I knew that face! It was the local human who had woken me from my dream with Amon. Oh damn, what was his name?
"Jacob!" Mary squealed as the young man began to grunt and buck wildly, Mary's face wincing with his force.
Ezra held me tight, drawing us back behind the tree and out of sight as Jacob finished with a great deal of muttering praises to himself. There was a strangled bellow and then a rustle of grass and fabric, until finally, the only noises were panting breaths.
I wished I could see Ezra because I wasn't sure why we were still waiting here. Jacob and Mary weren't exactly an inspiring pair, and my head was spinning around the fact that we'd found them together. Hadn't Mary been after the milliner? Was she why Jacob was snooping around the manor?
Ezra's lips grazed my cheekbone, but it felt like comfort rather than amorous intention, and a moment later, there was a new sound from the clearing—the clinking of metal.
"You're short," Mary snapped out.
"I'll make up for it next time."
Mary huffed and then muttered, "You better or there won't be another next time, Coombs."
"Oh come on, love," Jacob said with a laugh. "It's a few farthing. It's not like I'm the only one, is it?"
Mary hissed, and Ezra pulled me a little farther out of the way, heading back to another tree. Close enough for us to hear, but more easily able to hide.
"If anyone finds out about you—"
"I know, I know. Not as though I'm about to spoil my own fun, now am I?" Jacob asked. I heard the clink of a belt buckle and the wet smack of a kiss, and then I stiffened and wrapped myself into Ezra's arms as the two parted ways. Jacob turned deeper into the clearing back to the wood, toward the town, as Mary hurried to the path that led around the loch back to Rooksgrave.
Ezra kissed my temple as we waited for them both to move out of hearing range. "Didn't mean to not meet you, but I caught the young lady on her walk and she looked…"
"He paid her, didn't he?" I whispered back.
Ezra appeared before me, striking me again with that giddy heat of seeing him, but this time, the excitement was mingling with my unease at what had just transpired.
Ezra met my gaze, looking uncommonly solemn, and he nodded. "Far as I can tell, he don't know what kind of men Rooksgrave is for, but he does know what you all do."
I shivered at the thought and the memory of his flirtatious attempts with me when I'd met him. He must've wanted to see if he could arrange the same deal he had with Mary, or maybe skipped it altogether for more.
"Magdalena says we aren't bound only to the house," I muttered weakly.
I didn't know if I wanted to excuse Mary or not. I'd fucked Ezra when he wasn't a member of Rooksgrave, and I hadn't even asked for money in exchange. But there was something that unsettled me about the scene. I loved being a lady of Rooksgrave, and even before I'd developed feelings for my gentleman, I'd been excited at the idea of them.
"I promised Mortimer I'd report what I saw, puisín," Ezra said gently. "And I think that means this too. She can make her own decisions about whether or not there are any consequences for the girl. But I definitely don't like the idea of that lad snooping about the grounds, even if we are over the border at the moment."
I released a slow sigh and nodded. That much I agreed with. Jacob Coombs left a bad taste in my mouth.
* * *
"You seem distracted, mon coeur."Auguste leaned over, fingertips dragging a curl off my shoulder. We were seated next to one another at the dinner table, a general lull of conversation floating around the table with the other couples out tonight.
Sally, a dark-haired beauty I'd met early on at Rooksgrave, was across the table with her own vampire, Enrique. He and Auguste seemed familiar with one another. Not friendly exactly, and I thought they both might've been showing off a bit, nuzzling into Sally and me as we ate our vampire-approved meals of tender meat, fresh nuts, fruits, and greens. Down the table, Cassie was with her dark-winged man who had a beaky face and seemed to be entertaining his lover, if Cassie's flushed cheeks and the way she was sagging into her chair was any hint.
But it was the guest just a few seats left of me and across the table that had me so distracted. He was an elegantly dressed, green-tinged gentleman with high pointed ears and a jaw that jutted forward, two white tusks rising up to frame his full upper-lip. His nose was closer to a snout and his brow was pronounced, but he'd made an obvious effort with his clothing to appear tidy, and his thick hair was oiled and braided back from his face. At his right was Mary, pinched face blank as this man lifted a slice of brandy-soaked pear to her lips in offering. He had to be Hunter, whom she'd complained so thoroughly about. And perhaps he was cruel in private, but here at the table, he gazed at Mary with a devout reverence I didn't think she deserved. Especially not after what I'd seen earlier with Ezra.
Auguste pressed a kiss to my shoulder, and I caught my breath, turning to him and remembering the question he'd asked minutes ago.
"I…I thought Ezra might join us, but I haven't heard from him since this afternoon," I whispered. "And...Magdalena's guests left hours ago." I hadn't had an opportunity to tell Auguste about what I'd seen by the loch, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. It was Ezra's business to spy for Magdalena, and I had a guilty twist about reporting on another girl, regardless of her motivations.
"Mm," Auguste said, ducking again to my shoulder, brushing his mouth over the spot, but I caught the twitch of his cheeks.
"Auguste? Do you know where he is?" I hissed, and Auguste ignored the question, tugging down the shoulder of my dress to lick at my skin. "What are you planning? Booker told me of your orders, you know."
"Did he follow them?" Auguste asked, glancing up through dark lashes, laughter wrinkling the corners of his eyes.
"In spite of my best begging, yes," I said primly.
"Mmm, then I am very impressed. You excel at begging." Auguste scratched his fangs briefly against me and then sat up, drinking me in with his stare as his pupils expanded with interest.
"He has a will of stone too, as it turns out," I said, rolling my eyes a little as Auguste laughed.
Mary caught my glance then, eating obediently as Hunter admired her, and for a moment, her expression was open with disdain, eyes glaring as ferociously at Auguste as she did at Hunter. She assumed I was really annoyed with him since that was how she would've reacted. I turned immediately back to my vampire, stretching my throat for his gaze and leaning myself into his side, inviting him to haul me into his lap. I reached a hand to his jaw and drew him down into a kiss, smiling as he hummed with pleasure and then groaned as my tongue slid in to stroke against his.
"I've had enough to eat. Take me up to bed?" I didn't try to keep my voice down, and Enrique watched us with his head cocked.
Auguste's eyes narrowed in suspicion. I'd made him promise the night before to show me the social rooms, and he shook his head slowly. "I want to show you off."
I snorted at that and he grinned. Showing me off at the theater was all well and good when there was only a handful of humans for his kind to admire, but I seriously doubted whether any of the other men at the table would care one whit about the pretty dress Auguste had picked out for me when they had their own ladies to admire.