“Or what? You’ll stab me with that knife you have hidden in your sleeve?” Okay, maybe it was stupid to provoke the guy with the knife hidden in his sleeve, but I wasn’t thinking straight. “If you need me that badly you aren’t going to kill me.”
“I wouldn’t need to kill you.” He drew closer, and despite the fact that this was the very same man who’d been intent on protecting me during the blackout, I had no doubt he would do everything short of killing me to get what he wanted.
“Let her pass.” Octavian’s rumble was close behind me, but I didn’t dare tear my eyes away from his dangerous brother.
“That’s it, then? You’re going to let her walk away?” Radven was watching me like I was a rodent skewered on the tip of his claw, like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to play with me or devour me whole.
“I’m not going to let you torture her,” Octavian replied. “If she helps us, it must be willingly.”
“Oh, I have every intention of making her willing.” His eyes flashed with heat, and I realized that he wasn’t talking about using his knife this time.
There was a part of me—the wicked, reckless part—that would have been willing to let him try. He was beautiful, and I was…intrigued, in spite of myself. How would a dangerous man like this treat a lover? Was there any gentleness in him, or would he bind my wrists above my head and—
“ENOUGH.” That was Alastor, using the same commanding tone he’d tried on me before his brothers had shown up. “Let the girl go, Radven. If you want a plaything, there are dozens of others upstairs who’d be happy enough to jump into your bed.”
Radven looked like he might protest, but apparently evenhelistened to Alastor, and after a moment’s hesitation, he stepped out of my way. But I felt his eyes on me as I hurried past him and up the stairs.
The door at the top was locked, but Octavian was close behind me. He reached around me and slid the key into the lock. Even though he was careful not to touch me, I could still feel the heat of him at my back.
“If you change your mind, we’ll be here,” he rumbled in my ear. “Just tell a member of the staff that Oak asked for you.”
That wasn’t the first time I’d heard that name tonight. “That’s your nickname?”
He nodded and pushed the door open. “But only a few people know that.”
He gestured for me to walk out into the hallway, then glanced down the stairs behind us. Radven stood at the bottom, watching us with one of those crooked smiles on his lips.
“I’ll walk you back to the party,” Octavian told me.
“Would R—George actually hurt me?” I asked when we were out of earshot. Despite the fact that I was pretty sure Octavian knew his brother’s name—and the fact that I was seriously questioning Radven’s character—I’d made a promise and I intended to keep it.
Octavian took a moment to choose his words. “He had to fight for survival from a very young age. He’s a good man, but he was forced to make choices that no one should ever have to make—let alone a child. That shapes a man.” He didn’t offer anything else.
I thought about that for a moment, then said, “What about Alastor? He’s so…” My brain scrambled for the right word, then finally settled on the simplest one. “Angry.”
Octavian didn’t look at me. “Alastor is lost.” He paused, then added. “We all are, but him most of all. He’s tied to Therador in a much deeper way than either Radven or myself.”
For the first time, the bleakness I’d seen in his eyes extended to his deep voice as well, and my stomach twisted in knots. I didn’t want these men to suffer because of me—not even after the way Alastor and Radven had treated me—but I also liked to think that I wasn’t the sort of idiot who suddenly believed in things like magic and other worlds just because some crazy billionaires told her they were real.
I wish Esmer and Isaac were here.Together, I had no doubt that the three of us would discover the truth and figure out exactly what to do.
“Did you take my phone?” I said abruptly. It occurred to me that he could have slipped it out of my purse while we were dancing—or kissing.
“Hm?” Octavian frowned down at me.
“Someone took my cell phone out of my bag.” Octavian had certainly had the opportunity, as had the gossipy woman in the crimson gown who’d told me about the brothers and their masks. For that matter, Radven had shown up right after I’d noticed it missing, so it was also possible thathewas the thief. Heck, the masquerade had been so crowded and I’d been so distracted that I would have made an easy mark for a pickpocket. And that was still assuming it hadn’t just fallen out of my purse on its own.
Octavian, to his credit, looked perplexed by the situation. “I can’t imagine why someone would steal from you. Most of our guests are wealthy enough to afford whatever electronic devices they want.”
What if the thief just wanted to keep me from calling for help?I wondered. The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed that Radven had been behind the theft. But I suspected that mentioning that to Octavian would get me nowhere. Radven could keep the damn phone—I was more interested in getting out of here as soon as humanly possible.
We’d reached the door that led back into the main party room, and I could hear the muffled music and chatter on the other side. Those people had no idea what was actually going on with these strange brothers.
Octavian paused with his hand on the door, then glanced back down the hallway behind us. I looked, too, half-expecting to see Radven following us like a panther stalking its prey, but we were alone.
He looked down at me. “Remember what I said about changing your mind. But if you decide you want nothing to do with us ever again…” All the warmth left his face. “Go far from this place. As far as you can. It’s not safe for you here.”
“Because of your brothers?”
