Page 91 of Seduced By a Scoundrel

Someone else barked a laugh.

Sybil did not much feel like laughing.

“Ape leaders? Who cares about them? They are hardly a match for us.” This from a man Sybil was positive she could best in a bout of fisticuffs. Better yet, a duel.

“They are interfering,” Minos said tightly. “We can already no longer use the betting books to send messages. It is too convenient that Chiswick and Abbot and Copperwhite were found out just this month alone.”

Was he someone they had personally foiled? Sybil would have to go over Priya’s lists again.

“And I want them stopped.”

“So stop them,” Sybil called out even as her heart raced. “If this society is so powerful as to be worth our time, prove it.”

“It’s for you to prove yourself,” he snapped. “They have thinned our numbers, I’m not too proud to admit it. But it stops now. The Season is about to start, and we cannot have them in the way.”

“Stop them?” an older man echoed. “I’m not keen on murdering some wallflower.”

“Why not? You were perfectly keen on murdering that housemaid.”

A hush, a few mutters.

“That was an accident!” he insisted.

“Of course it was,” Minos said.

“We have warned them, but they are unreasonable. They are meddling. Put a stop to it.”

“How?” Sybil asked, mouth dry.

“I do not care. Do what you must. You help us, we help you.”

Bloody hell. He was all but putting bounties on their heads.

“Did you hear that? Sounded like growling.”

“Stray dog. Don’t be so feeble.”

“How are you going to help us?” One of the other new recruits asked. It was not a challenge. He was eager to know.

“Money. Witnesses, protection. Doctors who don’t ask questions. Suffice it to say that we are putting things back to rights.”

Like hell they were. Sybil clenched her fists.

“How much money are we talking about?”

“As much as you need.”

The man beside the recruit laughed. “He needs a lot. He’s the worst card player I’ve ever seen.”

“You all have titles and will inherit superior ones in due time. Minos can make you even greater. Prove your loyalty. Bring us your sacrifices, as Athens brought Minos their people for the Minotaur.”

Rage shivered through Sybil.

They were not sacrifices.

They would never be sacrifices.

“But we need funds to be effective, personally and for the society. The Season will be ripe with debutantes and heiresses. Find one. Admission to this Society is steep.”