Page 99 of Marked By Moonlight

This woman couldn’t lie to save her life,one was thinking rather critically.

Celeste, I could tell, was siding with the first guy. A glance inside her twisted mind revealed her warring with herself. The more trouble for me or Marius, the better, but that risked irking Gordon, which wouldn’t serve her ends.

What those ends were, I couldn’t see. But the endless machinations of her mind chilled me.

Still, she kept her mouth shut, and the ranking officer lowered his little notebook with a ponderous, “I see.”

They questioned us for another few minutes. Then, with stern warnings that they would be in touch, they departed, leaving the room as quiet as a graveyard at midnight.

Gordon glared at Marius, then shot me a look I’d never, ever seen before. One that said,I’m deeply, deeply disappointed.

It hurt. It actually hurt, though it shouldn’t have, because he was the one with something to hide, not me.

Then he looked at Celeste, silently communicating, which spooked me. But exactly when it might have been most useful, my ability to read minds faded away. Great.

I added it to my list of magic to buckle down and learn as soon as I mastered shadow-walking.

Gordon nodded to Celeste, then checked his watch and grunted at the men. “We’ll reconvene here in thirty minutes. No one leaves.” He pinned Marius with a look that said,Especially you, you bastard. Then he turned to me and spoke in a scarily measured tone. “And you, Wilhelmina. I’d like a word. In the other suite. Immediately.”

Chapter Twenty

MINA

Gordon stared out the windows of the neighboring suite while I sat at the dining table, silently squirming. I’d never, ever been hauled into the principal’s office as a kid, but this was what it must feel like — only worse, because school principals weren’t terrifying warlocks with a license to kill.

Well, Gordon didn’t have that either, but he was hardly one to play by the rules.

I waited, wilting like the flowers in yesterday’s bouquet.

Celeste was in the adjoining room that served as an office, fetching something for Gordon. And boy, did she take her sweet time.

My skin went clammy with sweat. My feet cramped. I cracked my knuckles, trying to remain calm.

I looked for the painting, then remembered it had been returned to Anastasia. Even that hint of beauty and innocence had been stripped from this room.

Finally, Celeste sauntered out of the office with a file in her hands. An honest-to-God, old-fashioned file full of printouts that said Gordon had been collecting dirt on someone for years.

She walked over to Gordon, swinging her hips with every step. An effect that was lost on him, because he stared steadfastly out the window. As she approached, he stuck out a hand without so much as turning.

“Thank you. That will be all,” Gordon said gruffly.

Celeste headed for her room, but Gordon motioned to the main door with a quieter, scarier echo of his own words. “I said, that will be all.”

She departed sullenly, closing the door hard enough to make a statement while leaving room to deny any such intent.

Gordon remained at the window for another full minute before turning with a hard look. He placed a file on the table and slid it over, looming over me.

“Have a look,” he ordered.

I didn’t have to ask what it contained. It could only be one thing. The file with everything he had on Marius.

And boy, was that file thick.

I raised my chin. That was Marius’s past — or the parts cherry-picked by someone determined to document every misstep of a stubborn, rebellious dragon.

Well, there were two sides to every story, right?

I didn’t touch the file. I didn’t have to. I’d long since drawn my own conclusions about Marius, based on my experiences with him.