Page 79 of Gilded Wicked Mirrors
Quinn nodded. She understood the urge to experiment. That’s what she told herself she was doing with Emrys last night . . . just experimenting.
“When I ended things with Emrys, he was devastated, and now things are awkward, and I don’t know how to behave.”Constance bit her lip. “I sometimes think he still has feelings. I think that’s why he dallies with so many girls now.”
“Oh . . .” Quinn gulped. Girls like Quinn.
And as if summoned by his name, Emrys stepped into the lab, his usual arrogance on full display. “Did we find anything? Match any prints?”
Quinn averted her eyes, the embarrassment a tightrope in her stomach. How did one look at a person after they’d done such improper acts together?
But Emrys seemed to have no qualms because while she squirmed, he was all ease, confidence, and the manifestation of dark desires. Every time she glanced at him, she remembered the feeling of his lips and her deep mortification—and her fury. He used her as his new shiny toy.
That was what grated against her heart the most. She was not a plaything or a girl who wanted to be seduced.
She was practical and focused.
Realizing he asked a question, she finally said, “No, and we only have five more prints to check.”
“So, another dead end?” he asked, sliding his hands into his pockets and striking a pose.
Shivers danced in her stomach, and she looked away again. “It would seem.” She played with her brush, letting her thoughts decay into rotten roses—moldy and covered in mistakes.
“So, what do we do now?” Emrys asked, jolting her back to the present.
Quinn placed her brush down slowly before looking up. “We need to find a way to break into Russet Row and figure out what Jane left for us in the vault.”
“How—”
“Your vampiric illusions, how good are they?” Quinn asked, cutting him off. Everyone knew about a vampire’s four main abilities: their glamour—which gave them the ability to change their appearance. Their compulsion—which allowed them to control a human’s mind, their pervasive illusions—which allowed them tocreate images that were nearly impossible to see through, and their inhuman strength, speed, and senses.
He cocked his head. “What do you mean?”
“Could they turn us invisible?” Quinn asked. “Could we use them to get into the house unnoticed?”
He rubbed his forehead in thought. “Yes, but I don’t think I would be able to cover all of us efficiently, but if—”
“That’s okay,” Constance cut in. “Jevon and I don’t have to come in with you.”
Constance really did try to avoid him.
Emrys’s brow furrowed, and he examined Constance like he was asking an intensely hard math question. He appeared to come to a conclusion because, eventually, he shook his head and shrugged off the worry lacing his brows. “Alright, so Giselle, Quinn, and I will go in.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Constance smiled.
An hour later, Emrys, Giselle, and Quinn arrived a block away from Russet Row—the beautiful row houses that laced the edge of the Gold Quarter.
“This might feel strange,” Emrys said as he lifted his fingers, and what felt like ropes of darkness encircled her. It tingled but wasn’t wholly uncomfortable. “Now, ladies, you’re invisible. But you still need to be quiet because there will be lookouts.”
The three entered the street of tall, narrow row houses.
Despite their lack of side-yard, the houses were bathed in glamour. Each carved with gilded gingerbread trim, featuring decorative towers and dormers. Porches lined the fronts with ornamental spindles and brackets. Everything about the buildings screamed power, wealth, and extravagance.
If Emrys weren’t a prince living in a castle, he certainly would have lived in one of these houses.
“So, which one do we enter?” Quinn asked.
Giselle pointed to the house at the dead center. “But we have to be careful because five Fantômes are on the roof.” Her eyes pivoted to the nook and crannies on the housetops—the shadows.
Confidence coursed through her stance as Giselle pulled the pins from her coiffure. Making quick work of it, Giselle picked the lock and slowly creaked to open the door. As she did it, her eyes settled in the shadows on the roof.
