Her muscles tensed involuntarily as he studied her and let out a gust of air, as if it took some effort to control his breath. He took a step back.
“You are not the only one avenged by her blood.” His words simmered with a rage so scathing, even if the threat behind them wasn’t for her, it scorched her face and forced her gaze to the floor. The leader of the Broceliande vampire clan had his own vendettas to reconcile.
“And you will not shoulder the consequences,” he added quietly. “I have made sure of it.”
“You could have at least covered your tracks. You didn’t have to make a spectacle.”
An astonished frown parted his lips. “A spectacle?”
“Garin, she was in pieces. It’s not funny.”
Garinwas suddenly in pieces, doing his best to hold in a surge of laughter. The skin of her neck was aflame. “There are public repercussions for a personal matter that could have been dealt with in private. The entirekingdom knows of Sinclair’s behavior at my ceremony. I had reason to want her dead.”
He collected himself before speaking. “Didn’t you?” His gaze dipped to her lips, and the familiar hunger that occasionally made its way around his ability to reason with himself reared its head. “Why are you quivering?”
She glared up at him. “Tell me what you did. I deserve to know.”
“I drained every drop of blood from Vivien. After I was done with her I entranced Sinclair, instructed him to deal with her body, then busy himself with tidying the dining room. What Iwantedhim to do was get rid of Vivien first, then dispose of Godwin. I suppose I could have been more clear, and the lingering effects of the toadstool could have interfered with my entrancement. When I returned to check on him last night to ensure Sinclair hadn’t wandered off, I found her remains arranged upon the table like a Sunday roast. That was when Armand arrived.” He waved a hand. “So, as humorous as that sounds, I regret I cannot take credit for the most creative display that upset him.”
“Still, were you not the one who gave him an arm to present to me?” she said, frustrated he did not seem to grasp the reasons behind her fury. “Were you not the one who commanded him to impale himself?”
“I told him to have you open the bag; I couldn’t trust any other circumstance. If you didn’t, then he would kill himself. I figured you’d throw him in the dungeon if he succeeded.”
“My father opened the bag for me,” she informed him. “I still received your message loud and clear, in front of everyone. We’re just fortunate it wasn’t a public jury.”
“You’re wrong. The more witnesses, the better,” he said matter-of-factly. He was so sure of his answer, so unremorseful.
If he wanted to quell her concerns, he was doing it all wrong. He only fed her anger.
“Forwhat? To stoke your ego? To make everyone fear you more than they already do?”
“To ensure it was clear I am responsible for their deaths so that you would not shoulder the blame. If you were caught by genuine surprise, they would not think twice about your involvement with her murder. About your involvement with me.”
“Armand tried to insinuate I was involved anyway.”
“As I thought he might. How delicious, the thought of one of his last fears being that the queen of his country is in bed with his enemy.” He reached up to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. “But he’s dead now. So, you are free to pretend you are not involved, in any way you see fit, with the very Daemons you’ve sworn to protect. With the vampire whose room you stand in.”
Lilac scoffed, but as he eyed her, his jaw set and his brows cocked, it became clear there was something she wasn’t getting, a joke she wasn’t grasping.
“How is staying away going for you, Eleanor?”
The subject change felt inevitable. Now that they were alone together, truly alone, something in the air had shifted. Pretenses were dropped, and so were formalities. She had never intended to stay away, had she?
She was selfish; she’d been called that before. Selfish for being caught speaking to Freya. Selfish for leaving a comfortable life at the castle and denying Sinclair her hand and body. Selfish for making her parents worry.
Lilacwasselfish, and tonight was proof. “You’re the one holding me here,” she whispered.
“You’re the one who walked into my room unannounced. And I have not held you anywhere—at least, not tonight. You’re here of your own accord. You cornered yourself.” He slowly closed the space between them, evoking a visceral reaction and sending a jolt of adrenaline through her body. He reveled in it, smiled knowingly as he placed a hand against the wall and two fingers of the other under her chin, then teasing one of them against the pout of her bottom lip.
He clicked his tongue. “If only Henri and poor Armand knew. And they don’t, do they?”
When she shook her head, he gripped her jaw in a gentle vice.
Her lip was trembling again, which she hated because she knew he secretly loved it. Lilac coaxed his finger at the corner of her mouth onto her tongue; he watched, unflinching, as she wrapped her lips around it and sucked lightly. His breath hitched at the movement of her head, her tongue against the pad of his finger. She would play his game… and play it better.
His smile quickly fell. A low groan erupted from his throat as he released her.
“Is that what this is, then? Am I your revenge?”
