Chapter 6
Cosette was waiting in the dining room that evening, dressed in a rose silk gown and picking at the food in front of her, when Davien finally returned. She immediately straightened, but for the first time since her arrival, he didn’t instantly react to her presence. In truth, he seemed rather distracted as he took his seat.
She could certainly sympathize with that.
After he’d left her that afternoon, she’d gone back to her room where a copper bath had been waiting for her, steam still rising from warm water inside. She didn’t know how Davien managed to know what she needed, when she needed it, but somehow he did. Even the food had been warm and tempting the moment she’d appeared downstairs for dinner. Unfortunately, her mind had been entirely too distracted to enjoy such a sumptuous fare.
Now, as she contemplated Davien’s inattentiveness, she had to wonder if he was already regretting his decision to take her on as his mistress.
She set aside her fork and prepared to stand.
“Where are you going?” His sharp tone cut through the room like a whip.
Cosette calmly resumed her seat. “I thought to retire.”
He sat back in his chair and regarded her with that unnerving stare. “Do you find my company to be lacking?”
She frowned. This mocking side of him was not complimentary. “No, but it seems to me that your mood is.”
He chuckled darkly. “Shall I wax poetic about your beauty then?”
“I would expect no such thing,” she snapped in return. She stood. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow when you are in more amicable spirits.”
“I have not dismissed you!” he snarled.
She lifted her eyes to his. “You may be my jailer, but you are not my master to command me at will. Goodnight,Your Grace,” she hissed, putting special emphasis on his title.
Cosette made it as far as the door before Davien was standing in front of her. “I would not test my patience right now,” he said calmly, deadly.
She backed up a step. She couldn’t help it. The fact that he was blocking her path when he was seated at the table only moments ago was unfathomable, and completely unexplainable. “What . . . are you?” she whispered. She heard the slight touch of horror in her voice, but was unable to contain it. She’d known Blackburn was unlike any other man she’d ever known, but just how different was he?
He tensed, but didn’t respond to her query. That’s when she glanced down at his sleeve and noticed the blood staining the cuff of his jacket.
She reached out a hand. “Are you injured?”
He removed the appendage from her sight. And that’s when she knew.
It wasn’t his blood he was trying to hide.
She gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. “What have you done?”
His smile was pure cunning. “I was out hunting.”
“You murdered someone?” This time she didn’t even try to hide her distress.
“Only a deer,” he returned smoothly.
Cosette felt sick to her stomach. She thought she might actually retch it was roiling so violently. It was a struggle to speak. “I . . . need some air.”
She didn’t wait for him to approve, but stumbled blindly toward the terrace doors leading from the dining room. She fumbled with the latch, but managed to push it open. Outside, she gulped down several cold blasts of winter air, but it wasn’t enough. She gave up the fight and flung herself to the edge of the railing and emptied the contents of her stomach. When she was finished, she stared out across the vast expanse of the lawn and the distant lights from the city beyond.
She didn’t have to look behind her to know that Davien was there. Waiting. Watching. “Are you going to kill me?” she forced herself to ask.
“You can ask that of me after what happened this afternoon?” He gave a dry snort. “Don’t be so dramatic, Cosette.”
She spun around. “Then tell me what you want of me!”
“I already told you.” He shrugged. “Everything.”
