Camilla’s mouth snapped shut.
The prince didn’t miss a beat. His smile was victorious.
She kept her face blank. Her game and his were truly intertwined.
“So you see, my darling,” he continued, “you have unwittingly become a part of the game I’m playing. A game I have spent many years waiting to win.”
He had no idea how correct he was about that.
With his free hand, he made to reach for her, then dropped it before making contact, a serious look overtaking his face.
“I might have lied to you about my name and title, but you have to understand, I will use any means necessary to win.” Then he gave her a wolfish smile. “And I love being a sinner too much to ever be a saint.”
“No one would nominate you for sainthood.”
“And be glad of that. Saints don’t typically kill to protect their investments.”
“Is that what you think I am? Your investment?”
“I think you’re delaying the inevitable and wasting time.”
“Perhaps I want you on your knees, apologizing before I decide what to do.”
His expression turned dark with sinful promise.
“I’ve been on my knees for you. If you want me there again, just ask. But if you expect an apology while I’m down there, you’ll be disappointed. At least in that regard.”
She gave him a withering look but said nothing.
“Choose to accompany me, or don’t, Miss Antonius. Either way, you’re coming with me to House Sloth.”
Heat coiled low in her belly. Most inconveniently. She shouldn’t be aroused by the damned brute.
Camilla cursed that wretched little deviant inside her, the one who purred seductively at the villain for his unbridled vices and mocked the hero for his unshakable virtues.
Life would be so much simpler if she would fall for the male whose moral compass was as dependable as the North Star.
But helping Envy was the key to helping herself now. For better or worse, they were partners in this game, no matter that he didn’t know that. At least not yet.
“Since you need me for whatever the next clue suggests,” she said at last, “I want time to prepare, at least.”
Her tone was firm, her stance clear. This would be a negotiation, or she’d find another way to play the game.
Envy looked her over. “An hour.”
“Two.”
He stared at her a long moment. His expression was carved from stone, but she swore she saw the faintest flicker of respect before he blinked it away.
“Two hours,” he agreed, gritting his teeth. “Eat, bathe, dress warmly. We’ll leave precisely at midnight.”
She graced him with a single nod.
He held the studio door open for her. “Camilla?”
She paused on the threshold, glancing back.
“If you run, I will chase you.”
She saw how serious he was. Envy would pursue his goal ruthlessly.
Part of her was intrigued by the intensity of wanting something so badly that no moral line would go uncrossed. A male that driven, that focused… fascinated her on the most basic level.
She spun around, heading for her chamber before he could see the tiny thrill she felt at that dangerous vow.
TWENTY-SEVEN
WELL?” ENVY BARKED, staring out through the window at the dark hedge maze.
He’d been mulling over the chaos of the evening, as well as that strange moonlit glow in Camilla’s eyes, trying to puzzle out what she could be, if she wasn’t—as he was beginning to suspect—entirely human.
Envy had guessed she had secrets when she became the key, vital for him to receive the third clue. He hadn’t expected the mystery of who she was to delve so deep.
He didn’t need another complication right now. His mood was downright hostile as he sorted through theories—none of which satisfied.
Shape-shifters, Fae, even some peculiar combination of half-vampires could explain her talent. But he wouldn’t know for certain until he learned all he could of her family.
He’d already sent his spies out with new instructions, to locate Camilla’s mother and find out more, when he’d felt Alexei lingering in the corridor.
Whatever news he brought couldn’t be good. “How bad is it?”
“I’d counsel seeing for yourself, Your Highness.”
Envy glanced at the clock. He had more than an hour and a half before Camilla had agreed to depart, which would give him just enough time to travel to his court and return.
He turned to face his vampire second-in-command.
“How bad?” he repeated, enunciating each word.
“Two-thirds, Your Highness.”
“Fuck.”
Two-thirds of his court now lost to the fog. They’d be in serious peril if anyone else heard how vulnerable House Envy was right now.
Envy strode out the door, the vampire trailing along like a shadow behind him.
They traveled down several sets of stairs in silence, stopping once they reached the wine cellar. The limestone walls held a slight chill that had little to do with the lack of sunlight.
Envy had used magic he could ill afford to spare on crafting a portal here to enter his House of Sin.
“Watch Camilla,” he said to Alexei. “Make sure she doesn’t leave the grounds. I’ll be back in an hour to escort her through the Sin Corridor.”
Alexei inclined his head and disappeared back up the stairs.
Envy inhaled deeply, then held his palm to the wall. He whispered his spell, then walked straight forward, into the secret portal hidden in the stone. Immediately he was submerged in the dense energy connecting the realms, pushing through as if wading through water, but within seconds he’d broken free, striding forward on the other side.
He let out a breath, looking his private suite over. All was how he’d left it. His oversized four-poster bed was unrumpled, the nude portrait of himself still proudly displayed on the ceiling. Good.
The nightstands were polished, but not completely free of dust. A light layer coated the top of the wood, just enough for him to drag his finger across.
His notebooks were piled neatly, the letter that had begun the game tucked carefully between them.
No one had entered this chamber since he’d left.
He steeled himself for whatever would greet him outside this room.
Once in the hallway, the silence immediately struck him. There was no music, no movement. No shuffling of feet or hurried sounds of demons moving to and fro, bringing art, arranging it, admiring what he’d collected and curated throughout the centuries.
Envy’s House had been crafted to give the feel of a museum. Each wing, each level featured a different medium. There was the Tapestry Room on the second floor, along with the Titans Room, and the Longest Night Gallery on the third, where one would also find the Gothic Stair, the Heritage Tower, and the sixth-floor corridor, which featured architectural fragments Envy had collected from across the realms, made of varying materials, his favorite being stone.
He had rooms dedicated to mortal art—Venetian, Renaissance, Baroque, Georgian, Ancient World, Old World. And even, though he’d bragged about it less lately, art from the Wild Court of the Unseelie.
Some wings were even designated by color, mixing and matching different periods. The blue corridor, red, pink, then the metallic wings featuring gold, silver, bronze, and copper. But the green art he’d collected, that was where the magic of his sin truly shone—he had gorgeous variations in shades not known to mortals, far beyond sage, hunter, emerald, deepest moss, or brightest grass.