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“You ask for what I cannot promise. We are legion, and my sisters are angry. Give them another target, the correct target, or I fear what they might say.”
“You seriously expect me to help the same women who would tear down my father?”
“No, I expect you to help three missing girls who want to sleep in their own beds tonight and who are innocent of the politics swirling around them. It will calm my sisters when the prime minister’s own daughter returns their little girls.”
“You don’t ask much, do you?” Lila broke off the connection and fell back onto the bed, having no energy to get into the shower.
Tristan intertwined his fingers in hers and brought their joined hands to his mouth, kissing hers and giving it a squeeze. “Despite what the oracle says, you don’t have to work this on your own.”
“I know. I’m just not sure how you can help right now. It’s not like I can bring you along.” She wiggled her fingers, wishing she didn’t have to leave so soon. “I don’t even have their files, Tristan. Keep working Oskar’s case while I’m gone, will you? Look through the crime scene photos; maybe there’s something there I missed. I’ll work on the identity of Natalie’s friend on the flight to Sioux Falls.”
He touched her cheek, waking her body with his warm mouth and languid tongue. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. But we already know who took them.”
“That’s a massive leap, Tristan. Just because a few German mercs took Oskar in New Bristol, doesn’t mean they’re now behind every kidnapping in the entire country. This girl was taken several hundred kilometers away. The other two were taken before Oskar disappeared.”
“What’s a few more kids if you’re already taking one?”
“It’s idiocy,” Lila answered, tossing away the sheet wrapped around her body. “If you have the prince, you leave immediately or you risk getting caught. You don’t steal the Crown Jewels then loot a few convenience stores on the way home, flashing your ass to every militia patrol in the city for a bit of pocket change.”
“Not unless you need to do laundry. Rubies don’t fit in those little slots.”
Lila rolled her eyes. “I have to sneak you out of here before I leave. Just give me five minutes to grab a shower.”
“I’d ask to join you, but my willpower isn’t that good. I’ll shower at the shop.”
Lila slipped into her bathroom and closed the door, stepping onto the cool tiles. The heat and steam of her shower washed Tristan from her skin, and her frown deepened with every flick of soap. It wasn’t until she emerged from the water that she winced, remembering she’d left him alone with her electronics.
Opening the door quietly, she peeked out.
Tristan lay in her bed, still naked in the same position she’d left him, sprawled to the world. His chest slowly rose and fell.
Wrapping her hair in a towel, she entered her bedroom, pausing at her dresser. She’d just slipped on a bra when Tristan woke.
“Get dressed,” she said, digging out a fresh militia uniform, informal rather than formal.
He peeked into her closet as they dressed.
“Why are you so fascinated with my closet? Is there something we need to talk about?”
“No. It’s just that this might be the only chance I get to see your room. I told you before, it’s always been so hard to imagine where you go off to when you’re not with me.”
“So now you can imagine with your cock in your hand?”
“Maybe. My fantasies will be so much more realistic now.”
He kissed her lips, then slid a hand under her militia top and all the buttons. “I can daydream about bending you over the desk. Lying with you in your bed.” He brushed his fingers underneath her bra and pinched her nipple. “Finishing up in the shower after we’re done. Under the water. Against the wall.”
He leaned forward to kiss her again, but she shoved him gently away. “Stop it.”
“Never. This is only a pause until you come back to New Bristol. I’ll keep looking into the oracle’s files and try to find something new in the crime scene photos.”
He waited while she shoved her Colt into her holster and carefully sheathed her boot knife. Then she opened her window, glancing at the clock to time her patrols, knowing they’d walked by only a moment before. It would be another ten minutes before they had a visual on her window again. “Hide behind those shrubs,” she said, pointing at a few bushes near the side of the house. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“We’re not going downstairs?”
“Of course not. This house is rigged with cameras. The only way I could get you down without being seen is to turn on a jammer, and that would bring Captain McKinley’s people down on our heads in two seconds.”
Tristan stared at the door to her room as though it held a pot of gold behind it. “One day I’m going to see the rest of the house.”
