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The humming and polishing stopped, big blue eyes full of curiositylifting to gaze at Shaw. “Who haven’t you killed yet?”
“The Demon. Kaleb. Galen’s friend. The one who owns the exclusivepre-schools and day-cares.”
“Wait. Did I ask you to kill him? Baby brain is the worst andtimes it by ten plus with these two.” Patting her tight as a drum belly.
“Well, you asked me to get his signature on a couple of documents.But you know… Demon. One who never shuts up. And the smiling, the never endingsmiling. Ugh, and don’t even get me started on the dimple.”
“Okay.” Stephanie was starting to look a little wary, given thesharp edge of temper lacing Shaw’s tone. Gripping the knife she’d been absentlypolishing by the handle now.
“He made Helgastein laugh. I know, right?” Watching stunned shocksettle across Stephanie’s gorgeous features. “Get this, she made him coffee.Made. Him. Coffee.”
“Sweet Freyja.”
“Oh, and everyone just loves him at HQ. And they can’t get enoughof his blather at the clubs, or the axe throwing cages. They take selfies withhim. He barely has to quirk an eyebrow and every Valkyrie and her sister isspilling all my past misadventures just to amuse him. I took him to my folksfor dinner and they didn’t kill him either.” Reassured as Stephanie reared backin astonishment at that last statement, sucking in a large shocked breath.“And… and I let him sleep over at my house, three times… in the guest roomthough.”
“But you had sex, right?”
“Um, yeah. He was there, and I was bored… so yeah.”
Stephanie grabbed an elastic tie from her wrist and within fourseconds had gathered all her hair up, smoothing it back and tying it off in ahigh tight ponytail. “Okay. Okay. But what’s stopping you from killing himnow?”
“We have a verbal agreement. He helps me get your to-do list doneand dusted, and in return, I have to keep him alive for ten days. He has atleast two Gxthian Hunting Parties on his tail.”
“So, you could still kill him the day after tomorrow?”
“Absolutely… except, I need his signature on the second schooladmittance form first. He signed one as a show of good faith and is holding outon the second one until the ten days expire.”
“Tricky Demon. But okay. Once the ink is dry, you could still killhim.” Offered Stephanie supportively, glancing down at the yellow pastel smockdress she was wearing, wrinkling her nose before gesturing with a wave for Shawto follow her. They exited the weapons room and headed into the master suite.Stephanie bypassing the bedroom and disappearing into a humongous walk-inwardrobe. Only to poke her head out five seconds later to stare at Shaw who wasloitering uncomfortably just inside the doorway of the bedroom. “Well? Couldn’tyou? Kill him after he signs on the dotted line?”
“Totally.” Agreed Shaw as Stephanie disappeared once more into thedepths of the closet. “It’s not like I’m lacking for places to dispose of thecorpse. Zuri knows like thirty ways to dissolve a body alone… but it’s just Ihave all this other stuff going on right now. I just don’t think I’ll find thetime to kill him.” She heard Stephanie echo the word stuff questioningly, sokept on talking. “See, that’s the other thing I needed to talk to you about. Myknee. It’s kind of… not fixed exactly, but certainly a lot more reliable anddependable than it’s been in ages. Morra has given me the go ahead to starttesting it under battle conditions.”
“That’s excellent news.” Stephanie emerged from the walk-inwardrobe wearing white capri maternity pants, a stretchy violet t-shirt andmatching espadrilles. There was a significant bounce that accompanied everystep she took that Shaw found both vastly reassuring and yet at the same timehorrifying. “Congrats.”
“Thanks. But see, it means that I’ll be heading back to battlefull time, so I’m not going to be able to continue heading up Legal.”
Stephanie’s expression didn’t change. “Maybe.”
“No, not maybe. This is me, giving you, my boss, my notice ofintent, or whatever it is I have to inform you of. You need to start lookingfor a replacement.”
Shrugging, Stephanie ran a quick brush through her ponytail beforeturning to face Shaw. “I’m sure there’s no rush.”
“No, there’s a rush. A definite rush. Once I’ve offloaded theDemon-”
“By killing him?” Queried Stephanie.
“- in two days’ time, I’ll be hitting the battlefields immediatelyafter. Once I’ve jumped through a few hoops, it will just be pro forma forMedical to sign off on my knee, and then I’ll officially be leaving HQ.Leaving.”
“I do understand what the word leaving means. But you didn’tanswer my question about whether or not you plan to kill the Demon once yourverbal contract is over?”
“I’ll take care of it, okay. I have a to-do list of my own youknow, and getting rid of the Demon is definitely on it.”
“Really?” Stephanie smiled. “You have a personal to-do list now?And the Demon made the grade?”
“I have no idea why you’re smiling like that. I’m a Valkyrie, weall have a to-do list and every item on it pretty much says the same thing,kill… and just fill in the blank.”
“A-huh.”
There was definite tone there in that one word. Sassy. Teasing.Shaw was at a lost how to deal with this seemingly normal Stephanie. It madeher feel uncomfortable. Almost made her want to open her mouth and unload…stuff, about how Kaleb made her… feel things. Things that perhaps went furtherthan an absolutely acceptable case of the hornies.
