“I do like you, Nadine,” he told her wearily. “And that is not my nature. Remember that, later: I tried to spare you this.”
Without another word to her, without even so much as a single look back, he gathered the candles from the back of the car and marched into the house without her.
Curse Odessa, he thought. Curse the whole wicked lot of them, himself included.
And then, as if some passing devil had heard his thought, the whole house plunged into darkness.
C H A P T E R
T W E L V E
what lush eden
Lightning flashed on the other side of the window in steady pulses. Cal watched it reflect off the crystal of his glass, turning it this way and that to admire the way the bevels caught the light.
I shouldn’t have let her think she was free, Ben had said, and Cal was rather disgusted to realize that he finally understood what his brother meant. Knowledge truly was the forbidden fruit, and far from being sweet, its poisons lingered bitterly on the tongue.
He sipped his drink and turned a page of the book he couldn’t bring himself to read. The fiery warmth of the liquor burned his throat pleasantly. It was his second glass and was just beginning to take effect, the flocking pattern of the wallpaper only now starting to blur at the edges.
When the pale specter of Nadine appeared in the doorway, he thought it was his imagination come to taunt him.
Except, in his imagination, she was usually wearing far less.
“Hello, little sparrow,” he said heavily. “Are you another shade come to torment me? You did promise me torture, after all.”And from you, I would welcome it.
Even at this distance, he saw her wince.
That’s right, darling. I will hurt you. I don’t even have to touch you to fucking hurt you.
She was wearing a little white nightdress, sheer enough that he could see the shadowy outlines of her body as she moved. Hereyes, lit by the glow of her solitary candle, were restless, flicking to him and then away. Cal leaned back to offer up a better view.
This was dangerous—but he had never shied from danger, and her sweet, guileless wanting was like a hit of opium to the blood. It made him desperate to corrupt her. To preserve that sweetness and turn it dark.
To make herhis.
“Mm.” He slung an arm over the brass backing of the sofa, with a smile he didn’t bother to soften. Why should he? This stormy night was for lightning flashes of brutal honesty, for truths uncovered. “What’s that look? I think I like it. Come here into the light so I can see it better.”
“That fairytale I know,” she said bluntly.
Cal laughed cynically. “I’m a raven, darling. Not a wolf. Though as far as you’re concerned, I suppose they are very much the same.”
She watched him take another drink of rum.
“How long have you been in here?”
He swallowed, wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist. “Long enough.”
“Did you stop by my room?”
The question sent a chill arcing across his bare shoulders as the metal frame kissed his skin. He wanted to ask what had brought her to that conclusion, but couldn’t figure out a way to do so without frightening her more than she already was. He set the glass aside, letting his eyes fall to her bare legs.
“Mmm. Should I?”
“Someone tried.” Her fear cut through his desire like a heated blade. “That’s why I came in here. I didn’t feel safe in my room. I thought—”
“Nobody would find you in the library?”
“I wasscared.”
