Page 44 of Seduced

Alexei changed his mind: Rania was an absolute demon.

…

“I am going to show you around now,” he explained to Poppy as they left the warmth of Dante’s rooms behind.

He was not in the habit of explaining himself, but Miss Wyatt looked so frightened and so beautiful, he had turned his back on her, just to be safe.

“A little tour of the Underworld ought to put the fear of God in you.”

How could he be so angry and so aroused at the same time? By the same woman.

That’s why I don’t like leaving the club, he thought for the millionth time.

Poppy stayed mute: whether out of stubbornness or not, he did not know.

All he knew was that his heart had stopped when he saw her, and had not started up yet. Excellent.

“This is the grand hall,” Alexei said.

Next to him, he felt rather than saw Poppy tilt her head up to take in the enormous tapestry depicting the death of Hector in the Iliad; it presided over the curved staircase, covering the greater part of the wall. Above their heads, achandelier looked positively weary with crystals and diamonds.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the owner of this hall was a very slightly poorer relation of God Himself,” Poppy said.

“I am the owner,” Alexei replied.

“Well. Same thing.”

She took in the opulence calmly, hobbling along behind him, and he watched her instead of the round tables, Chippendale chairs, silk sofas and paneled corridors. They descended to the second floor below ground, and reached a cozy, well-stocked library with no windows but several hearty fires.

“So beautiful,” she murmured. “For a den of iniquity.”

Alexei chuckled harshly. “So you keep telling me,” he said. “But you seem to be able to find beauty in everything.”

“One must,” she replied without looking at him. “Otherwise, there is nothing but ugliness wherever one looks, don’t you agree?”

Nothing but ugliness. Did he agree?

He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

“There is a river running through the club,” he said instead of another reply. “It is rather helpful to have access to water from inside, because it allows me to communicate with ships, sympathetic officers of the law, and even pirates. Does that shock you?”

“The river or the pirates?”

“Lots of people come and go through this place, politicians come in for meetings, and the fate of entire armies or palaces is decided within the span of a game of faro. Negotiations take place down here nightly. It is the main reason the Hellion Club is still open. It’s a meeting place, not a pleasure den, in spite of your opinion. All of that is a theater: just for show, to keep the poor away. I need to havea way of escape for anyone who walks into my club, and for one reason or the other is unable to walk out.”

She said nothing, but as they started walking once again, he saw that her head was down, and she was thinking about what he had said.

“I suppose you already know most of that, don’t you?” Alexei went on, trying to goad her into making a reply, any sort of reply. Heaven help him, but he did not know to what he might have to resort to if she stayed unresponsive like that. Nikolaos’s safety was in her hands, dammit. “You are here, after all, for that express purpose.”

“Am I?” she sounded distracted.

Alexei wanted to strangle her. So, instead, he took her down to the river.

They climbed seven flights of increasingly narrowing stairs, and he bit his lip as he saw her struggle with the many steps, but he had to let her suffer. It was his last hope.

Besides, he could not offer her his elbow.

The smell of still, enclosed waters met his nostrils as soon as they entered the large, cavernous space that marked the entrance to the underwater river, and he stifled a curse. He hated the water. Hated it.

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