Page 55

L ARISSA GAINS STOOD IN FRONT OF HER , and Briony had a sudden inexplicable urge to grab ahold of Larissa and make sure she was real. But before her body could actually try to hug Larissa, her brain caught up.

It was two in the morning. And Larissa Gains was in Toven’s bedroom.

Her eyes slid to Toven, searching for any sign of rumpled clothing, black irises, lipstick on his neck—the things she used to see in the school hallways once Larissa was done with him.

There was nothing to indicate that they’d been in the middle of something when she’d knocked.

But as if reading her mind, Larissa chose that moment to link her arm around Toven’s elbow and slide her hand up his left biceps.

“Briony. Captivity looks good on you.” Larissa smiled.

“Death looks even better on you,” she said.

Larissa laughed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. Toven cleared his throat and pulled his arm from Larissa’s grasp.

“I was going to speak with you in the morning,” Toven said, “but since you’re here …”

He stepped back and gestured for Briony to enter.

Briony glanced at Larissa, who was watching her calculatingly, and then squeezed between the two of them to enter Toven’s bedroom.

She quickly glanced to his bed, finding it perfectly made, no creases or rumples.

Moving to stand near his desk, she turned to face the two of them.

Larissa strutted to the fireplace and dropped into his wingback chair, crossing her legs sensuously and taking up the glass of wine on the table that had her exact shade of lipstick smudged on the rim.

Toven ran a hand through his hair and seemed to steel himself. He waited near the door, and if he had looked anything less than nervous, Briony would have thought he was blocking the exit.

“Larissa has a proposition for you,” he said.

Briony glanced at the blond girl, who was grinning up at her.

“I’ve heard from multiple sources now that you were a spectacular disaster at Biltmore,” Larissa said, sipping from her glass. Briony narrowed her eyes at her. “You looked a mess, and you fooled no one into thinking that Toven Hearst has been having his way with you.”

Briony crossed her arms. “ That was hardly my fault.” She pointed at Toven. “ He improperly prepared me. And he had no interest in—in being cozy with me, either.”

Toven glared at her. Larissa waved her hand as if she were shooing a fly.

“Irrelevant. You need to step it up, Rosewood,” she said. “Luckily for you, you’re speaking with someone who knows exactly what it’s like to be fucking Toven Hearst.”

A knot grew in Briony’s throat, and she tried not to flinch.

“Larissa,” Toven warned. “That’s enough.”

Larissa examined her nails. “Apologies. To be fucking anyone . Full stop.” She grinned at Briony.

As much as Larissa was trying to rile her up, Briony couldn’t help but remember that Larissa had been among those taken from the dungeon by Canning Trow to try his elixir.

And Larissa was right. She knew Toven intimately.

She knew his heart better than Briony did.

And hadn’t Larissa said in the Trow dungeon that she was envious of what Briony’s life would be?

Did Larissa know that Toven wasn’t using Briony as a heartspring, too?

Suddenly, Briony was more than a little interested in whatever Larissa had to offer if it gave Briony access to the things that Larissa knew about Toven and why owning the “golden heartspring” was so important to him.

“All right,” Briony said. “You want to help me in some way with the ruse. And what is it you want in return?”

Larissa hesitated. Briony looked at Toven. The three of them were in a perfect triangle, equidistant from one another like players in a game about to begin.

Toven’s throat bobbed. “Larissa would like lessons in mind cloaking.”

Briony’s brow furrowed. “Mind cloaking.” She glanced at Larissa.

Mind cloaking was a technique only practiced by advanced mind magicians.

The tutors touched on it in school, but it had taken Briony many years with Finola as a guide to learn how to cloak.

“You want to practice transparency and invisibility?”

Larissa pressed her lips together. “That, and also transmogrification.”

The ability to change one’s appearance, from as little as hiding a blemish to as much as becoming another person. It had less to do with changing yourself, as to do with manipulating the mind of the person viewing you.

Something told Briony that Larissa wasn’t interested in hiding a few pimples.

“You’d like to change your appearance,” she said. “To go into hiding?”

Larissa lifted her brows. “The opposite, in fact. I’d like to be hiding in plain sight.”

Briony glanced at Toven. He was watching her shrewdly, waiting for her response. He wanted her to say yes.

“It’s terribly difficult work,” Briony said. “Particularly for someone who did not pick up the basics of mind magic in school.”

Larissa smiled ruefully. “Well, thankfully, I have plenty of time at my disposal these days. We can start tomorrow.”

Briony tilted her head at her. “So soon? Are you in a hurry?” She glanced at Toven. He was watching her, unmoving.

Larissa looked between the two of them, then sucked her teeth. “I need to start going to the Biltmore parties, clearly not as myself.”

“Why?” Briony felt her forehead bunch.

“There’s something I need access to there,” Larissa said simply.

Briony knew she wouldn’t get anything else out of her. Strangely, she had a moment to think about how nice it would be to have Larissa watching her back at these parties while Briony did the same.

Toven shifted and Briony looked at him. “I can give you space to practice tomorrow. Nine in the morning?”

There was a tension in his posture. She stared at him, wondering again if he shielded his mind with barriers, and if she could get under them without him knowing.

“How soon do you want to start attending parties transmogrified?” Briony asked.

“Next week,” Larissa said.

Briony laughed. “Seven days! You think you can become proficient in powerful mind magic in seven days? They devote entire years to the subject at certain universities!”

“What’s wrong? Do you have plans this week, Rosewood?” Larissa said flatly. “We’re both rather free.”

Briony looked to Toven, waiting for him—the other person who had some experience in mind magic techniques—to chime in about how ridiculous the notion was.

He was watching her still.

It was important to him, this idea.

She stared back at him, a sinking feeling in her gut.

Looking at Toven intently, Briony said, “And who is it that you plan to transmogrify yourself as, Larissa?”

“There are several options,” Toven said. “People who should not be at Biltmore, whom Larissa can relieve.”

Shivers crested across her skin, and she wished she’d put on her robe before storming over. Briony stared at him, her anger and disgust boiling over in her gut.

“You want to take Larissa to Biltmore. In my body.”

She heard his throat click from across the room. “There are other persons as well—”

“Stones, she’s sooo bright,” Larissa said. Briony could hear the smile in her voice, though she couldn’t take her eyes off Toven.

“The president of Southern Camly?” Toven started speaking quickly. “Her daughter was captured last week by Bomard. She’s eighteen. She was given to Finn as a gift, to be his heartspring, but this could mean she’d never have to visit Biltmore again if Larissa could take her place.”

There was bile in Briony’s throat even as she filed away the war crimes Bomard was committing. Her hands curled into fists.

“You won’t even deny it?” she asked. “That you would prefer to force Larissa to take my place?”

“No one’s forcing anyone,” Larissa said. Briony looked at her with hot eyes. “I’m volunteering for anything that would keep the both of you from getting killed.”

Briony turned back to Toven. He slipped his hands in his pockets.

“It will be the easiest of options,” he said.

She scoffed, pacing toward him. “Easiest.”

“Yes, easiest,” he repeated, voice harsh. “For both of us. Larissa has experienced the effects of Canning’s elixir. She knows what it does, so now she can mimic the effects.”

Rage choked her, her breath growing shallow as she thought about her own body in Larissa Gains’s hands, her own hips straddling his lap, her own lips moving over his mouth. She stood in front of him now, Larissa’s presence forgotten.

“How many times do I have to say that I want to go back to Biltmore? I want to see my friends and stay informed about what’s happening to them.”

“This is for your own good, Rosewood.”

“You want to violate my body—”

“Your body will be violated either way,” he snarled, holding his ground. “This way, you don’t have to be in it.”

Her arm moved quickly, slicing through the air and slapping him across the face. His head scarcely moved despite the angry red handprint on his cheek.

His eyes were dark, the gray fading into black dilated centers. She felt his breath on her forehead and the heat from his chest just inches from her own. His throat bobbed as he stared down at her, something barely restrained beneath the surface of his mask.

“I will teach Larissa how to cloak,” Briony said slowly. “She will teach me how to play a part. And you will never cut me out of decisions about my body again.”

She tilted her chin up and watched his gaze drop to her mouth and back up to her eyes.

The silence sent shivers down her spine. She summoned whatever confidence she had left and said, “Do I make myself clear?”

She searched his expression, finding his cheeks stained with more than just her pink handprint.

“Well,” said a voice from behind her, and she almost jumped when she remembered Larissa. “I’ll leave you both to it.” Larissa chuckled.

Briony refused to look away from Toven first, refused to admit defeat here.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning at nine,” Larissa said and slipped out the door.

It shut with a click, and Briony and Toven were alone.