“She’s stirring up a lot of drama.”
“She’s good at it, isn’t she? An event like this, with so many people packed into one space. It’s already ripe with emotion. Then you add Lainey and she just has a way of making it all sing.”
I narrow my eyes, looking from him to Cossette Everly, who’s having an animated conversation with her befuddled husband in an alcove nearby. I don’t like the Everlys. They’ve always looked down their noses at Maggie and Walt. But I’d never go so far as to mess with their marriage for sport. “Why do I have the feeling you never saw Henry in Elkins with Loraine?”
His smile widens.
“What are you up to?”
“I thought you knew.”
“I mean tonight. What’s the point in having Lainey perform at all? What are you trying to accomplish by stirring up drama? How does this fit into your master plan?”
He laughs low like I’ve said something amusing. “You ask a lot of questions, Selah.”
“And you tell a lot of lies.”
He spins me in a circle, then brings me close. “You want a truth?”
“If you’re capable of giving one.”
“Lainey reminds me of Molly.”
A shiver runs down my spine.
He wants me to feel afraid, and I do. But unlike this morning, I refuse to show it. This time, I’m not caught off guard. I know what I’m facing. I lift mychin and stare straight at him. “Are you going to dispose of her, too?”
“I didn’t dispose of Molly,” he says, giving me another twirl. “She did that on her own. I will admit, I did have a hold over her. The same hold I have over Lainey. The same hold I have over any of them I want. Except you. It’s fascinating, the way you resist my charm.”
“Your charm is poison.”
“Ah, but most of your kind don’t know this. And even when they do, they still can’t resist. It’s quite tedious, to be honest. A lion does like to hunt, you know.”
He’s admitting it, then.
Whatever power of seduction Seraphina possessed, she passed on to him when she brought him back to life. Molly didn’t stand a chance, and neither does Lainey.
“Two hundred sixty-eight years is a long time to be bored. Imagine my intrigue, running into you that day in the graveyard. A girl not only immune to my allure, but the very one from my brother’s painting.” He chuckles wistfully, as though recalling a fond memory. “You were such a source of torment to him in his final days.”
His words set my teeth on edge.
“What do we think? Were you a symbol of hope? He painted a girl who could not be so easily swayed as his beloved Molly. And yet, in the end, he had to know it wouldn’t matter. I might not beable to have you, sweet Selah, but neither can Jude. If he tries, the curse will win.”
His words cut like a poisoned blade as the music rises and we circle the floor. A small, wild piece of me wants to grab onto his lapels and beg. Plead with him to break this curse. At least tell us how. Instead, I take a steadying breath and pivot the conversation. “Why send Lainey after us about the onyx and the pearl. Do you really think we’d tell her anything?”
“Of course not. But that doesn’t mean you didn’t give away your hand. Your tells are louder than Lainey’s flirting. I didn’t think it possible, but Twig’s are even worse.” He glides backward, drawing me with him. “Now, I know what I only suspected before.”
“Which is what?” I ask warily.
“You have them, and they’re somewhere close. Which means …” He pulls me against him, removing all the space, and trails a finger down my arm. “You shouldn’t have a problem handing them over to me tomorrow by midnight.”
“I think that’s enough.” Jude cuts between us.
“Took you long enough.” Rafe leans close to my ear. “Tick tock, Selah.”
Then he’s gone.
And I begin to tremble, a shiver deep down in my bones.
