Page 65 of Red Masquerade

Lucas cleared his throat, straightening his sleeves, before leaning back in his seat.

Adam watched. His eyes were steel, but he did not appear panicked like I felt; he was cool, collected. He had never met Lucas before—at least, not to my knowledge. But he hardly reacted to the intrusion of our dinner with anything other than lips pressed into a silent line, hazel eyes narrowed.

Like he had expected this.

My heart pounded. Suddenly, it became difficult to breathe.

I sucked air in through my nose, exhaling in shaky breaths.

“More than, thank you,” Adam said. He glanced at me, already hardened against what was to come.

But he didn’t know—couldn’t know—what Lucas would do.

Who he was.

Run, I tried to tell him with my eyes.

Bile rose in my throat.

Please.

I was ready to get on my knees, to beg my brother to leave. I knew what would be waiting for me at home. I had worn those bruises before. But—please, not him.

Words escaped me. Refused to come out. Like they were onhisside.

Lucas slung an arm around my shoulder. “Good,” he said, so casually I flinched. He reached up and adjusted his collar, loosening his tie before his wrist fell back to the table. “I told them to treat my guests like royalty.”

My breath caughtin my throat.

We were alone in the room, the other tables set but empty. No other diners had been seated here.

It hadn’t been luck. It had been Lucas’ making.

I shut my eyes against the realization, feeling the burn of my fear at the corners of my eyes, mingling with my lashes. But the tears wouldn’t fall, only blurring my vision, blurring Adam’s face.

I never—I would have never—If I had known—

“Youareroyalty, right?” Lucas smiled, his hand on my shoulder tight, fingers digging into my flesh.

I wanted to separate myself from the limb, burn off the skin he touched.

Adam didn’t respond.

A chuckle rumbled in Lucas’ chest. “Because it would be quite odd for my sister to be entertaining anyone who wasn’t.” He looked at me for the first time, and my lungs froze, stealing my breath. He wore his mask well, creases of laughter at his eyes, a boyish countenance.

But I saw the rage; saw every promise spelled out.

“Especiallyunattended,” Lucas added. He jostled me like a friend, though as he spoke, his words turned more to a hiss. “Whatareyou doing out with him? I thought you were with Flora?”

I could only stare at Adam, memorizing the lines of his face, the angle of his cheeks, the little indentation where his dimple would appear. The slightly chapped texture to his lips, the way his auburn hair curled behind his ears with that cheap pomade. The shadow on his jaw at the end of the day. The way it felt against my lips, the slightly salty taste of his skin, the hardness of his muscles, the strength of his arms around me.

“Well, if you’re looking for a match,dearest sister, let’s list all the qualities of this fine bachelor, shall we?”

The spark I felt the first time he kissed me. The ease with which we fell into each other. The unruly way his hair fell in his eyes within an hour of his combing it back. The smell of ink on his skin after a day of work. The black stains on his fingers, the stains he’d leave on me.

“Notroyalty,” Lucas started, and he looked to me conspiratorially, feigning a lightheartedness he wasn’t truly capable of.

This was a joke to him. This was all a big joke to him. An opportunity for him to flaunt how he was different,better, than Adam.