Page 34 of Iron Crown

“Agreed,” I mumbled. That was not an appropriate thing to say to a woman. Any woman.

“That’s hurtful, cousin,” Dairo said, sniffing while he thrust his nose into the air.

“The point, Yuli?” Jericho said, his eyes back on his sister, his agitation almost palpable.

“My skin did not burn. I would have died sooner if I had, I think,” Yuli finally said, smiling at how agitated everyone was. Chaos gremlins… she and Dairo were chaos gremlins. “I’m saying the sunblock saved my life. Jericho, you would have found nothing but a withered, red beet on those pillars. Like a… dried-up chicken wing that’s been in the fridge too long.”

Her casual laugh was so heartless that it made me shiver.

It positively enraged Jericho Vasiliev. “This isn’t funny, Yuli.”

“I think it’s hilarious,” she said with a smile, looking at her brother with mischief written all over her face. “Anyway, I just figured out who that Irishman was.”

Her eyes turned back to me.

“Eoghan, would like to tell the entire class exactly how we met.” She lifted one dark brow, the tendrils of her blond hair falling along her long cheeks. “Thetruth, this time.”

Chapter ten

You’ve Been Keeping Secrets

Kira

Isat in silence, staring at my husband, like he was a new man—a very, verydifferentman.

This was not in the reports. How could it be, if Yuliya herself did not know until now?

I busied myself, putting food in front of Cillian as servants walked in and out, clearing plates, refilling glasses, putting out next courses at a hectic pace.

“I first laid eyes on Yuliya over twenty years ago.” Eoghan still had his hand on the back of Cillian’s chair, his gaze landing somewhere on the intricate cream pattern of the tablecloth. “Myfather’s men took her out of a van and imprisoned her at one of the New York City ports. As I understood it, she was kidnapped on the way home from school in a roadside attack, but I wasn’t there.” Eoghan looked at her for confirmation. “All truthful so far?”

Eoghan had not been a part of the kidnapping. I noted that with some relief.

Yuliya nodded, “My driver was killed, and I was taken. Yes.”

How was she so unaffected by this? I could not talk about Giorgio Morelli without falling apart. I could barely make the words come out, but she was openly discussing her traumatic past as if it were a fondly remembered field trip.

She was a woman made of steel, and I admired the hell out of her.

“I saw this little thing, in pink, holding a stuffed unicorn,” Eoghan said with a shrug, laughing a little at the memory. “Something about her reminded me of another girl whom I thought of as a sister.”

Pieces were coming into place, and I asked, “You mean, Sinead?”

“Exactly, sweet Muse,” he said, taking his arm past the backrest of Cillian’s highchair to tug a curl behind my ear. “They’re close to the same age, and always covered in pink with blonde hair in ribbons. It was tough not to notice the similarities. I think she even had the same unicorn–”

“It was a Llamacorn,” Jericho said, curtly, his fist in front of his mouth as he let out a cough, as if his words irritated his throat.

Eoghan lifted his head, surprised. “A what?”

“A Llamacorn,” Jericho said with a long sigh, as if Eoghan was an idiot for not understanding. “It’s a Llama with a horn. Not a unicorn. It’s not a magical horse. It’s…” he sighed, agitated with himself now. “It doesn’t matter. Continue.”

With a wave of his hand, he commanded Eoghan to keep talking.

Eoghan looked at Jericho as if he’d lost his marbles, but ultimately continued his story.

“At night, I put the cameras on a loop so I could see her and make sure she was alright.”

His voice trailed off as if he would leave it at that, but Yuliya leaned forward, a small smirk on her thin lips.

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