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“Looking at me like that. Acting like you’re going to kiss me,” she snapped.

“But it’s so fun,” he answered with a smirk.

“Which part?”

“Must I choose?” he asked innocently. She hissed at his response, and he chuckled, a low sound in his throat. Then his face turned serious again as he sat back and said softly, “Tell me what I need to do to make you believe me.”

Without answering, Scarlett merely stomped her foot three times on the floor. After a moment, there was an answered thump from below. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and a piece of paper was slipped underneath it. Scarlett scooped it up,read the words, and headed for the window without another word.

As she led Sorin down the streets of the Syndicate, she pointed things out every once in a while until a comfortable silence fell between them. She led him to a little restaurant tucked into a side street. The hostess recognized Scarlett immediately and took them right to a secluded table in the back.

“I didn’t eat breakfast. I need to eat before I take you there,” Scarlett said when they were handed menus.

“Where exactly are you taking me?” Sorin asked with a nod of thanks to the hostess.

“All in due time,” Scarlett answered simply, smiling slightly.

When they had ordered and the silence crept in again, Sorin ventured cautiously, “Do you want to talk about what I told you last night? About you being—”

“Nope,” Scarlett said, taking a drink of her water.

“You need to—”

“Nope.”

“Tell me about Juliette then.”

Her eyes widened at her name on his lips. “Absolutely not.”

“Then let’s talk about you and Callan,” he said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

Scarlett narrowed her eyes at him. “What of him?”

“Last night?”

“Last night was about getting information, which I did successfully,” Scarlett said, her voice going cold.

“So you will just continue to lead him on until the mystery is solved and then what?” Sorin asked. His voice had hardened, and she could see his fingers curling as if he was fighting clenching his fist.

“I told you that I have done and do terrible things to get what I need. I warned you about what you would see last night,” she said sharply.

“So did Nuri and Cassius. Everyone felt the need to warn me about it.”

“Why does it bother you?”

“It doesn’t,” he retorted.

Scarlett raised a brow, leaning back in her own chair. “It does. It does bother you. You either don’t like that I’m using our relationship to get information, or you don’t like our relationship entirely. Which is it?”

Sorin leaned forward then, resting his forearms on the table. “Which do you think it is?” His voice was low as he held her in an intense stare.

Scarlett leaned forward as well. The table was small, and as she did, she was close enough to him that their breath mingled. “I think you didn’t like seeing me take him into a bedroom. I think you didn’t like seeing me kiss him.”

“What would it matter?” There was a sharpness to his voice. A hard edge she wasn’t sure what to do with.

“Whydoesit matter?” she countered, holding his gaze.

A muscle feathered in his jaw, and he ground his teeth together before he finally said, “It matters because I like kissing you. It matters because I do not know if I am just another person you are using to gain information. It matters because your friends are concerned about you and that makes me concerned about you. It matters because I have to return home soon, and the thought of not seeing you any more is as unpleasant as it was for me to hear you tell the mortal prince you will go to him tomorrow night.”