“Of course.”
A quietness slips by before she takes the folded paper back and tosses it back into her jar. Screws the lid shut, drops it carelessly back into its hole, and kicks the snow over it.
“I’d like to protect you from Barron and my son.”
My lips part, my brows lifting, but I smooth my surprise.
“Actually, Linden and I have always been more than kind to one another. He always cared about me. Always took care of me. I was a mage and I know he sensed that about me. I—”Just. Say. It. Arlow.“I loved Linden.” I look down with that lie, and the moment I say it, a low growl of pent-up aggression shakes out of Rime.
I side-eye him and arch a brow at the shifter.Excuse me?Don’t be so shocked that you’re being replaced when the only interest in me you’ve had is to contemplate my murder.
Asshole.
“Linden loved you?” Deep-green eyes get the most lost look, and I swear she might actually have been a good person once. “He’s kind. It doesn’t surprise me that he loved you.”
At the start, I think Linden was enchanted by me. Maybe I was alluring in a magical, familiar way that he could sense but didn’t understand. He did love me. Rime and Linden both loved me once.
My gaze becomes a deadened appearance for a single split second before I mask the hurt that’s blooming through my chest with a smile. “I don’t want to manipulate or change anything about Linden’s feelings for me.”
“No, no, I agree. Having my son’s affection can only help us.”
I knew that’s what she’d say. She’ll use him. Her own son. Just like she’s using Rime. Just like she’s using me.
“Tell me about the other men in your life. What can they do?”
Ah yes, how can you use them.
Or defeat them.
“Chaos is…”Just. Say. It.“Docile. Easily won over.”
Strong, fearless. He’d eat your bony ass for breakfast and complain of the lack of real meat on your bones.
“Good.” She nods, and thick flakes of snow cling to her lashes the longer we stand out here in the void of this kingdom.
The blondeness of her hair, the fair color of her skin, the white fur wrapped around her, every single thing about her is an image of coldness. Including her intentions.
I know that now.
“Kain sees the world in black and white. It is what it is in his eyes. You’ll not be able to control him as easily,” I add as an afterthought. That’s the flat truth, and I’m counting on her underestimating him.
Kain.
I repeat his name once more and wait for a reply. For several seconds, I stand like that, just staring off into the empty sky. Something tugs at my heart, but the bond I share with him feels far away. Distant and untouchable.
My other two mates really can’t reach me here.
I close my eyes for a moment with the frost of the weather resting on every one of my dark lashes.
“And Sinister.” How can I best put this to set her up for complete failure? “He’s nothing like Kreedence. He’s kind and gentle.Andhe’s a shifter. A hellhound.”
A shifter. He is but he isn’t. When he arrives—and he will arrive— she’ll see that for herself, I suppose.
“Really. That’s fascinating.” Her big eyes dart back and forth, and I can tell she’s already plotting but I’ve out-plotted her plots.
“Well, for now, Linden. Linden and Barron will arrive tomorrow morning—if the old man doesn’t tragically die of a stroke before reaching my humble little abode.”
The warm smile on her lips makes it hard for me to keep my fake enthusiasm in place, but I force it.
