Tightened muscles betrayed me. Her smile turned to satisfaction.
“You really did live up to the name. Ruined Celeste, Estelle, and Octavia. Drove Tasia to drink. Ran Iris out of the city. I’ll bet it has always grated that you have been unable to ruin me.”
She settled back in her guest chair, as if the hard back and seat were made of velvet instead of the purposely austere designs she favored—anything to keep her guests uncomfortable. “The coup de grace. The devil. The demoness. I was always flatteredby the names you chose to call me. Drove Celeste crazy. She always tried to think up new tortures to make you love her more.” She smiled fondly. “She was always a bit mad.”
“She wasn’t the only one, was she?” I smiled coldly and flipped through the papers clutched in my hand. Bills, correspondence. Ah, a half-finished note to someone named Tom. I would have to investigate to see who Tom was—and how old he was.
Damn my missing investigator. Too long for his silence to be a coincidence.
Her smile continued its sunny path. “No, she wasn’t the only one. Estelle is always a half step from Shatterfield.”
“Estelle is six feet in the dirt.”
Her face froze, then recovered. “Gabriel, dear, have you been naughty?” Her eyes quickly scanned the desk, lingering on the corners where something might rest, then flicking to the letter tray.
“Looking for something, Melissande?” I raised a brow. “Something sharp and devastating to the magic of little boys perhaps?”
She smoothed a hand along the stomach of her dress, her figure impeccable, as it had always been. “Not at all,” she finally said.
“You haven’t been my match for a long time. Do you think your viper tongue will save you?”
At one time I would have fiercely celebrated her unease, watching her squirm. Now I was tired. And angry.
“I’ll bet you haven’t heard from Celeste in a while? Or Iris. Or dear, dear Octavia.”
She swallowed hard, but still managed a light laugh. “What have you been up to, Gabriel? Truly living up to your name, are you? And here I thought you had always found it distasteful,despite your proclivities to help wretched souls too poor and desperate to deserve a second thought otherwise.”
I crossed my ankles on the desk. “Quite out of the gossip here, aren’t you, high lady? Anastasia even made the headlines this morning.” I dragged my heels across the documents on her desk, skewing them as I halfheartedly searched. “Not even a recent paper? Has the high lord finally caught on to you?”
“You wish it were so, Gabriel.” She smoothed her hair, and I saw her surreptitiously glance around the room for something to aid her. She was far from stupid, and far, far from helpless despite her delicate looks and wide eyes. “My husband cares more for his political intrigues than his wife. He wouldn’t notice if I chose to sleep my way through the ranks of the gilded.”
“You mean you haven’t?” I feigned shock. “I’m disappointed.”
“Only the young ones, Gabriel. Though I will always make an exception for you.” She leaned in, cocking her head just so, showing her best side. “I hate to admit it, but you are unparalleled.”
Nausea rose. I recognized that move. I had done it myself, just as I’d learned how to circle and counter being circled. Something soul-deep sickened at the realization. Gestures that were hers first.
“You are next on the list, Lady Steelcrest.”
Her fingers gripped the arm of her chair, though she was trying to project ease. “I assume that is why you are here, Gabriel. You always did have such a flair for the dramatic.”
“I need the names of all the men—pardon me,boys—who have suffered your ‘favor’ and perhaps been unhappy about it.”
“Dear Gabriel.” Her fingers uncurled. She laughed, relief flowing in her breezy voice. “You are here tosaveme. Oh how wonderful. The irony, the pain. Magnificent. Poor Octavia. Dead,you say? Pity. She would have reveled. And Celeste would have been so marvelously jealous.”
It took everything I had to stay in the chair. To let the emotions pass. I could leave her to it. Leave her to her much deserved death.
“A list, high lady.”
She leaned back, the relief strengthening her, her innate confidence returning like a well-worn cloak. “Oh, but now that you are here and staying with me, Gabriel, we must renew our acquaintance. We have all the time in the world.”
I tossed the papers on the desk. “You have ten minutes. Then I walk out the door. I couldn’t care less if you live or if you die.”
She raised a brow. “Then you wouldn’t be here.”
“I’m not here foryou.”
She smiled. “Do you know that out of all the young men we took under our wings, you were one of the few who didn’t return.”
