Page 76 of Gilded Wicked Mirrors
“Your misplaced friendship with my brother-in-law means very little to me, Emrys Avalon,” Uncle Matias said. “Besides, why are you acting so chivalrous now? In the last nineteen years, you’ve done nothing. You acted like she didn’t even exist.”
Emrys shrugged, and it spoke volumes. Because to him, shedidn’t exist . . . until very recently. Until she got in the way of what he wanted.
“I have legal authority over my niece, not you.”
“You did, but I do believe she is twenty-three now and can legally make her own choices.” Emrys strolled into the room, radiating power as if it pulsed from his pores. “I don’t want any authority over her. I merely want her to make her own decisions.”
“She lives in my house and follows my rules.”
“She doesn’t have to live in your house.”
“And where would you have her live, the palace?” Uncle Matias scoffed.
Emrys shrugged. “Sure, if she wanted to, but she is also going to make it into the Royalle Ballet and can live there.”
Uncle Matias smirked. “If shesomehowmakes it into the Royalle Ballet, then that is another discussion, but as of this moment, she has yet to achieve that goal, and she is under my protection.”
Quinn’s throat ached as she pulled in a deep breath. She always knew her uncle had little confidence in her dancing, but it was another thing to hear it.
Emrys shuddered, his cool mask sliding for a tiny second. “I guess I have more faith in her vast abilities than you do.”
It was enough. “She can actually speak for herself,” Quinn spat, and both turned sharp gazes on her. “I think I would like to leave now. Giselle, would you mind if I stayed with you for the night?”
Giselle who’d silently watched the play unfold, said, “Yes, absolutely. Stay with me as long as you would like.”
With that Quinn stood and strode out of the room, completely uninterested in what either gentleman thought. Neither of them deserved to tell her what to do. Not tonight, and not after all the lies.
This might be the first and bravest choice she’d ever truly made for herself, but it was time to face her fear. It was time towalk away from the lies and go with the one person who’d always had her back and never lied to her—never toyed with her.
Giselle.
The sky sparkled with stardust, creating a tableau of fantasy and glorious dreams, the gondolas a jewel among the stars. New Swansea at night was a painter’s masterpiece. It was pure magic and mystery. It smelled of sea salt and crisp ocean air and tasted like a triple creme dessert.
Yet the only thing Quinn tasted was rotten, decaying relationships rife with confusion.
While her brain should’ve spiraled about all the lies and information about the murders, the only person on her mind was the stupid, alluring prince and the dam he broke inside her—the sensations she never knew she wanted.
Quinn had never thought of Emrys as someone she could desire. Before, she considered him a massive, spoiled inconvenience with a pretty face. But now that he’d kissed her, and more . . . all she thought about was desire. Of the way his lips felt, and his skilled hands . . . and his tongue. Oh, bloody mirrors, he was the plague in her mind.
She touched a finger to her lips.
Stupid, stupid gentlemen. This was precisely why she avoided all entanglements or possible distractions until now. Men were not practical. Distractions were not practical.
Stupid kisses and orgasms plaguing her mind were not practical. But worst of all, men could not be controlled.
They were dangerous. Unpredictable and messy.
All things she could not abide.
“Well, that was an interesting night,” Giselle said, her eyesfixed on Quinn’s fingers. “Which part would you like to talk about first?”
“He kissed me,” Quinn breathed.And did a bit more.
A devious smile danced on Giselle’s dark olive cheeks. “Yes, I know.”
“And I think I kissed him back.” Quinn stared at her friend like a doe trapped in the headlights of one of the new automobile inventions.
“You think?”
