“Because I want to,” he replies, making something scrape down my gut. Slade watches me like he wants me to see every word he’s saying, to envision his every intention. “I want you to understand something, Goldfinch. I am not good. I will rot every person in my way, will bring a blight to every corner of the world if I have to.”
I shake my head. “No, you wouldn’t. You’re good. You’re—”
“No, Goldfinch,” he interrupts. “I’m good to you. But I am every bit the villain that I warned you I was.”
His previous words ring in my ears.
I’ll be the villain for you. Not to you.
I can see in his face that he means what he says, and based on the man he’s keeping… But I can also see the bracing. Like he’s steeling himself, waiting for my impending disgust. Waiting for my rejection of it, for my argument against his nature.
Yet I went to Slade with my eyes wide open. I told him I wanted everything, and when you ask for everything from a person, you don’t get to pick and choose. You take them as they are. Even King Rot.
Which is why I don’t even hesitate to reach over and clasp his hand in mine. It’s why I can hold his gaze, without fail. It’s why I say, “If you’re a villain…then I’ll be a villain with you.”
A slow, sexy grin rises from the grounds of his grim lips.
“But…” I go on. “I still want you to put that man out of his misery now. There has to be a limit to your villainy.”
He laughs, stroking a finger over my hand. “Alright, Goldfinch.”
A noise from behind abruptly cuts off the moment between us, and Slade and I swivel around. At the door, Ryatt walks in, entering the same way Slade did. No knocking, no calling, just letting himself in.
“Hey, I brought you some tarts from Jelma that she—” His words cut off at the same time that his eyes find us across the room. He hesitates for a moment before shutting the door behind him and turning back around.
Slade rises to his feet, and I follow suit, while Ryatt infuses the whole house with a pregnant pause.
We all saw her in that ballroom.
Are you ashamed?
I want her gone.
My eyes flick away. No wonder he didn’t want me here. Their mother is here.
Ryatt clears his throat, and from my peripheral, I see him walk over to Elore. “Here,” he says with a soft offering.
I look up as she takes the tart that’s wrapped in a gingham cloth. A smile spreads over her face as she uncovers it, and then she goes up on her tiptoes to peck a kiss on his cheek. Ryatt blushes.
She grabs a spoon from the counter and then sits down with it, happily eating right from the tin. Ryatt watches her for a moment before he finally turns and approaches us.
Beside me, Slade goes rigid, and the blackened veins at his neck pulse and jolt just past his coat’s collar, their sharp ends like the mouth of an irritated snake.
There’s an awkward shift of Ryatt’s feet as he stops in front of us. “So…you brought her.”
“I did.” Slade’s voice is clipped, and I wonder what other words were exchanged back at the pavilion before I overheard the tail end of their argument. I’m incredibly curious about their dynamic. The line between love and hate seems to have blurred between them, and I’m not sure I understand it. I’m not even sure if they understand it.
While I’m busy trying to guess at their brotherly relationship, Ryatt’s eyes fall to me. “I apologize for the things you heard back at the pavilion,” he says, surprising me. “I didn’t intend for you to overhear. It’s clear you’re in control enough not to destroy Drollard,” he says as he motions around his mother’s house.
“No apology necessary,” I reply. “You were right to be worried.”
Slade slams his eyes into me, and I know he’s about to jump in to defend my honor, but I don’t let him.
“No, Slade,” I go on. “It’s true. My magic pretty much exploded out of me uncontrollably, and now it’s not working at all. You and I both know I don’t have a handle on it, so I understand why Ryatt doesn’t want me here.”
To his credit, a look of contrition tugs at Ryatt’s expression.
“I’m glad I overheard.”
Both of them look at me like they don’t quite believe me, but I mean every word.
“I won’t hurt this village.” My eyes move over his shoulder to where Elore sits at the table. “Especially when I know how important it is.”