Page 35 of Insidious Monsters
“I do and I don’t care for it. He cannot have you. I will rip his head from his body and eat it.”
“Let’s save violence as a last resort, okay?”
“Boring.”
Barathos lifted his chin and crossed his arms. “You have no claim, you—”
“Have a strange arrangement,” Lothos said quickly. “Sheismy nova prima, but she’s also bound to Telarion.”
Barathos’s gaze grew speculative. “He feeds off her too?”
Not really, but whatever, best to zip it and let Lothos deal with the asshole.
“We have a deal in place where we share her,” Lothos said. “The past few weeks she’s belonged to him.”
Was that pity on Barathos’s face? “Show me the contract.”
Barathos was looking my way so he missed the flinch of fear that tightened Lothos’s face, but my friend was quick to recover.
“I don’t have it here, you know that. It’s in my ethereal safe. I can summon it. You can see it tomorrow.”
The corner of Barathos’s mouth lifted. “I see.” He flicked a glance my way. “Very well. Bring it to me tomorrow, but if you cannot, then bring me the rift walker.”
Shit, he knew what I was?
He raked me over. “Yes, I know your label, but there is more inside you. That is the part I cannot wait to unpack.”
He knew Lothos was bluffing. Knew it was only a matter of time before he could claim me, and if he knew I was a rift walker, then this wasn’t an issue the Order could intervene in on my behalf.
My stomach tightened.
Telarion would kill him, and damn the consequences if he came at me, though, so we needed another solution and fast.
Lothos came to stand beside me as Barathos and his minions climbed back into the limo.
With a final look of promise my way, Barathos wound up his window. The limo pulled away, leaving us standing on the silent street.
“You should have let me kill him,” Telarion said.
Lothos sighed. “If only I could have…If only his death didn’t mean the death of hundreds more.”
“What are we going to do?” I looked up at Lothos. “We don’t have a contract.”
The corners of Lothos’s mouth tightened. “Then maybe it’s time we did.”
ten
NANDI
Archie parked the car up the road from Bentley Station. No one knew why the route was no longer in use, but the council had added more frequent buses to accommodate for the lack of train transport. The underground station had two entry points that also served as exits. One that spilled out onto the street we were on, and another a block away.
I climbed out and then grabbed my jacket, shrugging it on against the chill and instantly feeling too warm. I had a polo sweater on, so I’d be fine without it.
“It’s fucking freezing,” Archie said. “Put it back on.”
“I’m fine. It’s not that cold.”
He arched a brow at the fresh layer of snow covering the ground. “The elements would beg to differ.”
