“No deal.” Another layer of ice solidified around his heart.
A soft sound caught his attention. With the swiftness of the predator he was, he yanked up his hood, caught Etta around the waist, and dragged her against him. He withdrew a blaster from the holster at his waist, keeping it hidden from view.
A little girl with golden skin, vivid red hair, and vibrant green eyes peeked out from the hallway.
“Go back to bed, Maggs. I’ll come tuck you in.”
This was the youngest sister. He hadn’t expected either of the girls to be awake this late. They might be half-sisters, but she looked nothing like Etta. The hair and eyes came directly from her father. The golden skin must be a gift from her mother.
But the child wasn’t looking at her sister, she was staring at him.
His chest tightened, but he ignored it. It was the first time he’d ever had a child involved in an interrogation. He generally left children and women out of it. But Etta was stuck in the middle of this situation.
“Make her leave,” he whispered. It infuriated him that she was shaking in his arms. Did she think he’d kill the girl? Of course, she did. Why wouldn’t she?
“Maggs.” Her voice rose higher. “Please, sweetheart, go back to bed.”
But the girl started forward, her hand extended. It wasn’t empty, but held a data pad. “It’s you.” Her voice was sweet and musical and pure. “You came.”
Etta stilled in his arms. “Maggs, what are you talking about?” Fear mingled with confusion.
The girl held up the screen, showing a drawing of a large cloaked male. It might be a coincidence, but the fine hairs on the back of his neck rose.
Maggs ran her finger over the device to bring up another image. The likeness was uncanny. It was like looking at himself in the mirror.
“Oh, gods,” Etta breathed. “Please don’t hurt her.”
Kyler stood on a precipice. On one side were his honor and his king. On the other stood Etta and her sisters.
****
What was Maggs doing up? She was the soundest sleeper Etta had ever known. Heart pounding, she tried to pull away from Ky and was surprised when he released her.
Legs shaking, she fought the urge to run to her sister, not wanting to scare her. “When did you draw those?”
Maggs scampered forward and thrust the screen toward Ky, exhibiting not the slightest bit of fear. “I have more.”
He took the device and shuffled through the detailed sketches. “They’re all date stamped. They go back several weeks.” Long before he’d arrived.
She cupped her sister’s small shoulders. “Where did you see him, sweetheart?”
Her pleasure dimmed, she stared down at the ground and shifted her weight from one leg to another.
Etta dropped to her knees and hugged the girl. “It’s okay, Maggs. You can tell me.”
“I dreamed him.” She tilted her head back and peered up at Ky. “He’ll protect us.”
Ky was still as a statue, but she wasn’t fooled. She’d seen how he moved—fast, silent, and deadly. Any doubts she’d had about him being her intruder were gone.
“Um, I don’t think so. Those were only dreams.” And dreams weren’t reality. It hurt her to have to break the girl’s heart. He wasn’t their hero, but she might be able to blackmail him into helping them.
It was a dangerous gamble, but one she had to take. She briefly closed her eyes, wishing she could go back six months in time and run before Balthazar had found her and started her down this path.
Maggs patted her small hands against Etta’s face. “It will be fine.”
Great, now a six-year-old was reassuring her. This was the only thing she’d never regret. Being with her sisters, having the chance to save them, was all that mattered.
“Etta?” Sera stepped out from the hallway, her gaze going from her to Maggs and finally to Ky. He was an intimidating sight, one that would frighten most. But like her sister, Sera smiled at him. “You came. Maggs said you would.”
What in the name of all the gods was going on? “Sera, what are you talking about?” Better she ask the questions than him. She didn’t want the girls frightened. They spent enough of their lives afraid.
Older than her sister, but still a child, Sera shrugged. “We both had dreams. Maggs drew him.” She tilted her head to one side, appearing far too adult in her inspection. “I think he’s the same man in the picture, although it’s hard to tell with his hood up.”
He began pushing buttons on the data pad. Maggs gave a cry of anguish and lurched forward, grabbing onto his legs. “Don’t.”
He paused and seemed to slump, but his fingers went back to work. Huge tears rolled down Maggs’s face. Etta wrapped Maggs in her arms. “It’s okay, baby.”
Sera hurried forward and hugged her sister as her precious pictures were deleted from the memory and the backup.
“I’m sorry.” He handed the data pad back. “It’s not safe for you to have those.”
Maggs hugged the screen to her chest and nodded.
To Etta’s utter shock, he hunkered down beside the girl and gently took her face in his hand. “If the wrong people saw them, they might harm you.”
He was protecting Maggs, not trying to hurt her.
Etta’s heart began to race. Maybe she could make a deal with him. Maybe he would help. “Okay, girls, time to go back to bed.” She kept her voice calm but brisk.
The light of hope in Sera’s eyes faded, leaving a bleakness that broke Etta’s heart. “It was only a dream.” She took her sister by the hand and led her away. Maggs waved over her shoulder, and then the door to their room quietly closed.
Taking a deep breath to calm the jitters in her stomach, she faced Ky. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you, but you have to promise you’ll protect the girls. No matter what.” If he didn’t kill her for what she’d done, then Helldrick, her brother, or the Gravasians would.
“What makes you think I’ll keep my word if I make a deal?”
Here was where things got tricky. “Given what I know now, I’m assuming the Gravasians sent you. You’re either one of them or employed by them.”
He neither confirmed nor denied.
She understood why he wore the cloak now. It wasn’t just to hide his identity—although that was likely the main reason—it was intimidating to know he could see her while it hid his expression. There was no way to know what he was thinking.
Her mouth went dry but fear for her sisters made her press on. “I don’t know much about Gravas.” No one did. “But I heard their word is their bond.”
He inclined his head slightly.
Relief flashed over her, a cool breeze against her overheated body. “Um, I guess you can talk to your employer, then. I’ll cooperate, tell them everything I know, do whatever they want. All they have to do is protect my sisters. If I do this, Balthazar might take his anger out on them. And Helldrick won’t do a thing to stop him. I don’t know if they have family on Darkata or not. Their mother never mentioned anyone. But you could find them a good home. A safe one. Please.” She’d never begged in her life, not for herself. But for her sisters, she’d go down on her knees.
She started to do just that, but Ky grabbed her arm and pulled her upright. “Don’t.”
Defeat almost crushed her and she nodded. “Don’t hurt them. That’s all I ask. They’re only children.”
“They’re dangerous. The youngest is a seer. Likely the older one, too.”
She’d heard whispers about their mother, but Yonna had never confirmed or denied. But it made a certain kind of sense. Helldrick was drawn to any kind of power and wouldn’t have hesitated to use her for his own gains.
Neither girl had shown signs of their mother’s talent until tonight. She hadn’t seen it, even though it was there. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to. Secrets. They were all good at keeping them. Even Ky.
But was he the kind of man who’d hurt a child?
Chapter Six
A muscle
beneath his eye twitched. This situation grew more complicated with each passing second. The two girls were seers. That kind of talent was rarer than titansteel and coveted by many. If word got out, they would be hunted—killed or caged, depending on who took them.
The tears of the youngest one were a stain on his soul that would never be scrubbed clean. Her talent was incredible. The details of her drawings rendered to perfection. She put so much into her work. And he’d erased it without hesitation.
And still, she’d waved at him when she’d left. Hope still shining in her eyes. The older one was more realistic. There’d been only resignation on her face.
For that alone, he’d kill both Helldrick and Balthazar.
They had no honor. Any man of Gravas would give his life to protect such treasures. Children were the greatest gift a man could be given.
Theirs was a warrior culture, based on discipline and honor. That was what the outside worlds saw and feared. It was an image they cultivated and encouraged. But beneath it all, the reason for their advanced tech and unbeatable space fleet was to protect their families.
It was the heartbeat of their culture.
Etta and her sisters had never had that.
Etta expected to die. Her acceptance of that stoked the flames of fury within him. For the first time in his life, fear grabbed him by the throat. If she was involved in the scheme to kidnap the king’s son and steal Gravasian tech, there was nothing he could do to save her.
Pain spiked through his brain. Holding his body rigid, he rode out the tsunami threatening to smash him beneath the weight of his responsibilities.
“Are you okay?”
That she would even ask him that shamed him. She was far too good for the likes of him.
He was her judge and jury. And if necessary, her executioner.
He motioned to a comfortable-looking chair. “Tell me everything.” Until he knew the entire story, he would make no promises.
She stumbled toward the seat. He put out a hand to help but let it drop without touching her. He needed to remain emotionless and uninvolved. There was another chair, so he pulled it forward, keeping a low, wooden table between them.
Etta rubbed her hands over her thighs. “I have to start two years ago. My mother died when I was younger than Maggs. When I was twenty-one, one of her friends turned up at Hell’s Gate with a small inheritance. I took it and ran.” Her expression was one of defiance. “I had no other choice. And Yonna was here to look out for the girls.”
She leaned back against the cushioned seat and sighed. “I moved constantly, never staying in one place for long.”
“You expected Balthazar or Helldrick to come after you.” Not a question. Men like that would see her as their property, not as a treasure to protect. The bruise on her face was proof.
“No one leaves Hell’s Gate without Helldrick’s permission—not any of the staff, the women he’s had over the years, and certainly not his children. We’re all possessions to him.”
He’d read the reports he’d been given. And when Ivar, the king’s son, had been rescued from Balthazar’s stronghold of Tortuga, the entire settlement had been run the same way. No one got in or out with Balthazar’s permission, which always involved a tribute or favor. The alternative was death.
In this, the son was more brutal than the father.
“I moved constantly, but there’s always work in the kitchens of restaurants and bars. I learned a trade.” There was pride in her voice. “I’d been working here since I was a kid, but the experience and training I received made me better.”
He still hadn’t tasted her food, likely wouldn’t have the opportunity to now. Not that he had much to compare it to. Prepackaged and reconstituted food made up most of his diet—easy and tamper-proof.
What would it be like to eat something she’d prepared? Some of the dishes that had come out of the kitchen had looked and smelled delicious. Temptation was something new and unwanted, but everything about her was designed to test the limits of his resolve.
“I thought I was safe. I stayed somewhere too long.”
“Balthazar found you.” It was all too easy to imagine her working away, believing she’d gotten away from this life, only to be pulled back again. To realize she’d never truly been free.
“He told me Yonna had died. Reminded me I had two young sisters. The bastard studies people, learns their weaknesses, and uses them against them. If I didn’t come back and do what he told me, he’d either kill them or sell them to slavers. He wasn’t lying.”
A chill snuck down his spine. The idea of either child or Etta being harmed or in the hands of slavers made him want to burn this place to the ground and annihilate everyone associated with it.
“He had a job for me.” She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes and rocked forward. “I did everything I could to talk him out of it. If I’d known it involved the Gravasians— I’m not sure what I could have done differently.” When she lowered her hands, her eyes were stark, like blue bruises filled with hurt and guilt.
“What did you do?” Fear ate at him, a living creature designed to torture and destroy.
“There was a man who’d been here before and was expected back. Balthazar wanted to talk to him.” Bitterness coated her laughter. “Talk. I knew what he meant. I resisted, but—” She stared at him, silently pleading for understanding. “I came looking for the girls one day. They were gone, but Helldrick was here.”
This was news. There’d been no proof the father had been involved up until now. He remained still and silent, letting her story unfold.
“The girls were somewhere safe, he’d said. They’d be returned if I did what Balthazar wanted. If I didn’t…” She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked slightly. “Slavers like pretty little girls.” Several tears rolled down her face. She brushed them away.
“And what did he want you to do?” His voice was harsher, but she didn’t seem to notice, locked in her private hell.
“Drug a man. That in itself was unusual. Balthazar would normally jump a man from behind when he wasn’t looking. Or have a few of his henchmen handle it for him. This one he wanted to make sure couldn’t fight back. It was wrong, but I convinced myself it was for the greater good. He was a grown man and he frequented Hell’s Gate. How innocent could he be? My sisters’ lives hung in the balance. This man enjoyed my food. He was wary, like many who come here, but he liked me. And I used that against him. I slipped a sedative Balthazar gave me into his soup.
“Not a day goes by I don’t stop and wonder where he is. I don’t know if he’s alive or dead or how he got the Gravasian tech he had on him. I didn’t know about that until last night when Helldrick told me. They’re out of their minds to involve the Gravasians in any way.”
His limbs ached he held them so tight. Cold. He was chilled to his bone. Deeper. Hell wasn’t a fiery place, it was icy and solitary.
Etta had drugged the king’s son. There was no way that could go unanswered. King Agman would demand it.
“Well?” She swiped at her face and took a deep breath. The redness of her eyes and blotchiness of her skin did nothing to diminish her beauty. She was slender, but there was a deep well of courage within that delicate frame.
He pulled out the knife he’d taken from her and set it on the table.
****
Etta swallowed hard. She’d suspected but here was the incontrovertible truth. Ky was her intruder. “Who sent you?”
“King Agman el Gravaso, king of Gravas.”
She was a dead woman. Her vision dimmed, narrowing to a pinprick of light. Don’t pass out. That would leave her and the girls defenseless. She blinked her eyes and dug her fingers into the arms of her chair. “The king?” Her voice was a strangled whisper.
“The man you drugged was Gravasian.”
It was a death knell to any hope she might have harbored. The lump in her throat made it difficult to swallow. “I thought Gravasians never ventured far from home and never alone.�
��
“It’s rare, but it happens.”
And she’d been lucky enough to drug the man. She closed her eyes. Despair pressed down on her, threatening to crush her spirit. Had she been born under a curse? Some days it certainly seemed so. She’d tried so hard to escape this life, to save her sisters.
Now it was all for naught.
“You’re Gravasian?”
He inclined his head. A roaring filled her ears. He had to be one of the famed Gravasian assassins that men whispered about. They were the bogeymen who scared even the most dangerous of villains—Helldrick and her brother included.
What have they done?
The knife was on the table, but she didn’t bother even trying to reach for it. Her intruder had easily overpowered her the other night. No, Ky had overpowered her. He’d also kissed her.
That seemed like the ultimate betrayal.
Anger burned away some of the hopelessness. Her eyes snapped open and she glared at him. “Why did you kiss me? And stop hiding behind that hood.” It infuriated her that she couldn’t see his face, even though it was probably easier if she didn’t. He was too handsome by far.
The irony wasn’t lost on her. She’d had no trouble resisting men her entire life until he’d walked into her life. And, oh, by the way, he’d likely be her executioner. That was so messed up.
Just like the rest of her life.
He flung back the hood, his face an impassive mask. That didn’t detract from, but added to, the aura of danger that surrounded him. His face appeared austere, his dark eyes and high cheekbones adding to the image. Devils were supposed to be ugly and hideous, not handsome. Or maybe they were. How better to lure their victims.
“Why?” she demanded again.
A muscle in his jaw worked. “Because I had to.”
That took her aback. Had their attraction shaken him as much as it had her? She wasn’t buying it.
“Try again.” This man, this assassin could have any woman he wanted. Handsome and mysterious, they’d flock to him if he crooked his finger. “I’m ordinary. Oh, I’m fine with my looks, but I’m not gorgeous. And I’m your target.”
Kyler's Justice (Assassins of Gravas Book 3) Page 6