Page 24 of The Heir
He grinds his teeth and grunts again, giving a half-shrug. Melnyk stifles a chuckle, and the other men shuffle on their feet. It seems they have a new respect for my wife—as they should.
Quick as a whip, she brings the rifle back to her shoulder and lets loose the last three bullets. All of them, again, hit their targets perfectly. Melnyk jumps in the air and whoops excitedly, cheering her on. I can't help the smile creeping across my face. She's perfection. I love her so much. I'm going to show herexactlyhow much I love her the instant we're alone again.
Melody flicks on the safety and lowers the gun again, smirking at Roman. "Where's the body armor?"
He coughs out something that sounds like "inside" and grumbles, raising himself up. Melnyk gently takes the gun from Melody and disassembles it with lightning speed, happily praising her aim and stability. Melody meets my eye, and I give her a prideful smile and a single nod before motioning for Roman to follow me.
We crunch through the dense underbrush, and I can practically feel the anger radiating from his skin. Assoon as the joyful conversation is out of earshot, I turn to face him. "I understand your concerns."
"Do you?" He grimaces and spits on a leaf. "We've riskedeverythingfor her—for you, sir. Those men left their homes and their lives to keep her safe. She wants to shit on all of that and face Ella herself."
"I know she does," I sigh. "I'm going to let her. I have to. She'd never forgive me if someone else took Ella out."
"Yeah, well, maybe that'd do you some good." The crease between his brows deepens as he averts his gaze from my face. "Let her learn some humility."
"Roman," I interject sharply. "I thought I made myselfextremelyclear that I will not stand for any disrespect."
"Of course you did," he says, stumbling over his words. "Of course. I apologize, sir. This is all just very stressful."
The furrow of his brow stays put, as does the furious flush creeping up his neck and culminating in his ears. Hedoesmake a good point. Of course, it's stressful. None of us wants this. But letting—encouraging, rather—Melody to take out Ella solves all of our problems.
We just have to make sure sheremains safe.
"I understand," I say soothingly. "We all feel the stress. But if Melody kills Ella? All of our problems go away, just like that."
"Unless she fails," he huffs. "Unless Ella expects this."
"We don't even know if she's on her way," I retort. "Just because she's gone dark doesn't mean she's hot on our heels. For all we know, she could be getting chewed out by the Seraph himself, right this moment."
Roman flinches almost imperceptibly at the concept but quickly composes himself. "You're right. We'll get her outfitted. Melnyk will take point."
I offer him a sharp nod and begin my walk back to the cabin. He follows suit, but he's still angry. I can tell by the way he stomps at the dead twigs and underbrush, snapping small limbs and crunching over the season's dead leaves. I don't like how volatile he's become. This isn't the kind of support that I need, that I pay for. Everything out of his mouth seems combative and hostile.
I don't like it one bit.
I watch numbly as Melnyk suits up my wife in body armor and bulletproofeverything.Once he's satisfied,she peels it all off and follows me to our bedroom. I can't help but absently stare at the packed suitcases. It's been seven hours since Ella went dark, and there's no sign of her. The surveillance systems that The Eligos erected around the cabin have only picked up a fox stalking a rabbit. No signs of human approach. Just the way I like it. Though I can't breathe easy, not yet.
"You're a fierce woman, Melody," I whisper as she slips into bed beside me. "I'm so proud of you."
"You're not mad?" She cocks an eyebrow. "I thought you might be, you know, after I slapped Roman."
"Nah. Needed to happen. He was disrespecting you. Both of us, really," I chuckle. "I don't know what's gotten into him."
"Doesn't matter," she says with a shrug. "I'll kill Ella. The Seraph will back off, if only momentarily. They'll kinda be floundering without a Beacon, right?"
Maybe it's shitty of me, but her intelligence and ability to pick up new concepts always surprise me. Warmth floods in my chest as I reach out to her, and she happily snuggles into me. "Correct."
I lazily drift a hand to the crook of her neck and trail my fingertips over the soft flesh. She shivers at the touch, and I feel a tiny smile creep over my lips.Thisis perfection. My wife, the dangerous woman that she is, cuddled up to me. Time ticks by as her breathing slows, and I relish the heat of her body pressed against mine.
Try as I might to keep them at bay, thoughts of our impending firefight invade my mind. Even if Ella doesn't show her face in these mountains, we'll need to launch an attack. We can't stay here forever. These mendohave lives to get back to. It's not fair of me to keep them hostage. We just need a bit more intelligence. Something to work off of, somewhere to point Melody and let her rage take hold.
"Hey. Stop it." Melody cracks open an eye and pokes me in the jaw.
"Stop what?" I ask, somewhat guiltily.
"You're think-blinking." She flutters her lashes exaggeratedly. "You blink really fast when you think hard."
I do? I never noticed. "Sorry, love. I'm just ruminating."
