Chapter 7

7

Malone

She almost got me.

There was a moment there, where Aurora watched me with hungry eyes, that I almost threw my rules out the window and commanded her to finish what I started. Almost. But almost doesn’t mean a single damn thing unless I want it to. I maintained my plan, which is all that matters.

I set her up in the mostly unused guest room. “If you disobey the order not to come during the night—”

“I’ll be punished.” She climbs onto the bed in a flash of long, lean legs and stretches out. “Yes, Mistress. I’ll be a good little submissive and keep my hands off my pussy.”

I shouldn’t enjoy her mouthiness, her obvious anger. A person doesn’t get to be where I am if they embrace chaos in any form, and so I adhere to order in every aspect of my life. Work. Territory squabbles. Kink. All of it. I prefer to play with submissives who are obedient, though I made an exception for Tink back when she still worked in the Underworld. But Tink was all bark and no bite. When push came to shove, she hit her knees and happily did everything I asked of her.

Aurora is not like that at all.

“You have them all fooled.” I don’t mean to speak, but seeing her pull on her sunshine mask irritates me for some reason. “They see the sweet, biddable Aurora because that’s what you want them to see. They have no idea that you’re a vat of gasoline just waiting for the right match strike to set you aflame. One wrong move and you burn down all of Carver City.”

Aurora pulls the covers up to her chest and smooths down the fabric. She finally says, “There wasn’t a question in there.”

“Because it’s not a question.” I shouldn’t indulge this conversation. I shouldn’t have even started it. But I can’t quite seem to relay the message to my body to leave the room. “How long have you been a submissive for the Underworld?” I know the answer, but I want to hear her say it.

“Nine years.”

It seems to defy belief. By thirty, I was nearly ten years into running this territory. I was a thousand times harder than Aurora is, even with her spikes and fiery temper. For all that the Underworld exposes her to all manner of vices, I can’t help feeling like she’s been sheltered this entire time. I push the thought away and focus on the subject at hand. “In all those years, you’ve only slipped once.”

Her eyes flash. “What are you talking about?”

“Everyone else seems content to forget that you were willing to literally burn Hook’s home to the ground when you thought Tink was in danger.” I smooth a hand down my hip. “One blink of your big eyes, and they’re half sure they imagined that fierceness.”

She blinks those big eyes at me right now. “How did you even hear about that?”

“Come now, Aurora. You know better. I hear everything of value that happens in the territories that border mine.” I’ve been around long enough to remember what that territory was like under Peter’s rule. I had no interest in dealing with him as a neighbor again. Hook might have a misguided honorable streak a mile wide that occasionally makes him inconvenient, but he’s not a malicious fool. If Peter had taken back the territory, I would have been forced to make a move to crush him. Not that I’m interested in explaining that to Aurora.

She considers me. “Even Ursa’s?”

“Of course. Neither of us is so sentimental as to let friendship get in the way of business.” The friendship is genuine, but we’re both smart enough to understand that it’s beneficial to both our territories for us to work together on occasion. Between the two of us, we hold nearly half the city. Striving for more is just greedy and runs the risk of hampering our ability to lead. “The only way to maintain power is to expect a knife in the back at every turn. A good territory leader knows that.”

She shuts down. I didn’t even realize she had opened herself up a little until she’s withdrawing from me. I can practically see the shutters closing over her eyes, shielding her thoughts. Aurora finally looks away. “I’ve very tired. If that’s all?”

I don’t want to leave this room, to end this conversation. The realization has me turning and walking away from her. These two weeks are about getting this woman out of my system, not about indulging in small talk. “I have work in the morning. Be quiet and entertain yourself until the afternoon.”

“Yes, Mistress.” There’s a snarky little lilt to her words, but I choose not to call her on it. Not when it means staying in this room a second longer.

I close the door softly behind me. There’s too much broiling energy inside me for me to sleep, so I stride down the hall to the entrance. It takes exactly two minutes to put on shoes and ride the elevator down to the floor that houses my security team. Sara meets me the second the doors open. They raise their eyebrows but fall into step next to me as I head for their office.

I don’t speak until we’ve closed the door. “Report.”

If anything, their eyebrows rise higher. Sara has the bearing of former military, but they’ve been in private security since graduating college. When I left Sabine Valley, I poached them and brought them with me. Because of that history, because of all our years together, I trust Sara with more than my life. I am good, but even I don’t know everything. An excellent head of security has to be comfortable enough to speak up in order to keep me safe and enact the things I require. Someone easily cowed would have been run out long before now.

Sara props a hip on the desk. “There’s nothing to report. Everything is running as it should. The only new development is upstairs sleeping in your guest room.”

Aside from the landing outside the elevator and the emergency exit leading to stairs down, I don’t have cameras in my private residence. Just like I trust Sara to handle small things that arise without bothering me with it, they trust me to handle anyone I allow into my home. “I have it under control.”

“No one says you don’t.” They consider me. “Did you need to spar?”

Yes. Undoubtedly. The scene didn’t provide the release kink usually brings me. Instead, Aurora’s presence in my building, in my home, is a buzzing beneath my skin. I’ve never been one to waffle about things once I decide on a course, but I can’t settle on a route with this woman. I want to ice her out. I want to drag her by her hair to my bed and make her come so many times, she loses the ability to speak any word beyond my name.

I hold Sara’s gaze. “I’m fine for tonight. Maybe tomorrow.”

They nod. “As always, the offer stands.”

I don’t know what I’m doing down here. I run a hand through my hair. “When’s the last time you slept?”

“Luna is taking over in ten minutes.” It’s not really an answer, which is answer enough.

Neither Sara nor I have ever been that good at getting a full night’s rest. Another thing we share in common. Luna is a Sabine Valley transplant as well, just like the rest of my personal security team. There’s nothing wrong with the people we’ve hired in Carver City, but old habits die hard. No matter how long I’m in this place, the only people I really trust are fellow Amazons. We’re a varied people with different goals and personalities, but the loyalty to our queen—to my sister—is the thread that holds us together.

Maybe that’s what’s bugging me. It’s not Aurora at all. She’s a symptom of the problem, not the issue itself. Yes, that must be it. “I don’t like what happened at Lammas.” While Carver City has Hades and the Underworld to provide neutral territory to handle disputes and small power struggles, Sabine Valley takes a different route. Its roots go back farther, to darker places. Four times a year, during the pagan feasts, all three factions gather and deal with things in a way that’s designed to avoid bloodshed and an all-out war. Lammas is for ritual battle, a time to safely settle disputes and grudges between various people so they don’t fester into true conflict.

The faction leaders, in their arrogance, made a bargain this Lammas that they can’t take back. Now two of my nieces and my youngest brother are trapped in handfasts with men they didn’t choose for themselves, playing a role in revenge for an act my sister committed.

I press my fingers to my eyes. “I should—”

“No.”

Reluctantly, I drop my hands. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

Sara gives me a sympathetic look. “I figure it’s a fifty-fifty chance that you were going to say we should just sneak into Sabine Valley and assassinate the Paine brothers or that we should go back there and whoop your sister’s ass for letting this happen. Neither is an option.”

“Honestly, I was considering doing both.”

They shake their head. “My response stands. The laws are there for a reason. You can’t just ignore them because you don’t like the outcome. Especially since we’ve spent two decades in Carver City. You’ll always be an Amazon, but you’re an outsider now. We all are.”

“I know.” It’s the price I’ve paid for my ambition. I could have stayed in Sabine Valley and taken over as CEO of one of my mother’s many corporations. But I would never lead there, would never be queen—or what passes for it. “It doesn’t mean I like it.”

“None of us like it.” Sara crosses their arms over their chest. “Maybe you should call your sister.”

Something I’ve been avoiding ever since I heard the news. What is there to say? To coldly detail how she’s failed, how disappointed our mother would be? Even after all these years, there’s no way Aisling hasn’t shared the same recriminations for herself. No matter what else is true, she’s a good leader. Most of the time. “Perhaps tomorrow.”

“Yes, maybe.” Sara’s tone says they know I won’t do it.

I glance at the clock. It’s late—or early, depending on how one looks at it. Avoiding going back up to my penthouse any longer is a delay reeking of cowardice. I chose this. I am the one in charge. Fleeing the space because Aurora occupies it is unacceptable.

Tomorrow. Things will be clearer tomorrow.

I glance at Sara. “Get some rest tonight.”

“Only if you do.”

That draws forth a small smile. “Consider it a bargain.”

We walk back to the elevator, and Sara clears their throat. “This might be out of line.”

“When has that stopped you?”

“A valid point.” They grin. “Stop thinking so much and playing out scenarios with that girl. You want her. You already effectively have her for the next two weeks. Take her and work out some of this stress.”

Deceptively simple advice. Easy to agree to. More difficult to pull off. “I’ll consider it.”

“Sure you will.”

I step into the elevator. “Sleep.”

“I will.” Sara turns and walks back down the hall as the elevator doors close.

I’m in danger of becoming a nag in order to avoid my own thoughts. How unforgivable. Sara and I have the history to let it slide, but I don’t have that same history with everyone I interact with. I have to lock it down, to push these uncomfortable thoughts away. It’s never been an issue controlling that before, but now they bubble up inside me.

It’s not even a choice to pause outside the door of the guest room. My body has taken over, even as my mind details the ways this is ridiculous. I can’t seem to help myself. My hand falls to the doorknob, and I turn it, silently stepping into the room.

Aurora sleeps the way I imagine a child sleeps. All tangled sheets and trusting abandon. She must have gotten out of bed when I left, because her hair is covered by a silk wrap in a pretty floral print. She’s only half beneath the covers, one long leg exposed, leading my gaze up to where her nightshirt has rucked up around her hips. It’s just an extra few inches of skin, but it feels like seeing her like this is sharing a secret with me.

A secret I most assuredly do not deserve.

I back out of the room as silently as I entered and shut the door behind me. What am I doing? Topping her, dominating her, fucking her. All those are reasonable courses of action. Standing over her bed and watching her sleep? Wanting to touch her, to stroke my fingers over her skin simply because? Unacceptable.

I stride back to my bedroom. This is ridiculous. Tomorrow, things will make more sense. I simply need some sleep to get my perspective back.

Yes, tomorrow will be better.