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And that makes itsomuch worse.
Atlas stops short of reaching out to embrace her, but his mother doesn’t show any hesitation with me. She sweeps me into her arms, squeezing tight in a thoroughly mom-like hug. It makes me a little homesick, for both my momandfor Layla’s. It makes me weak even as it strengthens my resolve.
“Penelope!” she says. “It is so good to finally meet you!”
I draw back from her, and when I smile, the look is genuine. “I’ve only been here a few days,” I say.
“But I saw your dossier months ago,” she says. “Atlas here has been so excited—and could do nothing but sing your praises when you arrived.”
Atlas blushes—yes, he fuckingblushes, the skin on his cheeks turning a deep rose gold—and I almost groan at how hard he’s making this job. Before now, I didn’t know it was possible for a man to be simultaneously the sweetest and also a complete dom in the bedroom.
When we finally fuck…
I get my head back in the game and meet his mom’s eyes, banishing the dirty thoughts—at least for now. “Excited?” I say, glancing at Atlas. “Really?”
“Ah,” she says quietly. “You’ve been wearing your Solis armor this whole time, hm?”
At first, I assume she must be referring to his forcefield, but I quickly realize it’s much more than that. His face goes steely, his jaw tightening. “You know it’s necessary in the city,” he says. “There are enemies everywhere.”
“Which is why you don’t have any friends,” she says. She looks at me, then, like she completely forgot to be polite—but I get the impression she isn’t polite very often, and I find that I like that about her. “I’m sorry—I didn’t even introduce myself, when I clearly know all about you. I’m Marina.”
You’re going to kill Marina’s son.
The thought hits me like a ton of bricks, and I almost blanch at how heavy I suddenly feel.
“And I’m Penn,” I say. “But you already knew that.”
She smiles. “Pretty nickname,” she says. Her eyes go back to her son, though, and I can see the clear love there. “Where’s Keon? I thought he was coming with you for this visit.”
Atlas waves his hand, his rings clinking together. “Somewhere around here,” he says. “Lurking about the villa. You know how he is with the Family.”
Marina looks at me from the corner of her eye. “That’s Atlas’ way of saying Keon doesn’t like us.”
I can’t help but laugh, and Atlas rolls his eyes. “I’ll leave you two to talk; I should greet the others.”
“Go ahead,” Marina says. “I’ll take good care of her.”
He walks away from us, illustrating how much he trusts her, since he normally hates having me unguarded. I have to assume there’s security all over the place, and I make a mental note that I should go for a walk later and scour the property for cameras and drones. Marina, though, reaches out to grasp my hand, pulling me deeper into the pavilion.
“Come, sit,” she says. “You must be hungry after your trip.”
I snort and shake my head, but I follow her anyway, taking a seat beside her on a sun-dappled balcony over the water. There’s a platter of what looks like a combination of strawberries and grapes on the table between us, along with a bottle ofincarnetand a set of glasses. Marina pours us each a serving, then passes me one.
“We just tapped a barrel,” she says, gesturing at the glass. “The flowers were grown right here in the valley.”
I take a sip and groan at the flavor, floral and musky and absolutely delicious. “Atlas told me about this,” I say. “Are these berries the ones that grow from the flowers?”
“They are,” she says. “Some people think they’re too sickly sweet, but I like them.”
Marina pops one into her mouth and chews, closing her eyes with a sigh. She looks right at home in the sunlight—just like Atlas, she thrives far from the neon of the city.
Not like Keon.
Anddefinitelynot like Corvus.
“Do you ever go to the city?” I ask. “Atlas seems to hate it.”
She regards me with dark eyes, her irises a deep, placid green—like the depths of a mountain lake. “Of course he does,” she says. “There have been several attempts on his life, one of which happened in that compound. Strangers have tried to kill him before. Once, there was an attack from the Tauro Family, and another time by a hired gun that we never found. That’s just in Solis.”
