Page 32 of A Dance Macabre

“I don’t need Gemini’s ability to sniff out a lie to know Bartholomew is telling the truth.” She gives a small wave of the hand toward him as if proving her point. “He’s as loyal, and pathetic, as ever.”

I feel Bartholomew’s head vehemently nod in approval, and I suddenly want nothing more to do with the boy. I give his body one last hard shove before releasing him. “Tell Dizzy to meet me in the boardroom in an hour.” I try not to get enraged even further, knowing that my second-in-command has most likely kept this from me as well. I’ll deal with her later.

He scampers to the door like a fearful little mouse.

“Oh, and Bartholomew?”

“Yes sir?” he chirps, shoulders straightening.

“If you ever withhold this kind of information from me again,” I grit through clenched teeth, “I’ll let Constantine debone you like a roast duck for her personal collection. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. Understood, sir.”

As soon as he disappears, I turn my attention back to Mercy.

“Andyou,” I say heatedly as I step toward her.

Her black brows lift in surprise, but she quickly schools her expression and doesn’t move an inch, carefully standing her ground.

“Did you know about this?” I snarl, now crowding her. “Thought you could make me look bad in front of Claire? Or maybe …” My face is much too close to hers. “You’re behind all of it. Planning another coup, are we? Now that you realize this kind of power shouldn’t be shared?”

Her dry laugh scratches my heated skin. In her heels, she’s nearly the same height as me but her eyes still slowly lift to mine. She juts her chin out and regards me with a sneer.

“Do you hear yourself, Vainglory? You’re being paranoid.Pamphlets?Please. Don’t make me laugh.” She tries to give me a hard shove, but I snatch her wrist before she can even hit the mark. “Let me go,” she hisses.

“Or what?” I taunt. With her free hand, she tries to go for the dagger on her left thigh but I slap her hand away. “You’ll try to threaten me with yourlittledagger?”

Mercy might be clever but she’s still weaker than me, and I take advantage of that fact by slamming us onto the table behind her. With my upper body, I force her backward, her dress bunching up and over her knees. Before she can react, I slide my free hand over the top of her left thigh trying to reach for her dagger.

“You insipid waste of air,” she barks, “Get off me!” She struggles against me, trying to pry my arm away.

I snicker as I savor feeling her struggle under me, my anger morphing into something much wilder. A carnal metamorphosis pulsing full of lust. “I recall you declaring that I wasn’t and wouldneverbe above you, Crèvecoeur.”

Her reaction is almost comical. She lets out an infuriated shriek before her hand flies to my throat. I laugh when she squeezes hard, lacking the strength with just one hand to doanything but give me a pleasurable shiver down my spine. Hiking her dress even higher, my palm finally catches on her dagger, and my laugh deepens.

“I wonder,” I muse, my finger tracing the leather harness over to her inner thigh, “if your dagger has ever marred that perfect skin of yours.” Mercy continues to struggle against me, baring her teeth. It only makes me grip her wrist even harder, my body pinning her to the table as I shove a knee against her thigh, widening her legs. “I wonder,” I continue slowly, trying to keep my voice controlled, but now much more serious than before, “if that blade has ever tasted the life force of a cold-blooded Crèvecoeur.”

My hand slides higher, and I allow one finger to trail upward and slowly drag across her lace-covered cunt. Her breath hitches and my gaze flies to meet hers, her eyes wild with flames. She grows still under me, and my finger lingers over the dampening spot near her entrance.

Mercy’s breathing is just as fast as mine, and when her mouth falls slightly open as if wanting to say something but deciding against it, my eyes dip to her red-painted lips. It’s a split second but it’s enough for my cock to twitch in my slacks, and suddenly her skin on mine burns worse than it did before.

In an instant, I let her go and take a large step back while Mercy breathes heavily, barely moving from the table, eyes wide and full of what is most likely scorching internal turmoil.

Similar to mine, I’m sure.

“Right,” I mutter, dragging my hand over my beard and forcing a bored look over my face. “I’ll have Dizzy look into it.”

I turn to leave, but Mercy’s icy voice freezes me mid-step. “One day soon you’ll wake from your precious beauty sleep in agony and realize that I’ve cut off both your hands foreverdaring to touch me.”

I conceal the small amused twitch on my lips, and from over my shoulder, I say, “You better go recite your violent little poems to a more impressionable audience.”

21

MERCY

“So no matter who the gods chose between us six, you would try to steal their rule?” Gemini asks casually as he strolls into the large kitchen which is located near the atrium in the East Wing.

After the day I had with Wolfgang, I needed a … friend. Gemini jumped at the opportunity to visit the ruler’s quarters, and after a few hours of gossip and martinis, he dragged us out of my rooms for a midnight snack.

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