Page 288 of Ashen Torment
“How could I ever?”
I take a step toward him.
“Do you remember my name?”
He laughs quietly, still turned toward the embers.
“Are you truly asking me that?”
I sit down. “Answer me.”
“Evander.”
He turns the bread.
“Marcel...”
I straighten up.
“Gideon...”
He rests the fork on the embers, then turns to face me.
“Viscount.”
He takes a step forward.
The candlelight catches the profile of his face, leaving the rest in shadow.
“Rochefort.”
I swallow.
He is a step away from me when he speaks.
“Delighted the world with his birth on the fifth of November, eighteen forty-six.”
I stand, the chair sliding back an inch on the floor without me truly pushing it, it’s my legs that give way and then stiffen all at once.
“How—” The word catches between my teeth. “How do you know that?”
He smiles just barely. “Do you want me to list all of your properties? How many servants you have? The name of your personal physician? The name of the academy you attended?”
He lowers his gaze to my lips.
“Or the names of all those bastards who went to that academy with you?”
I narrow my eyes. “What are you, a bloodhound?”
He takes another step, the space between us shrinks. He lifts his hand and, with two fingers, brushes a lock from my forehead.
“And you?”
“What?”
“Do you remember my name?”
“No.”
