It’s not intentional, but Nick was right. It’s enough to bury me. I’m surprised it’s taken him this long to gather it all up into a weapon jammed beneath my chin. It’s the only reason I don’t object to the plan they come up with—even though it’s completely insane—and I’m betting they realize it. It’s what I’m thinking about later that night, sitting on the front stoop. Because I’m waiting.
Waiting is all I ever do these days.
The door opens behind me, but I don’t need to turn to see who it is.
It’s almost ten.
“Colder than a witch’s tit out here,” Dimitri mutters, shrugging on his leather jacket. There’s a crinkle and a ‘shnick’， and then the glow of the flame as he lights the cigarette hanging from his lips. “You should go inside. Tris or Killer can warm you up.” When I don’t answer, he exhales a plume of smoke, his dark eyes fixed to me. In the shadow of night, he looks like a wraith, nothing but a sharp slice of distant headlights to make out the curve of his jaw. “Or you can go upstairs. Sleep in my bed.”
I tighten my arms around my middle. “Do they hurt her?”
The question makes him pause—only for a split second. “I don’t think so. Supposedly, that’s why I’m the one on the job. No one’s supposed to touch her. Kings’ orders.” He makes a small scoffing sound, reaching up to rub his chest. “Honestly, she’s a bit of a bruiser. Kicked the shit out of me.” Quieter, he adds, “I think they’re saving her for something. It’s like she’s just…” The ember on his cigarette makes a zig and a zag with the flick of his wrist. “…being kept. For now.”
“I know.” Finally, I look up, meeting his gaze. “I know exactly what they’re keeping her for.”
It’s always the same thing. It’s not even surprising or original. It’s the reason Daniel was so interested in me in the first place. It’s the reason his son, raised on his own bullshit ideals, was so obsessed with it. It’s the reason Daniel isn’t interested in me anymore, since I’m unable to be an ‘asset’ to him.
“It’s because she’s a virgin.”
In a way, that’s good. It buys us time. Daniel is far too busy right now to capitalize on it, and even though I have no idea what the other Kings want from her, I’m betting Daniel’s endeavor comes first. That means she’s safe.
For now.
Sighing, Rath bends down to peck me on the lips, fingertips cold on my cheek. “Don’t wait up for me.”
“Thank you,” I blurt, grabbing his jacket before he can move away. “I don’t think I ever said that, but…thank you. For what you did for me in the pit. For giving Daniel all that money. For protecting me.”
He crouches, eyes searching my face, and then reaches out to tuck my hair behind an ear. “You don’t need to thank me for that. It wasn’t exactly a choice.”
I nod, understanding. It wasn’t exactly a choice to agree to it, either. “Still.” I tip forward to kiss him again—this time slow, full of a weight that we don’t have nearly enough time to get into.
He must sense it, too, because he pulls away with a sigh, thumbing my jaw. “Chin up, baby girl. It’ll all work out. You’ll see.”
“Be careful,” I say, trying on a smile that feels just as fake as it is.
He answers, “Be in my bed when I get home.” I watch him walk away—the shape of his body, the lazy rhythm of his gait—and decide to take his advice.
I find Killian in his bedroom, curled over his desk as he jabs the keyboard. Killian always types like he’s engaged in a battle to the death with his laptop. It used to drive me crazy in high school, because I could hear his aggressive fingertip-punches through the wall like a semi-automatic going off.
Without looking up, he asks, “He leave?”
Nodding, I lean against the doorjamb, tugging the ends of my sleeves over my fists. “You know it’s a King, don’t you?” I wait until Killian looks up, a confused crease pinched in his brow to clarify, “Ted.”
Killian leans back in his chair, holding my stare. “The possibility had occurred to me.”
I enter the room, dawdling in front of his dresser. “It all makes sense now that I know what Daniel wanted me for. Or, at least, who he wanted me for.” I turn to him, smiling unhappily. “That just makes everything a lot harder, doesn’t it?”