“I mean… I could kind of hear raised voices, so I figured it was some sort of disagreement. But I couldn’t make out any actual words,” I went on hurriedly.
“Right.” Julian’s mouth curved faintly again. “I’ll see you around, Violet.”
He started to turn away, but then he looked back and dipped his chin toward the earbud still resting in my palm. “You shouldbe careful with those things,” he said. “When you have them in, you can’t hear if someone’s sneaking up on you.”
“Oh, um… thanks for the tip,” I replied, brows furrowing. What a bizarre thing to say.
I watched him stride away then, the fog curling around his shoulders like a shadow he carried with him. He was undeniably attractive, but there was something else there too. Something dangerous that whispered of power and control. Maybe even chaos.
With that realization, my mind was filled with a sudden, chilling certainty.
I needed to stay the hell away from Julian Valcourt.
2
Julian
Valcourt Manor rosefrom the cliffs like a monolith; black stone, ivy-choked, and utterly unapologetic about the way it dwarfed everything around it. The carved doors loomed open as I stepped inside, the faint echo of my shoes carrying through the marble foyer.
A sweep of ocean air slipped in behind me, tugging at the edges of my coat before the doors shut with a low, final sound.
“Welcome home, Mr. Valcourt,” said Mrs. Baker, our housekeeper, appearing like she’d materialized from the walls. Her posture was ramrod straight, her gray hair tucked neatly into a bun. She’d worked here since before I was born, and still refused to retire.
“My brother said he wanted to talk to me. Any idea where he is?” I asked, shrugging off my coat.
“In your father’s study,” she replied, a faint smile creasing her face.
Of course he was. He’d always liked that room, and with our father down in DC again, he had the run of the place.
I started down the hallway, passing a row of tall windows that reflected me back at myself. My jaw was still tight from earlier,from that run-in on campus with Jeremiah. But it wasn’t his smarmy face that had been playing on a loop in my head since then.
It was hers.
Violet.
I loved the way she’d looked at me when she turned around earlier. Wide eyes, soft mouth, a faint flush creeping over her cheeks. I’d seen that exact expression before, from women who wanted to be devoured but didn’t understand exactly what they were asking for.
That wasn’t the only reason she was still on my mind, though. There was something else about her I couldn’t shake. Not just because she was beautiful, but because there was a flicker of recognition there.
Not from a past hook-up, or a fleeting face from a party. More like a shadow in my peripheral vision. Someone I’d seen without really seeing. Like she’d been in the background of a photograph focused on someone else.
It shouldn’t have bothered me, but it did. I didn’t like unsolved things.
I pushed open the study door without knocking. Roman looked up from behind the desk, one eyebrow lifting in that way he had that was equal parts greeting and quiet reproach.
“Punctual as always,” he said dryly.
“I try,” I replied, stepping inside. A fire crackled low in the grate, its light flickering against the dark wood paneling, and the heavy velvet curtains to my right were drawn back to reveal the slate-black sweep of the ocean below.
Roman leaned back in the leather chair, his tie slightly loosened, a tumbler of Scotch in his hand.
I crossed to the sideboard and poured myself a drink from the decanter. “So,” I finally said, taking a seat opposite him. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Dad called me earlier,” he said, raising a brow. “The Council has an assignment for you.”
“Right.” I leaned forward, frowning slightly. “Why didn’t they call me to their chambers to tell me?”
“It’s not the usual assignment. No ‘wham-bam, goodbye forever, man’,” Roman replied, lips twitching. His smirk was the exact same one he’d had since he was a kid, although in recent months, I’d rarely seen it. “It’ll last the whole semester. Maybe even the whole year. But you’ll still have other jobs too, if and when they arise. So don’t worry. You aren’t being iced out. You’ve actually been assigned this task because you’re the best Reaper in your cohort. They really trust your abilities.”
