Page 115 of Siren’s Secret

“Sneaky.” Wave couldn’t help but admire how he slipped the employment clause in. Now, if she wanted him to be careful, she had to hire him.

“I thought it inspired,” Tanner replied with no remorse.

“Fine, spymaster Ulriche. This is your task,” Wave began. As she talked, the smile vanished from Tanner’s face, but he looked more determined than ever.

“I’ll find out,” he said vehemently.

“Carefully,” Wave reminded him, and Tanner thumped his chest as a confirmation.

“At your service, my lady.”

Chapter 53 – Marc

It was late by the time they made it back to the plane. Wayla had successfully avoided and refused all the invitations to stay the night and she had managed to be polite while absolutely shutting Hatty down. Marc had stamped down the urge to laugh more than once during the evening. Watching the harpy fawning all over Wayla when she kept politely brushing her advances off was a masterclass in social manners.

He was ready to compliment her the moment they sat down, but Wayla closed her eyes and suddenly she looked exhausted. Like between one breath and another, she dropped the mask of perfection.

Her power leaked all over the cabin for a second before she tamped down on it so hard that Marc could see the headache forming behind her eyes.

“Wayla?” he asked hesitantly. She blinked a couple of times before her eyes focused on him.

“I’m sorry. What did you say?” Her tone was still polite, but now he could hear the tiredness in it.

“What’s wrong, sparkle?” The nickname slipped free and Wayla flinched.

“It’s nothing,” she said and then sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

Marc frowned. Something was wrong, and he needed to fix it. “Talk to me, sparkle. What’s going on?”

“Really, it’s—” Wayla cut herself off. “I hope you don’t hate me for this,” she murmured after a while.

“Hate you? I’d never hate you. Tell me what’s going on, Wayla. Did something happen?”

Wayla just nodded tiredly.

“What can I do?”

“Not hate me,” she repeated.

“Wayla, baby, you are not making any sense.”

“Tanner is a great kid,” she said, confusing him even more.

“He is,” he agreed.

“Smart. Too smart,” she murmured.

“He always excelled at school,” Marc said, still not understanding where she was going with this.

“I hired him.”

“What?”

“I hired him,” Wayla repeated, and she wilted in her chair. “I shouldn’t have, but I did.”

“Hired him to do what, Wayla?” Marc asked, trying to stay calm.

“I can’t say.”