“Am I?” The praise blooms inside me. “Shouldn’t I feel bad about what I did?”
“The Veronians are a throwback to another time. I think it’s fitting that that bastard’s life ended in a sand pit when he killed so many others.”
“Do you deserve to be ‘ended in a sand pit?’”
There’s that laugh again. “Probably.”
“You knew they’d sabotaged my invitation.”
“They do it to all the women.”
“Why?”
“So a Veronian brother can pick you and vouch for you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means precisely what you think it does.”
“Is Wynter in danger?” I bite out, shuddering when I realize that’s why Derek was in the front of house tonight.
For me.
“Perhaps. She acquitted herself well in the fights. She can defend herself.”
“She shouldn’t have to!”
“You know as well as I do that women have to work twice as hard to get what less-deserving men seize simply by breathing.”
Familiar outrage at the inequality of life has me snapping, “And that’s what’s happening here?”
“Of course. She’ll either become Dyers's whoreorwill find her place amid the society.” His hands tighten around the steering wheel. “You are no one’s whore, Victoria.”
“That’s why you were there.”
“Yes.”
The memory of his blood in my mouth has me toying with my bottom lip. “Thank you. I’m not sure I could have?—”
“Of course you could.” Grabbing my hand, he kisses my knuckles. “I had every faith in you, but you’re no man’s toy. Not even mine.
“I would allow no one the right to disrespect you because if they did, I’d have to slice their throats myself.
“You, mypchelka, should never be afraid to use your stinger. A predator feels no shame for taking out her prey, especially one as unworthy as that asshole. Now, do you want to go home, or would you like to visit my property?”
“Visit your property?” I ask in a daze, more of his freely given praise making parts of me that are closed off, slowly unfurl and open.
“I have a home in Poughkeepsie.”
“You do?!”
His lips curve. “Want to see it?”
SIX
THE RAISON D’ÊTRE
She’s a liability.
