaned out of his chair, his lip curling and a growl rumbling in his chest. “I amnothinglike him.”

The stupid female didn’t even have the brains to blanch. He was a hair’s breadth away from shifting. She arched a brow and leaned forward so they were breathing the same air.

“Prove it.”

He blinked slowly, and, despite the rage churning just below the surface, Pyre smiled. “I like challenges.” He glanced at her mouth as her lips twitched. “I need you to come with me to a ball.”

“You mean a masquerade?” she drawled.

She missed nothing.

He gave her one of his charming smiles. “A party is just what everyone needs right now,” Pyre explained. “We need to reduce the tension and ensure continued goodwill between the factions as much as possible. Wemustkeep up a united front against Destin.” And it made for the perfect cover for what he had planned that night.

Tempest teetered her head back and forth, and then pointed at the box in Pyre’s hands. “What’s in the box?”

She wasn’t letting it go. He hid his grin, and, with deft fingers, made quick work of the puzzle that protected thecontents from the wrong hands. He lifted the lid and pulled out the delicate mask he’d had commissioned. A wolf.

“Are you serious?” she exclaimed, affronted. “I risked my life for some trinket? Why was Chesh so adamant that I not open it? It’s a bloody mask, for Dotae’s sake!”

“Ah, Temp, it was not the mask that was important,” Pyre replied, shaking his head good-naturedly. He held up the box for Tempest to inspect, pointing out a mechanism on the latch. “If you had tampered with it—tried to open it without knowing the precise solution to the puzzle—the box would have released a poison that would have killed you within four hours.”

She stiffened. “So, all of this was—”

“A test of your trustworthiness,” Pyre said. Tempest began trembling as he set the box on the floor and leaned back in his chair. “Be mad at me all you want; I had to do it. And I have no qualms about telling you howhappyI am that you passed.” He was relieved, in fact.

“You areunbelievable,” the Hound hissed. She sucked in a breath and stood.

Here it comes.

A knock upon the door stilled her.

He glanced at the door as Nyx glided into the room, followed by Briggs, who paused in the doorway.

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