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Hours passed, with drinks flowing and laughter flirting through the air as we finished Monopoly—with Sable being the winner—and moved on to Uno. The men were ruthless in Uno as well, always using their trick cards against one another to gain the advantage. When my stomach rumbled at some point during the gameplay, Eoin called for some food for me and Sable, and I stood to grab the charcuterie board from the staff member when they came knocking a little while later.
It was piled high with various meats and cheeses, as well as sugar-covered nuts and a small pot of honey for dipping. Green and purple grapes draped across the platter, begging to be plucked and eaten.
Just as I set the tray down on the coffee table, an arm swooped around my waist, hauling me backward. I found myself sitting in Eoin’s lap, his warm scent surrounding me. I was stiff at first, unsettled, but when there was no negative reaction from Sable or Declan, I relaxed into the cradle of his body.
As Eoin and Declan discussed the merits of bidding on auctioned houses in Monopoly, Eoin hand fed me from the tray of food. Bites of gooey cheese on salty crackers that he dipped in honey found their way to my mouth, along with peppery slices of salami that melted on my tongue. The grapes burst under the pressure of my teeth, juicy and tart. When I was full, I licked the sugar of the nuts from his fingertips and settled back further, until my head was resting on his chest. The ice in his glass clinked as he brought it to his lips, and I felt him swallow it down.
At some point, Sable also found herself in Declan’s lap and we gazed at each other for a moment before she grinned softly at me and closed her eyes. With Eoin’s hand rubbing steady circles on my back and his voice rumbling in his chest against my ear, I eventually found myself falling asleep.
Comfortable, sated, and surprisingly, happy.
Eoin
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was warm tonight.
And not just because of the fire that was blazing apart one of my warehouses. Flames licked up the sides of the crumbling building, raging up into the sky. Putrid black smoke billowed up from the carnage in giant plumes as Declan and I stood and watched. A loud crack shook the ground as the roof collapsed in on itself, the sound of glass shattering barely heard over the crackle of the fire. My nostrils burned, the sharp stench of burning chemicals charring the air.
With an audible sigh, I watched as one of my guards ran forward, his chest rising and falling quickly. “Sir, we have reports that the warehouse on the west side of our territory has also been set on fire. What should we do?”
My lips pursed, my hands untucking from my pockets. “Let it burn. Tha mortals will put out tha fire soon ’nough.”
He nodded, his forehead sweaty as he moved away, going back to wherever he had come from.
Declan’s arm brushed mine as he unfolded them from his chest. “This must be tha retaliation tha messengers mentioned.”
I snorted, my shoulders rolling beneath my suit jacket. It was starting to feel rather hot with it on. “’Tis tha best he ’an do. He knows he can’t attack us outright.”
It would seem that Mattia was quite the firebug.
This warehouse was one of five he’d targeted tonight. It was a decent loss of inventory, but nothing that couldn’t be replaced. An annoyance to have to deal with at best. When you’d lived as long as I had, you had money invested in many different places, not just the obvious ones. Undoubtedly, Mattia knew that, but he had to act out somehow now, didn’t he? He’d gone out of his way to send his idea of a threat and if he hadn’t responded, his people would find him weak.
I understood it.
But as it turned out, hewasweak. Him and all of his people. Declan wasn’t worried about war because he’d thought we’d lose, he was worried about the inconvenience it would cause. The men we would lose.
Again, I understood it.
But I couldn’t find it in me to care all that much. Men could be replaced just as easily as the inventory. I’d seen hundreds of thousands of lives pass and restart over my many years of living—men, women, and children—I’d become immune to death in a way that most could never fully grasp. And even as I thought it, the vision of Ottavia flashed in my mind, jarring me. For a brief, inescapable moment, I thought of her death—and then immediately incinerated the image.
I almost thought I felt my cold, lifeless heart thud against my breastbone, the mere hint of Ottavia’s death bringing forth a rush of emotions I wasn’t willing to acknowledge. The La Rosa woman was a pawn.A plaything.Nothing more. Unlike Declan, I didn’t form attachments to mortals. I had lived many a lifetime content, unbothered. One reckless woman who smelled of amber and tasted of sin wasn’t going to disrupt over a thousand years of thinking. Even considering the idea was preposterous.
Impossible.
What I felt was possession,nothing more.
Or so I told myself, even as faint thoughts of our more enjoyable moments together meshed in a barrage of unwanted images and feelings that pooled in my gut.
“What na?” Declan’s deep voice rumbled beside me and I nearly shook my head, my attention fighting to join the present.
“Wha’?” I asked, rolling my shoulders back and stretching my neck to distract myself.
He eyed me like he knew my thoughts had wandered, his eyes narrowing marginally at the corners, but didn’t comment on it. “What do we do na? Anythin’?”
“Nothin’. Na yet.” I swallowed, my stomach clenching with a sudden hunger I couldn’t ignore. “Mattia is lookin’ fer a reaction. We won’t give ’im one. Let ’im sweat a bit first.”
Declan nodded and I looked back at the fire, the faint sound of sirens finally being heard in the distance.
