I take an involuntary step away from him. “You could have broken into my room days ago and killed me in my sleep?”
His throat bobs before he replies. “Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you?” I’m not sure I want to know the answer.
He slowly slides his gaze away from me and settles it back on the portrait. “I tried, but I couldn’t bring myself to act while you were sleeping.”
I bring a hand to my chest and absently rub the flesh his fingers had tried to pierce last night. “You actually attempted it. To kill me while I was sleeping.”
“Why should that surprise you?” His voice is neither sharp nor kind. Instead, it’s more…tired. “I tried to kill you last night too.”
“Yes, but at least I knew about it and had the chance to fight you off. I could have died in my sleep and never known about it.” Panic crawls up my throat, making my fingers flinch for the tincture in my pocket. It takes all my restraint not to grab it and down a drop. I’ve already had three drops today. If I take another too soon, I might get lethargic. Then how will I be any help in proving Queen Tris’ guilt?
“That is precisely why I didn’t act. I decided you deserved a respectable death while you were awake and aware, not an execution while you were in such a vulnerable state.” His voice catches on that last part, but he rushes to add, “Until we prove your innocence, I won’t apologize for either attempt on your life.”
My muscles relax the slightest bit. He saiduntilwe prove my innocence. Which suggests he expects to find proof that will exonerate me. “Very well. I suppose I can’t hold it against you. However, I am rather cross that you went to investigate without me.”
“Out of all the things you could be upset about, that is your primary grievance with me? I freed you from your cuff, at least.”
“Yes, but I told you I wanted to work together.”
“If you want to work together, then you must ensure from now on that you can rouse yourself from sleep before noon.” He turns a stern look on me. “If you want to work with me, keep your wits sharp and stop relying on that poison.”
I meet his gaze with a glare, my cheeks burning with indignation. “You don’t understand.”
“What I understand is that if you keep forcing your body to rely on Crimson Malus, then you’ll soon find yourself in a sorry state. There’s a reason your wounds didn’t heal quickly last night—”
His voice cuts off as the door swings open.
We whirl away from each other and face the parlor entrance just as a figure strolls through the double doors and closes them behind her. Like Madame Desire, Madame Fury is tall and lithe. Her skin is orange while her hair and lashes are composed of ever-dancing flames. From what I’ve heard, all seven heads of the Seven Sins Hotel are sisters. I’ve only seen a few of them in person, but all are said to be sprites that each embody a different trait. Traits the humans call sins.
Everything from Madame Fury’s fiery hair to her sharply pointed ears and fierce eyes evoke the spirit of wrath to its fullest.
I force a smile to my lips, summoning only pleasant emotions as I prepare to meet Fury’s gaze. My magic hums around me, surging outward as soon as our eyes lock. She barely offers me more than a glance, but it’s enough to form an impression. Now when I look at her, I see the qualities she likes most in herself—vindictiveness, strength, and wits. Qualities she’ll now see in me.
With a smile that looks more like a sneer, she strolls to the center of the parlor. She’s dressed in leather trousers and a form-fitting shirt, both of which are almost the same shade of orange as her skin.
“Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice, Madame Fury,” the Huntsman says. “Charge whatever fee you require to the Alpha Council.”
She angles her head at a sitting area and claims a large wingback chair. The flames of her hair crawl over the headrest but don’t char the velvet fabric. “Take a seat. Let us get this over with. I do not take kindly to demands on my time, regardless of the fee paid.”
The Huntsman and I each claim chairs at the opposite side of the tea table that separates us from the fae female. He reaches into the pocket of his waistcoat and shows her his coin. “I am here on behalf of the Alpha Council investigating a case—”
She interrupts him with a scoff. “I know who you are, and you’re no detective, Huntsman. You’re a bounty hunter. A conscripted one at that. Save me your posturing and get to the point.”
His eyes widen briefly, as if he’s surprised Fury knows who he is. Then he steels his expression, revealing only a hint of agitation as a tic forms at the corner of his jaw. He pockets his coin again. “Madame Fury, one of your fighters attacked me and my companion last night.”
“A dreadful ogre attack. Yes, I heard about this. You killed Murtis, did you not?”
“I did.”
“Then it seems justice has been served.” She begins to rise from her seat, but the Huntsman speaks again, halting her.
“I am not finished, Madame Fury. Should you seek to evade punishment by the Alpha Council, you will grant me an audience until I have said my piece.”
She barks a laugh, nonplussed by his threat. “If the Alpha Council wants to punish me, they can try. You’ll find I have a certain amount of autonomy here, Huntsman. So long as I act in the name of wrath and justice, I am allowed to do as I please at the hotel.”
“If you stand for wrath and justice, then you will aid our case. I believe the fae I killed was working at the behest of another. My true quarrel was not with the ogre, but the person who sent him. I need to find out who that was so I can see justice served.”
