Page 183 of Sorrow & Strangers

He shifts in his seat and clears his throat. “I have, of course, heard much about you two,” he says to them before leaning in to growl in my ear. “And you don’t maybe wear a dress for me. You wear it for me and no one else.” His voice is dark, terrifying, and delicious. “Understand, little fae?”

My lips part as my breath hitches.

“Understand?” he says again, squeezing my thigh, his bare fingers digging into my flesh.

“Yes.” If I weren’t completely drunk on him, I might be dismayed by the surrender infused in that one word.

He smirks and nips the tip of my ear before pushing back his chair and standing up. He clinks a knife against his glass, and the whole room goes completely silent.

“Welcome to All Souls. A hedonistic paradise where we can be our true selves without the pressures of our daily lives. I hope you have a salacious and scandalous time.” He lifts his glass, and everyone in the room does the same before taking a sip of the most delicious champagne I’ve ever tasted. “The food here is incredible,” he says, sitting back down as if he’s not just delivered a toast to all the attendees of the biggest party of the year.

“You’re the host?” Alice asks, her eyes wide.

“Bit of a tradition. During our tenure, the identity of the host is anonymous,” he says, taking a long drink of his champagne before waving his hand toward the waiting servers. They spring into action to serve the first course.

This isn’t his true form. I know it isn’t. It would be careless of him to have withheld his identity for this long and then unveil it at an event with so many powerful and influential people. He is handsome in this glamour, but I know deep down that the reality of his appearance will be even more breathtaking. And that this isn’t him, that when I make him groan in pleasure, it’s not his eyes I’m making darken. Regardless, my attraction to him is still very much there because so much of it is tied to him, and he is more than just muscles and jawline.

He must feel my tension because he turns toward me, his hand returning to my leg. “Are you hungry, princess?” he asks me, squeezing my thigh again, but this time gentler than when he was warning me.

“I . . .” I look down at the plate that has just been served to me. It looks like a pâté-and-bread combination. Forcing a smile, I look back at him. “Actually, I need to use the restroom. Al?”

“Absolutely,” Alice says, scooting out of her chair before anyone can pull it out for her. I do the same, and we practically run off the dais and through the tables. In the safety of the powder room, I lean against the counter as Alice paces.

“Holy shit, Sum.” She looks at me. “Holy shit.”

“Fuck.”

“I . . .” Alice shakes her head. “Sum, holy shit.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I grimace. “He’s the host. He’s the fucking host, and the last time I saw him I told him I wished he’d died instead of Connor.”

Alice stops pacing and looks at me. “Whoa, you did?”

“It gets worse,” I say, guilt sinking its claws deeper into me.

“Shit. Tell me.”

“I’m pretty sure he killed Torin.”

Alice lifts her dress and pulls a flask from a thigh holster. She opens it and takes a deep drink. “When?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “You know Jessica?”

“Junior Jessica with the hot brother?”

I nod. “Well, she was talking about her boyfriend, Damien. Damien was the name of one of Torin’s best friends, and she said he’s been missing for a while. He went missing while trying to help his friend, who was being haunted by a ghost.”

“So that’s what was happening when you were eavesdropping behind that tree.” Alice cocks her head in that eerie vampire way, listening intently. “Okay, and how do we feel about that?”

I exhale, worrying my lower lip. Honestly, I genuinely have no idea. I’ve sat with it for days, trying to repress and ignore the connections my mind was attempting, but I’m almost certain something happened the night I told the stranger I wished he’d died. The shock of my own words rocked the denial I have been living in, but it was his genuine pain that forced me to face the truth. It was the lie that broke through my defenses.

“Torin has been hunting me for years. And he . . .” My stomach twists. “Fuck. I need to ask him about it. It might not have been him. Or it might not even have been Torin.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Alice says, taking my hand.

“If it’s true, it’s a huge relief.”

Alice smiles and pulls me into a hug. “You’d be free, Sum.”