Page 47 of Forge the Blade

“Your choice.”

Sevastyan nodded. “You’ve made it clear Lisa is private stock.”

“I’m sharing, with you. And you only. That’s still private. No one else touches Lisa but you.”

Sevastyan nodded.

“Enforce that however you like,” Alexi said. “I’m sure you can make your point.”

Sevastyan laughed wryly. He wasn’t going to have to, not after his mother’s soirée.

Ellisandre

Ellisandre racked their firearm and turned, watching as Alice took the magazine out of her weapon and stowed it beside Ellisandre’s. They were at Ellisandre’s favorite firing range, a little bit outside of the city. Ash had Dana with him in Richard’s office for the afternoon, giving Alice and Ellisandre a chance to train. He’d sent photos of Dana kneeling up on his lap to see the screen while he ran tests on one of Richard’s satellite company networks. Dana looked like she wanted to be a hacker herself. She was entirely absorbed in the process. To Ellisandre, it looked like a bunch of code, indecipherable.

Alice grinned at Ellisandre as they entered the lobby and headed towards the parking lot. “Nailed that last round.”

Ellisandre smirked back. “You did. As soon as you’re twenty-one, we can get you a concealed carry license.”

Alice snorted. She was already carrying most times, depending on the threat level assessed by their security team. Ellisandre had deemed that necessary and suitable two months ago. “So what you really mean is make legal what we’re already doing.”

“Something like that.”

They climbed into Ellisandre’s car, Alice rubbing her shoulder and thigh. She’d been doing full contact training with Ellisandre’s old trainer every day, and while he sang her praises, she was limping after most every session. Ellisandre made a note to send her for a massage that night. Perhaps with Ash. As a thank you for taking Dana on. The teenager was really stepping into a big brother role that he truly could have chosen to avoid, and doing so with a grace and commitment that was a boon for Dana’s mental health. The little girl needed all the attachment figures she could get. And now she had her dog Maribel, Alice, Linda, Ash, and “Daddy” Ellisandre.

“You’re dropping me off at Richard’s office, right?” Alice said.

“Yes. Your team will be over to take you home about twenty minutes after we arrive.”

“And you have a thing with Linda tonight?”

“Business dinner, but we won’t be late.”

Alice yawned and stretched. “Don’t be mad, I might sleep on the way back.”

Ellisandre chuckled. True to her word, Alice kicked off her shoes, pulled up her knees, and was asleep in the front passenger seat before Ellisandre had even pulled onto the main highway.

In the city, Ellisandre dropped Alice off with Ash and Dana. Ash barely waved hello, deep into his screens and multiple keyboards. Dana was crouched beside him on a stool, and sometimes he told her to push a button on the keyboard. They seemed into it. Ellisandre let them be, with a nod to Alice, who gave them a thumbs up and then sat down by the door on the floor and closed her eyes again. On their way out, Ellisandre stuck their head into Richard’s office. The front part was a large room with various secretaries. The office proper was in the back behind even more doors. Collin was out at the copy machine and waved to them. Most days he served as Richard’s personal assistant.

He looked nothing like his half-brother Sevastyan. Where Sevastyan’s stature was imposing, Collin was middling in height, neither short nor tall. Sevastyan’s tresses were long and so blond they leaned white; Collin had light dirty-brown hair cut in a stylish fashion that had Damian and Émeric’s influence all over it, the top longer than the sides, probably so Richard could grip it. Even their eyes were different. The most Collin and Sevastyan had in common was perhaps the mouth and nose, and a certain dignity in the way they both moved.

“Do you want Richard?” Collin asked.

“For a moment.” Ellisandre inclined their head towards Collin, all while thinking things better left unsaid. Who knew Ellisandre would ever be fucking the brother of one of Richard’s submissives? And why had they never thought of it in quite that way? Richard had always been the slightly distant and yet respectful brother to Linda. He accepted Ellisandre’s presence in his sister’s life, asking few questions, but the irony of sharing something so intimate with Richard put a twisted smile on Ellisandre’s face. Richard and intimacy were not things they’d ever connected with themselves.

Richard sat behind a large antique desk inside an office that had barely been updated since the 1940s, except for the presence of tech. He was like his sister, polished on the outside, in control, the kind of man with dark hair, dark suit, and a deep stare that controlled a room as soon as they stepped into it. For years he and Ellisandre had had an unspoken agreement to not speak of their natural dominance. They moved in the same intimate circle without sharing any of their inner world with each other.

An urge hit Ellisandre in the gut, one of those instinctive pushes that one learned not to ignore. “A word alone, if we may?” Ellisandre said.

Collin glanced towards his dominant and then inclined his head to Ellisandre and took his leave, closing the door behind him.

Ellisandre crossed their arms. Richard leaned back in his chair, a pen in one hand, waiting, those deep dark eyes fixed on them. Ellisandre raised their chin, then grabbed a chair, sitting down across from him. “We should talk. Is this office clean?”

“Swept two hours ago. Only Collin and I have been here since.”

Now that Ellisandre was here, they weren’t certain what to say. This wasn’t planned—like so many events in the last few months. Their gut was saying they needed to talk.

Richard had that ability to sit and wait until someone spoke. It was unnerving. For all that Ellisandre knew they also used it on others, to have it directed at them was humbling.