The scar on my left hand burns, and my fingers twist ever so subtly at my side.
“A Court member has taken out a hit on you,” she says as she moves further into the room. Her eyes swing around the place, clocking where everything has fallen, reworking the fight in her mind. I want to run into the bathroom and grab the toothbrush Fabia used to poison me so I can hide it. Instead, I force my feet to take me to what remains of the sofa. I pick up a cushion full of debris and shake what’s on it onto the floor. Then I toss it back and sit down. Looking relaxed. Feeling anything but.
“Was the attack today from an assassin?”
She circles around to stand in front of me. “No.”
“Did you know it was being planned?”
“Yes.”
“Did you use me as bait?”
She scoffs. “If I did, you wouldn’t have got so much as a scraped knee.” She shrugs. “I got word to Echo as fast as I could, but my intel was wrong.”
“Someone played you?”
She bares her teeth. Every time I see them, I’m always surprised they haven’t been sharpened. The look would suit her. “Yes, but the game isn’t over. I haven’tlost. And they’ve given me another clue, so really, one could argue I tricked them into revealing their hand like an idiot.”
I’m not going to argue it. The only thing worse than a sore loser is a dick of a winner, and Evangeline is both.
“Because if the people behind the bombing are familiar with how I work –”
I lean forwards. “And they placed them under –”
“Shut up, Dickie. This is my reveal.” She touches her leg, and although it’s hidden under her clothes, I know it’s her prosthesis. She’s etched a ruler down its outside length, with the markers from bottom to top saying:just don’t like you, nothing personal,cunt, dick, rot in Hel you asswipe, now it’s personal.I’ve only ever seen her shove her prosthetic leg up someone’s ass to the ‘cunt’ marker, which sits below her knee, but that was over twenty years ago. I’m sure she has perfected the technique since, and despite myself, my ass clenches. I know exactly how far she wants to shove it up me.
She smiles triumphantly. “Given they managed to get a witch to secretly spell some Vylian wares, that means they got access to the castle last night.”
“When security was increased for the ball.”
Meaning they had help from someone who could order the guards around without them being suspicious.
She nods. “Someone in the Court really wants you dead, and they’re willing to stage a coup if the assassins do not do their jobs.”
Fuck.I need to get back to my wife. I only left her with a handful of guards. My scar burns, reminding me how easily life can be taken. Fighting the urge to stand, I ask, “What do you need from me?”
She wouldn’t be here if she could do this on her own. Despite how close we were when we were younger, I have barely seen her in the last two decades. Her hatred for me runs too deep.
And for a woman like Evangeline, who lives on the far, far outskirts of society, who is understood by no one –even by me, even when we were engaged– who trusts nothing with a mouth – I robbed her of everything that made her her. And I left her with no one.
I lost Aurelia that day.
She lost her fiance, her “sister” in all but blood, and the two other people (Jace and Deirdre) she thought she could trust with anything. With everything.
My throat burns as she looks at me. But that guilt soon vanishes with the next words out of her mouth.
“I need to use your wife as bait.”
“No.” I surge to my feet.
“Yes. A Dragon has too much easy access to you. They could assassinate you at dinner with the ladies and lords” –a popular choice; twenty-eight attempts so far given a lot of the nobles really don’t like me– “poison the queen’s crown to kill you at her coronation” –they do like their theatrics– “attack you in the Council Room” –no guards are allowed to enter there, so I’m always on my own– “place a landmine under your toilet seat so when you sit down for a shit –”
“Enjoy thinking about all these?” I ask dryly, a ghost of a smile tugging at my lips. It’s at times like these when she really reminds me of Aurelia. The two of them raised so much hel.
“A job should always come with perks.”
We stare at each other for a long time, all her hatred seeping into me. I cling to it, embracing it fully. The scar on my hand burns with guilt, and I resist the urge to rub it against my thigh. Her eyes dip to it anyway. Her nostrils flare.
