Diamond Kisses (The Jewelry Box #4)

“Ily—” Henri groaned from the table.

That one word ripped up my fabrications and left them tattered on the floor.

Oh, Henri.

Tears prickled my eyes as he struggled to sit upright.

Victor actually helped him. Cooing as if Henri was his true heir, he helped him sit and patted his swollen shoulder as Henri dug his elbows onto his knees and buried his face in his hands. The altar was too high for his feet to touch the floor. One dressed foot and one bare. One black, one vulnerable. The exact enigma that was him.

Victor let him go and stepped back.

Henri spat another splash of blood on to the ground before he dropped his hands and looked up. His eyes sought Peter’s. Then mine.

My heart hurt.

God, it hurt so much.

With a doting half smile, Henri braced himself. Looking at Victor, he grunted, “Do whatever you…want to me but…please, on”—he winced and panted—“whatever friendship we shared, just…let her go.”

“You think we were friends?” Victor smirked.

“Yes.” Henri swayed, almost falling off the table. “We are.”

“Even now?”

He clung to consciousness. “If you let Ily and Peter go…yes.”

“You tried to stab me.” Victor smeared his finger through the blood on his chest. “You succeeded, even if it is superficial.”

“I’m sorry. I…didn’t mean it. It was…a mistake.” Henri swayed, his voice thin and breathless.

“I’m a little over your lies and apologies, Mercer.”

“Just please…” Henri groaned and grabbed Victor’s lapel. “Let…her—” He coughed and jerked with agony. “—go. I’ll do whatever—”

“You ask for the same thing that Ily asks for you.” Victor chuckled. “A little cliché, don’t you think?”

“I…” Henri licked his bloodied lips. “I don’t care what you think. Just…” He groaned and almost passed out again. “Let her go.”

“I’m more inclined to continue with my little experiment.”

“Wh-What experiment?”

“Judging the power of love over evil, of course.”

Henri coughed and winced. It took a while for him to get his breath back.

Victor smiled dotingly. “Do you admit you’re in love with her, mon ami? No lies this time. My patience is at an end.”

Henri hung his head. He took forever to answer but finally, his shoulders sagged. “I do.”

“Are you aware that while you two were playing your little game against me, I was playing one against you?”

I froze.

Peter shot me a look.

But Henri merely sighed. “You’re saying our friendship…that…was—” He swallowed hard and jerked with pain. “The game?”