Page 50 of Assistant to the Villain

“Indeed. Whoops.” His words sounded like they’d been dragged across gravel, but he didn’t look injured. He sighed, and his head landed back against the stone floor beneath him. “Are you unharmed?”

“Yes, you broke my fall.”

“Lucky me,” he said flatly, hand coming up to brush back his hair. Evie had seen him mess with it quite often. Almost as if it was a nervous habit, but he didn’t seem the type to have those.

“Is that a bald spot?” Evie asked innocently, tilting her head to the side and rubbing her chin as she sat upright.

“What?” he barked, looking so panicked that Evie didn’t have the heart to keep up the jest.

“I kid, Evil Overlord. Your perfect hair is intact.”

“It’s just hair; it doesn’t matter.” But the childish grumble in his voice made Evie smile, and a sudden warmness filled the room that had nothing to do with the open vent. They stayed still for a moment before a crooked grin pulled at his lips and Evie smiled so wide that her cheeks felt like they’d split open.

“Sage?”

“What?” she said, slightly embarrassed by the breathless tone of her voice.

“Could you, umm, dismount me?”

“Oh, of course!” she yelped, throwing herself off him quickly and rising to her feet to retrieve her discarded shoes. She giggled nervously. “I almost forgot I was on top of you.”

The Villain rose slowly, gripping his desk to hoist himself all the way up. He was facing away from her when he said, “How nice for you.”

“I should’ve asked before I opened the vent.” Evie winced. He was obviously very put out with her.

“No,” he said, surprising her. “It was a good idea. I’m just distracted by…the past, I suppose.”

Evie’s chest squeezed tight, and she walked around the edge of his desk so she could see his face. “You can talk about it if you want to.” She held up her pinkie. “I’m sworn to secrecy anyway, remember?”

His dark gaze held hers, lowering to her smile, then back up to her eyes. “I suppose I could tell you…”

And then Becky busted through the door.

Honestly, it was like the woman had a bell go off anytime someone was feeling joy.

“Oh!” Becky said, eyes wide and innocent as she caught the two of them only inches apart. “I’m sorry. I knocked. Am I interrupting something…important?”

“As a matter a fact—” Evie started.

“Of course not,” the boss said over her, seeming to snap from whatever spell had been holding both of them. “Sage was giving her normal level of impertinence, and I was entertaining her.”

Evie glared at him, ignoring the flash of remorse in his eyes.

Becky’s own eyes widened for a moment, but that expression was quickly replaced with one of righteous victory. “I’m so sorry, sir. I just thought Evie would want this back. I saw it fall out of her pocket earlier.” Becky held up the piece of paper, and Evie’s stomach dropped when she saw what it was.

King Benedict’s offer of employment letter that she’d found in Blade’s room.

Evie watched in quiet horror as her boss angled his head closer, accepting the letter from Becky’s hands and then reading it furiously.

“Sage, explain this.” Any humor or lightness was gone, and Evie sighed.

She didn’t want to be the one to tell him about Blade’s deceit, but she’d been given no choice. “Sir, that is— Well, it’s—”

But The Villain cut her off before the words could come to her.

“It’s interesting that you’d like to know the secrets of my own past when it seems you have many of your own.” He had an unfamiliar mocking look on his face that made a bubble of anger curl so tight within Evie, the rest of her feelings needed to move over to make room for it.

“If you would just let me explain, sir. I would’ve told you about the letter sooner, but it wasn’t my place. I wanted to give…someone else the chance to tell you first.”