Page 76 of The Flame Game

Well, mostly. If she ticked me off, I’d have to start blurting something about his prowess and hope she got uncomfortable enough to leave.

“She opted to become a gorgon, and she kidnapped someone else’s bride. As such, she was put to death according to gorgon law. Let’s just say she wasn’t bright, and she got a better end than she deserved.”

Kendra sighed. “I told her not to fuck around with gorgons. Gorgons make our worst laws look like child’s play. She said she’d come up with some way to almost guarantee someone becomes a gorgon, and she wanted to test it on me. I refused. She tested it anyway.” The woman checked her hands. “Well, it doesn’t look like I’ve become a gorgon at least. Not like that poor woman over there.”

“She’s a natural gorgon. Her name is Annie, and that’s her father. She was taken from his hive.”

“Oh.” Kendra had the base decency to grimace. “Then that was quite rude of me. I’ll apologize to her later. I thought she was one of the willing experiments. Still, your wife? Well, ex-wife? Pretty shitty.”

“Yes, she was. You picked a pretty shitty woman to be your friend.”

The pair looked at each other and burst into laughter.

I contemplated the various ways I could make my husband pay later.

“Who is your girlfriend? She looks ready to blow her top.”

“She’s always a little cranky,” my husband said, and without looking at me, he held out his arm and waggled his fingers at me. I considered biting him—or transforming into a unicorn and sitting on him.

I heaved a sigh and stepped closer, holding out my hand to Kendra. “I’m the nice woman who fixed your petrification problem, as I’m immune to gorgons and their various tricks.”

Kendra shook with me, looking me over. “You’re Bailey Gardener, then. I’ve heard about you. Audrey mentioned something about you corrupting her husband. In the next breath, she’d rant about how you’d be the perfect bride for her hive.”

Wait. I had corrupted him? I considered Sam with a raised brow. “I’m not sure I’m all that good at corruption. She’s not wrong about the perfect bride for gorgons.” I stared my husband in the eyes. “Right?”

“You did just fine with your corruptions.”

“Are you trying to be confusing on purpose, Sam?” I asked. Why hadn’t he fessed up to being my husband? Did he want me to show him how jealous I’d get in a heartbeat?

Oh. Right. My gorgon-incubus doohickey liked when I became jealous. Sighing, I shook my head at his antics.

“It is one of my joys in life. Don’t worry so much. Kendra likes when I’m difficult. I’m just acting normally for her. If I acted like we were best friends and showed too much concern, it might freak her out. Now that I’ve confused you both, I get to enjoy the show while you two figure out what the reality of the situation is.”

Rather than argue, Kendra shrugged. “The few times we’ve met, we have annoyed each other significantly. It didn’t help I told him he would have been better off marrying me, and that I would have slept with him every night without complaint. I was honest with him. He’d married a snake. Audrey was a bitch, but my mother liked Audrey’s mother and wanted us to be friends, so I was friendly. Little good that did me. If you get a recorder, I’ll tell you everything I know about the bitch and her plans. Well, not that it will do you any good, seeing as she’s dead. Deserved if you ask me.”

“It’s more that we’re trying to figure out how often she was banging Morrison, his involvement with her plans, and how deep the rabbit hole goes,” I replied.

Kendra regarded me through narrowed eyes. “You learned they were sleeping together? How?”

“Receipts,” I announced with pride. “She liked buying condoms from the pharmacy near his house. We even figured out which brand from their cost. And since Sam knew when she was cheating on him, it was easy to piece together.”

“How did you know?” Kendra asked.

I grinned while my husband squirmed.

“You’re liking this too much,” he complained.

“Well, yes. There is a very good reason for this. I know who—and what—I’m taking to a hotel tonight, and I really couldn’t be happier about it.”

“I’m confused,” Kendra stated.

“My father is a gorgon king although he is categorized as a human, Kendra. My grandfather is a rather powerful gorgon. Archambault Quinn. Audrey was not invited to learn about that part of my ancestry. My mother is the product of a triad.”

Kendra’s eyes widened. “Oh. So you’re part angel.”

“And part gorgon.”

“Most importantly, he is also part incubus,” I announced. “Add angel and incubus genes together, and he’s a walking loyalty detector among other things. Because of that, he knew exactly when his bitch of an ex-wife cheated on him.”