Page 86 of Accomplice to the Villain

“Sir?” Evie asked, feeling ridiculous, still standing atop the table. He said nothing, just walked toward her, placing his hands on either side of her hips, making her exhale as he slowly lowered her to the floor. He kept his hands there even after her feet touched the ground, but he wasn’t looking at her.

It was unsettling, and not in the enjoyable way.

“Sir? Won’t you say something?”

“I’m thinking,” he rumbled, still not looking at her.

“Oh. That’s good. Thinking is good.” She nodded, and the movement shifted her body enough for her boss to realize his hands were still on her. He released her with a rather offensive repulsed sound as he planted a hand on his hip and another to lean against the table away from her.

“No, it’s not. I’m having difficulty doing it,” he sighed.

She scrunched her nose and mustered every ounce of sympathy she could scrounge up. “Is it because of the horns?”

He turned so fast she stumbled backward. His eyes were wild and unmoored, and Evie realized her error far too late. The man was far past humor—he’d ventured into double-forehead-vein territory. She’d only seen that one other time, and it was on intern orientation day.

She thought it was funny then. It did not seem funny now.

“No, you harbinger of chaos, it’s you!” He ripped both horns from his head and dropped them to the ground. Evie was tempted to tell him that his hair was now sticking up in two very specific spots, but she didn’t think this was a pretty-enough room to die in. “What are you going to do if one of the guests finds Kingsley? What are you going to do when they come to collect on theirprize?” The last word came out sarcastically.

She felt insulted.

And Evie never made good choices when she felt insulted.

She poked a finger into his chest and glared. “I’ll have you know a night with mewouldbe a prize. I am an absolute delight in the bedchamber, thank you! I’m attentive and fun, damn it!”

Don’t brag about your sexual prowess to your boss, Evie!

Even if that look on his face is the funniest thing you’ve ever seen in your life!

There was no way he would ever be able to replicate the expression. It was the kind you only made under one specific circumstance and then never again. His eyes were wide, his mouth open, but in a half-curved way that was most definitely not a smile but was too crooked to be a frown.

He ran a hand through his hair, making the rest of it stand on end along with the two sides left sticking up from the horns. He looked a little like he’d just been shocked by some form of electricity. A horrific shock that went by the name of Evie Sage.

“Is this how it’s to be done?” he said to no one in particular. He wasn’t looking at her. “Is this my downfall?” His face was no longer in that funny expression, but it was incredulous. That much, Evie could identify. “Death by sexual frustration?”

“I make you sexually…frustrated?”

“No,” he said resolutely, and she felt her heart drop. Oh, it was just the normal physical reactions all human beings had when speaking of intimate relations. She only wanted to crawl in a deep, dark hole in the ground a very little bit.

Okay, she wanted to be buried in one, but there was only so much embarrassment the human body could manage before it internally combusted. “Oh. Well…if someone finds Kingsley, let’s hope it’s my new friend Dax. I’m sure we’d share a pleasurable evening together.” She was joking, trying to lighten the mood, but ironically she felt like a storm cloud had descended over Trystan’s head. She tried again. “It’s been a while, you know?” She gently punched his arm in camaraderie.

She only made it worse.

He breathed out slowly, closing his eyes for a moment, before opening them to an alarmingly blank expression as he stormed to the door, flipping random chairs as he moved, mumbling expletives under his breath with each step. Ones Evie had never even heard before.

“Sir? Where are you going?”

“To find the fucking frog before one of those louts does.”

“O-Oh,” Evie sputtered after him, following him into the hall and then grabbing his arm as the gray mist spilled out of him in large waves of darkness, rolling through every corner of the mansion. “Sir? Are you losing control again?” she asked, watching it travel up the stairs, peeking into every room it could.

He turned and smiled, looking for the first time, to her, truly like a villain. And it was…well, it was quite honestly very attractive, but she didn’t want to say that aloud while waves of death magic were swirling around so menacingly.

A wild light in his eyes had him turning on his heel and stalking down the halls. “This way. I can sense the little bugger this way.” The corridor was barely lit as Evie followed him, about to ask if he wanted her to light a candle. Knowing how fearful he was of the dark.

But he didn’t pause, didn’t falter, just continued as if they were walking through Hickory Forest on the sunniest of days. She didn’t feel inclined to remind him of the darkness if he seemed determined to forget it was even there. “When he’s found, you’re not going to hurt anyone…are you?” she asked, more curious than concerned.

“That depends,” he said, turning down another corridor with long strides that Evie struggled to keep up with.