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He was jealous. Chatter had a crush on my cousin, and Leo knew it, so he was taking it out on all of the Cambyra Fae.
“You’re threatened—Grieve and Chatter threaten you!” I shoved my finger against Leo’s chest. “Grieve scares the hell out of you and you’d do anything to keep him out of my life. And Chatter—you don’t want him near Rhiannon.”
“Fuck that! I’m not scared of some freakshow Fae. What I am scared of is having a member of the Indigo Court under the same roof as me. A member of the race that killed my sister. That killed my fiancée’s mother. Your aunt, might I remind you! And I take my job for Geoffrey seriously. I owe him—”
“You owe him what?” Rhiannon turned on him. “A paycheck? He’s one of the vampires, Leo. I don’t mind you working for them, but I’ll never trust them.”
“At least the vampires keep their word—”
“Yeah, right. And they use every trick in the book on us. Look at the contract I signed with them.” I waved my hand, accidentally knocking over my juice. I ignored it as it trickled across the table. “Lannan’s not going to keep his word—he’d love a chance to humiliate me, especially now. You think they have respect for you just because you play toady for them?”
“Don’t you ever call me that again!” Leo knocked his chair over as he backhanded me across the face.
I reacted instantly, kicking him in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. “You ever touch me again like that and I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.”
His eyes wide, Leo slid to the floor. “I’m sorry . . . I didn’t mean to hit you . . .”
“Bullshit. You knew what you were doing.” I rubbed my cheek. “And for your fucking information, dude, I’ve been thinking about alternative places where I can keep Grieve. I value my cousin and Kaylin too much to chance having him in the house with them. You—I’m not so sure about right now.”
Rhiannon stared at him, horrified. “I can’t believe you just did that. I thought I knew you.”
“Please, don’t look at me like that. Honey—sweetie . . . I didn’t mean to hurt her.” Tears in his eyes, he turned a dark gaze on me. “Geoffrey does respect me. And since that seems to be all the respect I get around here, then maybe I should move back to my apartment. Rhiannon, come with me. Get the fuck out of this place and cut your losses.”
She shook her head, slowly backing up from his outstretched hand. “Leo, what the hell are you doing? I know you’re upset, but nobody touches a woman like that in this house. Cicely, are you okay?”
I nodded. My jaw was sore, but he’d grazed me rather than hit spot on. “Yeah, I’m all right.”
Leo stared at the table. After a moment, he said, “I can’t excuse myself. I can’t take it back, but Cicely, please. I didn’t intend to hit you. I don’t know what I thought . . .”
“You’d better leave—” Rhiannon started to say, but I stopped her.
“No,” I said, moving between her and him. I faced him down. “There’s nothing more I’d like to do than throttle you, Leo, but we can’t afford to divide up. Myst would come after you in a heartbeat. Not only are you a day-runner for the vamps, but she assumes you’re a friend of mine. I’m no longer sure she’s right, but you’re a sitting duck. However, understand this: I will rescue Grieve if there’s any chance of doing so. You’re going to have to get over your fear and learn to accept it.”
He smoldered but then ducked his head and nodded. “I don’t like it. And I won’t pretend to.”
“You don’t have to. You just have to stay alive, and your best chances of doing that are while you’re here. Got it?”
Rhiannon was staring at him, arms crossed. After a moment, she turned away. “So, Kaylin, after all this, are you going to help us?”
Kaylin let out a quiet snort. “Whatever you like.”
I turned back to him, searching his face. The old Kaylin would have objected, but he seemed blasé about the whole matter. Everything felt like we’d been shifted onto quicksand; the landscape was changing even as we walked through it. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” He reached out and slid another piece of pizza onto his plate. “You might want to wash the blood off your face.”
I reached up. Where Leo had hit me, a trickle of blood trailed down my cheek. Without a word, I headed to the bathroom. He’d been wearing a ring that had grazed my cheek, slicing a thin weal down the side. As I washed it off and slathered it with antibiotic ointment, I wondered if Myst was going to sit back and watch us tear ourselves apart before she even had a chance.
As I returned to the kitchen, Leo was talking in quiet whispers with Rhiannon, who was shaking her head. After a few minutes, he grabbed his coat and slid into it.
“I’ve got work to do.”
“Are you going to tell Geoffrey?” I turned to him. “Tell me the truth.”
After a long pause, Leo shrugged. “Not right now. No, I won’t. But you’re being a fool. And I don’t want any part of it.” And with that, he headed toward the door, but before he could get there, his phone rang. He answered, listened for a moment, then flipped it shut.
“Shit, we have problems.” He glanced out the window. “It’s almost dusk but not quite enough for Geoffrey’s people to come out.”
“What’s going on?”
