Page 100 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Kade waits for Riley to do the same.

The chairs are cold.

‘Still jealous, I see,’ Vasily observes with wry amusement, pouring tea. He’s the last to sit. ‘As I said, some things never change.’

‘Go fuck yourself, Sorrenko. What the hell is this?’

‘Who likes milk and sugar? I have much of both. I drink first so you see no poison. Very safe and generous.’

This night has taken on insane proportions.

They’re having tea with Iron Star’s sworn enemy.

‘Lock, you still have no milk and sugar, I think?’

‘Yes, please.’

‘There we go. I am mother, see? Bee taught me all about tea.’

‘You’re still in contact with her?’ Lachlan asks while Vasily pours.

‘We live together.’

‘She betrayed me, you know,’ Lachlan tells him.

Vasily only inclines his head. ‘You are sensitive to betrayal.’

Kade notices a tattooed bumblebee on the inside of Vasily’s wrist, lightly poised to land atop a sprig of lavender.

‘Bee is... Blaire?’ Kade guesses.

‘Mimi called her Bee, and me Silly. Danya was Danny and even long after he died, she would talk about Roman as Ro,’ Vasily explains, his hands busy with the tea. ‘Jules was Jewel, and only one Daddy. She loved her nicknames.’ He glances at Riley. ‘How do you take your tea?’

‘No.’

‘You take your tea no?’

‘No tea.’

Vasily sighs. ‘Nu ty i zanoza v zadnitse.’

Kade’s mind translates naturally.

Pain in the arse.

Lachlan takes his first sip of tea. ‘He really is.’

‘I cannot believe I trusted you,’ Kade says to Lachlan and lets the full breadth of his disappointment show. ‘I’m so fucking stupid.’

It does what it needs to.

‘No, you’re not.’ Lachlan sets down the tea. ‘Silly is your friend.’

‘I am,’ Vasily agrees.

‘You’ve sent people to destroy us dozens of times.’

‘I sent people to free you and get messages to you.’