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There was nothing for the rest of us to do but to stand back and watch whatever might happen next.
I inched closer to Hayk in case I found myself wanting to whisper something to him as the scene unfolded. I was surprised when he took my hand. Not unlike Neil had taken Peter’s hand.
“Why did you do that?” I asked, leaning into him, and fighting my instinct to snatch my hand back.
Hayk dragged his eyes away from the gate, where the guard was fumbling his way through the lock, and smiled at me. “Because I felt like it.”
He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. When I scowled at the gesture, he laughed.
“There’s your answer right there,” he said just above a whisper.
My scowl turned into pure confusion. “I don’t understand.”
Hayk smiled. “You’re too much fun to play with, Anton Fuck Me. It takes nothing at all to get a reaction from you. And you wonder why people are drawn to you.” He snorted softly and shook his head.
I would have either argued that people were not drawn to me or asked him to explain, since I was still confused, but the guard finished unlocking the gate, and Lord Vikhrov’s daughter stormed through before the poor man could get out of the way.
“What is the meaning of this, Father?” the woman demanded, striding straight up to Lord Vikhrov with a look that would have chilled the blood of half the men I knew.
Lord Vikhrov gestured for the guard to close and lock the gate again, then opened his arms to his daughter. “Zendaya, my dove. You look as lovely as always.”
I wasn’t sure I would have described the woman as lovely. She had the Hakobyan coloring—dark hair and eyes, angular features, and a regal bearing. Her temperament seemed to be more like Lord Patrius than Olympus, though. Not that I’d observed Patrius for more than the single meal we’d shared last night. She actually reminded me of Ox in a way, which left me wondering if all women from Good Port had that strong, defiant streak.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Ox or Katrina since we’d arrived the day before.
“Where is Ox?” I asked as my group of friends moved closer together as Lady Zendaya greeted her brothers with curt nods.
“She and Katrina went into the city to see what they could find out about Eneko before Lord Vikhrov gave the order to completely lock the estate down,” Jace explained as he and Gennadi came to stand next to me and Hayk.
“She’s not going to be happy if she’s not allowed back in,” Lefric said, stepping up to Hayk’s other side, Billie clinging to his arm. “And if her father finds out she’s in Good Port, she’s going to be livid.”
“Who is Ox and who is her father?” Hayk asked, leaning so close to me that his breath brushed my ear.
A hot shiver went down my spine, and I barely had the powers of concentration to answer, “She’s a friend of Peter’s and Neil’s, a friend of all of ours, really.”
“And she’s Ivor Lobe’s lost daughter,” Lefric added.
Hayk laughed out loud. Unfortunately, he drew the attention of Lady Zendaya as he did.
“And another thing, who are all these people?” Lady Zendaya demanded, throwing an arm out toward us as she did. I hadn’t heard whether Lord Vikhrov had told her she couldn’t leave the estate yet or not, but in any case, she was upset and had already begun complaining about something.
“You know Lefric,” Olympus said, crossing toward our group and holding out a hand to Lefric.
Lefric stepped forward with an uneasy smile for Lady Zendaya. He raised his hand in a wave.
“Ah, yes,” Zendaya said, looking down her nose at Lefric. “The boy you’ve chosen to take to your bed instead of a second wife.” She shifted her gaze to stare at Olympus as though he were worse than the waifs I’d seen along the waterfront. “I have told you numerous times that Marcel’s cousin, Gulisa, would make the perfect second wife, and she would bear you many more sons.”
Maybe it was a result of being near Lefric for the last few days or being caught in the middle of so many conspiracies, but I immediately took Lady Zendaya’s suggestion for her brother to marry a woman of her choosing as a way to install another spy in the Hakobyan family.
As soon as the thought hit me, I shook my head. “I’ve been around Lefric too much,” I murmured to no one in particular.
No, I was speaking to Hayk. Everything within me naturally wanted to center in on Hayk now.
I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not.
“My dear, allow me to introduce you to King Magnus of the Wolf River Kingdom,” Lord Vikhrov went on, ignoring everything else but the things that concerned him.
Lady Zendaya, snapped away from Lefric, her expression shifting to one of shock. “King Magnus? Here?”
