“Nothing important.”
But Robin sees through me—she always sees through me. “You’re a terrible liar, you know.”
“I’m actually an excellent liar. It’s a professional requirement.”
“Not with me.” Her voice is quiet, certain. “You can’t lie to me, Eva.”
The truth of that statement settles in my gut. But she’s right. From the moment she walked into my world, Robin Rivers has seen straight through every wall I’ve built, every mask I’ve worn.
She’s dangerous in ways she doesn’t even understand.
We lie in comfortable silence after that, our breathing falling into sync. Robin’s fingers continue their lazy exploration of my skin, and I find myself relaxing in ways I haven’t in years.
Because for the first time in my adult life, I’m not thinking about power or control or the next strategic move. I’m thinking about morning light in her hair and the way she laughs when I say something that surprises her. I’m thinking about village school and children’s dreams and what it might be like to be the kind of person who builds things instead of just destroying them.
I’m thinking about love—that impossible, terrifying thing I’ve spent my entire life avoiding.
Chapter 13
Eva
In the gray hours just before dawn, I wake and leave Robin sleeping in my bed. If last night told me one thing, it’s that I can influence her—can make her think good things about me, even—but I can’t give her what she really wants.
What she deserves.
And besides, Uncle Stefan is arriving today. I expected him for the interment but he was held up in Poland, tracking down a lead on my father’s killer, and possibly my own attempted assassin. He seems to think they are not the same person, but I’m not sure I agree.
Either way, I have entrusted him to deal with the matter. When he finds the killer, then I will exact vengeance. But as head of the Consortium, I don’t have time to be running around the world checking out leads that go nowhere.
But when I hear the car approaching, I find myself nervous to go down to greet him in the courtyard, simply because I knowsheis in the Great Hall, and might see me as I pass.
This morning, from the CCTV footage in my study, I watched Robin wake alone. She stretched with a smile, and then reached out to find an empty bed. Her smile died, and I felt something I’ve never felt before.
Shame.
So after spending most of the day avoiding Robin, I watch now in the late afternoon from the second floor as Uncle Stefan steps from the car, leather gloves tucked neatly under one arm, his silver-threaded hair immaculately combed. Leon, who drove him in from the airfield, is there as well and looking around for me, since I told him I would meet them in the courtyard.
But Robin must have heard the arrival too, because as I watch, she comes out into the courtyard with a hopeful smile.
She must have thought it was me.
Her smile only wavers for a moment when she sees Stefan instead, who greets her with a gallant bow. “Miss Rivers, isn’t it?” he says. I can hear them faintly if I listen carefully. “I remember you from my last visit. Stefan Novak. Eva’s uncle.”
Robin relaxes and nods, laughing at the next thing he says, though I don’t catch it. She finds him polite, I think bitterly. Even comforting.
So unlike her surly, intimidating host.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Novak,” Robin says, accepting his offered arm as he escorts her up the castle steps.
“A much greater pleasure formeto seeyou, I can assure you,” Stefan replies with that easy charm, and Robin laughs.
Of course she’d respond to him. Everyone does. Stefan has always possessed the kind of effortless charisma that I never inherited from my father’s side of the family. Where I command through fear, Stefan wins hearts with warmth.
I’m lucky that I was born beautiful, because I really am horrifying underneath this outward shell. It’s why I take such care of myself, why I dress in the finest designer clothes and use the most expensive creams and cosmetics.
If my outsides matched my insides, I’d never get laid.
Perhaps that’s why I’m so attracted to Robin. She has a light inside her that I’ll never have myself.
