“Did you ever find your master?” I ask, once he goes silent again. There’s so much more I want to know.
“I did,” he says. “In 1910.”
I blink.1910?
“How oldareyou?”
His lips curl in a smirk. “Old.”
“How old?” I ask again.
He pauses, debating whether or not to tell me. But then… “I was born in 1715, in Bristol, England. I died in 1747.”
“Shit…” I breathe.
If he’s bothered by my reaction, he doesn’t show it. “Don’t let Santiago’s dubious charm and good looks fool you. He’s dangerous in ways you can’t imagine.” He turns to walk out, but I’m not ready for this conversation to end yet.
“You said you found your master?” I call after him.
He stops mid-step.
“What did you do when you found him?”
He faces me again, and then, very bluntly, he says, “I killed him.”
I don’t know what I was expecting for an answer, but it wasn’t that.
“Are you thinking about killing me, Monty?” he asks. He doesn’t smile, just stands there, arms crossed, blocking the door.
“Not at the moment,” I mutter. “There’s still time.”
“Right.”
“What if I just want to join his company, work at Sanguine?”
“You can work here at VMR,” he says.
“Can I? I don’t want to be an assistant. I never did.”
“Understood. We can find a place for you in whatever department you want.”
As much as I’m trying to hold on to my anger at Lucian for what he did to me, it’s slipping away. He makes it too hard to hate him.
“But what if Iwantto work with Santiago?” I ask, just pressing my luck at this point.
“You’re not for him.” His words are solid granite.
“Jealous?” I say, pushing.
He shrugs. “You’re mine, my responsibility, and unlike my master, I’ll never abandon that responsibility.” Suddenly he’s right there in front of me, and he snatches Santiago’s card out of my hand and crumples it. My body goes into meltdown, everything throbbing like a pulse. “But yes, Monty. I’d be jealous if you chose anyone over me. Is that what you want to hear?”
Discarding the useless paper, he then slides his fingers under my choker, the diamonds ridiculous with this dress, and yet…
I like it.
I like that feeling of being owned, even as I despise it and I want to fight it all.
His blue eyes glint as he drops his gaze to my mouth, the light in the room shadowing under his high cheekbones as he feathers a kiss over my lips.
