Page 23 of Apprentice to the Villain

Blade looked at him skeptically. “Are you sure?” He stumbled back when Trystan took a menacing step toward him.

Kingsley held up a sign that read:Ha!

“Do you both want to keep your heads?” he sneered, jaw clenching so hard his teeth ground together.

Blade opened his mouth to answer while Kingsley hid in his hair, but they were saved by Tatianna, who glided down the cellar stairs, looking fresh and well rested in a swirl of vibrant pink. “Good morning! Isn’t it a lovely day?”

Trystan merely grunted.

Tatianna grinned, every subtle move of her face visible with her dark braids pulled back high by a large, gauzy bow. “Ah, sir, always so eloquent.”

His mouth set in a grim line as he straightened the cuffs of his billowing black shirt. “What do you want, Tati?”

She arched a thick brow as she handed him a crisp envelope. “From Arthur. He departed early this morning for home. He didn’t want to wake anyone.”

The crinkled parchment was merfolk made; he could tell by the shimmer in the firelight. The envelope read:To my son.

Trystan crumpled it and put it in his pocket, ignoring Tatianna’s look of censure. “And Clare?”

“Is insisting on staying, but I’d be happy to arrange for theguards to throw her from the premises should you wish it, sir.”

Trystan moved closer to the stairs, feeling in better spirits now that his emotions weren’t the ones being exposed. “If you can’t handle being around her, then by all means.” He said it airily, like it didn’t matter to him either way.

Tatianna stomped a foot, her lovely face twisting in fury. “I can handle it fine. I am not affected by her at all,” she ground out.

“Of course not,” he replied with just a touch of condescension.

In the cage, the mated guvres had finished their meal and were curling up together, looking almost like… Were theycuddling? He saw himself wrapped that way around Sage, and the image was so startling he nearly fell headfirst into the bars.

He looked up to see Tatianna smiling at him in that way that always sent his interns running for the hills. “Speaking of which. I also thought you’d like to know that word of your return has gotten out to the workers, and the office is in an uproar. There’s a mob forming on the main floor.”

A mob? How delightful.

“Oh, but worry not,” she continued, a gleam in her eye that he did not care for at all. “The Malevolent Guard have nearly returned, and I’m sure they’ll make it there in time to assist Evie with the crowd.”

At the mention of his assistant, Trystan groaned, turning immediately to head for her as his employees snickered behind him.

His frantic magic stirred underneath his skin. It was different, somehow, in the most unsettling of ways; this couldn’t be a coincidence. It had to be Evie.

The wall between the guvres may have been toppled, but Trystan needed to reestablish the wall between him and his assistant. Before it destroyed them both.

Before it destroyed them all.

Chapter 13

Evie

“Return to your posts at once!” Evie called as she was jostled and shoved through the absolute upheaval of workers. The cobwebbed chandelier was swinging precariously above them with the stampede of movement, as was the ceramic chalice of cauldron brew in her hand. She called to the group, trying to reason with them. “I understand it has been a perilous week without him, and I understand the discontent about the pixies using the cauldron brew as bathwater, but it was just the one batch and we really must—” She was shoved into her desk so hard, she almost toppled over completely.

Okay—that’s it!

“Hey! Vultures!” she screeched as hard as her lungs would allow. All at once, the workers halted. “Clear the floor this instant or we’ll have an impromptu Scatter Day and I’ll be sure to includeeveryone!”

Scatter Day, like many things in The Villain’s office, was equal parts horror and comfortable familiarity. At least, it was for Evie. She wasn’t sure the interns would concur, considering the event consisted of them being chased across the courtyard by whatever dreadful creature the boss deemed acceptable that day. He’d finally promised Evie before he was taken that he would cut it back to once a month, but given the fury on his face as he stared at the chaotic crowd, she had a strong inclination that thepromise would not hold for very long.

“Did you not hear Ms. Sage?” The Villain roared. “Scatter!”

And they finally did, the wide-eyed humans, the pixies—even ravens fluttered out some of the open windows. People were practically breaking their necks as they moved away, so intent were they on staring at the boss. Not that she could blame them. He looked strikingly handsome this morning—though the dark circles under his eyes seemed more pronounced. They matched hers.