Chapter 2 - The Taste of Copper
The dining room collapsed into absolute stillness. Outside, lightning slashed across the skyline, throwing a split-second flash of harsh white light across Julian’s chiseled jawline.
Emma felt the blood drain entirely from her face. She kept her hands clasped tightly behind her back, her fingernails biting deep into the meat of her palms until she tasted phantom copper in her mouth. ""A cook in the lower kitchens taught me, Mr. Rossi. Nothing more.""
""Liar,"" Victoria hissed, slamming her manicured palm onto the lacquered table. Crystal stems shuddered; amber scotch sloshed against crystal. ""She was planted here by the Moretti family! She’s been slipping through your private corridors for three months, Julian. Check the registry. Her name isn't even Emma Vance!""
Julian didn't look at Victoria. He took one step closer to Emma, invading her air, the faint scent of sandalwood, clean linen, and cold rain rolling off him. He lifted the silver fork to his lips, scooped a minuscule fragment of the glazed flesh, and swallowed it before anyone could move.
Gasps rippled down the table. Two armed guards by the doorway instinctively dropped their hands toward the holsters beneath their jackets.
""Julian, no!"" Victoria shrieked, springing up from her seat.
Julian raised a single finger, silencing the entire room without a sound. He stood motionless for ten seconds, his jaw tightening as the poison hit his tongue. A subtle vein pulsed along the side of his neck, right through the black ink of the swallow’s wing. His pupils dilated, dark and bottomless.
""Not aconite,"" he said quietly, his gaze burning directly into Emma’s terrified hazel eyes. ""It's belladonna. Just enough to paralyze the vocal cords within minutes. Just enough to stop an execution order.""
Emma took an involuntary step back, but the mahogany table blocked her retreat. She had calculated the dosage down to the milligram; she hadn't planned on him testing it himself.
Julian leaned down until his lips brushed the stray strand of brown hair falling past her temple. ""You didn't come here to kill me,"" he whispered, so low only she could hear over the hum of the penthouse air system. ""You came here to silence me before I told the council who betrayed your father.""
He turned sharply to the head of security. ""Clear the floor. Lock Victoria in the library. And bring this girl to the sub-level study.""
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As the guards stepped forward, Emma reached behind her back, fingers grazing the small ceramic vial hidden inside her apron pocket. But before she could shatter it against the table, Julian's large, calloused hand clamped around her wrist, his grip like iron.
""Not yet,"" he whispered. ""You don't get to die until you tell me why you're wearing my mother's face.""
