AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That answered one question. She hadn’t planned on taking up where she’d left off; her relief was obvious.
Then I replayed the rest of what she’d said. “What do you mean he made you do it?”
She scraped at the water bottle’s label with her thumbnail. “I’m not trying to excuse myself. I took his money to pass a note to Twilight—that was on me. But then he had me.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I was so stupid. He said if I didn’t do exactly what he said, then he’d go to the primus and tell him I was a double agent. I’d have been fucked. Maybe even dead. So—”
The hairs on my nape lifted. The former primus, Jules Leclerc, had been going blood-mad. He’d already killed one thrall, maybe more. Eden was right. If they’d turned her over to him, she’d probably be dead now.
“How did you find out about Kuro, anyway?” she asked.
“He was actually Eugene Smith. Matthew’s spawn.”
“Seriously? I had no idea.”
“Yeah. He was the double agent. The bastard was on the Slayers, Inc. Board of Directors. And his sire knew—was behind it, actually.” Which was why Matthew Smith was also in his final grave.
“So Matthew’s also—?”
“Yeah,” I told her.
“Huh.” She sat back. “Kuro didn’t look anything like Eugene.”
“A glamour.”
“But he didn’t even sound like Eugene. Not that I knew Kuro that well—he mainly communicated with me through notes.” She rubbed her upper arms. “Whatever. I’m just glad he’s gone. I thought I’d never be free of him. He would’ve come after me.”
Ice sheeted my spine. If Eugene had somehow escaped, what would he have done to Eden?
“He’s the one who got you a new ID?” I asked.
“Yeah. I threw it away after I crossed into the States. The store was paying me under the table, but they couldn’t do that forever. Sooner or later I would’ve had to get a new one. I was asking around, actually.” She shot me a look. “But why would Brien keep what I did a secret? I mean, no one knew I was carrying your spawn.”
“Feeling generous, I guess.”
Actually, I suspected Brien had done it for me, not her. He’d wanted to leave my options open.
Moving closer, I curved my fingers lightly around her throat. The pulse at the base of her neck hitched.
I skated my tongue around the shell of her ear, enjoying her shiver of arousal. “That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.”
She swallowed and squeezed her thighs together.
Gods, I’d missed this. I fucking loved how easily she got hot for me.
“What d’you mean?” she asked thickly.
“It means I’m still deciding what your punishment will be.”
7
Eden
Talon settled back into his seat, watching me from beneath thick dark lashes. His words bounced around in my brain, menace wrapped in silk.
The small jet banked right over the coast of Nova Scotia. Lilith Island came into view, a chunk of black basalt coughed up by a long-ago volcano. My family had lived here for generations, pirates who’d staked a claim back when the French and British were still fighting over Canada. The First Nations people had known about Lilith Island and its neighboring islands, of course, but nobody except the pirates had been willing to cross miles of rough, shark-infested seas to settle them.
To Jules Leclerc, Brien’s father and the first Maritime primus, the island’s isolation had been ideal. He’d struck a deal with the pirates—sell Lilith Island to him and they and their descendants could live on the land rent-free. My ancestors’ stolen treasure had been plowed into legit businesses like farms, fishing boats and shops, while the Maritime Syndicate grew into a powerful conglomerate with its fingers in pies across Eastern Canada.
And Talon was one of their two top men, answerable only to the primus.
