Page 10 of Iron Crown

“Aye,” I said, already hearing Shiny check in with the men. “Already done.”

I reached out my hand, my palm touched her cheek.

“We have to protect Cillian,” her voice was shaky as I pulled her into my arms. “My son… My son…”

She fell into me, her arms wrapping around my waist, her face buried in my blood-stained shirt.

“Shhh, Love. You did wonderful.” I rocked her gently, wanting to melt to the ground in relief, seeing her unharmed. “I’m in awe of you.”

I needed to just feel her warmth, her vitality. I needed to touch her, to know she wasn’t a ghost. She was here, with a beating heart. The only thing missing was Cillian.

“The training took over,” she said, with a small huff of a laugh, and she mumbled, “Famous last words…”

I already knew she’d had training—that much was clear as day, now. But who had trained her? And why?

I needed to ask those questions at a more opportune moment.

She straightened, her eyes falling squarely on me as she lifted her chin. “No one lays hands on a Green without consequences. That’s what you told me, once. Is that still true?”

“I willmakeit true,” I vowed.

“Good.” She ran her palm over my cheek. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my son, including killing every Durante Mafia man in New York City.”

Fuck, that made me hard.

Damnit, it wasn’t the time.

I needed my family together, in my view. I needed to touch them, to know I wasn’t insane. That I hadn’t gone into the madness my father had when he wept over my mother’s corpse. Each morning in the months after her death, my father had woken up, thinking she was alive. He’d searched for her in the rooms that were keptjustas she’d had them, searching for her, calling out and asking why she hadn’t woken him up.

He’d forgotten that he had ended her life by his own hands. That she had died in his arms.

It was only when dust began to collect on my Mum’s easels that he realized she had truly passed, and he’d broken her studio into splinters, then set the room on fire. Now, it was just another guest room, painted and covered up as if she had never been there.

“Shiny,” I said quietly. “Will you take care of security? Kira and I must check on our son.”

Our son.Ourson.Myfamily.

“Sure thing, boss.” Already, I could hear the familiar stomp of our soldiers’ boots—it was a specific rubber sound on the oldhardwood that was unmistakable to me. If my men were coming, then we were safe.

Even so, I felt some sense of relief that Shiny did not call me insane… if Ihadhallucinated that Kira and Cillian were alive, when they were dead, Shiny would say something. She’d give me absolute hell. We were secured.

Kira left my arms, rushing to the stairs. I followed close behind, not wanting her out of my sight. The urge to handcuff them both to me like they were state secrets was overwhelming. No one would convince me that permanently tethering both of them to me could be a bad idea.

She loudly pushed open the bedroom door, her fingers moving expertly on the tiny pistol in her hand to put it on safe. A pregnant Aoibheann held our boy in her arms, bouncing him lightly on her hip as she paced around, humming a soft tune.

“The noise woke him up,” Aoibheann said, with a gentle smile.

Whether it was forced, I wasn’t sure. I truly did not know my former stepmum well enough to read her expressions. She’d worn nothing but the look of forlorn fear the entire time she’d lived with us.

Kira slammed the gun into Jericho’s chest, letting it go before she reached out for Cillian, who reached back towards her, his hands opening and closing into little fists.

“Spasibo.” Jericho caught the tiny pistol, and put it in a holster he must have had in the back of his trousers. He chuckled, “Not bad,Mrs.Green.”

“The house is clear,” Shiny’s voice came through the earpiece.

Thank God.

Cillian threw his arms around my sweet Muse’s neck, squeezing her close like he was afraid to let her go.It was a feeling I was more than a little familiar with…

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