Leven kisses the top of his daughter's head.“You did good, sweetheart.”
“I know,” Evie says and then because obviously God is upset he hasn’t been able to smite me, “Want to see your husband at work?”She smiles.“Relax, Cassius, this is just a little Ashenheart orientation quiz.Let’s see if she spooks.”She tosses a folder down and a dozen photos fall out.They’re over six months old.I haven’t had time for jobs since Lindy, but she doesn’t know that.Fuck.They’re glossy runway shots.A model who needed a bodyguard for some fashion shit she was doing in New York.
Melinda stills.
“I was working,” I say before Lindy doubts me.Evie breaks tension by creating it, has ever since London.Light the fuse, watch who jumps.My hand twitches toward my knife.Uncle Leven is already moving in front of her.Kostya’s chair scoots, and he’s standing.
Dominic barks a laugh.“Fuck Evie do you have a death wish?”
Uncle Leven doesn’t raise his voice.“Enough, Evelyn.Must you bring chaos with you everywhere you go?”
“I don’t give a fuck about them,” I say before Evie can open her mouth and make this worse.“I keep them alive.I barely speak to them.I haven’t even taken a guard job since before I met you.”
“She had her hand on your arm,” she says.
“Never again, Lindy girl.If someone is brave enough to touch me again, I’ll chop their hand off myself.”Everyone hears.
“Sit down you crazy bastard,” Vex chirps.“Let’s lose some money together.”
Across the table, Kostya takes his seat but his eyes never leave Evie.Evie feels it, because her and Atlas have that sixth sense and she drifts past him.I don’t laugh much, but this is going to be fucking hilarious.With the kind of fingers that would make a priest reconsider their vows, she lifts the steel from his wrist.The Pakhan’s watch gleams in her palm.
“Dyavolitsa,” Kostya says, but he’s smirking so the table stops holding its breath and the room erupts in laughter.“Put it back.”
She meets the king’s eyes and winks.Then she steps close, too close for the type of men who sit at this table, and buckles the watch back on his wrist without looking down.“If you think making her,” Kostya eyes Lindy, “or anyone else hate you before they leave you will help heal that sister-sized hole, you’re wrong.”
“And what?Loving them and spewing poetic shit will make it go away?”
“No.It doesn’t fix it.Nothing will.But, it makes the noise quiet enough to wonder what you’re like when you’re not trying to bite.”
Leven points at the door.“Time to go.”
“Going.”She backs away, still grinning, and tips two fingers at Lindy.“He’s insane for you, and he was already insane.Nice work.”At the exit she looks over her shoulder at Kostya.His face doesn’t move.His attention doesn’t, either.I glance at Uncle Leven who is doing a terrible job masking his anger over what we just witnessed.
“Cards,” Dominic says, breaking the silence.
“Cards,” Adrian repeats and deals.
Another hour passes and music Havoc swears isn’t in his pocket coughs to life.Old, blues scraped on concrete.I rise and offer my hand.
“Dance with me,” I tell her, more order than question because I’m already pulling her in.
“In here?”she questions, eyes bright.
“In here,” I confirm, an arm around her waist, her hand at my throat.We make a slow circle under the bulbs.The warehouse is so fucking quiet I bet even Adrian is struggling to place the room.
“Everyone’s staring,” she whispers.
“They’re staring because I’m holding the only thing in this room that matters,” I answer.“Let them learn the shape of what they will never touch.”
Her laugh vibrates quietly in my ear.She straightens her spine a hair taller and lets me show her off.
When the song dies, I kiss her mouth and steer her back to the table, then drop to a knee to fix the strap of her heel.The whole room sees it.I swear to God jaws drop.Of course they do, she’s magnificent.
“Whatever she drugged you with,” Caleb says, “keep that shit far away from me.”
Her diamond kicks a strip of light across the felt.I like seeing it here.Cards down.I take a breath and watch the room watch my wife.Lindy leans a fraction toward me.“Vex hums before he bets heavy,” she whispers.“He taps the table twice when he hates his hand.”
I don’t look at her.I don’t look at Vex.I wait for the hum to appear, call light.Watch for the taps and then press.Vex groans, flips nothing.Dominic chuckles and winks at Lindy, unknowingly telling me that she shared a tell we both already knew.
