Duke of Midnight (Maiden Lane #6)(62)
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt

He neared St. Giles. He knew because he could smell it: the stink of the channel, the rot of bodies living on nothing but despair and gin—always gin. He fancied he could smell the stench of the liquor itself, foul and burning, with the sweet note of juniper. Gin pervaded this entire area, drowning it in disease and death.

The thought made him want to vomit.

He stalked the night, running through the rain, haunting the rooftops of St. Giles for minutes, days, a lifetime, perhaps even forgetting what he’d come here for.

Until he found it—or rather him.

Below, in a yard so small it had no name, he saw the highwayman called Old Scratch. The man was mounted and had a whimpering youth cornered, his pistol aimed at the boy’s head.

Maximus acted on instinct and entirely without plan. He half-slid, half-climbed down the side of the building, dropping between the boy and Old Scratch.

Without hesitation Old Scratch turned his pistol on Maximus and fired.

Or tried to.

Maximus grinned, rain sliding into his mouth. “Your powder’s wet.”

The boy scrambled to his feet and fled.

Old Scratch tilted his head. “So ’tis.”

His voice was muffled by the wet scarf bound around the lower half of his face. He seemed entirely unafraid.

Maximus stepped closer and, though the light was dim, he finally got a clear look at the emerald pinned at the other man’s throat. Saw it and recognized it.

He stilled, his nostrils flaring. Finally. Dear God, finally.

His gaze flicked up to the obscured eyes of the man on the horse. “You have something that’s mine.”

“Do I?”

“That,” Maximus said, pointing with his chin. “That emerald belonged to my mother. The last of two. Do you have the other one still as well?”

Whatever he’d expected from Old Scratch, it wasn’t the reaction he got: the man threw back his head and bellowed with laughter, the sound echoing off the tilting brick walls that surrounded them. “Oh, Your Grace, I should’ve recognized you. But then, you’re not the sniveling boy you were nineteen years ago, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” Maximus said grimly.

“But you’re just as foolish,” the Devil taunted him. “If you want the last of your mother’s emeralds, I’d suggest searching within your own house.”

Maximus had had enough. He drew his sword and charged.

Old Scratch yanked on the reins and his horse reared, iron-shod hooves flashing in the night. Maximus ducked, trying to edge around the great beast to reach its master, but the highwayman wheeled his horse and gave it spur, galloping down the only alley leading out of the yard.

Maximus whirled and leaped to a corner where two walls met. He jumped and climbed, his fingers hurriedly searching for holds in the dark. He could hear the hoofbeats retreating, the sound fading. If he didn’t make the roof soon, he’d lose the man and horse in the maze of narrow streets that made up St. Giles.

Desperately, he reached for a fingerhold over his head. The brick gave without warning, coming entirely off the wall and with it his hold on the building. He fell backward, scrabbling like a rat, his fingernails scraping against the brick.

He hit the muddy ground with a thump that sent sparks flying across his vision.

And then he lay there, flat on his back in the filthy yard, his hands and back and shoulders aching, with the rain falling coldly in his face.

The moon had disappeared from the midnight sky.

ARTEMIS WOKE TO the feel of strong arms grasping her tight and lifting her from her bed. She should’ve been alarmed, but all she felt was a strange rightness. She looked up as Maximus carried her into the corridor outside her room. His face was set in grim lines, his eyes drawn and old, his mouth flat. He wore his banyan, its silk smooth beneath her cheek. She could hear his heart beating, strong and steady.

She reached up and traced the groove beside his mouth.

His gaze flicked down to hers, and the naked savagery she saw there made her gasp.

He shouldered open his door and strode to his bed, placing her there like a prize of war.

He stood over her and tore the clothes from his body. “Take it off.”

She sat up to pull her chemise over her head.

Only just in time. Naked, he crawled over her, his body hot and hard. “Never sleep anywhere but in my bed.”

She might have protested, but he turned her roughly so that she lay on her stomach, her cheek pressed into his pillow.

He lay on top of her, his upper body braced on his arms but his hips and legs weighing her down. Trapping and holding her.

“You’re mine,” he said, laying his cheek against hers. “Mine and no one else’s.”

“Maximus,” she warned.

“Yield, Diana,” he whispered, parting her legs. She could feel the thick heat of his cock pressed hard on her bottom. “Yield, warrior maiden.”

“I’m not a maiden. You took that.”

“And I would again,” he growled. “I’d steal you away and keep you in a castle far from here. Far from any other man. I’d guard you jealously and every night come to your bed and put my cock into your cunny and fuck you until dawn.”

The crude words, the near-mad sentiment, should’ve frightened her. Perhaps there was something amiss with her makeup, for they merely made her warm. No, hot. Near burning. It was all she could do to stop herself from squirming beneath him.

“Do you want that, Diana?” he muttered into her ear, his breath humid on her skin. “Do you want to be mine and only mine, away from this cursed world, in a place inhabited by just we two?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, her voice fierce.

He levered himself up. “I’d go a-hunting in the day and kill a fine stag. I’d bring it back to our hidden castle and dress it and cook it over a fire and then I’d sit you on my lap and feed you, morsel by morsel. All your sustenance would be by my hand and mine alone.”

She laughed then, for she knew he didn’t truly want such a biddable doll. She squirmed and turned in a sudden movement so that she lay facing him.

“No, I’d hunt with you by your side,” she said as she reached up to pull his face down to hers. “I am your equal, my lord. Your equal and mate.”

“So you are,” he breathed, and bit her lip.

She tasted rain on his mouth. Rain and wine and something much darker. Something was driving him, and she needed to talk to him—about her future and about releasing Apollo. But right now, in this moment, she wanted none of reality. Reality was a screeching harridan who never could be made happy.