Page 52 of The Heartless One
She seamlessly fit in with these people, though. Even as he watched, she meandered through the crowd, reintroducing herself as someone she wasn’t, the story they’d memorized note-perfect. And they believed her.They adored the Lady Farah, who had only recently married the rake Martin. No one had ever been able to get the man to settle down. Wasn’t she so pleased she was the first and only who had managed to do so?
“Whiskey,” he told the man at the bar.
“Sir, there are themed drinks for this function. If you would like me to tell you about them—”
He silenced the bartender with a glare. “Whiskey.”
“Right. Very good, sir.”
In moments, he had a glass of whiskey in his hand as he turned his back on the bartender and watched Jessamine shine. For all she had bemoaned the fact that she wasn’t the same person she once was, she was the same stunning woman who had captured his attention in her memories. The guests were all eating out of her hand in moments.
A crowd had gathered around her, laughing at what she said. Soon enough, she wastheperson at the party. Everyone wanted to be around her. They all wanted her to look at them, to listen to their gossip, for her to laugh and tell them they had the best story she’d heard all night. It likely took her half an hour at best.
Why were they all still out here in the gardens? Wasn’t this supposed to be a ball?
Looking down at the glass in his hand, he was disappointed to see that it was empty. “Another whiskey,” he said, only to pause when a firm hand touched his.
Frowning, he looked at the man who stood tall and broad beside him. This wasn’t a man like the others here. He wore a suit of navy blue, but it wasn’t quite as pressed as the others. The buttons gleamed with gold, but he could see the bottom one had a few pieces of that gold paint flaking off. His hair wasn’t perfectly in place either; there was one piece that wasn’t slicked back like the rest, right at the top of his head like a cowlick that wouldn’t settle.
“Do I know you?” Elric growled.
“Can you please get him the gin and tonic?” the man said to the bartender. “It is the special of the night for the gentlemen, after all.”
Elric frowned. “I already ordered what I want.”
“Trust me on this. You want the gin and tonic.”
He did not, in fact, want the gin and tonic. But he did want alcohol, so he took what the bartender offered and wondered idly if the drink was poisoned. He stared down into the clear liquid, then looked back at the man standing beside him. “If you poisoned this, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.”
“I’m sure a man such as you has encountered much poison in his life. Whatever tincture I picked to kill you would certainly fail.”
Elric could only frown. “Now, what would make you say that?”
The man nodded toward Jessamine. “Any man who has claim to a woman like her knows better than to assume another won’t try to take what’s his.”
His hand clenched around the glass. “Is that a threat?”
“Merely an observation. After the loss of the princess, I think all of us are watching our women a little more closely.” But there was something in the man’s gaze, a tightness as he looked at Jessamine and then back at Elric. “Most of us have heard the rumors, you know. That the princess isn’t dead. Have you?”
“I heard she fell off a cliff after getting her throat cut. That she plummeted into the ocean, which, from that height, would have shattered every bone in her body.” Elric knew better than most. He’d knitted every single one of those bones back together. He drained the gin and tonic before setting the glass on the bar top. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, it sounds as though this place might be a little too dangerous to leave my wife alone in.”
“I think anyplace might be too dangerous for that.” The man leaned a little closer, so that no one would overhear their words. “The walls have ears in this place, and so does everyone within them. Keep her safe.”
And then he walked away, slipping through the crowd, which gave him odd looks, sensing he was out of place.
Frowning, Elric walked back to Jessamine’s side and tugged her against him.
“Oh,” she said with a small chirp that was entirely unlike her. “You’reback! I was just talking with Lord Henry here about his time in the castle. Such a sad thing to lose so many nobles at once.”
He hummed low under his breath, bending down so it looked like he was nuzzling her neck. “Not everyone here is what they seem.”
“I’ve already discovered that,” she whispered in his ear. “Who was just talking to you?”
“I have no idea.” He dragged his lips up her throat to her ear. “But he knew who you were, princess. And he knew I am a god. So keep yourself alert.”
And he would do the same. Just because he’d promised to behave himself didn’t mean that he would if someone dared to touch Jessamine.
Everyone here was a snake. She’d made that assumption the moment she started talking to the nobles who were going about their lives as though they hadn’t watched their queen and princess murdered in front of them. Six months was all it had taken. They hadn’t even mourned her mother for an entire year.
