Sins of a Wicked Princess Read Free

entertainment.
    All of his leads pointed to this woman. Over the past two years, someone had betrayed the true identities of the members of the Trio to their worst enemies. The betrayer had covered her tracks well. But eventually they had all led here.
    To the princess in his arms.
    He didn’t wince at the sharp kick to his shins. It never occurred to women to wear useful shoes. But when she followed that with an attempted bite to his palm, his estimation of her rose a little.
    “Who gave you information on the Trio?”
    Someone had betrayed Madeline to a vindictive Prussian bastard and Clayton to a group of violent Russian revolutionaries. Their true identities weren’t something this princess could have pieced together on her own. Someone from the Foreign Office must have handed her the information. He intended to find out who and for what price.
    He had to know how many pounds of flesh to carve, after all.
    He pulled his knife and flashed it in front of her face. “I’ll let go of your mouth and you will tell me your answer. Now, before you decide to be annoyingly brave, know that before you can draw in a breath, I’ll have slit your throat, but not enough to kill you. No, just enough so you can no longer breathe to scream. Then I’ll slice you open, starting at your pretty little toes, up to your belly, where I will play with your entrails while you watch.” As far as threats went, it was one of his better ones. It was a risk. Some people fainted entirely at that point, but he was growing impatient with the endless labyrinth of people and dead ends that had clogged his search.
    Juliana nodded against his hand. So he slowly lifted it.
    “I have no idea what the Trio is.”
    Ian added another tick to his admiration at the cool composure in her voice, but he tightened his hold. Not enough to leave marks, but enough that her breathing came in spurts. “Come now, Jules. You must know the name of the group of spies who toppled your country. You wanted revenge. I can understand that. Admire that, even. But, you see, our two goals unfortunately conflict at that point. Now, if you value your skin, tell me who gave you the information.”
    She’d been shivering, but the motion suddenly stopped. “What did you say?”
    “Which part? It was a rather long monologue.”
    “A group called the Trio was responsible for the uprising in Lenoria?” The outrage in her voice actually sounded genuine.
    “The letter sent to General Einhern came from this house. And one year ago in June, three Russian revolutionaries came to this house, where they were given information on a friend of mine.” Clayton and his new wife had managed to survive the Russians, but it had been a close thing. Ian wouldn’t let them be at risk again.
    “The Trio is English, then?”
    He barely dodged a foot stomp. And he had to shift quickly to keep from slitting her throat too early.
    “I thought the French were behind it because we wouldn’t side with Napoleon. Or the Spanish because—” She growled. “And I’ve been sitting in London all this time. In the very lap of the bastards responsible for my parents’ deaths.” Her sharp elbow hit him with surprising force, but not enough to make him more than wince. “Well, I wish good luck to the people who are hunting the Trio and wish you to the devil.”
    This interrogation wasn’t going the way he’d anticipated. He’d interrogated many people over the years. Men. Women. Even children a time or two. He always obtained the information he needed.
    He’d also become quite good at knowing the truth when he heard it.
    And she was telling the truth.
    Damn .
    Like a cat drowning in the Thames he floundered one more time. “My information isn’t wrong.”
    “I’m afraid it is.” For the first time since he’d entered, she sounded disdainful and condescending. Like a princess.
    What the devil had he missed? His information was not wrong, but he wasn’t about to bicker with her, wasting time