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Her smile grows wider, and I huff and walk toward the fireplace to get away from them both.
Selena joins me a second later, the soft honeysuckle scent of her perfume almost gagging me. It’s not a bad scent, but strong. All perfume seems that way to me these days. Too much for my senses, frying my sinuses. “I really did come to check on you, Kai. Let’s chat a minute, and then I’ll get out of your hair.”
She sweeps her long brown curls over one shoulder and gives me her businesswoman smile.
“No, tell me one reason you are here first.”
Her smile never wavers. “I’m here to talk you into turning yourself over to the council.”
12
ROSE
I’m not sure why, but I can’t picture Kai with a sister. Not that they don’t look anything alike, they have the same posture, the same confident I don’t give a fuck what you think about me air.
Watching them both is like watching the world’s sexiest ping pong match. They are both stunning, and it’s hard to look away.
Selena resumes her seat on the couch, getting comfortable amidst the cushions. Acting for all the world like she didn’t just drop a bomb in the middle of our living room. “What do you say, big brother, want to make my life easier?”
He gives her a little grin, one I recognize as a trap. “And why would I do that? I’m not under your jurisdiction. You have no say in what I do.”
Selena leans forward and flashes her brother a pout. “That damn councilwoman in your city won’t leave well enough alone. She calls almost every day asking if someone has apprehended you yet.”
I shift my focus to Kai and watch as he smooths his features to cocky arrogance. “Well, what can I say? I’m memorable. She got one taste of me and kept coming back for more.”
I can’t pinpoint it, but there’s something in Kai’s voice as he said that, his attention solely on his sister now. “And I doubt she hates the idea of you being beholden to her or vice versa if you hand me over.”
Selena puts on her best imitation of affronted, and it’s actually so bad it’s almost comical. This is so much better than soap operas. “You think I’d turn you over to her? Leave you hanging like that?”
Kai throws his long body in the chair and pins his sister with a glare. “Please, you’re here, in my house, asking me to turn myself in, instead. If you thought for one minute that Mom wouldn’t be at your door in a heartbeat if you turned me over, I’d already be in cuffs, stuffed into a helicopter.”
I can’t remember if Kai told me he’d been arrested by the council, was that where he’d been during that time he never showed up at the apartment? I turn back to the kitchen and hop up on the counter again to watch. They both seem oblivious to my presence as they verbally spar, and I don’t mind one bit.
After a long, tense silence, Selena settles back into the couch again. “Actually, I am here to check on you, but mostly to make sure you’re still alive. I’d get more inheritance after all, if you met a tragic end.”
Kai makes a noise, like a grunt, but he’s smiling, so there must be something I’m missing here. Valentina and I would do anything for each other, discussing a betrayal so openly doesn’t make sense to me. At least not in this context.
I watch Kai as he studies his sister, scanning her face, her body, but in an assessing way, not tense, like the way he stares at me.
I sit forward, wrapping my arms around my knees to rest my chin on top. Shit. He does stare at me in a totally different way. Now that I think about it, he looks at me like I stare at a brand new box of frosted flakes.
A lump builds in my throat, and I swallow it, intent on watching them unnoticed while I can.
Selena stares into the fire. “I don’t think they’d kill you, ya know? She didn’t seem keen on execution. She might just lock you up for a bit. I’d put a good word in for you too, and I’m sure that would help.”
The softness in Kai’s eyes is gone now. “Not going to happen. Not in a million years. I’d rather be dead than under that woman’s control again.”
This seems to confuse Selena, and me too. What’s so wrong with being locked up for a bit, at least until they prove Kai’s innocence or find him a better place to hide. I glance around the cabin and wonder why he brought me here. He should have tons of houses across the country if his wardrobe is anything to go by.
Selena flips her hair over her shoulder and shifts into the couch deeper. “Anything I can do to convince you?”
Kai watches her get more and more comfortable, his frown deepening with every twitch. “No. Now you said what you came to say, it’s time for you to leave.”
I slide off the couch, wanting to step closer to Kai, not understanding why I have the sudden urge to touch him. People touching me was a no-go, but maybe, maybe touching him wouldn’t be so bad.
I make it only a step before Selena continues with her goals. “I hear she has a state-of-the-art dungeon and free drugs to make her prisoners more comfortable.”
When Kai grinds his jaw together, I can’t resist anymore. I step up beside the chair and perch on the arm. “He said he’s not going anywhere, and you’re not going to be able to convince him.”
