Helena Thorp’s butler really knew how to keep the coffee flowing. It was good coffee, too, maybe eventoogood. Gigi was caffeinated past the point of no return and had been for hours—but who was counting? The parlor in which she’d been ensconced had easy bathroom access and a garden view. It was dark out now, but it hadn’t been when Gigi was brought to the parlor, and the garden had been stunning: a mix of pruned and wildflowers stretching out as far as Gigi had been able to see, dozens of ivy-covered arches marking the garden path.
The door to the garden was locked, but Gigi wasn’t too stressed about that. The parlor was open to a hallway that led to another corridor that led to the front door. As far as Gigi had been able to tell, there was nothing stopping her from leaving, aside from the fact that she wasn’t about to call it quits without something to show from her unauthorized field trip to Thorp Land.
Preferably answers.
Nora had left Gigi with nothing but questions—and also maybe a slight complex.Run away, little girl.
“No, thank you,” Gigi said out loud. She leaned back in her doubtlesslyantique chair, lifting the front two legs off the floor and looking up at the domed white ceiling for probably the fortieth time. Gold leaf embellishments marked elaborately carved beams, a match for the parlor’s hand-woven white-and-gold wallpaper.
Allowing the front legs of her chair tothunkback down onto the floor, Gigi got up and made her way back to the onlysilveritem in the room: an antique frame that held a portrait of a woman, a man, and four little boys. Based on their clothing, Gigi was guessing the portrait was at least sixty years old, maybe closer to seventy. The womanhadto be Helena, which made one of those little boys Severin and another one Orion Thorp’s father.
Gigi reached her hand out to lightly touch the frame, but right before she would have made contact, she felt something: movement behind her, like the faintest breeze. Either that, or she’d had too much coffee. It was hard to tell.
“I know you’re there,” Gigi called out to any Thorps—or maybe Noras—who might be lurking.
“You’re bluffing.”
That voice.Gigi knew that voice.Slate?Gigi’s heart leapt as she whirled around. “You.”
Mattias Slater hugged the shadows. “Me.”
Gigi felt like she’d just downed a glass of champagne or maybe like her bloodwaschampagne, bubbles and all. She wondered if there was such a thing as a caffeine-induced hallucination. “What are you doing here?” she said.
“I could ask you the same thing, sunshine, but seeing as Trouble is your second middle name, I won’t.”
Gigi grinned reflexively. “My first middle name is Aurelia.”
“I know.”
Gigi took a step toward him, drawn like a moth to the flame. “You remember.” She’d only told him her middle name once.
“You’re memorable.” Slate finally left the shadows, crossing to her. Gigi felt every step he took, and when he stopped a foot-and-a-half away, she felt that, too. “I’d tell you that I’m getting you the hell out of here,”Slate said, “but I know you well enough to know that you aren’t going anywhere without your sister.”
“Savannah?” Gigi blinked. “Savannah’shere?” Well, that made more sense than it didn’t. Of coursesomeonehad come after her. Gigi wondered if Knox had been physically restrained.
“You didn’t know,” Slate noted.
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Gigi replied. “Savannah thinks I need protecting. She doesn’t think I can handle…” Gigi searched for the right word. “Anything.”
Slate snorted. “If you ask me, everyone in this house should be terrified of you.”
Gigi decided to take that as a compliment. “How many of them are there?” she asked, pretty sure he’d know. “People in this house right now?”
“The old woman. A butler. Two maids who come in and out. Rotating guards at the gate. Your sister. You. Me.”
No Nora, Gigi registered, and then she lingered on his last two words.You. Me.Gigi very sternly reminded herself that Code Name Mimosas had his priorities, and she wasn’t one of them.
“Where’s Eve?” Gigi asked. Slate’s employer wasnother favorite person.
“About a half a block away, pissed that she’s not sitting where you are right now. And on that note, how did you talk your way past the gates, sunshine? Because Eve tried, told them she had proof that Calla was alive and information about her whereabouts, and it didn’t work.”
It surprised Gigi that Eve had approached Helena Thorp, but maybe it shouldn’t have. Eve was obviously the plotting-and-diabolical-plans type.And plotters gonna plot, Gigi thought.
“Maybe I’m just more convincing than Eve is,” Gigi said.And maybe I also mentioned something about Orion Thorp having a secret love child, just to cover my bases.
“Someone’s coming.” Slate silently drew his knife.
Gigi knew that knife. She knew that leather sheath.
