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“You, who are bored by everything. Who never stay for a conversation longer than three sentences. And now,” he gestures to Nathaniel, “you are nearly screaming for a look.”

Elijah is silent.

“Perhaps,” Julian continues in a voice soft and false, “for the first time you desire something. And you do not know how to obtain it.”

“Desire what?” Elijah hisses. “That?” He points to Nathaniel.

“Tell me, Elijah, were you there as well?”

He looks at me, caught off guard. “Where?”

“At Le Rêve.”

Dorian stiffens beside me. This time it is he who rests his hand on my thigh, his fingers tightening like a vice.

“Yes. Why?”

“I wondered if you had taken part.”

Julian bursts out laughing, Richard coughs.

Nathaniel turns toward me, astonished. “Evander.”

I do not care whether Nathaniel is here, whether there are women present, or whether we are in public.

I need to know how many lies he has uttered with those venomous lips of his.

Elijah remains nonplussed, furrowing his brows without understanding. Julian throws an arm around his shoulders.

“The Viscount is asking you if you have lain with Dorian and with Clara.”

Elijah’s face contorts into an expression of disgust, as if he had just tasted something rancid.

Isobel pales, clenching her hands on the table. “How can you insinuate such a baseness?”

Shut up.

Beside me, Dorian leans in slightly.

“What the devil thoughts are running through your mind?” His grip on my thigh grows stronger.

“Mere curiosity.”

Elijah points his forefinger at Dorian.

“This...” he pauses, his upper lip curling slightly, “...will never happen. With Clara, perhaps.”

“And why is that? Lord Dorian is a man of remarkable attractiveness,” Julian continues.

Lavinia rolls her eyes. “Leave him in peace, Julian.”

My fingers begin to scratch the back of Dorian’s hand, his skin reddens beneath my touch.

Elijah twists his mouth. “I do not like him.”

Dorian does not take the trouble to soften his tone. “Rest easy. The sentiment is mutual.”

Nathaniel taps the table twice with a finger. “Gentlemen, I fear the conversation is assuming unseemly proportions.”