A lick of anger climbed my spine. “Whatever your station in life, it doesn’t allow you to play with the lives of others.”
“I couldn’t agree less.” He leaned back, eyes hooded. “Your station in life directly impacts how much you can play with lives and on what scale.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Spare me your horror. The higher you are in society, the more you play. Own those people…” His eyes gleamed darkly. “…and you own everything.”
The air grew thinner, harder to breathe. “No.”
Gabriel, beautiful—and terrible in that beauty—leaned forward. “Oh, yes,Marietta.”
“Gabriel,” Crane barked. “That’s enough.”
“You are a guest in this house, Father. As mentioned before, I hardly need to take direction from you anymore.” The very air changed, all the household spells bending to his hand. There was something black in his eyes. “Not that you ever showed much care for my direction.”
Orion Crane straightened, but even I could see Gabriel had shot him clean through. “Your mother and I—”
“Do not mention her in this.” His voice turned deadly. “If you had left us with—”
“Gabriel, you cannot blame father for—”
“Really? And why not?”
Lucian’s face turned from white to red. “It’s not fair.”
Gabriel lifted a brow. “Fair? How interesting.”
He must have been born Gabriel Crane. The non-gilded could do that—start over, shed a name, become someone entirely new.
I assessed the distance to the door. Gabriel’s eyes met mine. “Don’t even think it.”
Magic spiked through me. “Just let me go.” My voice was barely audible. I clutched at the pulsing marks on my wrist.
The skin around his eyes tightened. “No.”
“Please.”
Pain flashed then disappeared. “I think you have something to ask me.” His tone was almost pleasant.
“No.”
“Oh, yes. Ask me, Marietta. Ask me now.”
~*~
GABRIEL
I tightened my grip on the pistol.Herpistol, which she had been ready to use. From the corner of my eye, I saw a cobweb dangling from the ceiling, missed by a cleaning spell. Unraveling now, like everything else.
I won’t implicate him.
So it had come to this. With me angrier at her than at my father, for reasons I refused to examine. I had deliberately withheld information from her. I had lied. And yet,herresponse felt like betrayal.
I had known this girl barely a month. Had spent nearly every moment with her since, yes, but she was a turn on the carriage ride of my life. And yet…
Yes, and yet.
Her lips pressed. “No.”
