Page 151 of To Catch A Rogue

"Why?" he demanded. "Why go to so much effort?"

"Because that is what I do," Balfour replied. "I pull strings. I set things into motion. Sometimes you are dealt a rare hand, Dmitri, and though you cannot see how it will all play out, you know you mustn't discard a single card. You were the ace in my hand, except every other card I held was a heart and you were a diamond. Wrong suit for my game at the time, but far too useful to get rid of.

"It wasn't until Malloryn and his rabble of friends destroyed the prince consort and everything I'd worked to build in England that I realized where you fit. One door closed in England, but another opened here in Russia. And all I had to do was start putting my pieces on the board. You were going to help me bring down the Prince of Tsaritsyn. Iwasgoing to have you replace him, but your recent defection has caused me some consternation. A pity."

"I amnota fucking piece in some game you play." He slammed his hands down on the desk. "You are not a god."

Balfour smiled. "I am the next thing to it. Kings and queens have danced to my tune. Princes kneel at my feet, and soon, perhaps, even the tsarina herself. Or her replacement.Thatis power, Dmitri. All I need is a Grigoriev heir."

"Unfortunately, I will never work for you again." He drew back, reining himself in hard. "And Gemma will kill you."

"She may try." Something dark swam behind the brown depths of Balfour's irises. "If I were you, I would advise her not to."

Before he even realized he'd moved, he'd hauled Balfour over the desk, putting his knife to the bastard's throat. The world dropped away from him, leaving nothing but shadows in its wake as the dark, merciless predator within him took over.

"Don't youeverthreaten Gemma."

"Careful, Dmitri." Balfour curled his hand slowly around the knife. "If you kill me now, then Gemma dies. Malloryn dies. They all die."

He had to trust Charlie and Lark would come through. They'd destroy Balfour. But not yet. Not yet.

Somehow he leashed the beast inside him and let Balfour go.

"The job is done," he said coldly, picking up the frame with his own skin inside it. "And if you ever try to blackmail me again, be prepared to swallow your own tongue."

"The job is done." Balfour pushed to his feet. "You see, I uphold my end of the bargain."

Obsidian's lip curled as he sheathed his knife and turned to leave. "One day you will get what is coming to you."

"Aye. But I won't be bested by you, boy."

You already have been.

It was the only thing that got him to that door without drawing his knife again.

He was almost through the door when Balfour barked, "Seize him! He admitted to murdering the Prince of Tsaritsyn!"

The two guards on either side of the door slammed their blunt metal truncheons into Obsidian's middle, as if they'd been waiting for the command. The frame hit the floor, glass shattering across the marble. Obsidian lashed out and caught one of the truncheons, but the guard flipped a switch on the end of it.

Sparks spat and the impact of the current lashed through him.

He went to his knees, heart hammering and his body jerking uncontrollably until he let go of it. Sweet saints. This was how they'd controlled blue bloods at Falkirk Asylum. The shock might not kill him, but it would certainly incapacitate him.

The second guard struck, injecting something cold into the back of his neck before he could recover.

Obsidian tried to clap a hand to the wound, but his body was no longer obeying him. The floor rushed up to meet him and he slammed into the marble, blood spraying from his nose as he slumped there.

Hemlock. They'd hemlocked him.

The guard must have used an extremely potent dose. It affected every blue blood differently, depending upon how high their craving virus levels were, but adhampir'sCV levels were so high it rarely affected them for more than half a minute, and never full body paralysis like this.

He'd never felt so helpless in his life.

Glass crunched under someone's shoes as Balfour stood over him.

He knelt at Obsidian's side and grabbed a fistful of his hair, lifting him close enough to whisper in his ear. "Thank you for removing that obstacle from my life. I owe you a great debt. But now, I think you are more risk than you are worth. And as I said, I needaGrigoriev heir. My sources tell me there’s another one now."

Lark.