They had, after all, mutually agreed on an exchange of virginity five years prior. It was customary to make such an arrangement around thirty, and although she felt no great passion for Cyrus, he was gentle and attentive. He would treat her and their offspring well. More than well. He might even love her, though she could never return the feeling in the way he deserved.
The thought sent a terrible, ripping pain through her chest, but Camille chose not to acknowledge it. What was a little more guilt on top of the rest, anyway?
“And why Epifanio?” Olivier pressed, pinning her with an inscrutable look. “He is much older than you.”
“But he would bring a powerful new family into the Solbourne fold,” she argued. “And his wealth outstrips mine.”
Camille could feel Margot’s stare on the side of her face but chose to ignore it. She had no doubt that to her, a woman raised amongst humans, their frank assessments of her possible spouse’s relative worth was jarring. However, Olivier was right.
It was just business.
“True, but he and his father are…” Olivier tilted his head to one side, then the other, clearly looking for the right word.“Intense.There is no love between them, and the few times I’ve spent more than a minute in Epifanio’s presence, I left with the impression that he is a man who does not do things by half measures — not in business and not in his personal life. To be frank, I’m not certain you could handle him.”
Interesting.Camille made a thoughtful sound in the back of her throat and considered all that she’d heard about Epifanio over the years. Certainly, he was handsome, but she’d also heard that he was meticulous, short tempered, acquisitive, and dominant in the extreme. Perhaps he was too much like his father andthatwas why they didn’t get along.
Feeling her phone buzz in her lap, she replied noncommittally, “I’ve heard something similar. His father is pushing hard for the union, though.”And my intuition says I shouldn’t touch that snake with a ten foot pole.
“I imagine he would, considering he’s been clawing his way upward since the day he disemboweled his own mother.” Olivier took a slow drink from his coffee. His topaz eyes cut to his right to take in Margot’s appalled expression. “Don’t worry, pearl, she deserved it. Or at least, that’s his version of the story.”
Margot dropped her fork onto her plate, a half eaten cube of melon stuck on the tines. “Gods, that’s awful.”
“Oh, certainly, but that’s the way things were before the war,” he explained. A foreign note of warmth began to thaw some of the coldness in his voice. Olivier appeared to actually wish to begentlewith his sister.How unsettling.
Like he was giving her a bite-sized history lesson, he continued, “I believe she cheated the family somehow and poisoned her spouse with iron — this was, of course, before the metallurgic inoculation. Iron poisoning was… incomprehensibly cruel. It was a just execution, considering the crime.”
“But his ownmother?”
Olivier shrugged. “If I had my choice, I’d prefer to die by the hands of a kinsman than an enemy.”
Margot stared at her brother for a moment, her lips parted in a look of frozen horror. “That’s— That’sawful.”
“It’snature.”He snagged another piece of prosciutto. “Ask any shifter, any dragon, most especially yourin-laws,and they’ll tell you the same thing.”
While he and Margot debated that point, as well as the mode of murder, Camille pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked it under the hem of the tablecloth.
Two text messages waited for her. One was from Theodore and the other was from a number she didn’t recognize. Still smarting from his betrayal, she chose to check the other message first.
Unknown number 12:46 PM: Looks like I made it onto your list, sweetheart. We’ve got a call at 4 PM. I’ll be wearing something nice, so don’t be late. xoxo
Camille felt the blood drain away from her face in one great rush. Heart hammering, she quickly checked Theodore’s message and prayed it would not say what sheknewit did.
Teddy 12:50 PM: I added someone to your list. Call @ 4. And yes, I’m making it mandatory. Try not to hate me. Love you. -T
She had to curl her claws into the armrests of her chair to stop herself from swaying.Godsdamn it, the crazy coyote really did it.
Dread was a lead weight in her stomach, but below that, an ember of something warm and soft glowed. Of course she was horrified that he’d somehow managed to convince Theodore to do whatshouldhave been out of the question, but she could not deny that a secret, shameful part of her was terribly, terribly pleased.
I am not done with my coyote yet.
It shouldn’t have thrilled her, but it did.
“…Cammie? Are you all right?”
Margot’s voice filtered in from far away. It broke through the fog of disbelief and exhilaration that had blocked out the chatter of the restaurant, the smell of food, even the sound of her own thundering heartbeat.
“I have to go.” Ignoring Margot’s concerned questions, she shot up from her chair, nearly knocking it over, and turned on her heel to rush out — only to nearly bowl over a golden-haired witch approaching their table.
Camille only got the impression of a heart-stoppingly lovely face and a glorious, burning energy before she breathed an apology and nearly sprinted out of The Rotunda.
