I hummed softly, my eyes sliding shut against the sensation. My lips parted, aching for more. Anything to end the torment, knowing more wouldn’t even skim the surface.
But at my involuntary sound, he went still, except for the ragged rise and fall of his chest.
“Why did you stop?”
The man hesitated. Something flickered in his eyes behind the mask.
“Because I have to ask you a question. And you’re going to hate me when I do.”
A frisson of unease skated up my spine. The dreamy spell I’d been under withered into razor-sharp reality. The air shifted, and the dread in his tone seemed to freeze the warmth of the candlelight.
His voice had changed.
It wasn’t as rough, and the familiar tone made my chest tight.
I know that voice.
“I saw you,” he said.
I trembled, reaching blindly for the vines at my back. “Saw me do what?”
“Pick Atticus Stonebridge’s pocket. But I’m curious…”
He paused, and the seconds stretched. I looked into his face, imagining he was as terrified as I was of him finishing his sentence.
But no, men who ruin your life aren’t terrified of anything.
I squared my jaw. “Go ahead. Ask me.”
“Did you leave behind a piece of sea glass, Marin? Or is that only something you do with me?”
Chapter 20
Marin
Gavin removed his mask,letting the black satin covering hang loosely in his grip. When I removed mine, his green eyes gleamed in the candlelight, filled with an intensity that should have sent me back a step.
But I held my ground.
He looked different, but it wasn’t his features that had changed; it was the severity of them. Everything about him was rougher, from the dark stubble covering his jaw to the hard line of his mouth where his roguish smile used to live.
This man looked like he never smiled.
Minutes ago, those lips had grazed my knuckles, warm and reverent. I couldn’t settle the difference in my mind. Which one was real? Which one was the trap? And why did I wish I was still caught in his snare? His tender moment before the claws snapped shut had been so enthralling. No wonder so many others had fallen for it.
Gavin’s hair was a touch too long, unruly as always, with raven strands brushing against his cheekbones. He was broader than before, and I noticed for the first time that his jacket barely fit.
I was a fox facing a lion.
But foxes were sly, and they never came out of their holesunarmed.
Slipping my hand into the slit of my gown, I unsheathed the dagger at my thigh. The glint of steel caught his eye, and those hard lips curled.
So he does still smile. If you prefer the wicked, calculating kind.
“What are you going to do with that?” he asked, dry amusement layering his tone. “Stab me and toss me into the bushes? I’m told that’s how it works at parties like this.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already met a similar fate. How did you find me?”
