Delicately placing the box on the cushion in front of him, she continued, “I will not be entering into a union withanyone.I’ve called off negotiations.”
“Why?”
She raised her chin. “Because I’ve found my consort.”
Astonishingly, Epifanio didn’t hesitate before he crisply replied, “Why should that matter?”
“I— what do you mean,why should that matter?”Camille made an expansive gesture to the room at large, and then at herself. “I’m taken.”
“So?” Totally unbothered, he rose up from his crouched position to button his coat. Not once did his eyes rest on the velvet box — to him, millions of dollars in jewels seemed to matter about as much as a piece of litter. “I don’t care if you have a consort as long as you remain publicly loyal to me. Have as many bastards as you want. I don’t care.”
The end of his sentence caught her ear in a strange way.To me,he said. Not to his family.To him.Goosebumps broke out across her skin as intuition whispered,Watch out. There’s trouble there.
“You would be fine with me loving another man?” Camille peered at him suspiciously. It wasn’t uncommon, of course, but with an elf like Epifanio, she struggled to imagine he would handle sharinganythingwell.
“I don’t need you to love me. I don’t even need us to be sexually compatible,” he replied. His smile was sharp and close-lipped, as if he had already decided that was the case. With only a look, he’d deemed her somehowincompatible.She had absolutely no desire to find out why. “I just need your name.”
“Well, you won’t be getting it.” Camille had no desire to provoke him, nor to make an enemy out of the Luz family, but she also knew that dominant elves didn’t respond to anything except force. To them, everything and everyone was a nail. If they simply hit it hard enough, it would do what they wanted it to. The only way to be heard was to hit back.
Bracing her hands on her hips, Camille pretended like she was not alone in her apartment with a greater predator, nor that she was in nothing but a silk robe, with not even a stitch of clothing underneath.
“I will not be joining with you, Mr. Luz,” she told him firmly. “Even if I had not found my consort, I don’t believe we are compatible in any way and likely would have chosen another. I appreciate your offer and am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you, but our negotiation is finished. You may go.”
A tense silence settled between them. Camille worked hard to maintain eye contact with him, to keep her body language loose and unaffected, though she wanted to shrink back, to tense in preparation for an attack.
She hadn’t heard any rumors that he was particularly violent — no moreso than any other elf was, really — but she was no fool. Denying a man like Epifanio, with no understanding of his temper, was a risk. Attacking her would be a damn foolish thing to do, but when an elvish temper lit, reason was the first thing to go.
So she made herself look as at ease as possible. She did not step back, fearing that it might trigger an instinct to chase, and she did not break eye contact. Camille held herself perfectly still and waited.
At length, Epifanio flexed his jaw hard enough to make his fangs squeak. He reached down to pick up the box. Curling his long, gloved fingers around its velvet surface, he said, “I am not a man most people feel comfortable saying no to, Miss Solbourne. My father even less so. He won’t be pleased.”
Your father can kiss my purple ass.Camille held the thought in with a swift bite of her tongue. Flesh stinging, she said instead, “That is unfortunate. However, I’m sure you can convince him that there are better alternatives out there.”
Tucking the box into the deep pocket of his houndstooth coat, he replied, “Doubtful. Once my father gets the hunger for something, he is relentless.”
“That is your problem, not mine.”
Epifanio’s eyes met hers. They were a beautiful, almost shocking green — the green of new leaves, or perhaps of some vicious poison. “For now,” he purred, lips quirking in a dark smile. “I can’t promise you he’ll take this insult lying down.”
Camille’s brows snapped down. “What are you—”
The hair on the back of her neck rose. Her lungs seized, for just a moment, as an animal awareness settled over her.Viktor’s here.
She didn’t have time to panic before her proximity alarm chimed. He didn’t even bother knocking, but simply called out, “Sweetheart, it’s me.”
Before she could react, Epifanio turned on his heel and strode toward the door. “Ah, this must be the consort,” he drawled, ignoring Camille’s choked protest. “I think I’d like to meet the man who stole you from under my nose, Miss Solbourne.”
She scrambled around the couch, dashing toward his retreating figure. “Epifanio, donot—”
“Cam, who’s in there with you?”Viktor’s voice was guttural, nearly unintelligible beneath the deep, coyote growl.
Shit!
She sprinted, but Epifanio had a head start and longer legs than her. Reaching the door first, he twisted the knob and jerked it open to reveal Viktor’s still form on the other side. Camille caught sight of him from around Epifanio’s arm and gasped.
His brows were drawn down, his lip lifted in a feral snarl, and his eyes were a glowing coyote gold. His features were stretched oddly, caught somewhere between coyote and man, and an air of promised violence hung thick around him.
Her heart skipped a beat. Even half-shifted, he wasbeautiful.
