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“Done,” Keir agreed, typing away on his phone. “I’ll get them set up around the building and inside.”
“I swear, no other person has ever fu
cked me up quite like her,” Ky growled, shaking his head and downing his own glass of whiskey. “I love her, but I want to punish and break her at the same time. Tame that wild, insane streak inside of her but also stoke the flames of her blood thirst.”
“Well said,” I snorted. He had always been way more poetic than I did. “But she’s always been in here.” I tapped my head, and Keir saluted that with a dark chuckle.
“But why? We’ve had plenty of other options. What is it about her?”
“But did we? Have other options, I mean,” I said, giving him a knowing look. “We’ve tried to replace her for eleven fucking years. It’s just her, and it’s always been her.”
“She’s irreplaceable. That unique mix of bloody and brilliant, psycho yet smart,” Ky said, the smile on his face warm and soft, quite unlike him. He might wax poetic more than Keir or I ever did, but that look on his face right now? That was 100% only for Sana.
“She’s our queen,” Keir agreed, “but has anyone else caught these hints? She’s lying about something.”
“You mean the way she always seems to be hedging around staying or anything to do with long-term plans?” I asked. It was something that’d been bothering me as well. She would cut herself off or say something that sounded like she was going to tell us something, then change the subject.
“Exactly,” Keir said, tipping his head to the side as he studied us. “Something to do with her Family?”
“Likely. They wouldn’t have just let her go without a fight,” Ky said.
“But can you call sending men to kill her not a fight?” I argued.
“He’s notorious. There’s no fucking way she’d be alive if he truly wanted her head,” Keir pointed out, shaking his head. “That’s not it.”
“Well, we can guess until we all fucking die of old age, but it won’t make a damn bit of difference,” I said with another long pull of alcohol. “But it doesn’t matter.”
“How would it not matter?” Ky asked, raising an eyebrow.
“We’d figure it out and move on,” I supplied with a shrug. “She’s ours. End of story.”
“I can toast to that,” Ky grinned, raising his glass, and Keir followed suit.
“She just needs to remember that.” Keir’s deep voice was warm as he said it, probably the happiest I’d ever seen him outside of bloody torture sessions.
“Good fucking luck,” Dani said, walking in as she toweled off her face, sweat matting down her hair from working out in our home gym.
“Good luck with what?” I asked, getting up and grabbing another glass.
“Getting her to admit she needs someone else,” she clarified. “Especially for convincing her to stop pushing you away.”
“Was Eros that bad?” I asked, needing to understand the man behind our girl’s behavior and unspoken fears.
“Whatever you think… it’s worse,” she said, downing it all at once. “But I’m glad she has you. Sana deserves it.” With that, she slammed her glass on the table and walked down the hall to the guest room, leaving us in silence.
“She just needs time,” Ky reminded us. “For once we have to learn patience.”
“Not our strong suit,” I huffed, shaking my head.
“But for her, we’ll try,” Keir finished, leaning back on the couch and taking a deep breath like he was bracing himself for a battle. In a way, I guess it was. I just hoped in the end she’d open up and fight by our side, not against us.
After a lot of persuasion, they’d finally convinced me to go to a Family dinner. They’d worked half of the time, on and off their phones, but they’d never left Dani and me alone for long. I’d put it off long enough, finally giving in when the repairs on the shop finished up. And we’ve come too far to turn back now.
The Adrostos estate was even bigger and fancier than I’d anticipated. The wrought iron gates were twisted into an intricate floral and skull design that matched the tattoos on their palms. The drive wound around, the trees dense enough to block the building until we’d almost driven past. When it came into view, I was shocked. It was more of a fortress than a mansion, the house big enough to hold at least four separate wings off of the main house. We drove up the circle drive and parked in front, and it looked like more cars were lined up beneath an arched tunnel that seemed to cut right into the house itself. Like the carriage entrance of an old castle, it led to a larger lot around the back.
The dark stone was accented with green vines and intricate stone carvings, the whole thing beautiful in a gothic way. It was nothing like the place Dani and I’d lived in as kids or even when we’d moved in with Grandfather Eros.
“Jesus, does the Queen live here?” Dani quipped, letting out a surprised laugh as she stepped out of the car to take it all in.
