“I am,” she said, pointing to the peacock feather. “And that was actually a goose feather. He had to paint the peacock from memory.”
“Is that so?” Logan asked, turning his focus away from the painting. She looked at him as well. “You know, I’ve studied this piece for longer than I’d like to admit.”
“Have you?”
He nodded. “I have and while initially, I believed it to be a true masterpiece, I’ve experienced a growing dissatisfaction with it.”
Faith’s brow scrunched.
“Why is that?”
“Well, if I’m honest,” he said, stepping toward her, “I think I find it lacking because the subject isn’t quite right.”
Faith frowned, looking back at the painting and then at him.
“What is lacking?”
The corner of Logan’s mouth pulled up slightly.
“It cannot speak.”
Faith blinked.
“What?”
“It cannot speak, or argue. It has never once even attempted to insult me.” He faced it once more. “It has done your physical likeness justice, that is true, but I’m afraid that it does not capture your soul. It does not—cannot—speak to your virtues, or your vices.”
Faith squinted at him.
“What vices?”
Logan smirked.
“Your inability to be proven wrong, for instance.”
“If I were ever wrong, I might see your point.”
“But you were wrong.”
“About what?”
“About me,” he said. “About why I won’t destroy this painting.”
She turned back to stare at him.
“You mean youdon’tlike having something which to blackmail me with?”
The air between them turned thick, and Logan watched her with a seriousness that hadn’t been there before.
“I would never use this painting against you,” he said. For a moment, Faith wanted very much to believe him. “I don’t like the idea of it having such power over you.”
“Power over me?” she repeated with a humorless chuckle. “You believe this has power over me?”
“I do,” he said intently as he took another step toward her, practically touching now. “I think this Donovan fellow must have used your feelings for him against you. I think, perhaps, you were far softer before he betrayed you. I hate to think that the hurt he caused you somehow molded you into what you are now.”
Faith’s words caught in her throat. Donovanhadhurt her, but not quite in the way Logan believed. She knew he thought the artist had used her and thrown her to the side once he had had his way with her, but the truth was more innocent and somehow more pathetic.
“And what am I now?”
