Page 29 of Gilded Wicked Mirrors
“Hmmm, good point,” Giselle said. “Well, this book says there are 472.”
“How would the book even know that?” Constance scoffed. “That is such a specific number.”
While meticulously cutting into the stomach, the door slammed open. Quinn jolted, trying to keep the tip of the scalpel away from the fragile intestines. She didn’t need the contents of the bowel bursting into her face.
Quinn’s heart pounded in her ears, and sweat gathered under her corset. No one was supposed to enter the lab, and she definitely shouldn’t have her friends here. Her uncle would have her head for something like that, and he would be extraordinarily angry, knowing that the four of them were very much going to investigate this murder.
Glancing up through her lashes, Quinn saw . . . a villain. And possibly a murderer.
Emrys Avalon.
The gate and cadence of his footsteps were long, proud strides. The kind of walk that screamed,I own this room and everything in it,including you.
Her stomach turned to delicate glass—glass that could shatter at any moment. He was the last person in the world she wanted to see. Not after last night. Not after she’d begged him to kiss her, and he refused, instead taunting her with passion. He was just as much responsible for Jane’s death as she was. He forced Quinn to lose her deal.
Not to mention, he’d threatened Jane last night. Fuck, he threatened Jane last night, and now he was in her lab. He only came to destroy evidence or mess with her investigations. She would not let him do that to Jane.
“Are you here to cover up your murder?” Quinn spat.
If Emrys was the killer, he had all the access he would ever needto destroy evidence. The palace was the law in New Swansea City. When Emrys had destroyed her autopsy records and obscured the evidence, she’d reported him. Her uncle simply shrugged and said,He owns this building.But worse, all the other physicians blamed her and removed her lab privileges for three months. If she hadn’t reported him, she wouldn’t have been punished for his crimes.
Because only the victim got in trouble when powerful men were at play, and Emryswasthe power in New Swansea. If he had killed Jane, there was nearly no recourse to punish him.
“Get out.” Her words were nearly a growl. “I won’t let you tamper with my evidence. Not on this case.”
“Hello, little Ginger.” Emrys flashed a smirk and a dimple. “I am not sure what you are accusing me of. But trust me, if I murdered someone, I wouldn’t need to cover it up.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t; you’d probably parade the dead body down the streets.”
“Perhaps in another decade, that might have been my recourse, but I promise you, Quinnevere Ashelle, if I murdered you, no one would ever discover your corpse.”
Quinn froze, and she stifled a full-body tremble. “Probably because you would devour me whole.”
The side of his mouth ticked up. “Oh, most definitely.” His eyes locked onto hers, and she glanced away quickly, unable to hold the contact. “But I might do that just for a good time. Isn’t that what you wanted last night?” Her eyes flashed back to his, horrified.
“I hate you.” Quinn’s fingers quaked, and she had to very slowly remove them from the victim’s bowels so that she wouldn’t rupture them.
“We can have fun with hatred, Ginger.” He slowly slid his hands into his pockets and turned his attention to everyone else. “Are we having a party in the morgue?”
Quinn’s friends collectively stiffened. They knew they weren’t supposed to be in the lab.
“Are you jealous you weren’t invited?” Giselle asked.
At the same time, Constance said, “We were just leaving. Quinn was kind enough to demonstrate an autopsy for us, but now we must get going.”
Constance’s entire demeanor changed. She jumped up like she couldn’t get out of the room quickly enough, and she glared at Jevon, sending him a messageto get out quickly.
“Yes.” Jevon cleared his throat. “We were just leaving.”
“Right.” Giselle closed her book. “We learned so much. Thank you for teaching us.”
And with that, her three best friends left her to be devoured by the big, bad—murderous—wolf.Traitors,Quinn thought as she watched her friends scurry away. Now, Quinn would have to defend the lab from his tampering alone.
Eleven
With a fiendish smile, Emrys strolled over to an empty counter across the room, his every step long and showy like a peacock strutting its feathers.
An ember of fire licked at the back of Quinn’s eyes as she met his shrewd gaze. He leaned against the counter in his extravagant pinstriped suit and purple vest, a devilish grin lacing his perfectly proportionate tawny face. Annoyingly perfect face.
