Page 21 of King of the Dawn

“He’s right, Malinda.” Eoghan’s agreement surprised me. You could have knocked me over with a feather. “You knew he was banned. You knew that you were to report to me.”

“He’s my blood, Eoghan!” She placed a hand over her chest. “You know that we are loyal above all things. That’s what makes us family.”

“You’d rather be loyal to that man, than to me?” Eoghan looked at her, his black eyes almost sparkling. He was charming her. It was subtle. I didn’t know that the erratic Eoghan Green was capable of such a thing.

“No, of course not, Eoghan. I just… I didn’t think.” If she could have fallen to her knees, I think she would have.

“What else did he say?” I asked, calmly. I have no qualms about hitting a woman, if it meant that the women I did care about would be saved. But this Malinda wasn’t like my sister. She wasn’t like my daughter either. She was going to crumble.

“He’s not likely to show up again, but he says that he will stop at nothing to… to… kill her, because he thinks that this is all her fault.”

I looked at Yuliya, and then to Eoghan, wondering what they were hiding behind their masks.

“He’s still in the area, and he’ll make a strike,” I said quietly. “At least we know he didn’t flee.”

“That simplifies the problem,” Yuliya laughed. “Smaller space to hunt.”

“If you see him again, you will tell me.” Eoghan tapped his index finger on his desk. “You may go.”

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the girl. She turned on her heel and tried to rush out. But right before she could make it past the doors to freedom, Eoghan called after her.

“Malinda!” She halted in her steps and turned at his words. “If you keep a secret like that from me again, I will plant my knife in your throat myself. Do I make myself understood?”

She looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping to make him take his words back, but he didn’t. He just looked at her with those menacing black eyes.

“Yes, sir,” she said, giving the smallest, saddest curtsy before heading out the door.

When she closed the door behind her, a tense silence descended over us for a moment.

“You have my backing. I meant that,” Eoghan said, breaking the tension. “I will deliver him to you, alive or dead, if he comes near Green territory. The bounty I have on his head is high. The punishment for disobedience is equally astronomical.”

“You trust your people to betray him?” Yuliya asked, staring at him with her crystal eyes, reading his face as much as she listened to his words.

“I trust in human greed. And I back it up with my threat of extreme pain.” He stared at my sister like she was his equal. Not like my father, or my wife’s late husband who had more outdated views on women.

That observation made me angry. I did not want to be fond of Eoghan fucking Green.

“I provided a stick and carrot,” Eoghan said, coming to his feet. “And I put myself at your disposal as well, dear uncle and aunt-in-law. Or are you my new stepfather?”

Yuliya covered her mouth to hide her smile as I seethed in my seat. I was related to him several times over, and I did not like it.

“We Russians and Irish must stop intermarrying,” Yuliya giggled. She fucking giggled. “Or our family tree will turn into a wreath.”

“Not funny,” I grumbled, as I came to my feet.

Yuliya and Eoghan shared a conspiratorial look, as they were smiling at my expense.

Eoghan led us down the hall and to the grand double doors to the wrap-around porch.

“I’m not fully selfless in my alliance with you,” Eoghan said, as we stepped out into the fresh air. “There’s a war with the Italians brewing.” His voice noticeably darkened with his assertion. “They’re searching for my wife.”

I, more than anyone, knew what a threat against one’s wife meant. I knew the unimaginable torture that Eoghan’s mother had gone through. Her death was so gruesome, her autopsy was a fucking novel. The missing Kira Green would suffer that, and worse, if the Italians found her.

“I will find her,” Eoghan said, his voice full of conviction, that I knew he had no faith in it. “But a war with Eugenio Durante is inevitable. And I will ask you to be by my side.”

I loathed the idea of fighting with Eoghan Green. Though he had been there when I fought my brother to become Pakhan. He had backed us up in that war to keep my daughter safe, but the idea of standing by his side still made me want to rage and be Brutus.

I didn’t answer. We showed ourselves out, with Eoghan following behind, his shoulders slumped.

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