Page 22 of King of the Dawn

As we stepped outside, I still hadn’t answered Eoghan’s unasked question. But Yuliya, the traitor, turned as soon as she was in the sliver of sunlight outside, giving Eoghan a slight wink.

“We will answer the call,” Yuliya answered for me, before I could snarl about something I’d regret. “At least… I will be there, depending on if this one becomes a grandpa or not.”

Eoghan smirked, looking sideways at me, before smiling at my sister. They were teasing me without words. A rapport I resented.

“I’d be honored,” Eoghan said, “Whether or not my new step-father-in-law, and also uncle-in-law is there.”

Yuliya laughed, clapping her hands, as my hands fisted in anger.

She grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me down the front steps towards our waiting car. She opened a door and shoved me in, before she walked around and got into the driver’s seat.

“I hope you’re not getting distracted,” I said, steepling my fingers in front of me.

“Distracted?” She lifted that brow of hers, looking at me as if I had lost my mind.

Her brow was plucked, her lips were colored. Her clothes had also changed in almost unnoticeable ways. But I had noticed, because I wasn’t a fucking idiot.

“Is this what you do for an asshole like Corbin McClellan?” I made a circle with my finger to indicate her face. “Make sure you don’t spend too much time on your hair and makeup. You need to remember what’s important.”

She glowered at me.

“The governor,” she said his title as if it was a curse, “is your best friend. Remember? You told me to rely on him if something happened to you.”

“Nothing has happened to me.” I leaned back in my seat, glowering back at her. “You don’t need to turn to him.”

What the fuck was I doing? I wasn’t sure. Under different circumstances, I would welcome this change in my sister. Finally, she could find someone. And Corbin was a good man. An agent, like me. He had dedicated his life to ending international, and national crimes that couldn’t be persecuted outside of the shadow world.

But he was less of a man, if he couldn’t see my sister for who she was. If he didn’t pursue her without the fucking lotions, perfumes and powder.

Considering his recent engagement to the Murphy girl from Boston, I wasn’t convinced that he was the right man for my little sister.

“I’m not the woman who needs you to tell her where to stab a man,” Yuliya said. Her frown would have withered a lesser man. But not me. Not when I had braided her hair, taught her to shoot a gun, and cut her down from the wires they had crucified her with, when the Irish took her as retribution for my father’s sins. “Look at your own house, before you remind me of what is important.”

If Corbin expected a domestic little thing, then he wouldn’t find it in Yuliya. Our father’s blood assured us of that.

A name flashed on the center console, Yuliya’s phone having automatically hooked into the bluetooth. The name proudly proclaimed, “Nephew-in-Law” was calling. I groaned in irritation. What did that human hernia want now?

She clicked the green answer button on the dashboard, and smiled. “Yes, nephew?”

“Where’s Jericho?” Alastair’s British voice was breathless, like he’d just run a fucking mile before calling. “I called him, and he’s not answering. I need him here… Now!”

“Drama king,” I grumbled, with an eye roll.

“What’s happening?” Yuliya said, her hands on the steering wheel tightening.

“It’s Rose.” The sheer terror in his voice reached through the phone, and clamped its dark fingers around my throat. “She fainted.”

Chapter Nine

Aoibheann

I didn’t know what had called me into the hallway. It was a sense of dread, I suppose. A sudden tug on my skin that pulled me from my sanctuary into the large hall. Rose was coming out of the kitchen, a glass of water in her hand. Then she paled, the glass slipping from her hand, and smashed on the marble ground.

I called to her, “Rose? Rose!”

My feet bare on the floor, I ran to her, my feet cut on the glass as she collapsed, her knees buckling beneath her. I caught her from behind, under the arms, as her weight fell on me. Her head fell safely to my breast, as I screamed and screamed.

Her husband came leaping down the stairs, hearing my cry for help. He looked at the blood, then his wife, then paled himself. He leapt over the banister, running to us.

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