Page 47 of Apprentice to the Villain

Indifference, while Evangelina Sage was in his bedchamber.

It was like keeping a blank face during an avalanche.

He straightened his shirt and smoothed his breeches, then grabbed the chair to tug it next to the desk. “The letters are on my table, just there. We’ll only need a touch, hopefully, to reveal some of the hidden words, and then we can save the rest for—” He released the chair, blinking at the woman in front of him. Did he say avalanche? He meant inferno.

Sage placed her plate gently on the desk before searching the small table for the letters, then laying them gently out around the wooden surface. Her back was to the fire, the light illuminating her from behind.

And turning her entire nightgown sheer.

“Um, Sage?” He attempted to steady his voice, but the words came out garbled. The stardust vial jumped in his hand, apparently sensing his distress as it leaped around. He hardly noticed, fixated on the plain view of gently curved hips, of soft lines of stomach, of ample thighs that looked made for grabbing.

Mantras began in his mind, steadying him, grounding him.I am malicious.I am evil. I am feared!

She turned, and he caught the side of her breast.

I am going todie.

A strangled sound left his lips as he flew to the armoire across the room, yanking out a blanket so hard that the rest of the contents nearly tumbled out as well. The blanket was draped around her shoulders before he released another breath.

She gripped both ends of it, looking up from the letters and her plate of food with a smile. “Thank you, sir. That was… Are you all right?”

“I’m thinking about death.”

Her eyebrows shot to her forehead. “Oh my.”

“Move aside, Sage, and eat your food.” He paused, thinking through his next words. “Edwin made that plate especially for you.” He bumped her with his hip, and she sank into the armchair. The vanilla smell lingered where she’d stood. The woman ate so many of those blasted candies, they were coming out of her pores. Uncapping the vial, which was now moving furiously, he tapped several drops of dust onto the pages.

The stardust glowed over the letters, slowly covering the entire surface with shimmering white light. They both watched, waiting. A few seconds passed before Sage reached down, took a spoonful of mashed potatoes and thick brown gravy, and brought it to her mouth with a gentle moan. “So good.”

His knees almost buckled.

He’d never reacted this way to any woman, to any person. There must be a logical explanation. “Sage, do you have any enchantress or siren lineage in your family?”

She trained an unamused look at him. “I’m not certain I want to know what prompted that question.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose again. “You definitely don’t.”

The stardust was nearly gone now, and the table began toshake, as did the rest of the room, including his chair. Sage popped up and gripped his arm. “What’s happening?”

Alarm bells were blaring in his head, something telling him to duck for cover. “Get down!” They both dove for the floor, Trystan holding Sage’s head and angling his body over hers. A large spark and a small boom took the legs of the table out entirely. It collapsed in front of them, revealing what Trystan assumed was going to be destroyed and scorched letters, but instead—

“A map. The dust turned the letters into a glass map?” Sage reached out and brushed her hand over the shimmering surface of the depiction of Rennedawn. Peaks, valleys, villages, and Hickory Forest were all displayed on the slab. Places Trystan hadn’t even known existed were highlighted by the celestial glow, but only one area of the map was marked by a five-pointed star.

“Here. What we seek must be here,” he said, running a finger over it, the light flickering under his touch. Sage was breathing heavily, her eyes drooping against the light, wearing a confused and frightened frown.

Suddenly, the door to his chambers was thrown open. Blade stumbled in, clutching his knees and taking heaving breaths. “Boss! You okay? I was up with one of the guvres and I heard a crash.” Blade halted when he saw Evie, his eyes taking in the condition of the room: the table broken on the floor, a blanket discarded on the ground, both of them in a state of undress. He grinned.

“Evie!” Blade put a hand up and leaned against the doorjamb, taunting Trystan like he had a death wish. “Did the boss needassistancewith something in his bedchamber?”

Trystan picked up a pencil from the ground and gripped it tight in his fist. “What are you doing coming into my room in the first place? There is no possible excuse you could have for such an overstep. I don’t care if you thought a murderer was in here,”Trystan said in a low voice.

Blade clicked his tongue. “You mean besides you?”

“Get out,” Trystan growled.

“So you can continue?” Blade asked cheekily before ducking away from the pencil Trystan chucked. Sage ripped a second pencil from his hand before he could toss it, and he scowled at her.

“Blade, dear, what are you doing up?” Sage asked gently.