Page 96 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

He guided me back toward the stairs, toward our suites and wardrobes and the next version of ourselves we needed to become.

This was not a simple mission.

This was theater.

Dangerous theater.

“You know,” I said as we climbed the staircase, “we could still have Julian double check the location. It is probably nothing, but I do not like how easily they approved me.”

“You were expecting them to reject you.”

“I was expecting them to at least pretend suspicion.”

He nodded. “Which means they want something.”

“Exactly.”

“But we are going,” he said.

“Of course we are going,” I said. “Rene does not have the luxury of us being careful.”

He stopped at my door, letting his fingers brush my lower back. A small touch. Nothing dramatic. Still enough to make my breath snag.

“We prepare,” he said. “And we win.”

I nodded once and stepped inside my room.

Time to transform.

I crossed to the wardrobe again and pulled out the black dress I had chosen earlier. The fabric slid down my body like liquid night, cool at first and then warming against my skin. It hugged every line, flattering without restricting. Deadly in silhouette, elegant in movement.

The neckline dipped low in front, balanced by the scoop down my spine. The slit up my thigh allowed for speed, not seduction, though it provided both. My weapons were easy to hide and even easier to retrieve if the need arose.

I stepped into my heels and fastened the gold choker around my neck. My hair fell in dark waves down my back, brushing the exposed line of skin the dress revealed. I kept my makeup intense. Eyes lined in dark smoke, lips tinted the color of deep-wine.

I looked at myself in the mirror.

Every part of me was a weapon.

Good.

I returned to the hallway and found Con waiting.

He had changed fast.

The suit he wore was a shadow stitched into form. Black jacket, tailored to perfection. Charcoal shirt. No tie. He rarely wore one unless politics demanded it. Tonight required deadliness, not diplomacy.

He looked like the kind of man you hired when you wanted to intimidate a room without lifting a hand.

His gaze landed on me.

He froze.

Not dramatically. Not with shock. More like something inside him paused for one heartbeat before resuming.

The air between us thickened.

His eyes traveled slowly over me.