I stayed with Galen Levanter for a week. I didn’t see Reynard much, but Tilly would sit and read to me sometimes. Story books. The Bible. It made me smile to see her clasp her hands together and whisper a prayer that I get better soon. When I left, I didn’t feel so horribly alone anymore.
“I’m so sorry that you lost your brothers, and Reynard Desjardins, too,” Sachelle says, and I’m drawn back to the present.
I can see her wondering whether to ask Galen why they were hanged, but I catch her eyes and give a tiny shake of my head.
She smiles at Galen. “There wasn’t anything else I wanted to ask you. Thank you for talking to me, and I’m sorry if that was painful.”
“You’re welcome, and it’s no trouble at all.” Galen glances at me. “If you want to know more, you should speak to Jakob. He knows everything. He knows more than the King, even.”
“Galen,” I say with a warning note in my voice.
Sachelle gives me a speculative look. “Is that so?”
“I’m more interested in the present.” Under the table, I stroke Sachelle’s bare thigh. I explore higher, easing my fingers beneath the hem of her skirt.
Sachelle crosses her legs and shifts away from me. “I feel like if I ask Jakob anything personal he’ll try and distract me.”
“You may be right there,” Galen tells her with a laugh.
After the meal, Galen calls a driver and I help Sachelle into my car. She’s silent on the drive, watching the streets of Paravel slip past the window. It’s raining, and beads of water skim across the glass.
I pull through the wrought iron gates and into the drive at Balzac House, and cut the engine. “Interesting idea of yours, pretending to research Paravel. It gives you the excuse to poke that pretty nose of yours wherever you choose.”
“Who says I’m pretending?” She unbuckles her seatbelt and reaches for the door handle.
I slide my hand around the nape of her neck and compel her back to me. Her lips open in surprise, temptingly close to mine. “Just be sure that research is all you’re doing.”
11
Sachelle
His warm breath fans my already sensitized lips. They’ve been crushed by his mouth once today, and I crave for him to crush them again.
Jakob’s eyes darken as his grip tightens on my neck. His breath becomes harsher and he angles his mouth closer to mine. “You’d better go, Lady Sachelle. I’d rather not start something we can’t finish, unless you want to pull that door closed and come home with me.”
His inviting words twine around my senses. Drive with him through the dark, rainy streets to his house or apartment, where no one knows where I am. Have him pick me up in his arms and carry me over the threshold and then throw me down on the bed. Feel him strip me naked, devour me, make me come over and over again.
A wolfish smile spreads over his face, and the back of one finger caresses the underside of my chin.
“I can tell you’re thinking about it. Just say the word, little fox.”
I fumble for the door handle behind me, release it, and get unsteadily out of the car. Jakob waits for me to go up the steps and get the front door open before he starts the engine and heads out the gate. I linger in the doorway a moment, watching the red taillights of his car disappearing into the rain. I wonder what he can tell me about the changes Paravel has been through. I imagine lying in his arms and drawing information out of him while he’s vulnerable.
It wouldn’t turn out that way, though. I’d probably discover how it feels to have sex with Jakob and nothing else. I head inside, thinking about his darkened bedroom as the rain patters against the windows, and doing everything with Jakob except talking.
At dinner, Dad looks sickly and pale, and his cheeks seem even more sunken than they did this morning. He cuts his food with painful effort and eats without pleasure. After just a few mouthfuls, he puts his fork down.
Mum casts a worried look at him, her lips pursed. As if to fill the silence, she asks me, “What did you do today?”
“I had lunch with Galen Levanter.”
Dad makes a disapproving sound, and I’m about to open my mouth and insist that he’s lovely, even if he did reject his title and the First Families, when I catch Mum’s warning eye across the table.
Dad stands up from the table. “Excuse me. There’s something I remembered I have to do.”
The butler helps him out of the room. We all watch him go in silence, knowing that he’s really going to lie down. Tamsen and I exchange pained looks. She’s as worried about him as I am.