Page 72 of Lady of Darkness
As we make our way back to the car, I pull her back. “We’re not going home right away.”
Her eyes glaze over slightly as her throat bobs. Then she nods hopefully. “Okay.”
“The Rose,” I tell Alaric, who is waiting for us to join them in the black car.
“Right now?”
“Right now.”
The drive to The Rose Hotel is short and tense. I don’t miss the way Harlow fidgets with her necklace. It’s not like we haven’t all fucked her individually–we have. In between sets at the gym. Before yoga. During yoga. Late at night, when one of us sneaks into her house. But they’ve all been short, lust-filled quickies.
Right now, I need her on her knees.
I need to savor her.
And I want to watch as we all give her pleasure, as we make her forget the kills.
The car drops us off and we walk through the large, black gates of the grand central hotel.
“This is beautiful,” she says, looking around.
“It’s ours,” I tell her, and she twists around to face me.
“Ours?”
I nod. “Queen Victoria left it to the Lords in 1842.” Her mouth drops open, and I continue. “The entire top three floors make up our London Suite. Ten bedrooms, eight bathrooms. The best view of the London skyline,” I add, weaving my fingers through hers.
“And the queen just… gifted it to the Lords?” she asks suspiciously.
My lips twitch with the faintest smile. “We helped her take care of a problem the crown was having.”
Rolling her eyes, she pulls her hand out of mine. “I’m sure.”
“There are clues about the Lords everywhere,” I tell her, giving a small nod of acknowledgment to the doorman. Using my key, I open the elevator for all five of us. “In books, movies, the bible, museums, artifacts–”
“The bible?”
“Yes,” Theo interjects. “Sterling has done all the research, so he knows more than me. We show up in the most random places. Once, an ancestor of ours was on the currency. You can look up the coin. It’s a mystery, as no one could ever figure out who was on it.”
“Ah, a gift from Henry VII,” Alaric adds.
Harlow’s jaw drops as we climb to the twentieth floor. “Wow. That’s pretty incredible.”
The doors spring open a second later, and we all walk out into the expansive suite. Harlow stops and does a full 360. Her eyes are wide when she turns to face me.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
Harlow
It’sthe most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure if I can even call it a hotel, as it seems like a massive house instead. The foyer is made of pure marble. The shiny white floors and walls are immaculate. There’s an ornate table off to the side with a massive bouquet of fresh peonies, which happens to be my favorite flower. The ceilings must be at least twenty feet high. A beaded chandelier hangs over us, and as my eyes scan the rest of the suite, I can’t help but gape.
There’s a formal living room to the left, decorated with striped black and white carpets and tan leather furniture. The lower half of the wall is made up of dark wood, and there’s a fire going in the massive fireplace. Two leather chesterfields face each other and between them is a gilded marble and wood coffee table.
Further down is what I assume to be the kitchen, though I can only make out the white marble counters and the dark green cabinets.
To my right is a dining room, which is decorated with dark wood and patterned turquoise wallpaper. The chairs are all striped black and white, and more fresh peonies sit in the middle of the eighteen-seat table.
