Page 19 of The Blood that Binds Us

I stare up at him, trying to force him to meet my gaze, but he looks over my head at the couples dancing around us, plastering a casual expression on his face and not one of a man about to deliver an ultimatum. “Can we skip the foreplay and jump straight to the point, Blackheart?”

His lips widen, and he runs his tongue across his top set of teeth in a movement that is pure animal. “I think that’s the first time a woman has ever asked me that.”

I may be dressed like a lady, but the look I shoot him is anything but ladylike. “Hm, I suppose they didn’t want to be disappointed so soon.”

The hand at my waist grips me a little tighter, and he curls his fingers between mine where our palms remain pressed together. Still looking away from me, he inclines his head slightly, steering his words towards my ears and mine alone. “Careful, little witch.”

Before I can respond, Sin spins me away from him again, and I perform the solo steps with proficiency. I smile to myself at the thought of Sin’s curious expression at my back, wondering where alittle witchlearned to dance. Grabbing my skirts, I whirl back towards him, and if he was questioning where the knowledge came from, he doesn’t ask. We join at the palm again.

“So, are you going to continue to exploit my gifts in exchange for the safety of my family, or are you ready to negotiate like a big boy?”

The smirk on his mouth has me instantly regretting my word choice. “Contrarily, that isnotthe first time a woman has called me that.” His eyes flash to mine, and he wipes the grin from his face in the same motion. “But that is precisely what I’m going to do.”

“And should I grow tired of being your personal spy, Your Grace, then what? Are you going to kill me and lose the one secret weapon you have at your disposal?”

The melodious violin-led number mellows to a close, and we bow once to each other. Around us, the couples scatter and return to their conversations, while the Black Art and I remain planted here, chest to chest, as if seeing which of our fiery stares will melt the other first.

“Do not mistake my affinity for strategic advantages as anything but that. You are merely one power play in a sea of many. The second your existence ceases to benefit me—you said it yourself—you are at mydisposal.”

“If you care about this Sterling so much, why don’t you send me to read him instead?”

“Because the Langston boy is attracted to you,” he says, his expression reserved. “And I imagine it is easier to read a man’s underlying intentions if his thoughts aren’t scrambled, but rather fixed on one emotion.” His gaze slips to my collarbones and then a little lower, before he jerks his attention back to my face, making his point.

My hands clench so hard, my knuckle joints nearly tear through the skin. I keep them balled up at my sides so I don’t reach out and yank his tongue straight from his mouth. For him to infer Bennett was indeed interested in continuing our evening together, Sin must have been watching us. Unease trails an icy finger across my neck at the thought of the Black Art having eyes on me without my knowledge. “You are a rotten person.”

His attention darts to something behind me.

“When I heard there was a Legion witch named Wren in our home, I knew it had to be you,” Ileana coos, seemingly unconcerned with any guests that may be lingering in earshot.

I spin on my heels and shut my mouth at once, realizing it had fallen open slightly at the sound of her voice.

“Surprised to see I didn’t rot and die after you and your sister left me for dead?”

Shame floods my cheeks, and I take a step towards her before halting, remembering her new title. I clasp my hands against the front of my skirts and slip into a curtsy. “I have been worried about you, Ileana—my Lady,” I correct. “I’m so… that night—"

“Save it,” she snaps, cutting me off. “Do what you’ve been brought here to do, and when this is over, don’t expect my help when Singard realizes how worthless you are to the kingdom.” She gives me a pointed stare, unsheathing the daggers she has mastered hiding in her tawny brown eyes, and walks away, her tall, slender frame bleeding into the crowd.

Her words plunge a sword into my gut, even if they were expected. I don’t blame Ileana for hating me, not when she knew Cosmina and I fled to safety in the shadowed woods while she remained bound in rope and starved. She doesn’t know how that decision has haunted me every day since, in both my waking hours and nighttime ones. But it doesn’t matter.

I left. And I didn’t go back.

“I suggest you find Bennett,” Sin says from behind me.

I wait for his footsteps to fade into the joint noise of the gala before relaxing my posture. A group of women to my right snicker amongst themselves, straining their necks to watch as Sin catches up with Ileana and they make their way through the crowd together.

“Do you think they are betrothed yet?” one asks.

“Gods, I hope not,” another whines, pretending to fan herself.

“Ladies please, don’t speak about my future husband that way,” a third one giggles, causing all of them to erupt in maniacal laughter.

The thought hadn’t crossed my mind before, but that could explain why Sin chose someone mundane as his emissary. I shake off the thought. Ileana is smart. She wouldn’t escape a group of predators just to marry one in a different uniform. I swallow the worry, scan the room for Bennett, and find him sampling some kind of stewed meat encrusted in a flaky pastry shell.

He looks up at the clacking of my heeled shoes approaching him and smiles when he sees I am their wearer. “I guess my dancing didn’t scare you too much.”

“I thought you were a lovely dancer, actually,” I say, pulling my right shoulder in front of my face and peering over it at him in an attempt at flirting. As soon as I do it, I regret the action, imagining how silly I must look, but Bennett’s sudden grin tells me otherwise.

“Care to take a walk with me?” He extends a hand outward.

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