Vicious Villains (Ruthless Villains Book 4)

The door clicked shut behind me. I glanced down at Audrey as we left Winston’s house behind and started down the silent street again. Firelight from the streetlamps flickered over her beautiful features, but I couldn’t read the expression on her face. Damn, what I wouldn’t have given to know what she was thinking at that moment.

Uncertainty wormed its way through my chest as we walked. I didn’t really know how to act around Audrey anymore. This whole afternoon, I had practically just been deciding where to go and what to do on my own. It made sense since Malgrave was my old city where I knew my way around while she didn’t, but I also knew how much she hated it when anyone told her what to do.

Normally, pissing Audrey off was my main goal, so I always used to give her orders just because I knew that she hated it. But now… Now, I didn’t want to piss her off anymore. Well, not all the time, anyway. And because of that, because I had spent so many years acting in ways that I knew made her furious, I suddenly wasn’t sure how to just behave normally around her.

A couple came strolling down the street from the other direction. They chatted softly but gave us a friendly nod when we passed. I nodded back, and then steered us towards a road that would take us farther into the city. The starlit sky watched us impassively as we walked.

Once again, I cast a quick glance down at Audrey. She also looked like she was deep in thought. And even though she was walking beside me, she always kept herself a fraction of a step behind since she didn’t know the way. It made those uncomfortable feelings inside my chest rise up again.

I wasn’t used to sharing. Or compromising. I gave someone an order and they executed it. End of story. But now, Audrey and I were supposed to be equals. Except that here, in Malgrave, I was the one with all the knowledge and all the connections which meant that I had to be the one to take the lead most of the time. But every time I did, I just felt like I was creating a strain on our relationship.

Fuck. I really wished I knew what she was thinking.

“That was unnecessarily hot, by the way.”

I started and blinked at her in surprise. “I… what?”

She slowly turned her head and looked up at me while we made our way towards the busy street up ahead. “You kicking the door in. And telling him to sit down.” A sly smile played over her lips as she raised her eyebrows. “Did you do it on purpose?”

My stomach did a ridiculous little flip at the way she was looking at me. Sliding my hands into my pockets, I lifted my shoulders in a not-so-innocent shrug and said, “Maybe.”

Oh I had most definitely done it on purpose. I might be uncertain about how to act around Audrey at the moment, but I knew exactly how she felt about my power plays against other people. While I had always planned on reminding Winston of my authority over his life, I might have laid it on a bit thicker than strictly necessary simply because I knew the effect it would have on Audrey.

She let out a soft laugh and shook her head. “Of course you did.”

“As if you wouldn’t have done the same thing.”

For a few seconds, she just tilted her head to the side as if considering. Then a wicked grin spread across her mouth. “Yeah, I would.”

Before I could reply, we reached the busy street we had been aiming for.

Lots of people were walking up and down the wide boulevard. Some of them looked to be heading home from a long day of work, their steps quick and sure, while others strolled along seemingly without a clear destination in mind. Oil lamps set onto swirling metal poles filled the whole street with light and illuminated the grand buildings that lined it. I steered us towards a place halfway between this cross street and the next one.

Wide windows had been set into the pale stone façade, and bright light spilled out from them. I quickly scanned the people seated at the tables inside while I held the door open for Audrey. None of them were people I recognized. Or who would recognize me.

Clinking of glasses and murmuring voices enveloped us as we stepped across the threshold.

To call this place a bar was a bit misleading. Compared to the Entertainment District, this was a bar in the same way that a fancy cheese knife could be described as a weapon. Technically true, but not very accurate. This establishment was a place where rich people came to socialize while having a drink. It was very neat and clean and orderly.

In my fairly ordinary clothes, I would probably have stood out if I had arrived alone. But thankfully, Audrey in her gorgeous green dress was stunning and fancy enough for the both of us. A few men tracked her movements as she glided towards the table I had nodded at, her silken dress whispering against the shining wooden floor behind her. I narrowed my eyes but managed to stop myself from throwing a force wall at them.

Audrey, who hadn’t even bothered to glance in their direction, simply slid onto one of the high stools at the empty table I had picked out. I sat down on the one opposite her.

Before I could so much as open my mouth, a waiter in a crisp white shirt arrived and asked what we would like to drink.

I flicked a quick glance at the closest tables before replying, “Two sparkling wine.”

“Excellent,” he said with a nod. “I will be right back.”

From across the table, Audrey arched an amused eyebrow. “Sparkling wine?”

“Well…” I cleared my throat. “We’re on the north side now, and we need to blend in.”

“Sure.” She chuckled and then shot me a knowing look. “Admit it, you actually like sparkling wine.”

“I prefer whiskey.”

“Uh-huh.”

Before I could retort, the waiter returned. Two tall glasses were balanced on a silver tray, and pale pink liquid full of tiny bubbles fizzled within. He set them down before each of us and then inclined his head before retreating.

“To, uhm…” I began, picking up my glass, before I realized that I wasn’t sure what to toast.

Audrey raised her own glass and threw me a sly smile. “To being unnecessarily hot.”

I laughed. Holding my glass out, I clinked it against hers before echoing, “To being unnecessarily hot.”

She brought the glass to her lips and took a sip. I watched her for a second before doing the same. The bubbles sparkled on my tongue before I swallowed a mouthful of that pink drink. It wasn’t overly sweet, but it had a fruity flavor to it. I quite liked it. Though I would die before I ever admitted that to Audrey.

Amusement glittered in her eyes when I looked up to meet her gaze, as if she had been able to read everything on my face. Before she could start mocking me about it, I changed the topic.

“What did you do?” I asked abruptly. “After you left Eldar?”

She paused with her glass halfway to the table, as if surprised by the question.

“As I said, I came here,” I elaborated, and motioned with my free hand to indicate the city of Malgrave around us. “What did you do?”

After setting down her glass, she leaned back a little from the table and scanned the faces around us. Then she shifted her gaze back to me. “Since Paige helped me fabricate a story that I moved to the academy in Castlebourne, I had to go there first to make sure people believed the lie. I obviously never went to the academy there, but I did go to the city.”

“For how long?”

“Just a few weeks. Enough to make sure that no one ever questioned my little ruse. And to find people who could build me a mansion.” She traced her finger along the delicate stem of the glass. Then she looked back up at me and shrugged. “Then I went back to the hills around Eldar to find a location.” A mischievous glint crept into her eyes. “And I did. A short distance from where some absent force mage had his mansion.”

“Absent, huh?”

“Yes. And since the guards you had left behind couldn’t stop me, I sent for those people I had contacted and then had them build my mansion there.”

“I punished my guards quite thoroughly for that, you know.”

“I can imagine.”

Silence fell over our table as Audrey picked up her glass and drank some more of the sparkling wine. I swept another glance around the bar, looking for our target again, but she still hadn’t shown up. A faint thud sounded as Audrey set her glass down. I slid my attention back to her, waiting for her to go on. She didn’t.

“That’s it?” I asked when Audrey only looked back at me in silence.

“Yes, well, you know the rest. You came back a few months later and made the incredibly ill-advised decision to throw a force wall at me before saying hello, and then our war started.”

“Yeah, I mean, before that.” I frowned at her. “You didn’t reach out to any of the others?”

“Why would I?”

“To figure out how things worked out in the hills.”

“Defend your mansion. Kill people who try to kill you. Stay alive. I thought it was pretty straightforward.”

“You didn’t make any deals? Form any temporary alliances in exchange for information or protection while you got your shit together?”

“No.”

“So no one helped teach you how to be a dark mage?”

“No.” A hint of vulnerability drifted across her face, and she shrugged a bit self-consciously. “I spent nine years at the academy trying to prove to everyone that I was just as good as my sister. I’m pretty used to independently figuring out how to become the smartest, most powerful person in any room. And I’m used to doing things… on my own.”

Silence fell for a few seconds as I looked back at her.

“I don’t know how to be an us,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Audrey drew back a little and blinked at me in surprise.

I wanted to kick myself. That was not at all how I had planned to bring up my confused feelings about our new relationship status. She would probably take that as an insult. Fuck. I should have worded it better.

A smile drifted over her lips. Not a mocking one, I realized with a start. A relieved one.

“Me neither,” she said, and let out a breathy laugh while shaking her head at me. “I’ve been thinking about it all day. I don’t know how to share and compromise, and how to do things normally with you without focusing on doing everything I know that you hate just because I want to piss you off.”

The exact echoing of my own thoughts, almost word for word, made my mouth drop open slightly. She had also been worried about this?

“I’ve felt like shit all day because I’ve been basically ordering you around, and I know that you hate that.” I stared at her. “And I wasn’t trying to piss you off but I also didn’t know what to do because… Well, because I have no idea how to act like one part of a couple.”

“I don’t know either. I’m used to people obeying me. I’m not used to sharing command.” She laughed again and drew a hand through her hair. “Hell, what a relief that you feel the same. I didn’t even know how to bring up the subject without sounding petty and childish.”

Raising my glass, I threw her a smirk across the sparkling rim. “Well, to be fair, you can be pretty damn petty when you want to.”

“Shut up.” She shot me a mock glare. “But I’m glad we’re on the same page about not knowing how to be an us.”

“Me too. So let’s figure it out together, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Glass shattered from halfway across the room. Every single person in the bar spun towards the crashing noise to find a slim woman with shoulder-length black hair standing above a mess of broken glasses and spilled wine. Based on the angle of her hands, she had accidentally tipped her silver tray, and everything on it had slid right off and hit the polished floor.

Everyone was staring at her, but her dark eyes were focused on someone else.

Me.

Audrey shifted her gaze between the waitress and me. “Who’s that?”

I gave the dark-eyed woman a sharp smile. She flinched.

“That is our next target.”