disgust, having for a moment become murderous marbles set deep in her skull. Then, she transformed into a voluptuous vixen and had looped her arm over the mayor’s shoulder, turning her side askance to plant a wet kiss on his neck. She purred as one of his paws gripped her buttocks.
“What do you think, Chadwick? Not bad, eh? All this is the gravy that comes with seizing opportunity.” He turned to her face, which looked almost too pink. James had never seen her in makeup before, let alone freshly bathed. He felt as though he could fall through some wall between reality and illusion if he looked at her for too long. Malverston’s fat, ugly tongue snaked the entire length of her cheek, leaving a slimy trail from her chin to her hairline. “The fruits of hard labour are the most delicious,” he muttered.
James’s stomach turned over. Under the table, his hand twitched towards the pistol holstered at his belt. His hand was already on its way towards the safety catch when she shook her head. It was only a fraction, coupled with a flicker in her gaze, but it was there. Then she was purring once more, tracing her fingers along the nape of the mayor’s neck as she prowled behind him, dragging her shining curtain of hair across his lap, his chest, across his face.
“She has spirit, this one,” he said. He lurched forward once more and grabbed her by the throat, hauling her around to face him once more. “Almost has me forgetting to watch my back sometimes.”
James rose an inch from his chair before he caught another warning glance. This time it came from Alexander, who seemed to finally have caught onto what was going on. He was nodding to the hissing husks that were Malverston’s advisors, who clustered around him as though they could absorb his brilliance if they drew close enough, but still he beamed a warning in James’s direction.
Beth gasped as she was hauled around between Malverston’s knees, clasping at the knuckles of the enormous fist wrapped under her jaw. She choked out a seductive giggle. “Finally got your attention, m’lord? A girl could think she was losing her touch.”
Malverston bared his teeth, running a finger along the exposed flesh of her flat belly where her dress had ridden up. “Creatures like this one are the last forbidden fruits in this world, Chadwick. They keen and grin, they give you a hell of a run between the sheets, but all the while you’re a hair’s breadth away from being stuck in the eye with a hairpin.”
Beth’s face paled, yet still she maintained her coquettish grin, running her finger over his chest. “What can I say? Men who can take a little play are hard to find. Real men.”
Malverston gave a guttural growl. “Any man who looked me in the eye like this one would have eaten lead a long time ago. But these women, Chadwick, you just can’t bring yourself to put them out of their misery. They’re all backwards, diseased, rotten seed of the lowest families, but here I am bringing them into my house. Women, Chadwick. Women will be the end of us all.” He dropped his fist, and Beth crumpled to the floor, rolling down the platform steps and landing in a heap of tussled hair and torn gown. She rose up gasping, red faced with bloodshot eyes, panting and wheezing.
Malverston waved his hand, and the drumming came to an immediate stop. The other dancers scrabbled forward and helped Beth to her feet before filing away through the side doors, leaving the rest of the townspeople still seated, forcibly maintaining the veil of good cheer, eating and drinking.
Malverston relaxed back and nodded to Alexander. “My apologies, those were bordering on private affairs. But I’m overwhelmed sometimes. All these people leaning on me to guide them, sometimes I can get a little worked up. You understand, of course, leader to leader?”
“Of course, Mayor,” Alexander said. There wasn’t a mote of contempt in his tone. “We all have our foibles.”
“Foibles!” Malverston said. “Indeed, indeed. Mine is women, to be sure.” His face darkened and he relaxed back so that only James could hear him. “Especially that one. I’d kill her if I didn’t love her so much.” Then he was smiling, stuffing pastry into his mouth and drawing James into a companionable embrace. “Now, young master, tell me, what’s it really like, being a creature of destiny? What’s it like living under