“Are you putting me to work?” she teased.
“Actually … I’m bringing someone in for you to put to work.”
No sooner did she get “Who?” out of her mouth than Miklós stepped into the room.
“Hey,” Eclipse’s right-hand guy said with a smile.
As usual, Miklós was impeccably dressed with his fancy silk button-down—this one almost the same royal blue as his eyes—stretched across his enormous chest and his fancy gray slacks with their perfect crease. The cuffs sat atop a pair of black Ferragamo loafers that were polished to a shine, not a scuff mark in sight.
In direct contradiction to his perfectly pulled-together wardrobe, Miklós’s sandy-blond hair was pulled back into a man bun, a few wisps blown back from his face. His beard and mustache—both of which were more blond than brown—were perfectly trimmed, as though they weren’t about to let down the rest of him the way his hair did.
Orianna had had the chance to talk to Miklós a few times over the past couple of days when he’d stopped in the kitchen to chat while Penelope and Acadia had been force-feeding her protein and carbs. And when she hadn’t been talking to him, Orianna had been getting the scoop on how things worked within the structure of these soldiers and the warriors—how they referred to Eclipse and his brothers. According to the intel she’d received, Miklós was Eclipse’s right-hand man, otherwise known as alieterra. Of all those who worked for Eclipse, he was closest to Miklós, having spent the past four hundred fifty years working side by side, ever since Miklós was assigned to him.
“What exactly is it we’ll be doing here?” she asked Eclipse.
He leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Miklós is here to help you find your sister.”
Her heart kicked in her chest a couple of times, but the pain was a bit duller than it had been a few days ago.
“And believe it or not,” Miklós said, “we’ve got quite a few things we can do without ever leaving the mansion.”
She would have to take his word for it. Heaven knew she’d had no luck pounding pavement for six years, so she wasn’t sure she believed perusing the internet was going to do much good.
“While you two get that underway, I need to step out for a bit.”
That got Orianna’s attention.
“Just to help Kaj.” His voice was softer; clearly he’d detected her concern. “I promise to check in.”
Unable to resist, she put her hand on his cheek and kissed him, letting it linger. It was strange that in just a few days, she’d come to worry about him. Especially when he went out to fight, as they all referred to it.
“Be careful.”
“Always,sezari.”
Another quick peck and he was strolling out the door, leaving her alone with Miklós.
“He’s always careful,” the angel said.
“Are you reading my mind?”
He chuckled. “Don’t need to. You care for him. That’s evident. And if I can give you any reassurance whatsoever, I’m happy to.”
“So, if you’re his right-hand man, why aren’t you working with him?”
“I’m more of his assistant, you could say. Magnar’s hisladeare. He’s the one Eclipse leans on when it comes to the field.”
“Do you fight?” She figured he must considering the way he was built.
“When it’s necessary, sure.”
It would take some time to understand all the logistics.
“So, where do we start?” Orianna asked, taking a seat in front of the laptop Eclipse had acquired for her.
“First off, let’s get you up and running on the Misplaced Halos boards.”
She peered over at the angel. “The what?”
