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“Not your father?” He crossed the room slowly to come and stand beside the desk.

“No, not my father. He is… He is not well, and this news…” I sucked in a breath, moving away from him to stand by the window. “It is better that it comes from my aunt. It will distress him.”

“He will get used to it.”

I growled out my frustration as I turned on him with balled fists. “How can you be so indifferent? Do you have any idea what you have done? Whatwehave done?”

“Do I look as though I care?” Azriel leaned back on the desk, raking a hand through his hair. “I told you before that I never sought society’s good opinion, for I never had it in the first place. And if you think my father did, then you are not as intelligent as I thought.”

“Oh, go to hell.” I exhaled through my gritted teeth, spinning to gaze out the window at the ever-falling rain. “I know what people thought of him, of… of me. But for god’s sake, at least it was legal. At least it was decent.”

“You and your talk of decency.” Azriel huffed out a laugh. “Always so eager to be decent, and yet your actions show you are anything but.”

Fury burned in my veins as I cast a poisonous gaze across the room. “Is that why you wanted me? Because you considered me as depraved as you are yourself?”

He shrugged. “Perhaps.”

I flew at him, slapping him hard across the face. “Stop acting like this! Like nothing matters!” I pounded my hands into his chest. “Like this is all just a game to you! You have ruined my life, and for what?”

He seized my wrists and pulled me into him. “Then tell me why you have always hated me. And be honest. Tell the truth now, my little viper, and don’t just pretend.”

“Because you watched!” I screamed in his face, and angry tears scalded my cheeks. “Because you stood by and watched that wretched old man marry me, just like everyone else did! And you let me believe thatyouhatedme! You let me believe I was all alone instead of… Instead of…” I trailed off, shaking my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does.” Azriel released my hands to take my chin between his fingers, forcing my head up so I looked at him through the blurred veil of my tears. “It does matter.”

I slapped his hand away, furiously dashing at my cheeks. “Do not show me tenderness now, not when you’ve utterly ruined me. It is unbecoming.”

“You are right, though.”

I dropped my hands with a sigh. “What do you mean?”

“That I watched. I was jealous, and angry, and incredibly stupid.”

“There was nothing you could have done anyway. My anger was misplaced. But you wanted the truth, so there it is.” I met his eyes, seeing love and lust and anger burning in them. “I felt utterly alone. But I wasn’t, was I? You were always there, unseen, hiding in the shadows. My ghost.”

“Yourghost.” His dark gaze softened, and he took a step towards me. “I was always yours.”

“Even in the arms of Rebecca from Stepney?” I sniffled as I laughed. “When you pretended it was me?”

“In the arms of any woman I found myself in.” He took another step closer, unbuttoning his waistcoat. “It was always you, beloved. Always your voice I heard, your skin I smelled.”

“How many times did you abuse yourself over me?” My eyes traced down the length of his body with his fingers, ashe undid the buttons, one by one. “How many times did you leave me polluted with your seed?”

“Does the thought make you wet?”

My eyes flashed back up to his. “No.”

“You cannot lie to me, Evie.” He shrugged the waistcoat off, casting it to the floor. “Remember? I know you.”

“You do not know me, you know only what you wish.”

“Then tell me.” He removed his shirt, and that too was thrown to the ground. “Tell me everything.”

“Why should I? What do you care?”

He stalked towards me, spinning me around so my back was against his chest. His mouth roved over my bare shoulder, up the curve of my neck, and my skin erupted in goosebumps as the touch sent shivers down my spine.

“Tell me everything.” He repeated the words as he unbuttoned the bodice of my dress. “Tell me what you like, what you do not like. Everything.”