AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll see it done tonight, Ms. Morse,” he murmurs and steps aside to let her pass.
As she does, she frees a hand and pats him affectionately on his chest and the leather of my chair rends under my grip. Ashe raises a brow but Eloise never looks back, disappearing with steady steps towards the stairs that’ll take her downstairs.
I want to bend her over my knee and spank her ass red until she can’t sit for a week.
Without being asked, Ashe closes the door before taking a seat in one of the intentionally uncomfortable chairs directly in front of my desk. He pointedly eyes my hands on the back of the chair.
“Problem, sire?” he asks, clearly amused.
I let go of the chair, wrapping up the riotous emotions inside until I once again am the composed stone-hearted king of vampires.
“None I cannot address myself,” I answer, taking my seat with casual grace. I gesture to the phone he’s slid out of his suit jacket’s pocket. “You have the information I requested?”
Ashe’s thumb sweeps over the screen and a moment later a notification pings on my monitor. I lean forward, opening it as he presents his findings.
“Michael Garner has a clean background,” he begins as I pull up the appropriate document file, my eyes narrowed on the information. “Too clean.”
“So I see,” I murmur.
It was the perfect resume and work history for an up-and-coming Topside politician. Good grades, no fights at his elementary schools—all of which are public, though he attended a well-respected private university, double majoring in business law and global geopolitics. His extracurriculars were tailored for government officials: debate team, civil activism, volunteering community service, and so on. He graduated summa cum laude and secured coveted internships within the Topside governing body before being offered an opportunity as an aide to a councilman. A councilman he no doubt hopes to replace when the man’s term is up.
It reeks of deceit.
I close the file, leaning back in the chair, finger tapping at the end of the leather armrest. “And the other information?”
“We’ve collected photos, as you’ve requested, though the recordings will be more interesting to you,” he answers without hesitation. “If I can offer my opinion?”
Ashe has been with me for nearly three hundred years. His opinions are often correct. I wave for him to continue.
He pockets his phone and crosses one leg over the other. “He might be connected to the Rapture leak, but he’s not one of the big players. He visits the brothels down here, but only indulges in Rapture in the safety of his home. His personal visits to the Barrows are highly discreet and he hires a witch to create a glamor enchantment. He never thought to ask her to mask his scent, and she didn’t bother to elucidate him. Humans will be fooled, but no creature with an elevated sense of scent will be.”
I hum in understanding. “The people running this offense are too clever to miss something as vital as scent.”
He nods in agreement. He gestures to the computer. “As for the rest of it, it’s disappointingly cliché. He’s arrogant, believes himself to be the power behind the seat since Councilman Silas defers most of his duties to Garner. He’s single, though he’ll have dinner with the right socialite. He’ll fuck any woman who fawns over him and is discreet. He also has a list of women he considers eligible for marriage, most of them from high-profile or powerful families.”
Ashe is correct in how disappointing Garner’s proclivities are, but it makes tonight’s dinner with him much easier.
“Thank you,” I say, stopping Ashe before he can offer any more information. “I’ll look over the rest of the files, though I doubt I’ll find anything surprising.”
He cocks his head, rather than leaving as I expect and after a pointed moment, I let out an irritated sigh.
“What is it?”
Ashe’s face is carefully blank. “Are you certain the bargain with Ms. Morse is beneficial?”
I narrow my eyes at him, resisting the urge to snap at the inquiry. Ashe is unfailingly loyal and has a strong sense of survival. He wouldn’t be asking if he felt it unnecessary. Lan, on the other hand, would ask just to goad me into a fight.
“Is there something that you’ve discovered since you delivered her dossier this morning?”
I combed over every word in every file Ashe had delivered in the early hours before dawn.
“No, sire,” he admits, his tone still even. “I would be derelict in my duties, though, if I didn’t note how you react around her.”
Now I bare my teeth in a silent snarl; Ashe remains unfazed. “I can handle Ms. Morse,” I say, irritation sharpening the words. “She is a tool with a purpose and once she no longer is needed, our bargain ends.”
I don’t say that she’ll return to her life Topside and Ashe notes the omission but wisely doesn’t offer further comment.
“Now, leave,” I order, still irritated. “I have work to do before dinner with Mr. Garner. And get her damn plants here.”
