Page 84 of Beastly Armory

“What? Cal? Hedoes?” This is knowledge to me. Of course, my brother seems to know everything and keeps many secrets. I shouldn’t be so surprised, but how could he hide something that big from me for all these years.

Aries nods. “I-I think he wants to torture Max… by marrying her.”

Sucking in a large gulp of air makes me relax as I say, “Yeah. I figured.” My shoulders shrug with a loss of any ideas on how to fix that problem. “We’ll have to deal with that later. She needs to marry him before Strauss starts putting pressure on her.” Turning on a heel, I sprint toward the house. A little glance over my shoulder shows the spy has already disappeared, leaving the car sitting in the drive.

Racing upstairs, I make it to our new bedroom where Maggieandthe other healer I met last week, Charles, have my husband laid on his stomach on a massage table. There is sage burning in the room, and Charles takes his time soaking each wound carefully with something that smells of a strong astringent. Maggie works on setting up supplies on our dresser for suturing.

Kneeling, I crawl over to my husband and slide under the head hole to see him.

The corners of his eyes crinkle, pupils tiny. His voice comes out sluggishly slow, and a bit slurred, heavy with the drugs they’ve given him. “Baby, I’m okay. I love you. You saved me.”

“You’ve saved me tons, Max. I love you.” Reaching up, I tilt my head back so I can capture his lips with mine. My kiss is desperate, his soothing. And we exchange that energy until we pull back and stare at each other for a long moment.

“We saved each other, foxy.”

Epilogue

MAXIMILLIAN

Sleeping on my stomach every night has made things pretty awful, except that I feel like I’m blissed out of my mind lying next to my wife. When I can’t sleep, sometimes I just watch her. Maybe even sniff that exotic amber scent she coats on our sheets. It’s my favorite smell to wake up to in the mornings when I drag her across the bed to snuggle with me.

So when I reach for her this morning and meet a cold bed, my heart throbs hard in my chest with panic as my eyes rip open and glance around. Where the fuck is she? Sitting up with a groan of pain from my back stitches, I snag the phone on my bedside table to call her, but relax with a heavy sigh when I see her text.

Foxy

Don’t forget: I’ve got my healer appt this am with mags

That’s right. Some woman checkup thing. Rolling tomy side to get off the bandages stuck all over my back, I smile to myself, happy she feels comfortable using the Freidenberg healers now that sheisone of us.

The only thing we need to deal with is Ace. Hopefully, he comes through with his half of the bargain, and Cal, too. Sliding out of bed, I toss on the same pair of sweatpants I’ve worn the last few days since Livia saved me from Strauss. It’s nice not having to wear shirts around the house under the guise of still healing.

After my morning routine in the bathroom, I make my way downstairs, looking forward to some of Mrs. Kroft’s bacon and eggs. She’d made me a tray in my room for the last few mornings until yesterday when she said she’d had enough of my “laziness” and to “get out of bed if you want some breakfast,” clearly done with me being master of the house. Now that Livia oversees household staff, I’d been put out to pasture in our cook’s eyes. She only asked “Mrs. Freidenberg” what to cook, going over the weekly menus and barely heeding me notice, other than to yell once when I grabbed an orange from the bowl in the kitchen, saying she was “getting ready to use that!”

Still, I don’t mind her antics if there is bacon. And today, despite me coming down late, it sits there on the sideboard in all its gloriousness. Slightly cold, but crisp. Arianna must have already eaten, as I dine alone. Markus rounds the corner with his harried face, trying to tuck the bottom of his forever loose flannel inside his strained waistband. Clearing his throat, he nods briefly in his greeting.

“Morning. Egon got the Barracuda backsafely, tucked in the garage. We have some men over to fix the damage.”

A bright smile hits my face. This day couldn’t get any better. “Excellent. Of course, everything could have been avoided if he and Gemini did their jobs.”

“Aries stated that the two were held up by Halcyon and Lark, although…” Markus stands still, then moves as quickly as I’ve seen him toward the chair next to mine. Swallowing, he leans on a large arm, lowering his voice. “Aries said that Egon was held up by, um, a woman in a hooded cloak with an owl mask.”

Scrunching my brows, I repeat back to him, “Anowlmask?” Markus nods, reconfirming it like he didn’t just say something bizarre. “Who was it?”

“So, uh, apparently, he and Gemini stumbled upon some meeting they weren’t supposed to with the cloaked figure and a man in a tuxedo. A man the woman called ‘John.’” Sitting back, he widens his palms, showing that’s all the information he has.

“John? John who?”

“We don’t know.”

Something just doesn’t sit right with me, despite the belly full of bacon. Moving my jaw around, I ponder what must have been so important to Egon and Gemini to leave their master alone in Strauss’s dungeon. “What does Aries say about it? About them leaving me?”

“Aries says the two were slowed by the meeting and trying to gather some intel, but were then snared by Halcyon, who called in Lark as backup. You know how Strauss’s spies are.” Taking off his glasses, hepulls out the soft cloth to wipe them like what he said was explanation enough.

“No, I don’t. I don’t know anything about them, except their names, from what Aries told me.” Shoving my plate away, I frown. I’ve lost my appetite for the rest.

“Well, they’re both formidable foes. Like their master, sadistic to the core. Your men are lucky to have gotten away.” Sliding his glasses back on, his gray eyes peer at me accusingly. “Not like Jakob.”

And the happiness of the morning has now vanished. “No. Not like Jakob.” Turning my head, I stare out at the vast ground covering the back forty acres. I was so cocky, arrogant when I started. Now, I’d lost good men. Maybe that’s why I always needed my fox to help me. Her brains and my brawn could do this city a lot of good together. Hopefully, that includes overthrowing the consort and never allow Derichs’s death or Jakob’s to be in vain. We could instill some real changes…

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