“And as you pointed out,” Cal said, “she came tome. That sounds like choice, Benjamin. Unless you’re calling yourself father’s sparrow, now.”
His brother’s face darkened to an ugly purplish-red. “Youdare—”
“Ugh, are you two fighting again?” Odessa’s voice chimed from the hall like the goddess of discord incarnate. “I think you should take your masculine egos to the woods like civilized people instead of—” she broke off upon spotting Nadine. “Oh wow, is it festival time already?”
“She’s not dead,” Cal snapped, “although Ben would like her to be.”
Odessa snapped her fingers. “It’s the girl from the wedding. The timid busty one you had your little crush on. Whatwasher name—” Her grin widened, shark-like, at his surly glare. “Natalie! No,Nadine. Noelle’s little sister, the one Father had you writing to. Wait, let me guess, you confessed the depths of your turgid, throbbing love and she was so overcome that she fainted.”
Hands on his hips, Ben said, “Noelle wrote her letters. Cal did, too. That’s why she’s here. I told Cal not to fuck it up, lest she waltz in here singing her sister’s swan song, but apparently his attempts at warning her off failed.”
“But it’s almost time for the festival,” Odessa said. “If he courted her now, he could persuade her to stay for the hunt if he doesn’t bore her to death first. Or scare her away. Although if she’s here, she probably likes being scared at least a little.”
The festival. A light went off in his head.
“Absolutely not,” Ben said harshly.
Cal dropped the ice in his glass, wiping his damp fingers on his pants. Nadine’s eyes fluttered behind her lids, her lips parting on a silent breath.
“She’s waking,” he said. “No one say anything. Not one word about letters or festivals.” His eyes went to his brother and sister by turn, his features locked into the same stern mask he wore to the courtroom. “Leave everything to me.”
Thiswas the sign he needed to resolve his broken faith. No trial by fire, but a woman delivered right to his front door, just in time for the festival.
Cal knew now, what he had to do.
C H A P T E R
T H R E E
the devil incarnate
Having grown up in Ravensgate, Cal was used to the house’s dark idiosyncrasies, but as Nadine’s eyes flicked wildly from the scrolling on the refurbished gaslamps to the glittering wallpaper, he was once again reminded of what this place looked like to outsiders.
To thehunted.
She was wearing something black and lacy beneath her top, the strap revealed by the panel of bare skin at each shoulder. Cal imagined pulling it down with his teeth before biting the soft, downy skin beneath as if she were summer-ripe fruit—
“Careful.” He spoke as much to himself as to her when she struggled to right herself. She scrambled backwards on the sofa and his weight shifted automatically in response, ready to give chase. “You were out cold.”
“There’s no doctors here,” Odessa interjected helpfully. She had pulled out a metal emery board and was filing her nails into sharp ovals on its bladed edge. “No hospital, either.”
“Really?” Nadine swallowed hard. “What happens if you get h-hurt.”
“Don’t,” his sister casually advised.
Nadine’s nervous eyes traveled to his brother, who had settled himself into one of the velvet armchairs like a long-suffering king. Prolonged contact with the Paris green cover had given him lesions on his hands, raw and scored where they lay splayed over the armrests, with beads of blood set in therecesses like cruel gemstones. He should have bandaged them, but because Cal himself had suggested this, he had worn the wounds left by his wife like badges of honor.
Seeing Nadine looking at them, he closed his hands into fists. “Hello, Nadine.”
“H-hi Ben.” Her eyes darted back to her lap, a flush in her pallid cheeks.
Cal did not like the expression on his brother’s face at all.
“Baby Cal was worried you’d sue.” Odessa looked back and forth between them, eyes alight with mischief. “You should haveseenhim fussing.”
“Premise liability law doesn’t cover acts of god.” Cal swung off the edge of the love seat where he’d been waiting, and offered Nadine his hand. After a pause, she took it, nudging her exposed bra strap back into place as he brought her to her feet, close as a clean miss. He gave Odessa a sharp look over his shoulder. “You know I don’t like to be called that.”
“You’re the one who scared her,” she shot back. “Or are you saying you’re a god?”
