The words came out naturally, utterly unforced. Maybe it wasn’t the kind of love she expected, and it took her a long time to recognize it for what it was, but that didn’t make it any less real. Felix would do anything to make her happy. He’d given her complete power over him from the start. All she had to do was take it.
But with that came a responsibility — not just to him, but to all the Amauris. What was in their best interest had become hers. If Alastair and Colin could be believed, that meant fitting them in there somewhere, too. She wasn’t entirely sure how that was going to work, but she had an idea of where to start.
“Now,” she began, mirroring Alastair’s keen look, “do you remember what we talked about the night we met?”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Milo didn’t botherto lecture him on why his plan was a terrible idea. Not because Felix was right, but because they both knew it was no use.
He still couldn’t seem to help himself, though, when he muttered, “They could kill you. They probablywillkill you.”
Felix unclipped his gun from its holster and shoved it into the glove box of Milo’s muscle car. They were parked a few blocks away from the Bowan house. There was no back-up and no exit strategy. He would go in unarmed and alone.
“If they do, you’re the head of the family,” he grunted, reaching for the knife strapped to his ankle. “And it’s your responsibility to make sure Dahlia doesn’t destroy herself trying to kill every last Bowan when I’m gone.”
Milo accepted the knife with a bemused grimace. “You really think she’d do that?”
Felix shrugged out of his torn suit jacket and tossed it in the back. “Tonight, she climbed out of a wrecked car and willingly stood in front of a dozen guns without fucking blinking just to make sure I didn’t get shot. Yeah, Milo, I do think she’d do that.”
And he’d go to his grave haunted by the sight of her in that position, with flecks of shattered glass glittering in her hair and her back so straight as she walked right up to Tomas.
He’d never been so in love or so angry with her.
He intended toneverput her in that position again, but to make sure of that, he had to get her back — which got a lot fucking harder with her behind enemy lines.
A siege wouldn’t work, and attempting to wait them out wouldn’t either. One put her at risk and the other meant she would start to experience withdrawal. They both would, but he couldn’t care less about what happened to him.
That was precisely why this plan was the only one that could work.
Felix shoved the door open and set one foot on the street. A hand on his shoulder stopped him from throwing himself completely out of the car.
Turning to look back at his cousin, he found Milo’s normally serious expression much more severe. The lights of the dashboard gleamed blue and green in his one pale eye when he growled, “Don’t fucking die. I don’t want your job, and Ireallydon’t want to deal with Dahlia if something happens to you.”
Felix offered him a sharp smile. “Tough shit.”
Shaking off his cousin’s hand, he climbed out of the car and slammed the door. Taking a deep breath of the muggy air, he started walking.
They’d see him coming long before he actually got near the house. The entire block was surveilled and patrols circled in slow-moving cars like great mechanical vultures. So Felix put his hands up and walked slowly, giving them plenty of time to decide to shoot him or not.
There was no fear. No hesitation. No worry that maybe he wasn’t doing the right thing or that he ought to let her go.
If they shot him, they shot him.
They’d have to get him in the head to keep him from reaching the gate, and they’d have to put him down completely to stop him from finding Dahlia, one way or another.
He supposed there should’ve been some worry or reluctance on his part. After all, he’d worked damn hard to get to where he was. He’d killed and he’d sacrificed and he’d spilled his own blood to build up the Amauris into something new and better. He’d even been prepared to give up the woman he loved for the sake of his family.
But he saw how short-sighted that was now.I never would’ve been able to do it,he realized.
Like always, Milo had been right all along.
Felix couldn’t have given her up. He couldn’t now. It wasn’t because she was a blood bride. It was because she wasDahlia.The woman who’d taken one look at him and said,“If you want me, be better.”
It turned out that when push came to shove, he would give everything up for her. His position. His wealth. His life. None of it mattered without her.
He didn’t look down when the first red dot appeared on his chest. Nor when the second, third, or fourth did. Felix kept walking, his gaze locked in an unblinking stare on the tall black gate that blocked the entrance to the Bowan property.
Tomas stood on the other side, his arms crossed and his expression blank. By the time Felix reached him, a swarm of red dots crawled over his chest, neck, and head. Keeping his arms at his shoulders, he addressed the man coolly. “I’m here to see my bride.”
