Page 30 of Arcane Entanglement

Finn’s jaw dropped. “Wait. The toff is aDuketo boot?!” he squeaked.

Solomon hushed him as ears pricked around them.

“Look, the faster he sees your nephew, the faster we’ll be out of your hair,” Ginny told Jack.

The older man studied them broodingly. “Why do you wish to see Viggo?”

“I have some information he will want to hear.” Evander faltered. “If I’m being completely honest, I need his help.”

The three men almost did a double take at that.

Jack appraised Evander with fresh eyes.

“You are different from the rumours, your Grace,” he finally murmured.

“In what way?” Evander said carefully.

“You are not the unfeeling monster the gossip seems to suggest you are.” Jack’s expression turned wry. “One thing is true though.”

Evander met his steady gaze warily. “And that is?”

“They did not exaggerate your beauty.”

Evander’s mouth parted on a flummoxed, “Oh.”

Finn made gagging noises.

“And you, Lady Hartley, are as ravishing as Finn raved you were,” Jack said with a gallant half bow.

“Oh, please.” A flirtatious smile danced on Ginny’s lips.

Jack offered his arm to her. “Shall we? Viggo’s office is this way.”

Evander followed alongside Solomon and Finn as they made for the direction in which Viggo had disappeared.

“How come Jack gets a smile and I get my wrist twisted?” Finn complained to Solomon in a low voice.

“It’s all in the delivery.” Solomon’s tone hardened. “By the way, who is manning the main door tonight?”

“George is.”

“Well, George deserves a kick in the bollocks for letting these two in with weapons,” Solomon said thinly.

“I wouldn’t blame George,” Evander said. “And his balls are already bruised. Before you ask, it wasn’t me.”

Finn’s expression turned from shocked to dreamy as he gazed at Ginny.

“Is it wrong that I find that terribly attractive?” he mumbled.

“If you want your balls crushed that badly, I’ll do it for you,” Solomon muttered.

Finn shuddered. “No, thanks. My dick will shrivel up and die if you so much as look its way.”

Chapter14

Viggo’s officewas at the end of a gallery lined with desks and chairs. The soft glow of candle lanterns and oil lamps washed across heaps of paperwork stacked upon the surfaces and loaded bookshelves on the walls.

It was becoming increasingly clear to Evander whyNightshadewas so successful. Viggo Stonewall not only ran a tight ship, it seemed he’d made sure his guild members received more than just a basic education.