Page 74 of Essence of Fear

That may be so.

He wouldn’t deny it.

The facts still remained …

“It was enough to teach me a lesson about the rest of you.”

Konstantin’s grin faded quick. “And what was that?”

“I don’t hand you my trust. You earn it.”

A simple nod answered him back. “Understood.”

“Are we leaving now?”

At the impatient, cold voice slipping over the arrivals area, Pav sighed. He looked Viktoria’s way to find she had gotten her luggage, and even his small bag that had gone under the plane, too. She arched a brow at him when his gaze met hers.

Difficult.

Sassy.

Cold.

Nasty.

He adored her for those things.

He also wished she didn’t use them as a defense.

All in due time …

Viktoria looked to Konstantin, then. “Well, is he coming with me now? You seem to think I always need a babysitter—I’d rather it be him. I want to go home.”

“Have fun with that tonight,” Konstantin told Pav. “She sounds like she’s in a really winning mood at the moment.”

“Understatement.”

That was all he gave Konstantin as a reply before he headed after Viktoria. He figured nothing else really needed to be said.

Konstantin’s voice trailed after him. “Oh, and there’s a man guarding the house, Pav. Keep an eye out for him.”

He tossed two fingers up high over his shoulder; the only acknowledgement he offered. Viktoria was waiting for him, after all. Pav had found lately that he really liked following after her, even if she was a little difficult to deal with at times.

It was worth it.

• • •

“Relax,” Pav murmured against the shell of Viktoria’s ear.

She shivered at the action, but at the same time, he felt the tension in her back melt away slightly. Not entirely, but it was enough to say she had listened to him. Outside the airport, they waited for the driver Konstantin had arranged for them to make his way up the arrivals. Another couple of minutes, likely, and they would be on the road.

“Another minute or so and we’ll be away from all the people,” he told her.

She nodded.

He was learning that he really didn’t need her to voice what was going on in that broken mind of hers—sometimes, her cues were more than enough to go on. Like right now, and the way she tried to tuck herself in closer to him on the sidewalk. Or the way her gaze continued to dart from person to person who walked around or climbed into a waiting vehicle.

Too many people.