Page 63
My hand trembles slightly, my jaw tightens. “Do not speak of my mother in that way.”
A faint smile ripples across his face.
“It is rotten blood that flows in your veins, Dorian... criminals, thugs, low-lifes masked by noble titles.”
I clench my fists behind my back, my teeth gritted even tighter. “They didn’t seem so low to you when you accepted the marriage between my father and mother. The Vasiliev dowry came in quite handy.”
His hand slides over the glass, he lifts it slightly. “Mind your tongue, young man.”
My gaze shifts toward the fire poker leaning beside the hearth, and all I can think is how gratifying it would be to drive it into his neck.
“What was he looking for in my study?”
I reluctantly avert my gaze from the fire poker.
“I had forgotten something in your study. I simply asked Lucien to retrieve it.”
“You see, grandson... you call him brother, and yet, you treat him like a servant”
I feel the veins in my neck swell and my hands prickle.
“Stay calm,” he whispers slowly, noticing my reaction.
I take a deep breath, letting the tension slide slightly from my shoulders, to return to myself.
“You are wasting too much time on... trivialities,” he continues.
His brown eyes scrutinize me.
“We must think of other matters.”
“Do you have some task for me, grandfather?”
“I will have a list sent to you,” he responds, setting the glass down with a precise movement. “Now, go.”
I turn and, without any farewell, leave the room.
Laurence is in the corridor, I set off without giving him time to speak.
“Sir,” he finally says, following my pace. “Your correspondence has arrived.”
I enter my study and pull up my sleeves with a brusque gesture, the fabric slides along my ivory forearms and grants me a little air.
“Bring me a drink, Laurence.”
“A tea, sir?” he ventures.
I look up. “Do I look like a lady who takes tea and biscuits?”
Laurence tries to remain impassible, he looks at a point beyond my shoulder.
I sigh. “Bring me something appropriate.”
I open the case and take a cigarette.
“Vodka, Laurence.”
“Yes, sir.”
