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“So what happened?” he asked Talon.
“She apologized.”
“And?” the lean blond vampire prompted.
Talon gave Cain the Cliff notes on what had been discussed in Brien’s office.
“A favor, huh?” Cain’s expression carefully neutral.
But when Talon turned back to me, the look Cain sent me from his ice-blue eyes made me gulp.
“I’m going to walk Eden back,” Talon said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
The fear and adrenaline caught up to me on the way back. By the time we reached my suite, my legs felt like two overcooked noodles. I made my way across the living room, sinking onto the couch.
Talon’s brows pulled together in a frown. “You’re hungry.” He took out his phone. “What do you want to eat?”
“A yogurt.” I toed off my high heels and released a sigh of relief. “But you don’t have to order it for me. I have a couple in the fridge.” All the thralls’ suites came with a wet bar and a small refrigerator.
“I’ll get it,” Talon said and, going to the fridge, got me a banana cream yogurt and a spoon, then folded his long body into the green-and yellow striped armchair next to the couch as I ate.
“Brien went easy on you,” he said after a while.
“Because of you.”
“Maybe. But you were honest, and with Brien, that counts.”
I put down the yogurt cup. “That favor,” I burst out. “I won’t kill someone. Or…hurt them, you know.”
Talon’s mouth twitched up. “Why would Brien ask you to do that when he can send a soldier—or even me?”
My lungs released like a deflating balloon. That was good, at least.
But I was pregnant now with a dhampir baby, the spawn of one of Brien’s top men. A child Brien clearly was interested in.
“It won’t have anything to do with the baby, will it?” I asked. “Because that’s a hard no. I don’t care if that pissed him off.”
Talon’s face lost its humor. “He’d have to go through me first. But Brien’s not like his father—he doesn’t take his anger out on innocents. You should know that.”
“I do know that. But this baby’s mine, first—not the syndicate’s. It’s why I accepted your blood bond, remember?”
A nod. “That’s why I offered it.”
That hurt, even though I’d asked for it. Even though it was the truth.
I looked away. “Right.”
Talon’s mouth flattened. “Finish your yogurt,” he said and watched from beneath hooded lids until I’d eaten every bite.
“About the money,” I said. “I’d like to give it to Rio.”
He lifted a brow. “I’ll think about it.”
“Please?” I put the empty yogurt cup down. “He wants to go to culinary arts school, and a year costs as much as college. More, even, if you go to one of the top schools like the one he’s looking at in New York. Plus, he’ll need somewhere to live, and apartments are so expensive there. You could rent a whole house in Nova Scotia for what I was paying for that one-bedroom. That money plus the money he’s making from the syndicate would mean he had enough to pay for an associate’s degree and an apartment.”
“I’ll think about it, okay?” Talon drew me to my feet. “Walk me to the door.”
I followed him into the hall. “Please. Rio deserves a break, you know? And he’s such a good cook already. He—”
