“Sit back down.” Alastor had risen from his chair, his hands in fists on the table, and his tone was as hard and rigid as a boulder.
Most of the time, I was the sort of girl who followed the rules and listened to directions. And not going to lie, my first instinct was to do exactly what he said, to obey his order and return to my seat. But not for the first time tonight I felt a wild recklessness rise inside me, and it kept my feet moving toward the door.
“Sit down,” he demanded more firmly, but I allowed momentum to keep pulling me forward.
I was nearly at the door of the room when I remembered that I was still quite possibly locked in from above, and my step faltered.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to face that humiliation, because at that same moment Octavian and Radven burst into the lair.
Octavian was in front. He looked from me to Alastor and then nodded. “Everything’s fine.”
“I could have told you that,” Alastor said, still standing behind the table. His voice remained hard, and I wondered if he was still pissed at me or if he just always sounded like that.
“We can’t ignore any potential threat.” That was Radven, who’d stepped around Octavian and was now looking at me with those intense green eyes. “There is too much at stake.”
My head was starting to spin, and having all three of these men here, staring at me like this, was wildly uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that my head was starting to buzz. I wasn’t sure whether it was the alcohol, or that incessantshivery-ness, or my long-latent sexual urges going into overdrive, but it felt like I was vibrating from the inside out, like my skin was going to slough right off my body.
“I don’t think she can help us,” Alastor said.
“I’m certain of it,” Octavian replied, looking back at me.
“As am I,” added Radven.
“What, because she’s young and pretty?” Alastor scoffed. “The pair of you are too easily distracted by perky breasts and a pair of fine lips. Frolic all you want, but don’t delude yourselves into thinking thisgirlcan do a blasted thing for us.”
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” I didn’t mean to scream, but I was confused, and hungry, and honestly, I was—justifiably, in my eyes—starting to get pissed.
Octavian and Radven gave each other one of those looks that spoke multitudes. If either one of them gave me another non-answer, then I was prepared to kneebothof them in the crotch.
It was Octavian who stepped closer. His eyes were as warm as they’d been the first time we met, as beguiling as they’d been in the moments just before he gave me the best kiss of my life, but I wasn’t sure I trusted his charm this time.
“This is going to sound very strange,” he said in that deep rumble of his.
“This night has already been strange,” I countered, running my hands over my arms as if that might stop the strangeshivering.
“It’s about to get stranger.” The warmth in his eyes had disappeared, replaced by that bleak emptiness I’d glimpsed briefly on the dance floor. “We’re cursed, Marigold. And you’re the only one who can help us.”
8
The Crestwood Curse
Okay,maybeI’dhada lot more to drink than I’d realized. Because I could have sworn Octavian had just said they werecursed.
“This isn’t funny,” I told them. “In fact, all of you aresick.Whatever sort of twisted, rich-people game this is, I don’t want any part of it.”
“We can assure you, this is no game,” Octavian said.
“What does your gut tell you?” Radven asked.
It was hard to hear my body say anything through theshiver. But that in and of itself was proof that there was something unnatural going on here.
“My gut is telling me I need another drink,” I said, twisting around to see if I could easily reach that glass of Scotch I’d left on the table.
That’s when I realized Alastor had come up behind me, effectively pinning me in the middle of all three brothers.
“Uh…do you mind if we sit?” I said. “Or do the three of you plan on interrogating me like a prisoner? I thought you were supposed to be answeringmyquestions.” Esmer probably would have encouraged me to do a little prisoner roleplaying with the sexy billionaires, but that could wait for later.
Alastor looked like he had no intention of budging, but Octavian said, “Of course we can sit.”
