AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We aren’t exactly helpless,” I scoff, pouring two more glasses and carrying them back to the bed. “We do have the entire Corentine army at our disposal.”
Zaina cuts in with a snort of derision. “And she would be back in the shadows before you could hope to get close to her. You have no idea what she’s capable of.”
I hand Aika her glass, contemplating the weight of those words, before setting the other glass on a small stool near Zaina.
Once more, Aika’s damaged skin catches my attention. Injuries given to someone who was on Madame’s side.
Which leaves very little hope for those who aren’t.
“Then how do I keep them safe?” I demand.
“You don’t,” she intones, taking a swig of whiskey. “But if you promise to stay here like a good boy, I will do my best to keep them—and you—safe.”
I look pointedly at her ravaged soles.
“It doesn’t even look like you can keep yourself safe,” I remind her.
Aika takes a deep breath in, her eyes going distant for the briefest moment. “This—she didn’t intend this, exactly. She wouldn’t have incapacitated me on purpose—”
“That hardly lines up with anything else you’ve said about her,” I interrupt. “Or that I’ve heard.”
“It’s not that she’s too soft,” Aika clarifies with a sigh. “I mean, because she needs me.”
Of course.
“Because you’re married to me?” I surmise.
She hums noncommittally, and Zaina glares at her. It’s subtle enough that I would have missed it if I wasn’t paying attention. But I am, so I don’t.
I raise a questioning eyebrow at my darling liar of a wife, who lets out a glare of her own before she lets the final shoe drop.
“Because I am her Flame.”
CHAPTERSIX
AIKA
Whatever sympathy I had unwittingly garnered with my injuries vanishes from Remy’s features when he hears those five words escape my lips.
His eyes are colder than I’ve ever seen them, their warm color bleeding to a flatter, less familiar shade of russet.
“Her Flame?” he reiterates.
For a small, unreasonable moment, I wonder if perhaps he’s never heard of The Flame, but his next words dash those hopes.
“As in, Madame’s enforcer, the one even the worst criminals are completely terrified of, let alone the average person?”
“That’s the one,” I say quietly, cursing Zaina under my breath.
She has a knowing look on her face, but it doesn’t help. Whatever she’s had to admit to Einar couldn’t have been as bad as this.
I would have happily kept this secret from Remy for eternity, just to never see him look at me the way he is right now.
“Of course you are.” He shakes his head bitterly. “So you don’t just work for her. You’re her favorite pet monster.”
Hiding the unending agony of Zaina’s ministrations on my feet was far easier than hiding my reaction to his words, but I manage.
It’s more than Zaina bothers with. Fury coats her features, and she opens her mouth to say something that will no doubt be a pointed and scathing defense of my character. It’s the absolute last thing I want her to do.
