The smile is gone. Just like that. I see it, the first fraying edge of one of her spirals.
“Shush.” I touch a finger to her lips. “You’ve got this, Fal. Show me you’re strong.”
Her eyes refocus slowly on mine. “Maybe I’ll think twice about crawling into your kitchen if you water the plants,” she says, coming around to her old self.
“And next time, don’t take a nap on my sofa.”
“Good thing I hid under that blanket, or he would have seen me.”
“No one will hurt you,” I growl.
Then she mutters, “Ares saw me. He doesn’t like me, and I don’t like him.”
I’m about to say more when the beaded curtain rustles again. Connor and Raina step out of the back, adjusting clothes they clearly just scrambled back into.
Fallon lights up like sunrise. “Raina!” she squeals, launching at her. She knows her name from when Raina needed a dress for the op to kill Noel Tahiri, the previous Albaniankyre.
Raina blinks, then hugs her back. Connor’s eyes cut to me, sharp as blades.
“Rhys,” he murmurs, pulling me aside. “What the hell is going on?”
“Nothing.” My voice is iron.
Raina whispers to him, “She thinks Rhys is her boyfriend.”
“It’s for the holidays,” I play it off with a shrug. “Why not?”
Connor’s gaze narrows. “Are you still going to Ireland for Christmas?”
The words are too loud.
Fallon gasps. “What? No! He’ll be with me.”
“Hey,” I say softly, slipping an arm around her. “I’ll be with you, Fal. I promise.”
“Good.” She melts against me, tension loosening her grip.
Dirk emerges then, holding an envelope. “Stencil is ready. Instructions are inside. Call Jett or me if you’ve got questions.”
“Yay,” Fallon chirps. “No tattoos today.”
I smile. She’s so damn cute. And sexy. And dangerous in all the wrong ways.
“Thanks, D.” I pocket the press-on henna tattoo and take Fallon’s hand again.
Connor’s eyes flick down to our tangled fingers. Then he stops me at the door, low and quiet. “Mate…is there something you’re not telling me? Something Griffin needs to know?”
My loyalty to Connor twists like a blade in my ribs. Is this a fracture in Quinlan Empire if Shane hasn’t toldConnor about my little Zervas problem? Connor isn’t interested in details. Griffin must still not know about the favors I’m doing.
How long will that hold? “No. There’s nothing.”
“Look me in the eye.” His words cut through me.
I remind myself, my brother is the enforcer. He knows what’s going on and has kept the secret as well. Connor does not want to start an inter-Quinlan war.
“This is nothing you need to worry about,” I tell him.
I usher my make-believe girlfriend out into the cold, her hand warm in mine, wondering if I’ve just made the biggest mistake of my life by lying to Quinlan Empire’s torture expert.
