Teo smirks. “So, you’re here to bargain with me?”
“I know what it is you want, Teo Vitale. I’d rather have a civil conversation about it before our respective families destroy everything accessible by bridge and tunnel. See if we can’t come to some kind of…arrangement.”
He raises an eyebrow at that. “So your heart bleeds for the bystanders?”
“Isn’t it always the civilians that pay the worst toll?”
My words linger between us as two servers bring out the first course of the taster menu. I wave them away before they can begin with an explanation of the food in front of us.
“You want to know where my mother is,” I state as I watch him over the rim of my champagne glass.
There’s no mistaking the darkness that falls over his expression. “You can’t expect me to believe you’ll give her up so easily?”
I tsk and put my glass down. “You’re correct, of course. But I’ve never encountered a man with exclusively singular goals.” I let my gaze wander to his chest, where his shirt dips tantalizingly low. “There must be other things you’re interested in.”
He quirks his head. “Why is it that we’re having this conversation? Did your brother think he’d have trouble seducing me?”
“My brother is otherwise engaged at present,” I reply lazily, sitting back in my seat. “It seems all negotiations between the Guild and the Prince’s Hand lie with us.”
Teo acknowledges me for a tense beat, as if he can hear the way my heart is hammering in my chest. Or somehow knows that I can’t stop thinking about the way his lip felt against mine.
“I feel as if I’m at a disadvantage,” he says, finally.
“How so?”
“You know what I want. It’s whatyouwant that I can’t get my head around.”
I give him a pointed look. “Oh, I imagine there are several things, Teo Vitale.”
“Besides your sudden interest in the well-being of civilians?”
I take another sip of champagne to buy myself some time. “I know that you’re tracking us.”
He looks somewhat impressed by this. “Know thy enemy.”
“I’d like you to stop.”
“Got something to hide, Natali?” He smirks.
I lean forward slightly on the table, very aware of its effect on my chest in this dress. “I think it’s more fun to show you my secrets myself.”
I try not to grin too hard when Teo licks his lips in response.
He’s clearly still distracted, so I continue on. “If we go to war, both of us will lose. But if you continue to keep me and my brother under surveillance, I won’t be able to stop him next time.”
“And if I’d rather take my chances?” Teo’s hungry eyes finally meet mine.
“Then I suppose I’d have to give you what you want.”
Teo’s chest begins to rise and fall more aggressively than usual. “Give me your mother’s location?”
I smile sweetly. “Of course not, darling.”
“What else could I possibly want?”
I bite down on my lip again. “Me.”
9
