chapter word count: 333
noir heart: thirty-four
Oh, very good.
Her question momentarily takes him off-guard, enough to throw his mind into chaos for the briefest of seconds. How did she know? What, or how much? Was she aware of the White Fairy?
But then her gaze betrays her intent, a visual clue that undermines her in the way she patiently searches for an answer - she doesn't know. She's curious; not to hear the answer to her question but whether the answer is the question. Her eyes, siren-like in the way they could lure you to your death, flit about his features in search of the smallest tic, a sign that her fishing expedition had been successful and he'd unwittingly told her what she wanted to know. They call it cold reading, the art of gaining information by implying that the asker knows more about a person than they actually do.
The ally of fake psychics, mediums and fortune tellers as they seek to take advantage of the ignorant, gullible or just plain foolish.
Clever, Elsa, but not clever enough.
Silently thanking his stars that his poker face has been getting better the more she tries to get under his skin and therefore managed to hide his momentary shock, he draws his lips into half a smirk, slowly leans in close enough that his breath ghosts over her right ear - naturally, he doesn't miss the almost imperceptible gasp in response to the sensation - and just as he hears the rattling of a key being inserted into the front door, he whispers, "Nice try, Mrs Black, but you're not as clever as you think you are."
However, his victory is fleeting - she turns her head just enough that he can almost feel her lips near his ear, and with a whisper that nearly sends a shiver down his spine and makes his heart race for just those few seconds, she replies.
"On the contrary, Jack. I am every bit as intelligent as you think."
typed this on my phone. Oh God how I am missing my laptop, I am itching get back to brass tacks!
special thanks to stefalove, lunasnoir, jpbake, fantasy oh yea, oninokooooooo (high five), original reader (your review made my day), noircorda, e-teens and hornedgoddess for reviewing!