Accomplice to the Villain (Assistant and the Villain, #3)(12)
The scar on Evie’s shoulder began to send shocking sensations down her spine, all the way to the dagger at her thigh, and it hurt. “You didn’t raise her!” The words burst from her as if the burning had shoved them out.
Nura flinched and stepped away. “I…I realize that.”
Evie sighed, pushing away from her chair to stand. “I’m not trying to be cruel. You said you could handle the truth, and the truth is that to Lyssa, you are little more than a stranger.”
To me, too.
But she didn’t add the final part, as her goals for the day didn’t include ravaging her mother’s heart, and if her forced acceptance of the woman who’d left her behind took some of the brunt off Lyssa, Evie would do it. Feigned smile and all.
“She’ll get to know you, and all will be well, Mama. Please don’t fret.” Evie reached for her mother’s hand.
Nura smiled back. “I suppose you’re right. I— Oh, hasibsi!” Her mother’s eyes caught on the journal sprawled open on Evie’s desk, picking it up and pointing to the stains on the pages. The bloodstains. From the stabbing. Oops. “What on earth happened here?”
“Oh, I just ran into a little trouble yesterday on a work…excursion. There was a bit of, um, fighting involved. My journal was one of the casualties.” She forced herself to sound sufficiently sheepish instead of proud. Her mother likely wouldn’t entirely approve of her work pursuits. But Evie knew she wasn’t ignorant of them, either. In her time as a star in the sky, Nura had witnessed and watched over all her children in between periods of dormant sleep.
Nura frowned. “If I’d come back sooner, you never would’ve needed to force yourself to do such things.”
Evie shut her notebook and tucked it protectively under her arm. “No forcing required, actually,” she said and straightened her spine. “It turns out I’m well suited to this job and it’s well suited to me.”
There was something haunted in her mother’s eyes, something Evie wasn’t brave enough to ask after.
A knock sounded at the door, and Evie let loose a breath of relief as Tatianna poked her head in, a curve to her painted pink lips. “You sent for me, Evie, dear? Your note said it was urgent? Good morning, Mistress Sage.”
Yes. Urgent. As in “save me from being alone with my mother.”
“Good morning, dear.” Nura smiled and stepped backward, her white gown sweeping back with her. “I suppose I shall leave you two to your business. I think I’ll go find Gideon.”
“No need.” Gideon stepped in, gesturing widely with his arms as if he were a sight to behold. “I have arrived.” He moved closer to Evie, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “Designated buffer at your service.” Evie’s elbow found itself shoved into her older brother’s abdomen.
“I don’t need a buffer,” she hissed.
“Is that why you look like you’re determining the nearest exit route? Don’t use the window—it doesn’t seem to work well for the interns,” he warned.
She elbowed him again.
He grunted, but to his credit, his easygoing smile didn’t falter.
Despite its unfortunate origins, Evie’s office had become a bit of a sanctuary. Every time she’d caught herself thinking too much of her boss or feeling particularly inadequate, she found herself sequestered in this room. That was to say, most of her day.
Clare stumbled through the door next, eyeing Tatianna, followed by a hopping neutral-faced Kingsley, and then finally, because the room hadn’t grown crowded enough, her boss poked his head in—so carefully Evie had to choke back a laugh.
“Why are you all in here?” Trystan asked roughly, dark eyes not looking at hers. “Tatianna, I need you to look in on Bradley in our finance department.”
Tatianna pouted and folded her arms. “Why?”
“He fell down the stairs.”
She gaped, tucking a braid behind her ear. “How?”
“I pushed him.”
Evie stifled a giggle in her hand, meeting her boss’s eyes with a teasing reprimand. He had the good sense to look the very smallest bit sheepish, and the even better sense to flash one of his dimples at her as a low chuckle huffed from his mouth.
Their eyes held for a moment.
And then Kingsley hopped onto The Villain’s shoulder, slowly lifting a sign that read: Blushing.
The boss’s cheeks were indeed pinkening, and Evie felt a warmth spread through her belly that surely shouldn’t be there. She was meant to still be angry! And torturing him little by little!
Although, by the look of horror on his face, at least he did find blushing to be a torturous endeavor.
As it stood, many of Evie’s successes seemed to be accidents.
Her mother watched the interaction with what looked like begrudged amusement, and when Trystan noticed her in the corner, the red color tingeing his cheeks deepened even further. “Or rather, he happened to be…at the end of my…hands when they were…extending,” he corrected.
Clare grinned, seeming to enjoy her older brother’s discomfort in a way Evie could understand. “I thought I saw you punch him first?”
“Why are you still here?” Trystan gritted out.
Clare gave a satisfied smirk, rocking on her heels and leaning against the wall. “I only came because Tatianna and I were working on a potion to help the male guvre calm when she got Evie’s summons, and I don’t like to be excluded.”