Page 19 of Seduced

“I don’t think I shall.” The boy looked absolutely terrified by his own defiance.

“Am I that good-looking then?” Alexei lifted his eyebrow as high as it would go.

“God forbid, no.”

Alexei chuckled. Which was surprising even to him, because he had genuinely thought he was moments away from strangling the boy.

“Good,” he said.

“You are beautiful, absolutely beautiful,” the boy said.

“What did you say to me?”

The boy shrugged. “Have you seen yourself, Your Worship? You look inseparable from the angels in your den of iniquity.”

“They are statues of Greek gods and goddesses,” he replied, looking at the young man, perfectly still. “They all represent different vices.”

“Of course they do. Anyway, you are as devastatingly beautiful as they, and you know it—no doubt you use it to your advantage nightly. I am observing you for a different reason: you are sad,” the boy continued, his eyes unnervingly focused and unblinking on Alexei’s face, both terrified and fascinated at once. Alexei had never seen such a combination.

What is wrong with you?

“Why are you so sad?” the boy asked.

Alexei’s jaw worked as he swallowed one or two violently inappropriate replies. The boy was fishing for a slap upside the face.

“Kindly mind your business,” Alexei clipped, but the boy was not to be deterred.

“Tell me,” he said in a surprisingly deep and mature voice.

Alexei turned to the window, presenting the urchin with what he hoped was a view of his hair and neck. What an annoying reversal of roles.Hewas supposed to be the one asking the questions.

“Mayhap it’s because someone will not stop talking,” he said finally, but he could hear the brokenness in his own voice. He hated himself for showing weakness, but he hated the boy more for driving it to the surface with his stupid questions.

“Your Highness asked me a question,” the boy somehow managed to look wounded and indignant at the same time. “Forgive me for attempting to answer it.”

Alexei massaged his temples. It was rare that he ever got a headache, but he could feel a massive one coming on now.

“Fine,” he said. “Will you tell me why you are spying on me?

“I am not sp—”

“You are no gambler,” Alexei continued, “too poor for that. Your wagers are too safe. You are too uneducated and, forgive me, possibly too much of a little fool, judging by the way you speak, to have expectations of one day inheriting a title. You cannot decide which accent to speak in, which means that you are concealing your true one, and you simply cannot decide how to address me. Although you might be giving me all these random titles on purpose. Mayhap you mean to mock me, and use them as a set-down, now that I think of it.”

The boy was strangely silent, confirming his suspicions.

Dammit.

Even stray urchins are making fun of me now. That is precisely why I dislike leaving the club.

“You are too skinny,” he continued, counting on his fingers, hoping to hurt the lad’s feelings the way his own had been wounded. Calling him too thin was the worst insult he could think of, under the circumstances. “Much too thin for a real gentleman. Therefore, you are spying on me.”

“Would you like me to be fatter?”

“I would like you to explain yourself.”

“I will, Your Highness, but not here.” The boy began fidgeting again. “Let me down, please, Your Honor, I don’t want ye to see where I live.”

“What makes you think, my poor fool, that I am proposing to take you to your house? We are going back to the club. Where you shall be made to fully explain yourself.”

---