I frown, uncertain how it could be all good, given the fact that she just told me she was basically a kid living on the streets, dependent on another kid to survive. “Did you spend your entire childhood on the streets?”
She shrugs. “Most of it. I didn’t have a regular roof over my head until I was a teenager. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and in the end, it worked out for me.” Shestops talking abruptly and then laughs rather dryly. “Of course, it could have gone either way. Seamus, the man who rescued me, it took quite a while before I was satisfied that he wasn’t going to actually end up killing me or pawning me off on someone who wouldn’t be quite as fair as he was. Though I’m sure he mostly kept me on my toes like that to keep me in line, which is completely acceptable given the circumstances.”
“So, he raised you?”
“Hardly,” she replies with another bitter laugh. “He trained me. He made sure I grew into an adult who could manage herself and survive on her own.”
“And Zion?”
“After a while, Zion came with me. It took a few months, but once I was comfortable enough to pitch the idea to Seamus, he begrudgingly went with it. But it was made clear that Zion was my responsibility and that if he screwed up, that would mean I screwed up.”
“All of this sounds rather dangerous.”
“It was. It freaking is.”
Camilla picks up her fork and goes back to shoveling food in her mouth, and I follow suit. After a few minutes, I stop eating and look around the room. “So, who owns all this? I mean, is Zion like a caretaker or something?”
“Oh, heavens, no. We own this together.”
“You and Zion?”
“Yeah,” she responds as she stands, picks up her bowl, then motions to mine, which I slide over to her with a nod. She takes both of our bowls to the sink and says, “We started building this place over the years. Started out as just a piece of wooded land, but Zion always liked to camp out here, and slowly over time, he cleared it. And then, once we got more funds, he slowly expanded.”
“And Kaian doesn’t care that you own property with another man?”
She looks at me over her shoulder, making a disgusted face. “I know you don’t know me very well, Viv, but you should know now I don’t give a shit about what anyone thinks in general. But if Kaian, a man I met long after my buddy Zion, had an issue with what basically equates to my relationship with my brother, I’d tell him to get straight fucked.”
“So, you’d break up over it?”
“I didn’t say that. But he would either have to get over it or get used to living a life of pain.”
I chuckle lightly, completely confused but also quite enjoying Camilla’s chaotic personality. She stuffs all the dishes in the dishwasher, drying her hands on the towel before hanging it back on the handle of the oven as she turns back to me. “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”
“Yeah. Me, too. Do you think I need to go back to the stables?”
Camilla rolls her eyes, walking toward the door and motioning for me to follow her. “Pretty sure there’s room here.”
I follow her up the stairs, and she immediately walks toward the biggest bedroom I’ve already been stealing clothes from. She stops just inside the doorway and turns to me. “You can stay here.”
“No, I can’t.”
She rolls her eyes again. “And why not?”
“I can’t just intrude on someone's personal space.”
She eyes me up and down and then points to what I’m wearing as she says, “But you can steal their clothing?”
I glare at her and sputter, “That’s different.”
Raising her brows, she places her hands on her hips. “Regardless, this is where you’re staying. He’ll want to keep aneye on you, and if he was so inclined to do so that he slept in a horse stall with you, this will be better.”
Sighing, I raise my hands out in front of me in defeat. “Fine. But you should at least send him a message letting him know.”
She gives a short nod, but given the smile on her face is rather conspiratorial, I don’t bother arguing because I know it won’t do me a lick of good.
I move to the end of the bed where I sit, already too tired to be bothered about my sleeping arrangements.
Camilla turns to leave but stops in the doorway with her hand on the doorknob, her smile now sweetly dangerous. “Sweet dreams, Viv.”
