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I’d always taken great care to cover the spot with a pile of soft blankets and duvets before Thena joined me. On this night, I’d set up our old nest in the hopes Thena could forgive all my failures, not just with her words, but with her actions. Caressing the empty side of the king-sized duvet where I lay, I wondered if Thena would come. She had reasons not to show up. I hadn’t explicitly asked for her company and neither had she.
After dinner—a formal spread that had left Mina and the guys praising Cook’s skills and Sandy’s ability to organize a high-class dinner—Thena had excused herself from the table. She’d disappeared to her tower. Even though she’d slept on the plane, it had been a long day and she had to be exhausted. Hell, the attack last night and the news today were enough stress to flatten even Wonder Woman.
If all of that wasn’t enough, after a long time away, it was her first night back at Astor House. People needed time to settle with their ghosts. I know I did.
Tonight, I could almost feel Nix coming over the battlements to join me at the flat spot near Thena’s tower, concealed by a pair of slanting pitches. When I closed my eyes, I could see his face as clearly as the Orion’s belt dominating the sky. I heard his voice in my head as crisp as if he was still alive.My sisters,his voice whispered in my ears. Thena.
It was a reminder of the only oath he’d ever asked of me.
Nix wasn’t here. Before my very eyes, his life had been snuffed from existence. And yet I intended to deliver on my oath. I could never redeem myself for Nix’s loss, but at least I had a chance to atone for my shortcomings. This time around, I wasn’t gonna fail.
So far, I wasn’t exactly doing a stellar job at identifying Richard Astor’s assassin, finding Nix’s sisters, and protecting Thena. The ambush on the way to the airport had me on edge. The attack had put Thena’s life at risk. What kind of protector was I when I’d failed to stop it in the first place? Was I fit to protect her or was it possible that I’d overlooked something, that I could end up failing Thena in the same way I’d failed Nix?
The screech of a window opening somewhere below put a stop to those self-sabotaging thoughts. The sound was followed by the scampering of feet scaling the slate tiles. I sat up and peeked over a dormer. My heart gave an extra thud.
There she was, Thena, scrambling up the iron hold affixed to the pitch with King hot on her heels. She wore her puffy jacket over a silk robe, and the warm, fuzzy slippers I’d gifted her many years ago when I was a penniless student and they were all I could afford. Riding the breeze, her hair streamed behind her. I had to smile. She’d always been part hellion, part woman, and part cat.
“Goddess, please.” King scampered up the rungs behind her. “This is not safe. Omega’s gonna kill me if you break your pretty neck.”
“I’ve done this a thousand times.” Thena’s musical voice reached me from below, barely winded. “You, on the other hand, don’t know this roof like I do.”
I rose to my bare feet, climbed to the top of the pitch, and balanced on the battlements. The stone was chilled beneath my toes and the cold breeze cut through my T-shirt, reminding me that, although I didn’t mind the cold, Thena was much more sensitive to it than I was.
“There you are.” Thena smiled up at me even as she continued to climb. “I’ve been looking for you all over.”
I reached down to her. “Take my hands.”
Balancing on a rung, she stretched out and took my grip. With one pull, I landed her beside me. She looked stunning with her cheeks flushed by the cold and her long hair flying everywhere. It sounded like the ultimate cliché, but under the light of the stars, her eyes really did shine like silver.
“Kai is afraid you’re gonna have his testicles for this,” she informed me primly. “Please assure him that you’re not a complete and total barbarian. Also, I don’t need a guy guarding my door in my own house, following me everywhere I go.”
“Yeah, you do.” Protecting her from the wind, I hugged her to my chest and kissed the top of her head. “But for tonight, you’ve got me.”
“Sorry, boss.” King grimaced, balancing atop one of the rungs. “She wouldn’t listen to reason. She looked for you all over the house and then, this madness. She’s like the rogue wave you can’t catch.”
“That she is.” I smiled at King’s perfect analogy. “Get some rest. I’ve got this.”
King flashed me a relieved grin, climbed back down, andmade his way to the window. He slid inside and disappeared from view.
“You’re a bad, bad girl,” I admonished Thena, tapping my finger on the tip of her nose. “You had poor King running all over after you.”
“I did, didn’t I?” She giggled. “Nothing satisfies me more than giving a brawny Raider a run for his money. It’s your fault.” Her gaze searched mine. “Were you hiding from me?”
“No, not hiding.” I tightened my hold on her. “Hoping.”
“Dashiell Dagger, did you want to play hide and seek with me?” She flashed me a seductive glance. “Like when we were kids?”
“Good old times.” The whole house had been our playground, and that included the garden and, unbeknown to most, the roof as well. “It was fun, wasn’t it?”
“I found you.” She planted a kiss on my jaw. “I win.”
“Whenever you found me, it was I who won.” I smirked. “I got the treasure. You’re it.”
“Aww.” She reached up, and holding my face between her hands, kissed me. “For a man who says he doesn’t have a way with words, you’re learning.”
“I won’t lie.” I drew back and basked in the light of her eyes. “I wanted you to find me tonight. I was hoping you’d remember this place.”
“Dash.” She shook her head softly, and scolding me kindly with her gaze, gifted me the smile that melted my heart and had the opposite effect on my sex. “How could I forget?”
