Page 64 of Silk and Sirens

“He’s just teasing,” Sebastian said calmly to my right, seated on a roped-off area with Arabella on his lap. She wore her black choker, the red rose like a drop of blood at the centre of her throat.

“He’s losing again,” she said, concern slipping into her voice. “He’s getting himself hurt.”

“You know Lang only loses when he wants to,” I replied, finally dragging my attention from my phone to the ring. Langdon stood there grinning like a man unhinged, even as someone twice his size drove a right hook into his jaw. The impact snapped his head sideways, but he simply rolled with it, spat a thick rope of blood onto the canvas, and bounced back onto the balls of his feet before teasing his opponent with aggressive hand gestures and creative obscenities.

Ara flinched at the hit, only for Sebastian to tighten his grip around her waist and pull her against his chest. I watched as he leaned down, whispering something in her ear that had her eyes widen and a flush burn her cheeks.

Probably because Bas was translating.

Not that she needed that much help, considering she’d spent enough time while technically being captive under Sebastian’s command learning Langue des Signes Française just so she could communicate with Langdon. She’d actually begun learning British Sign Language, not realising he was brought up in France, same as Sebastian.

“Your girlfriend sucks my dick harder than you hit!” Lang teased, the fabric wrapped around his knuckles restricting his ability to sign efficiently. “Come on, princess, you’re sweating harder than a priest in a playground.”

Langdon continued to taunt, taking some weird, twisted delight in pushing the men he fought to the edge of their patience. It was true, he only really lost when he wanted to. He may have been the smallest of us, but he was still six foot three and surprisingly fast considering his scars.

He could also take a punch.

Lang’s hands blurred as he evaded his opponent just to get in the last word. “Your mum rides dick better than you throw punches.”

Jesus Christ.

Sometimes I was thankful he had damaged vocal cords.

Another punch landed, this time almost taking Langdon to the canvas.

My own hands fisted, itching to spill some blood, to release even a fraction of the tension building under my skin. But my attention kept slipping, getting dragged back to the crowd.

Aeris still wasn’t here.

Irritation flared behind my ribs, something I pointedly ignored as Langdon finally started showing the crowd why he was a fan favourite. Reaching into my pocket I crushed the sea glass I’d stolen in my hand, feeling the hard edge dig into my palm.

My phone vibrated, and I looked down expecting Aeris’s name to be on the screen. When it wasn’t, the disappointment sharpened with something I refused to acknowledge.

She really didn’t understand. I didn’t do well with disobedience.

Pulling out the glass, I rolled it between my fingers, studying the imperfect edges that had been smoothed over by the sea.

Movement to my right—Sebastian meeting my eyes over Ara’s head. Pocketing the sea glass once more I moved closer, dipping down to keep our conversation private.

“Has it been confirmed?” he asked, his tone level except for the slight anger simmering beneath it.

I nodded, not wanting to share too much in a room with too many ears.

It had only been a week, and already we’d managed to plant explosives and bugs in three of the known locations connected to Selene Blackwater. Progress. But composing the full picture would take time and patience, two things Sebastian had never been particularly good at. We had to play it carefully, especially not knowing how much of Aeris’s word we could trust.

She’d given us a detailed profile breakdown of the Blackwater empire including names, territories, and possible weaknesses. We’d spent hours comparing every word against what we already knew, but a few details were too clean. Too convenient.

She was either telling the truth or feeding us exactly what she wanted us to know. Considering she’d been sharing details of our production, I assumed the latter.

But if even half of Aeris’s information was accurate, Selene’s operation was bigger and deeper than we’d realised. She really had been rebuilding her father’s legacy in the shadows.

Which made Aeris even more valuable, and more dangerous.

And she still wasn’t fucking here.

The crowd surged to their feet, their cries and screams of glory drawing me back to the fight. Langdon stood there grinning, his opponent knocked out cold.

Knowing Sebastian was there to help Langdon come down from his high, I walked the edge of the arena towards the side exit. The bouncers nodded at me as I passed, a cigarette already in my mouth as I pushed the double doors to the cold. The alley behind the club was dark and empty, the kind of quiet that settled over my frustration, broken only by the whistle of the wind and the distant hum of traffic.