Page 37 of Sweet Nightmares
“I’d say you are the first person I’ve ever met with their hands inside a body.” He paused, cocking his head. “At least in this context.”
Eww. Jane could not unhear that, but naive Quinnevere only asked, “What other context could there be…”
Emrys raised a suggestive eyebrow.
It took Quinnevere a moment to grasp the meaning. “Oh.” She nodded, her eyes dipping to her core as if she were imagining it. “Well, probably less bloody.”
“Possibly.”
Her eyebrows crinkled, but she was far too focused on the prince. Studying him in a way that Janedid notlike. It was probably time to step in, so Jane cleared her throat, and both sets of eyes landed on her.
“Oh, right, Janey. What brings you here?” Quinnevere asked.
“Seems obvious, no?” Emrys asked. “We’re here to bury your investigation. I have already told the police that they are not allowed to investigate this murder, and since no one in this pathetic man’s life even cared about him, no one will bat an eye at his unsolved murder.”
Quinnevere returned to the body, her gaze measuring the corpse, before flicking to Jane. “Did you kill him?”
Jane sucked in a breath. She didn’t want to lie to her sister. It wouldn’t be good for their relationship, but how would her sister, who worked every day to get justice for the dead, think about the fact that one of her closest friends was a murderer? “Not technically.”
Quinnevere sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. She paused for a long minute in thought. Then she nodded and said, “Alright.” She picked the intestines, which she had been studying, and she shoved them back inside the corpse. “I have to close him so that he might be able to be placed in a coffin. Not that it will be an open-coffin funeral. Not with no head.”
Emrys chucked. “I’d say not.”
Quinnevere nodded again, before taking a needle and thread and very methodically sewing shut the flesh. Jane wasn’t squeamish, but this was, in fact, disgusting. Yet neither the prince nor her sister seemed to mind the sight at all.
As they watched, Emrys turned back to Jane and said, “Don’t you look forward to one day being on that table?”
Jane protectively hugged her arms around her center. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“We all end up in the morgue, Jane.” Emrys winked, far too amused by the entire situation.
“Not you,” she whispered through her teeth. Not vampire princes. After their meeting at the Russet, Nightmare had filled her in about his involvement with the gang and the prince and that, in fact, Prince Emrys was the King Emrys who had led humans in the war seven hundred years ago against the last remaining vampires. Unfortunately, before the war was over, Emrys had been turned. After the war, he established a secret society called the Blood Council and Accords, which bound the remaining vampires to secrecy and prevented them from killing and becoming tyrants again.
It was a long and complicated history, but the most critical piece of information Jane learned was that her blood-painting tattoo was actually a symbol of the secret society and that her parents had been key members before their deaths. Jane very much intended to reopen the investigation into their murders.
But first, she needed to survive this one.
“Well, when I do end up at this table, I hope it’s a much better atmosphere than this. How sad would it be for no one to care about your death?” Jane said, loud enough for both of them to hear.
“If you die, I will make sure people care.” Emrys’s voice dropped an octave, expression growing serious.
When I die,Jane felt it coming…Jane swallowed and tried to let that thought fly away. She hated it when she got that feeling.
“You’re not going to die, Jane,” Quinnevere said, not looking up from her task.
Jane forced a smile on her lips. “Of course not.”
Fifteen minutes later, after Quinnevere returned the corpse to a cold chamber and threw away all of her findings, Jane and Emrys left. As soon as they were in the hallway, Jane turned on the Playboy Prince. “Please don’t fuck her.” Jane crossed her arms and glared at him.
“She’s too young for me.”
Thank god. “Yes, she is, and you’re going to stay far away from her.”
“Now, where is the fun in that?” Emrys’s eyes twinkled maliciously.
“Stay away, Emrys.”
“I think I’ve just gained a massive interest in crime.” He winked. “One really must solve murders.”
