Page 64 of A Vicious Love

I need whiskey before dealing with this.

I need you to stop chirping.

I don’t have time for your shit tonight.

You want attention every time you breathe near me.

The room felt suddenly too small. Damius looked at the blood on my hand. The broken glass cut across my palm now.

“You bleed carelessly,” he said.

“I bleed fine.”

“You frighten her.”

I looked away first. A mistake.

Damius saw that too.

“She’s frightened of everything.” My voice came rough.

“No. She is polite to everything.”

A long silence followed. I hated how accurate that was. Sienna was not cowardice. She was manners trained over fear until even panic said thank you.

Damius moved back toward the window.

“The merger will settle,” he said. “With you, if you remember what you are. Elsewhere, if you continue mistaking avoidance for restraint.”

“You try to move her to Weston, I’ll break his spine.” I glared at him. “I’m not playing your games.”

“You have been playing them since you were born.”

“Then I’m bored.”

“Bored men do not threaten cousins over girls they claim have nothing of value.”

I stepped toward him again.

“Sienna is not going to Weston.”

“Then put your ring on her finger.”

My throat tightened.

“Not the handler’s token. Yours.”

I said nothing.

“Set the date.”

Still nothing.

“Or I will.”

The rain moved down the windows behind him, making Harlan look warped. My city, my house, my fiancée. Everything suddenly felt like it belonged less to me than it had before Damius walked in.

He had a talent for that.