Page 52

“Curious, that you require others to remind you to guard your hands.”

“Whether my hands remain safe or not,” I respond, looking at both of them, “is none of your concern, gentlemen.”

“Will you notify me, then, should you change your mind?” Julian adds.

Lord Dorian takes a step forward, toward me.

“I will not change my mind.”

Julian offers a thin smile and retreats into the crowd. I feel a light touch on my elbow, the fleeting contact of a finger brushing me.

“Keep those hands away from me.”

Dorian furrows his brow. “They are the same hands you were watching so intently just a moment ago.”

“I never—”

“Viscount! Lord Dorian!”

He turns and curves his lips into a slight smile toward her.

“Duchess.”

I give a respectful bow. She offers a hand, I take it for a brief, formal kiss on the back, according to etiquette. A slight, sharp click catches my attention: the sound of a knuckle cracking, coming from him.

I can hear it even over the crystal and the voices in the room.

The Duchess smiles. “You bring light into this place.”

Something calls her away, a woman’s voice from another corner of the room. She excuses herself with a slight nod and withdraws.

He distractedly adjusts the cuffs of his black shirt.

“You are indeed very much in demand, Viscount.”

“Does that disturb you, by any chance?”

“There would be no reason for it,” he replies, with a trace of coldness, looking up.

“And yet you seem quite irritated.”

“You are particularly eloquent today.”

“No one compels you to listen to my words”

“Have you even understood what their intentions are toward you?” he bites out.

“Let me inform you that I am no fool.”

He takes a step closer.

“You have not understood at all. Especially that kobel Fairfax—”

Ko—what?

Heat floods my stomach, and for a brief moment the pain in my gut fades at the rough, rasping sound of his voice.

“What did you just say?”