Chapter 12 Jasmine #2
I adjust my necklace, laying the chain flat and ensuring the small rock rests snug between the swell of my breasts.
My fingers tighten around the vial in my palm, thumb circling the warm glass.
I roll my head left, then right, loosen my shoulders, and let my coils slip free, unfurling around me in a slow, shadowy trail.
We’re ready.
This is just like entering level six of the club, facing powerful beings with unclear intentions whilst hiding my own.
I release a thread of power and push open one of the doors. As I pass over the threshold, every fibre of my being screams at me to look at them. But I don’t.
I waste time, their time, casting pointless glances around the room, the one I stood in only this morning. I inspect every corner like I’m searching for threats—or exits. Anything to make them think I’m unsettled, that I’ll leave at the first disagreement, that they should be careful.
When I finally turn towards them, I take slow, measured steps into the meeting room. My eyes stay low, nowhere near their faces, focused on the long table. They’re all standing behind a chair, their hands clasping the tops, and it’s clear there’s one chair they’ve purposefully left empty.
My heels click sharply against the marble floor as I move to stand behind it. One controlled, fluid step at a time.
Only then, standing at the head of the table, do I look up.
“Fucking. Hell.” Sai.
My gaze catches pieces of them all.
“Falloir...” Julien.
My breathing hitches.
“She’s a fucking dream.” Ezekial.
My heart pounds.
“She came.” Kane.
I look down.
One look—that’s all I manage. The glance was meant to feign indifference, to suggest their presence barely touched me. But it’s a lie. A mistake.
Just one look, and I’m already battling my reaction to them, to their voices rumbling through my mind, strained and frayed, their control shattered from just one tiny look.
Have they always been this… this… beautiful? Have I always felt such an innate, visceral pull towards them? As though my body is hooked with a thousand unbreakable strings, all wound to them.
I grip the chair, clutching it as tightly as they clutch theirs—anything to ground me against this incessant pull. More invisible tendrils snake out, coiling around my body, tightening, helping me fight the overwhelming urge to just be closer.
With fake composure, and trembling fingers, I pull out my chair and sit.
“She’s going to destroy us,” Sai breathes.
“She’s out for blood,” Ezekial says, breath tight.
“She can have it,” Julien rasps. “Look at her…”
“Focus,” Kane snaps low. “Let her move first.”
Only now do I realise, I can hear them… and they have no idea.
I fight the cruel smile threatening to appear; this changes everything.
But right now, I have to look up again. I have to show them I’m in control. That I’m not suffering the way they are.
So I do, and this time, I don’t look away.
It seems we’ve all dressed for a formal meeting. Each man is clad in a suit, tailored, perfectly fitting. All in black. All with their penetrating stares, their entrancing eyes—eyes that have haunted me over the last few weeks.
Sai’s the only one who’s ditched the jacket, instead, his black shirt is rolled up to his elbows, revealing more of his intricate markings.
Did he do it on purpose? Most likely. My eyes wander over the vibrant lines that glow under my perusal, somehow sensing my gaze.
When I finally reach his face, my shadows clench around me.
That expression. The aching, the longing… he somehow forms those feelings into one simple look. Mainly his eyes. So bright, painfully vibrant, a stark contrast to the black suits and room drenched in shadow. Brimming with emotions I want to drink—my fists clench beneath the table.
Remember the plan.
I do. I never look away from Sai as my tendrils loosen and begin their invisible descent. They lock onto him instantly, magnetically, like they’ve always been there. His eyes and markings flare, then dip into a darker hue. His lips part, chest rising and falling in soft, little pants.
He wanted to feel me so desperately? I’ll let him feel everything.
Next.
I listen to my darkness and turn to his towering companion who stands opposite Sai across the table.
I already noticed that the two had been placed at the far ends, the furthest away, and I somehow know it wasn’t their choice—it was intentional.
A part of me wishes I’d seen the argument I’m sure followed that decision.
Julien studies me with those deep, molten-red eyes.
Every part of me.
There’s always been something hypnotic in the way he looks, and now a silent symphony of emotions play out in those burning irises. It’s the subtle downward curve of his full lips, the faint, precise tilt of his head.
All a calculated performance.
But I’m performing too.
I tilt my head, exposing my neck, elongating it with slow precision. There’s an immediate shift in the air, an intense swell of heat, a sharp hiss like water hitting hot stones.
“Her. Throat.” Julien’s gaze burns crimson, glowing like burnt coals as his eyes lock to where I led him.
“Keep it… together.” Sai’s voice is strained, each word an effort.
My tendrils continue their deliberate dance, winding over Sai in teasing whispers, testing his resolve, cracking him gently.
I keep my expression carefully neutral.
“Who? When?” Julien’s clipped, unravelling tone is a new pleasure. “I need to know—”
“Not now. You need to wait.” Ezekial’s voice is level, calm.
That’s… disappointing.
I turn towards him, to my right, his warmth brushing against me as I look up.
Damn. He’s too close.
And when our eyes meet, his silver and smoke framed by glasses, my mind stalls. His expression is soft but unreadable, as he searches my face, his darker iris shifts to near black.
What had I planned for him again?
Thankfully, I don’t need to remember when his gaze sweeps down.
With deliberate intent, I cross my legs, and the edge of my skirt shifts higher. Any further and the illusion of suggestion would end.
Satisfied with Ezekial contained, I turn to the final man on my left.
Kane.
But he’s not looking at my face, his dark eyes have also dropped down.
I rest a hand lightly on my thigh, the soft movement intruding his view. He blinks, snapping back into focus and bit by bit, his gaze rises. Dark, heavy, impenetrable, it takes and takes, consumes every tiny detail before finally locking with mine.
The flimsy coils I’ve spared, the ones not busy with Sai, flutter like simpering fools. I try to remain strong, try to force my eyes to match his intensity, but I can’t.
I’d only seen him this morning, barely hours ago, and yet the pull is there. Stronger. The weightlessness in my stomach, the chill caressing every bare sliver of skin, the gravity of him luring me in…
Keep control.
I blink him away. We’ve indulged for too long. Barely a glance, indifferent, that was the plan. Instead, I’ve thoroughly eye-fucked them all.
But they still haven’t moved. They remain standing and I stay seated. How long could I keep them there? All night? Eternity?
I let my gaze sweep over them again, savouring the charged silence, ensuring my voice is steady—commanding.
“Sit.”
They obey instantly.
All of them.
My darkness unfurls, surging to life with unrestrained glee. In this moment, I am the epitome of a femme fatale, I will bring these men to their knees, I—
“I’m ready to fucking bark.”
What...?
“Don’t you dare, Sai,” Ezekial growls. Oh my. It’s not quite a bark but it’s… something.
I can’t let them know I can hear them, but damn, this is going to be hard.
I straighten in my seat, pretending I’ve held the silence, not sat here willing Sai to make good on his words.
They’re all looking at me, waiting, their gazes so intent I can feel where they land—everywhere.
When I lean over the table, they tense, each of them. Their grips tighten on the arms of their chairs, eyes tracking my motion, and I know what they’ll see.
From this angle, Sai will have the clearest view of the fine silver chain, and what’s resting between my breasts. When his eyes dart to it, a pulse of energy rolls across my skin. His gaze locks onto the small, black rock—his power—that I’ve fashioned into a necklace.
“Don’t read into it,” I say, quieter than planned. “It’s a means of escape. That’s all.”
Sai flinches, and I force myself to ignore the cold slice that hits. The awful feeling of regret bubbles, doubling when his gaze loses its glow and flickers away.
Fuck. I didn’t expect to feel like that when I said it.
But I have to keep this up, I have to continue my plan, enact my revenge.
I play my next move, finally placing the small vial at the centre of the table. I don’t say another word as I sink back into my seat, folding my hands in my lap.
They study the vial, the dark green liquid that Kacey hastily made. She said it wouldn’t be as potent as the one I’d ingested, hers hadn’t been spelled by a mage, but it will still have some effect. Even a placebo will work.
“Is that—”
“Truth serum,” Julien answers Sai, but doesn’t look at him.
I’m about to lay out the rules for this game, ready to watch as they frown, refuse, argue over having to take—
Sai reaches out, snatching the vial from beneath Ezekial’s fingers. He grins. “You snooze, you lose.” Then pops off the top and drinks.
I still.
I didn’t expect them to just... drink it. I thought they wouldn’t, that they’d argue, try to manipulate, or persuade me with an alternative so they could feed me more partial truths—
This is fine.
Sai is an enigma, he isn’t like the others. Ezekial was trying to remove the vial to stop their loose-cannon fae before he did exactly this. Sai just beat him to it. Now Ezekial will logically explain why this isn’t needed, how I can trust them, and—