Page 45 of Cruel Pawn
I shot him an affronted glare. “Of course she does. I’m the love of her life.”
“Did she say that with her own words?”
“Is that one of the three questions?”
He snorted, then wiped the expression clean, trying to be stern. “No. Is she a willing participant in this relationship, or have you done something utterly insane? If you’re hurting this girl, Arden, even if she did try to kill you—”
“I would never,” I hissed, offense clawing through me at the suggestion.
“I know you’re not that sort of man, Arden, but you do have a crazy streak. As long as she’s with you by choice.” He strode through blood and organs to grab both of my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “Is she?”
“Yes.” She would be, by the time he met her, and that was all that counted.
“Good.” Kavan sighed, though the look he gave me was still suspicious.
“What’s the third question?”
“Is she at least borderline sane?” he asked with a wry smile creasing his kind eyes. “God knows we need some more sanity in this family.”
“Uhhh…” I said, my eyes squinted in a wince. “She’s alittlebit sane. She definitely has sanity in there. Somewhere. Buried deep down.”
Kavan groaned. “God save us.” He squeezed my shoulders. “I’m happy for you, Arden, but don’t rush into anything. I’m fucking thrilled Damien and Vasilisa worked out, but that happened far too damn fast. I want you to take your time, get to know each other before you do anything mental like, for example, marrying the woman who was hired to kill you. Speaking of, how long have you known each other?”
“Four months,” I replied, thinking of those early days and ignoring the fact she used a fake name and smiled too sweetly. It was real, beneath the façade, beneath the persona, when we connected, collided, came together into one perfect couple, it wasreal.
Kavan looked pleasantly surprised. “Well, at least it’s not two days,” he quipped. That was one great thing about the Marshall family—no matter what insanity the rest of us jumped into, no one couldeverbe as crazy as Damien “the Saint” Marshall. “I want to meet her within the month though. She deserves the old Marshall inquisition for trying to kill you.”
“That’s my future wife, Kavan.” I narrowed my eyes. “If you scare her, I’ll have to stab you.”
His barked laughter was loud enough to echo off the low concrete ceiling. “You’d have to catch me first, kid. And we both know you’d never beat me in a fight.”
I scowled, but he was right. For a man in his fifties, he was an annoyingly good fighter. He’d been a boxer in his youth, and age really ought to have caught up to him by now, but having a home gym and a business in crime and violence kept his edge as sharp as ever. I could hold my own against him for minutes, but I wouldn’t win.
He snorted at the look on my face and released me with a tight squeeze to my shoulder. “Keep talking to Stef, he’ll keep your head on straight.”
That was debatable when he had his own obsession, but I didn’t comment that. “Cameo knows all about it, too.”
“That’s less reassuring,” Kavan remarked dryly, going to the sink at the edge of the room to clean the blood from his shoes before he headed for the door. “Keep me updated, Arden. I want to know everything.”
“I’ll give you the abridged version.”
His smile was like being bathed in sunlight. I might have the worst mother on the planet, but I did have a good family. I’d needed the reminder.
“Kavan,” I said as he opened the door. He paused, glancing over his shoulder. “What’s the best way to remove a head from a body?”
23
Priya
“This doesn’t mean I like you,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest as Aegi noisily gobbled up the food I gave her—according to theveryspecific instructions Arden left. “We’re still not friends.”
The glare she shot me over her hand-painted food bowl assured me we were on the same page.
“This is just a simple appreciation of your biting and hissing skills,” I said, feeling like a moron for talking to a cat. I stabbed my fork into the pasta I'd thrown together, not sure I’d be winning any culinary awards for the broccoli-pesto-ham situation in my bowl. Maybe if I’d remembered to make a sauce, but I was starving, and I’d just killed a man. Carbs were my main priority.
Icarus was shoved into the furthest corner of the kitchen. It was that or the bathroom, and I didn’t fancy his empty eyes staring at me every time I peed.
Aegi earned herself a scowl from me by noisily licking her paw to clean her face.
