Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(29)

A pointy wooden one at that.

“My, my.” His sultry eyes immediately told me his mind had dived into the gutter again. “If I could trade places with that—”

“Concentrate, Dominic! Save the sexual innuendo for when our lives are NOT at stake!”

“I’m quite capable of doing both, but as you please, angel.”

“Where am I supposed to put this exactly?” I asked, raising the dagger in the air. I wasn’t about to slip that down any of my private areas.

He dug his arm back into the bag and pulled out a leather garter.

Like, an actual garter. “Seriously?”

“It was the best I could do, love.” I could hear the humor in his tone and it only irritated me more.

“I’m sure it was.” I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed the stupid lingerie accessory. Bending over, I grabbed the hem of my dress and began bringing it up.

Dominic watched with complete interest.

“Do you mind?”

“Not one bit.” He smiled, still staring crudely.

I turned slightly to the right, shifting away from his view and then slid the garter up my leg, stopping a few inches above my knee. Then, with my other hand, I slipped the dagger through, using the handle as a stopper. As soon as I let go, the dagger tumbled to the ground, nearly stabbing my pinky toe in the process.

“Well, that was a waste of time,” I said, ripping the garter off my leg and tossing it down the aisle.

“Best thirty seconds of my life, angel.” Clearly, he didn’t have an off switch.

“What else you got in there?” I ticked my chin at his bag. “I need something lighter.”

He shook his head. “That was the lightest weapon I had.”

“Great! Now what?” I shrilled, my pitch higher than I intended. My nerves were starting to fizz beneath the surface. “We’re off to a really good start. Maybe we should just announce our attack before we get there, that way we can really screw up any chance we have.”

“No need to spiral, love. I’ll simply carry the artillery and toss you the dagger once we reach Engel.” Dominic lifted the back of his shirt and slipped two daggers into the back of his pants. “See?”

“What about Cinderdust?” I asked, the thought having just occurred to me as I openly ogled his peeking flesh.

“Not a chance. The very last thing you’ll ever find in a Revenants home, my love, is Cinderdust.”

“So how the hell are we supposed to vanquish them if we don’t have any freakin’ Cinderdust?” My pitch was steadily climbing with every syllable I uttered. I was damn near hysterics.

“We’ll just have to improvise.”

“Improvise how?” I needed all the details before I moved a single muscle. I wasn’t about to go into this all halfcocked.

“Once we kill Engel, the rest of his men will scatter like rats. That’ll give us ample time to decapitate him. We’ll burn the heart and head and bury the body.”

My stomach twisted at his gruesome words. It sounded like the climax to some slasher movie. Only it was worse than a horror movie. It was my life.

My head snapped up at the sound of the door knob giggling. Then a hard knock.

“Shit. Someone’s here!”

Dominic closed the bag and shoved it back behind the books. He pushed a book to my chest and then rushed off to unlock the door.

“Where’s the girl?” asked Baldy, Engel’s right hand man. I’d come to recognize his voice even without seeing his face.

“Picking out her reading material for the night.” Dominic pulled the door open further and ticked his head sideways.

Baldy peered in and then nodded to someone behind him, but I couldn’t see who it was.

I glanced up innocently and then turned my attention back to the book I was fake-flipping through.

“Why is the door locked?” he asked. “And where’s Maz?”

“Getting a snack,” lied Dominic, easy as breathing. “I thought it best to lock the door until he returned.”

Baldy thought it over and then nodded. “Engel wants to see you both.”

Shit! My stomach dropped like a ton of bricks.

“Of course.” Dominic bounced a sidelong glance my way and then returned his attention to Baldy. “I’ll just let her return her books to her quarters and then meet you in the great hall.”

No,” answered Baldy, pushing the door wide open. “He said now.”





13. THE SISTERS OF RODERICK


Dominic and I followed quietly behind Baldy and some other Rev I’d never seen before. My heart was racing in my chest as we neared the great hall. I had no idea why Engel wanted to see us, and worse, I had absolutely no idea what was going on or what exactly I was walking into. For all I knew, our plan had already been foiled and this was an ambush.

Baldy pushed open the door and then held it open for us. Obviously, he wanted to be the last one in the room so that he can stand guard in front of it.

This was so not good.

Relax, angel, said Dominic to my mind. I’ll handle this.

Engel was seated in his usual seat, surrounded by his men and a sprinkle of underdressed donors around them. Apparently, they’d started the party early. As disturbing as the whole thing was, it wasn’t nearly as terrifying as the moment my eyes fell on the three women standing calmly offside.