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“Because you don’t know us,” the other girl with dark hair says, her eyebrows pulling together in a frown. They all seem to have a hard edge, and given their backgrounds and the fact they’ve busted out of a reform school to get here, I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised.
“Well, what can I say? It must be the trusting country bumpkin in me. Either that, or I happen to know Malakai will protect me if any of you get any funny ideas, which you won’t, I’m sure.” I flash Malakai a look, knowing he’d do just that. He presses his mouth in a hard line whilst his moss green eyes light with possession, need and anger. “We can catch up in a couple of hours, okay? Nice to meet you all.”
They shuffle their feet, still feeling a little uncertain. Behind me Malakai coughs, folding his arms across his chest when I look at him. He’s trembling, and his lips too have a slight blue tinge, but I know he’ll never admit to feeling cold. “You okay, Malakai?” I ask him, trying to supress the smile desperate to break free.
“I could do with getting out of these wet clothes too,” he snaps.
“Yes, you could… but, alas, all the rooms are taken. Includingmine,” I add.
The scowl on his face darkens with my denial. He’s furious that I’m here, but there’s nothing he can do about that now. I never promised I wouldn’t return, only that I’d leave. He should’ve been more explicit with his instructions. Besides, I kind of like the idea of him stripping in the front room away from our newly arrived guests and closer to me. “You can change in the lounge.” I smile sweetly, trying to soften the blow a little, then turn and watch the group walk out of the kitchen, winking at the girl with the lip ring. She grins back.
The second their footsteps fade away and doors close upstairs, Malakai rounds on me. “What thefuckare you doing here, Connie?!” he growls, barely able to control his temper.
“I told you. Grandma needed me.” I daren’t meet his gaze. Instead, I begin taking out plates from the cupboard and start setting the table for breakfast.
“You’re a fucking liability!” he whisper-shouts, grabbing my wrist the moment I’ve placed the last of the plates on the table and yanking me from the kitchen. I allow him to pull me down the corridor and into the front room where a fire is burning in the hearth. He shuts the door with controlled rage and turns on me. My skin prickles at his anger. “You think this is a game, Connie? You think I need you here whilst I do this? I told you to go!”
“And I did!” I retort, my own anger building now.
“You promised me, Connie. You fucking promised me!” He’s so angry that I think he’s about to hurl something.
“I did and I’m sorry you’re so upset, but I couldn’t stay away knowing what you were about to do, what Grandma was about to do. I know the risks, Malakai. I get it. I really do. But I can’t let you do this on your own. I can’t. Iloveyou, goddamn it! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” My chest constricts, tears pricking at my eyes, but I force them away. I need to show him I’m strong, that I’m not this fragile girl he believes me to be.
“That’s the problem, Connie!” He’s shouting now, and I’m grateful for the thick stone walls that will act as a soundproof barrier to our argument. He stalks towards me, backing me up against the wall, his hands slamming into the brick either side of my head. I’m not sure whether he wants to hit me or kiss me. I don’t think he knows either.
“Does my love scare you, Malakai?” I whisper, because it scares me. I will do anything for him, even if that’s walking into the lion’s den so that he doesn’t have to face the King on his own. When Grandma told me she’d arranged to meet the King tonight for dinner, so that Malakai and the kids from Oceanside could rescue their friend Pink, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I had to be there too. There’s a high risk that we will all die tonight, but that would be sweet mercy if the alternative is living a life without Malakai in it.
“Of course it scares me. Every time you look at me the way you are now I want to drag you into my arms and fucking love you back, but I CAN’T! I fucking can’t!”
My heart tumbles and my gut roils at the agony he feels, at his heartbreaking admission. “Why? Don’t tell me it’s because of the King. I couldn’t give a shit about him or his threats. You’re a force of nature, Malakai. You’re the whole goddamn ocean and you should never, ever, have to feel afraid to love because of one insignificant man who lives off the fear of others to feel powerful!” I counter, my nostrils flaring as my hands grip hold of his wet jumper. “Allowing yourself to buy into that fear gives him exactly what he wants. Don’t you see that he’s winning?”
He pounds his fist against the wall beside my head so hard I feel my teeth rattle from the vibrations. “You don’t know him like I do. The King isn’t some made up story, this is real fucking life, Connie! He isexactlylike his father was, likemyfather was.” He rears back yanking off his wet jumper and shirt, pointing at his scars, the muscles in arms bunching with tension as the firelight behind him douses him in righteous flames. “These scars were caused by my own father. He murdered my mum in front of me and as she lay dying he gave me these scars, Connie. He tore up my skin with a knife, he lit cigarette after cigarette and put them out on my skin whilst she lay bleeding out on the floor all becauseIhad the audacity to try and save her.”
The tears I was holding back spring unbidden from my eyes now. “Malakai, I’m so sorry…” I choke out, reaching for him, wanting to hold him, comfort him. He stumbles backwards, his eyes darkening as he swipes at his face.
“No! No, Connie! Don’t touch me! I’m tarnished just like all the Bennett men. I’ve killed and maimed for them. I don’t deserve your empathy, your pity, your help or your damn love. I don’t fucking deserve it.”
“Malakai, please. I can’t let you do this alone. I won’t!” I counter, breaking inside for him, but refusing to back down.
“Connie, this isn’t a fucking game. The King is just as evil as his father, as my dad was. He’s kidnapped a kid to keep his own daughter in line, to make a fucking point, to suit his own twisted, fucked-up needs. He manipulates kids to do unspeakable things, no doubt feeding them dreams about riches and promises of a family that they’ve never had. He uses people’s weaknesses to coerce and control. He killed Camden’s mum because he could, so that he could make another damn point. So don’t you accuse me of having unwarranted fear. Of course I’m afraid. I’m afraid foryou,goddamn it!”
“I believe you, Malakai, but I’m here because I care, because I cannot bear to be away from you, because I want to help!”
My feet remain glued to the floor as his head drops between his shoulders and his hands move to cover the agony on his face. I take a few shaky steps forward, but when my hand touches his arm, he flinches. Then slowly, he lifts his head and meets my gaze, the mask fully back in place as his eyes lose all emotion. In front of me, Malakai transforms from a restless, beautiful ocean, tempting in its mysteriousness and depth, to a calm but violent sea with the power to destroy anything and everything in its path. The man before me now isn’t the man I love but a violent assassin. Someone who can switch off all emotion and get the job done. My skin tingles as goosebumps scatter over every inch.
“I’m here to do a job and you’re just a distraction. Tonight, either the King dies or I will. Do what you must, but don’t get in my way,” he says, walking stiffly past me and back out into the hall.
I nod tightly, watching his retreating back. “That’s exactly the point,” I whisper, because tonight, I’ll be attending the Palace with Grandma Silva as a dinner guestanda distraction… for the King.
