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Using the blade, he motions towards me while holding Isabella’s gaze with hard eyes. “If you hurt him…” He shifts the blade and points it at her instead. “I will kill you.”
“Kaden,” I groan.
I know exactly what he’s doing. He is using the fact that Isabella and I are supposedly dating as an excuse to deliver a threat to the real assassin behind Isabella’s fake persona. If she decides to stop pretending and instead come after me for real, Kaden is going to make it his mission in life to kill her as painfully as possible. And all of that is delivered between the lines and under the pretense of ‘if you hurt his feelings now that you’re dating, I will metaphorically end you’.
Clever.
And highly unnecessary.
Though I suppose I can’t really complain, seeing as we did the exact same thing to Raina last year when she and Eli got together.
“IfIhurthim,” Isabella replies, her voice incredulous.
It surprises me enough that I forget the next protest I was about to direct at Kaden. Closing my mouth, I slide my gaze back to Isabella.
She stares at Kaden with a look of utter bafflement on her face. “Did you miss the part wherehehas spent the past three weeks ambushing me and attacking me and abusing the crap out of me?” Crossing her arms, she flicks a pointed look up and down Kaden’s body. “Highly doubtful, given that you were present for parts of it.”
It takes everything I have to stop a smirk from spreading across my lips.
When I first met Isabella, that shy and weak and apologetic fake version of her was all she ever showed. But the more time I’ve spent with her, the more she has started to show this version. The mouthy sarcastic version that I’m pretty sure is the real her.
I wonder if she even realizes that she’s doing it.
At first, everything out of her mouth stayed true to that fake character.Please. I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me. You’re a Hunter, so I’ll let you do what you want to me.
But then those snarky comments started slipping out. One after the other.
How very mafia of you.
Sounds like my kind of Friday night.
And now, the real her is escaping from underneath that iron-clad mask more and more frequently.
I hope she doesn’t realize it. Because I like this version of her.
“No, I didn’t miss that part,” Kaden replies, flashing her one of those psychopath smiles. “I’m saying thatthatwill feel like a leisurely beach vacation compared to what I will do if you hurt my brother.”
Jace shrugs and hikes a thumb in Kaden’s direction, the picture of lazy arrogance, but his eyes are hard as he stares Isabella down while adding, “What he said.”
“Wow. Okay. Message received.” She holds up her hands in a show of mock surrender before giving both of them an expectant look. “Anything else?”
“Yes,” Kaden replies.
And then he launches into a very thorough, but still seemingly innocent, interrogation. As if only wanting to make sure that the girl his brother is dating is a good person. But there are hidden layers behind every seemingly inconsequential question.
I watch her as she answers each one. Studying her face, her tone, her words, I try to catch her in a lie. But everything lines up exactly with what she told me at the restaurant and also with everything that she hasn’t told me but that I have read in the background information I requested on her earlier.
Not one single inconsistency.
It’s incredible.
I wonder where she comes from and how she became this way. How she turned into someone who can change her identity and personality as easily as everyone else changes clothes.
A cold slimy feeling spreads through my chest as those thoughts cross my mind.
Because, when it all comes down to it, aren’t I exactly the same?
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